Brighton are chasing the play offs again under new manager Oscar Garcia as their impressive, steady climb back from a desperate situation continues.

Overview

Only an enthusiastic ornithologist would have looked forward to an afternoon in the away end at Brighton’s old Withdean Stadium, given that it was far easier to keep an eye on the local flora and fauna than peer three hundred yards through a shot putt net to try and make out what was going on at the far end of the football pitch. Often the first you knew of a goal at the far end of the field was when it was announced over the public address system — and given the facilities at what was previously the local athletics track, that was little more than a bloke stepping out in front of the main stand and cupping his hand to his mouth to make himself heard.

QPR’s first trip to a venue barely fit for a school sports day was right at the start of the 2001/02 season when, fresh from relegation into the third tier, Ian Holloway was attempting to rebuild a team which had started the campaign with just six fully fit professionals and the finances being overseen by administrators. The Rangers team which lost 2-1 that day was…

QPR: C Day, M Perry, M Bignot, S Palmer, T Forbes, B Askar, P Bruce, K Connolly (M Rose, 74), R Taylor (A Thomson, 74), D McEwen (Doudou, 45), L Griffiths

Little more than a decade later it will be difficult later it will be difficult to believe you’re watching the same two clubs when the R’s and Brighton take to the field on Tuesday night to face each other for the very first time at Albion’s shiny new home near Falmer.

QPR have been up and down like a bride’s nightie since, booming and busting often within the same season. Promotion was won two and a half years later by Ian Holloway but financial collapse, guns in the boardroom, the richest football club owners in the world, megalomaniac Italians, boutique football clubs, clown protests, Neil Warnock, promotion to the Premier League, Chris Foy, Jamie Mackie v Liverpool, Sergio Agueeeerooooooooooo, meticulous Mark and the adventures of the Taffia, Kia Joorabchian, Julio Cesar, Jose Bosingwa, ‘Arry’s not a fucking wheeler dealer, £170m debt and relegation have all been crammed into an extraordinary ten year spell since.

Brighton, much like their current first eleven, have been much more considered. They always seemed to punch above their weight when the Rangers faithful used to travel down to the Withdean. By rights, given that they had no stadium of their own, had been stuck out at Gillingham for a while, and then ended up playing in front of three golf stands in a woodland clearing, they should have struggled to stay in the Football League altogether. But they’d had that scare during their own bust of the late 1980s and early 1990s and while QPR are like a reckless fat person, following every mistaken binge with an even bigger bucket of fried chicken next time, the whole thing has taught Brighton to be much more careful and forward thinking about things.

Consequently they were regularly battling for promotion from the third tier and appearing in the second tier despite their lack of facilities in the early part of the last decade, and when the opportunity finally, mercifully, came to build a proper football stadium of their own they designed and constructed a unique venue specifically for the sport, rather than the identikit monstrosities we see whacked up elsewhere all too frequently with constriction costs and One Direction concerts front and centre of mind.

They always seemed to get the best out of managers as well. Peter Taylor, Micky Adams and Mark McGhee all failed elsewhere but enjoyed great times in this corner of Sussex before Gus Poyet really moulded the club we see today — on the playing side at least. A multi-million pound training facility is being constructed which will leave Brighton with the best facilities in the league, and a team built steadily to a clear ethos and ideal over many years.

Clubs like QPR should beware poaching management and coaching staff from this part of the world, because the whole situation at Brighton is set up for whoever is in charge of the starting eleven to succeed. Oscar Garcia is the man in the hot seat at the moment, and judging by the amount of Sunday newspaper profile pieces he’s attracting despite sitting in the middle of the Championship with a team that neither scores nor concedes with any great regularity, it would appear he has an over-active agent, ambitions beyond Brighton, or both — beware Oscar, that (and the whole shitting on the floor thing) didn’t do your predecessor much good in the end.

Beaten play-off semi-finalists last season they, like Wigan, will make awkward knock-out opponents come May if they can gatecrash the top six. In actual fact, it’s probably a season too soon for them — slow and steady wins the race, as they know only too well in these parts.

As ever in such circumstances, LFW turned to our Spanish correspondent Miguel Ortiz for some more info on the Brighton boss….

“Oscar Garcia was and is a Cruyff protégée. As a player he was never established as a starter at Barcelona, who used him as a super sub. He was an attacking midfielder, very technical, and transferred to Valencia in 1999 but only lasted one year there — spent mainly on the bench. The next four seasons were with Espanyol where he played 51 games and scored four goals - once a year like Christmas. Hung up his boots while at Lleida, a second tier team. He was an apprentice to Cruyff at the Catalan ‘national’ team, then at FC Barcelona youth teams, and then final a manager at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

“To disrupt this game, see Bayern Munich in last year’s Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona. Just push the game to the line where you can do a trap two against one and force them not to do good first controls. Make them run seeking the ball, rather than receiving it in space. It’s known that Barcelona do not work set pieces (which a sin in my opinion, you know me), so attack the back post, again and again.”

Interview

We’ve plundered the staff list at Sports Interactive again this week and found Brighton fan Simon Tipple happy (well, relatively) to give us some input on the Seagulls. Thank you to him for his time in a busy week.

How would you assess the Brighton season so far?

It’s been okay. We’re well placed considering the number of injuries we’ve had this season. I don’t think we’ve reached the heights of last season in terms of our performances but we’re about on par results wise.

What did you think of the Oscar Garcia appointment at the time, and how has he done since?

I think everyone was pleased that we had a manager who would continue to play the same way as before. The last thing we needed was a radically different style of football given the players we had at the club. That’s been the case. We still like to get the ball down and pass it. We’re a bit more attacking this season and will get it forward quickly when we can. We’re not really seeing the results of that in the goals scored column though.

A wonderful new stadium and a training ground on the way, are Brighton ready for the Premier League now or a few years away yet? What needs to be done, if anything, for you to go up and stay up?

We certainly seem to be ready in terms of facilities. It’s hard to say what needs to be done to get up and stay up. We’re knocking on the door again this season. A consistent first 11 would help a lot, so a season without injuries. We’ve certainly got a lot of quality in the squad. I’ll think about staying up when we get up.

Who have been the stand out performers this season, and where are the weak links in the team?

Andrew Crofts was excellent until injury ended his season. Rohan Ince has come from nowhere to make himself a regular in the first team. The main stand out would have to be Matthew Upson though. Fantastic at the back and very consistent. Weak links… there’s no one I’d really want to pin point, I don’t think there’s anyone who plays regularly who is a weak link as such. Perhaps some of the younger guys in the side (Ince, Forster-Caskey, etc) could benefit from some more experience.

Has there ever been any real explanation to what happened with Gus Poyet, and how do the Brighton fans view him post-departure?

The feelings towards Gus are very mixed. There’s some who will never forget the tremendous impact he had on the club and some who feel he used us and couldn’t wait to leave at the first opportunity. It’ll be interesting to see the reaction when we inevitably come up against one of his sides in the future.

Links >>> Official Website >>> North Stand Chat forum >>> The Argus local newspaper >>> We Are Brighton blog >>> Seagull Love Review fanzine >>> Albion Roar radio/podcast >>> Brighton Mad fan site

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Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images

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