The Ascension Of The Albion

After a turbulent twenty years of yo-yoing between divisions, the future seems bright down on the South Coast for Brighton and Hove Albion who might just have found some stability - as well as a new permanent home.

The Seagulls flew the nest after inhabiting the infamous Withdean Stadium, an athletics ground that was supposed to be a short-term fix, for 12 years, leaving with the League One title.

They were top of the league from September and stayed there for the remainder of the season in Gus Poyet’s first full season in charge of the club.

This is Poyet’s first managerial post having been an assistant manager at Swindon and Leeds alongside Dennis Wise before being Juande Ramos’ right-hand man at his former club Tottenham.

The charismatic Uruguayan has overseen a remarkable turnaround at the Withdean having been given the job whilst the club was in the midst of a relegation scrap. Survival was the short-term target with promotion seen as a long term ambition.

However, Poyet’s transformation of Brighton into a side that is easy on the eye and play with flair, as you’d expect from someone who played the game in the way he did, has been done without spending millions.

Whilst purchases were made: club captain Gordon Greer arrived from Swindon for £250,000, chairman and boyhood Brighton fan Tony Bloom has kept spending to a minimum as he does not want the club to be spending money it simply does not have. A rarity in the modern-day game, some might say.

Inevitably, Poyet’s excellent work down on the South Coast has not gone unnoticed with reports linking him with other clubs cropping up in the press. A four-year contract signed only last summer means that Brighton would be owed a lot of money in compensation if Poyet were to leave but he has stated a desire to build a dynasty with the Seagulls.

Chairman Bloom, who has made his money through the business of property, succeeded Dick Knight in 2009, maintaining the Bloom family's association with the club - his grandfather, Harry, was vice-chairman during the 1970's; his uncle Ray is a director - and immediately set about taking the club to the top level.

Shortly after Bloom's takeover, planning permission was granted for a new stadium in Falmer.

The 41 year-old invested £93m into the development of the American Express Community Stadium (AMEX), which cost £105m, and has set aside a further £15m which will be spent on the building of a state of the art training ground and youth academy.

Promotion was achieved in time to arrive in Falmer as a Championship club, resulting in season ticket sales going through the roof.

Over 18,000 have been sold already with a waiting list already produced in preparation of a potential expansion of the capacity from 22,000 to 35,000 – a far cry from the 8,850 capacity Withdean which isolated fans from the players and vice versa.

The catchment area for Brighton to tap into is huge with thousands of potential fans out there within the 20.7 miles that lie between Albion and the nearest Football League club to them geographically – Crawley Town.

With this club on the up, fans young and old should come streaming through the turnstiles into the AMEX to see Poyet’s side attempt to get the club back into the top flight for the first time since 1983.

Huge credit for the upturn in fortunes that makes Premier League football a conceivable possibility for the South coast club has to go to Bloom. He made Premier League football the target, making ambition the buzzword at the AMEX.

With a young manager and a young side who work so well together, it’s difficult to give any reasons why Brighton don’t have a chance of making it out of the Championship by the door marked ‘Promotion’.

A lot of people see Brighton as dark horses for next season in the Championship, arguably the toughest league to predict in English football, and rightfully so.

Having won League One at a canter last season, they will aim to make the same sort of seamless transition to the next level that Norwich, Leeds and Millwall did in the previous campaign.

Maintaining the momentum gained from promotion is seen to be the one of the key ingredients to success in the Championship; the gulf in class between the Championship and League One isn’t quite as large as it is made out to be.

Although it was the FA Cup, in which anything can happen, Brighton did beat both Watford and Portsmouth last season - 1-0 and 3-1 respectively with the former result being away from home – to prove that they have the ability to mix it with sides from the Championship.

Beating off competition from Leicester City, who have every right to feel confident that their campaign will be successful, to sign the double-barreled hitman Craig Mackail-Smith for a club-record fee, shows that the Seagulls are a force to be reckoned with off the pitch and will hopefully be the same on it.

