Since I started watching football in the 1990s, I have noticed the correlation between money and success in football – the mega-rich fan/owners of Italian clubs that didn’t care about anything other than winning trophies, the Galacticos era of Real Madrid, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s days at Chelsea, and lately, the endless cash pits of Arab owners at Manchester City and Paris-Saint Germain.
It doesn’t end there. This summer, the Saudi Premier League has taken world football by storm by offering deals that are unmatchable in European football.
You may deduce that the football world has gone mad with money.
Everywhere you look nowadays, you see either some mega-money signing, footballers living beyond their means, rich teams having a monopoly over the league they play in, and teams that cannot match up to them financially, languishing behind.
Everything seems to be tied to dollars and cents. Therefore, in today’s football world devoid of romance and stories of clubs winning trophies while managing within their means, it is refreshing when a club like Brighton & Hove Albion comes to the fore.
Not too long ago, another club, Atalanta, had a similar rise to prominence.
I first discovered Brighton when I was watching old FA Cup finals, and came across a final from before I was born, between Manchester United and Brighton. Under the ownership of entrepreneur and betting magnate Tony Bloom, and later with Paul Barber as CEO, the club rose through the ranks of English football to reach the pinnacle, the English Premier League.
The club began catching the eye under the management of Graham Potter, but they have now been taken to another level by Roberto De Zerbi – leading them to their highest-ever top-flight finish last season, and their first-ever qualification to European football this season.
All this was achieved through the shrewd recruitment of players, giving opportunities to the young players in their academy, and reinvesting wisely from sales when richer clubs come knocking for their players.
The team plays an attractive brand of football that has won admirers among many observers, and created a coup in the recent transfer window when they signed promising Spanish winger, Ansu Fati on loan, from Barcelona. He was reportedly convinced by De Zerbi to snub the approaches of other more illustrious clubs to join Brighton.
The Premier League is still at an early stage but Brighton has carried on where they left off to sit in the same position they ended last season, in 6th, with three
wins and a defeat, in four matches. As the challenge of managing European commitments with domestic league action resumes after the international break, we shall see how the Seagulls cope with the extra workload.
However, I am sure many neutrals will cheer them on to greater glory if glory beckons for them at the business end of the season.
Maybe a repeat of the fairy-tale Leicester City season of 2015-16?
The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.
Main image: Brighton & Hove Albion FC