Wills Buckley and Hoskins have both arrived alongside Mackail-Smith to bolster the attacking options available to Poyet.

Hoskins joins with a point to prove after not living up to expectations with Watford at this level but 20 goals for a relegated Bristol Rovers side last season suggest that he has the assets to succeed with a team who should, theoretically, provide him with better service.

Buckley, a club record signing from Watford at the time, is seen as the replacement for Elliott Bennett, who left for Premier League pastures at Norwich. He impressed at Watford last season and will look to repeat the form that saw him touted as one of the best young players in the Championship.

Kazenga LuaLua returned to the club for his third loan spell this morning and could make the deal permanent in January. The management acknowledged his contribution to the promotion from League One last season and are keen to tie him down on a long-term deal when the opportunity arises in January.

Romain Vincelot has also checked in at the AMEX from Dagenham and Redbridge after 18 months of being courted by the Seagulls. His twelve goals weren’t enough to keep the Daggers in League One but, along with his versatility, it was enough to convince Poyet that he could be a valuable asset to the team.

It is a team which will look to compete in the division rather than settling for safety. Of course, survival is the primary aim but Brighton is a club with bigger plans. Perhaps a top-half finish would be realistic target for the forthcoming season with a play-off push the campaign after.

However, with Poyet and Bloom at the heart of the club, a top six push this season is not entirely out of the question and I, for one, would not be surprised if it were to materialise.

Chester 1-0 Tranmere

Chester beat Tranmere Rovers for the second pre-season running at the Exacta Stadium as Wes Baynes' superb strike 10 minutes into the second half proved to be the winner in what was a drab affair.

Rovers fielded a different team in either half which a number of trialists and youth team players given a chance to impress the management.

Owain Fon Williams missed out with a slight niggle so Andy Coughlin played the duration of the game in goal whilst the re-signed Danny Holmes made his first appearance for the club since 2008 at right back in the first half.

First-team regulars Mark McChrystal, Zoumana Bakayogo, Joss Labadie and Lucas Akins added experience to an XI which included youngsters Max Power, Will Vaulks and Ellis Appleton as well as sibling trialists Mabunuizia and Avanser Ngadrira.

Bakayogo started brightly for Tranmere, appearing to relish being back in his natural position of left back, marauding down the left hand side to support Appleton and cause problems to the Chester back-line.

The game never really came to life in the first half with a lot of niggly fouls meaning there was no tempo or flow from either side.

Labadie was one of the main culprits and got involved in a heated bust-up with an opposition player; a situation which was quickly diffused by Bakayogo. It was Labadie who had the first meaningful opportunity of the game with his snapshot palmed behind by goalkeeper John Danby but the corner was cleared.

The two trialists were doing little to impress though Mabunuizia Ngadrira was often left isolated from the rest of the team whilst his brother Avanser seemed to be playing too deep to have any sort of impact on the game.

However, this gave Max Power the chance to get forward and that he did with regularity though his shots did little to trouble Danby.

Chester still posed a threat and almost took the lead when a Chester forward was played in following a lapse in concentration from Holmes but Coughlin saved well and the danger was averted.

Labadie tried his luck from distance again just before the end of the half but his effort was deflected behind and the subsequent corner came to nothing which meant that the teams went into the break goalless.

9 substitutions were made at half time with Ash Taylor, Michael Kay, Robbie Weir, John Welsh and Andy Robinson being the first team players to come on.

Max Power and Andy Coughlin retained their places whilst trialists David Brown, David Raven, Liam O'Mahoney and Vinicus Arnaldo given a chance to prove that they are worthy of a contract.

Brown did little to impress and was often caught napping by Chester's right winger who enjoyed a lot of success down the flanks but was never sufficiently supported in the middle to provide any real danger.

Andy Robinson went close to giving Tranmere the lead with a free-kick from 25 yards that went just wide but another strike from 25 yards soon afterwards broke the deadlock.

Wes Baynes picked the ball up and drove at the Tranmere defence, who backed off, allowing him to find the top corner in spectacular style to give the Evo Stik Premier side the lead.

Robinson again went close with a free-kick but this time it was tipped over the bar by the goalkeeper as the League One team pressed for an equalizer. Arnaldo looked lively and shot wide after some good solo work but Chester still threatened and Coughlin had to be alert to snuff out any danger.

Former Sunderland trainee O’Mahoney thought he was in over the top after a superb cross-field pass from Weir but the linesman’s flag denied the Irishman a chance to score on debut for the Whites.

Tranmere almost played themselves into trouble as a hospital pass along the back four was intercepted but, fortunately, blushes were spared and the ball hacked away.

The defence refused to push out and kept backing off from Chester players which allowed them to come forward and shoot at will; something for them to work on in training for the rest of the week.

Robinson had another great chance for Tranmere but his first time effort was sliced following a bad clearance from the Chester goalkeeper.

Although Tranmere were providing plenty of pressure for the Chester defence to deal with, there was nobody gambling on the number of crosses coming into the box, leaving the Chester centre halves to clear with relative ease.

Despite incessant pressure from the visitors, Chester held out for a 1-0 win which will have delighted the majority of the 1,806 fans in attendance and given their squad a huge confidence boost heading into their next friendly which is against FC United of Manchester.

Tranmere will head to Colwyn Bay and Prestatyn over the course of the weekend looking for improvement on the performance at the Exacta.

Tranmere Squad Taking Shape

Tranmere have been handed an early pre-season boost with the news that some familiar faces will be at Prenton Park next season.

Midfielder Andy Robinson has delighted fans by signing a new one-year deal with the club after returning from his holiday whilst full-back Michael Kay and midfielder Robbie Weir, who both spent the second half of last season on loan from Sunderland, have each put pen to paper on a one year contract.

An option has been taken up by Tranmere to extend the contract of the Irish centre back Mark McChrystal, who arrived on the Wirral in January from Derry City, for another two years hoping that he can put in a string of confident and composed performances as he did last season.

Danny Holmes is the first player to sign for the Whites this Summer but, having been released back in 2009, it seems like more of a homecoming for the Rovers fan. He arrives from Welsh Premier League side TNS with rave reviews after being named in the team of the year by eight of the twelve managers in the league.

Most fans will not be surprised at the news of the contract renewals though it is pleasing to see that we remain a somewhat attractive proposition to players though better offers from elsewhere would, no doubt, not require a second thought.

For youngsters like Kay, Weir and Holmes, playing for us provides them with a chance to gain experience in a good standard of first team football that acts as a platform upon which they can build themselves the foundations for a successful career at a higher level having earned us a handsome sum in the process.

Robinson, by all accounts, could be seen as a luxury signing as it is common knowledge between Rovers fans that his salary is fairly larger than that of the majority of the first team squad. Fitness is key for the former Swansea talisman; I firmly believe that he still has the ability be one of the best players in the league on his day. If we can get him fit and keep him fit then we have a quality player on our hands.

McChrystal is being given a second crack at the English game after being released by Wolves without making an appearance. At the age of 26, it would not be too far-fetched to suggest that his best years are yet to come and hopefully we can be the beneficiaries of this. He is a calming influence at the back and, to me, seems like a natural replacement for the evergreen Ian Goodison.

The rebuilding process now begins in earnest for Les Parry, who will be bringing in a number of trialists in the coming weeks in order to boost numbers in one of the smaller squads in League One. A 46 game season is tough enough with a large squad but for clubs with small budgets it can be taxing and this is reflected through achievement on the field.

It is no secret that money is tight at Tranmere and now, more than ever, value for money is needed. Quite simply, we cannot afford to have passengers within the squad. Some fans are yet to be convinced by Parry whilst others simply back him because they have no other choice.

Personally, I think Parry should have left after keeping us up at Stockport in May 2010 but bringing in some quality players would go a long way to gaining more supporters of his regime.