Albion Continue Poyet Inquiry

By Henry Smith

The saga of Gus Poyet’s suspension continues as Albion Chief Executive Paul Barber has announced ‘inquiries will take as long as necessary.’

Poyet was suspended last month along with first team coach Charlie Oatway and managerial assistant Mauricio Taricco.

The Uruguayan has been manager of Brighton since 2009 and won promotion from League One in 2011.

The problems began after Brighton’s 2-0 loss to arch rivals Crystal Palace in the Championship semi-final of the playoffs.

Brighton officially apologised to The Eagles after excrement was found in the visitor’s dressing room, although no evidence suggests an Amex staff member was responsible.

Barber expressed sympathy to the fans saying, “I appreciate that the issues we have had to face in recent weeks have created some uncertainty and concern for some of our supporters.”

He added, “Unfortunately, this is something we must all live with for the time being.”

Poyet is under contract at Brighton until 2016 but has recently made no secret of his ambitions to manage at Premier League level, despite turning down an offer to manage Reading.

He said shortly after the Palace defeat, “I will analyse where we can go and myself as well. I have got to think about myself as well sometimes.”

There has also been a recent outcry in Spain, with fans of Real Zaragoza, where Poyet made his name as a player, calling for the club executives to make a move for the Albion boss.

Zaragoza’s current boss, Manolo Jimenez, is expected to leave at the end of the season after the club were relegated from Spain’s top division, La Liga.

Poyet’s future will be on mind of every Albion fan, who still seem to be backing the Uruguayan, who guided Brighton to a fourth place finish in the Championship this season, their highest since 1983.

Albion’s new training ground: good or bad?

Albion’s Amex stadium

By Mollie Bennett

Work is well under-way on Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club’s new state of the art training ground, but just how will it benefit the community.

The new £29million facilities will be based at New Monks Farm in Mash Barn Lane, Lancing.

It boasts 11 full size outdoor football pitches, with five for use by the first team and the other six for academy, youth team and community use.

It will also have a distinctive Y-shaped two-storey building, which will contain an indoor pitch, changing rooms, a swimming pool, medicine facilities, a gym, physio rooms and offices for the club’s analysts.

Albion have also recently submitted an application for three more pitches at the venue, insisting that it would not increase the number of people using the training ground.

They claim it would allow extra rotation at the facilities, to decrease wear on the pitches, increase the availability for community use and allow more time for schools and local clubs during the week.

Despite this, residents have objected to increase the application insisting it will impact on the local flood plain.

The club, however, say that as the pitches are being built four and a half metres above the existing ground water table, they will collect the rain waiter and use it for irrigation of the pitches.

The site, which is being built on land that was unused, is set to boast the local economy but some residents are not pleased with the project.

The Mash Barn Community Group fears it will create late night noise and light issues as well increase the traffic around the area.

They argue the land could have had greater public use if Adur District Council had instead opted to develop the site into seven public football pitches.

On the other hand, Albion insist the site will deliver a vital economic boost with the estimated 300 jobs it is set to create, along with the three million pound worth of building contracts that could be injected into the community.

Barry McLaughlin, of Albion in the Community believes it will have a positive influence, stating that it would serve to strengthen some of Brighton’s community engagement, including its Want to Work scheme, which has seen more than 300 people gain employment over the past year,

The bid was eventually accepted in September 2012 when eight councilors took just an hour and a half to decide unanimously to back the project.
Neil Parkin, leader of Adur District Council, said: “This is the largest investment in Lancing’s history and very important for the people of Lancing and Adur.”

A decision was originally expected in May 2012 but Albion were forced back to the drawing board when a number of concerns were raised over noise pollution, extra traffic and access to the site.

Councilors agreed to grant planning permission, subject to amendments, which included shorter lighting columns in the car park and alterations to the access roads.

Despite the amendments neighbours are still concerned about the noise pollution as well as traffic and access to the site, which would be along a two-way road that passes through a neighbouring estate,

The site would also include a 303-space car park with room for a coach and about 30 bicycles.

Brighton and Hove Albion director Martin Perry, reacted to the criticism insisting the club is eager to develop a good relationship with its neightbours at the Lancing site.

He said: “The facility will have a community-use agreement and subject to availability it will be open to the public.”

Perry also believes the site will create a new community legacy as the club has confirmed the scheme is making an investment of £1.3m towards additional sporting facilities within Adur to support emerging talent.

The Sussex County FA, based in Culver Road, Lancing, say they are delighted to see the development go ahead, insisting it will enhance the community in various ways, including bringing in business for the local businesses and creating employment possibilities in the local area.

They went on to explain how it will enable the local community to utilize better facilities by way of the financial contribution from the club to Adur District Council to enhance the existing faculties within the district.

“The Sussex County FA is delighted to see the development go ahead and will work with both the club and the local authorities to ensure that the community is a winner here,” they said.

Carrie Reynolds, who is community development manager at Inspire Leisure, the local gym facilities partnered with the Arun District Council, is also in favor of the new training ground.

She said: “Having BHAFC in our local area has had such a positive impact on community sport, and the work that the AITC team do day-to-day which improves the lives of so many.

“To have the football club invest in this fantastic facility will only improve community sport opportunities even further.”

Albion have been criticised for the location of their training facilities as they are outside Brighton, however they believe the 40-acre location will attract fans from across the whole area.

The club has selected the same company that constructed the Amex and the highway maintenance to and from the stadium, to build the site which is set to be fully functional for the start of Albion’s 2014 pre-season.

Buckingham Group Contracting will be constructing the site as part of a £22 million contract, while Adenstar Developments will be constructing the access road linking with the existing Mash Barn Lane.

The Adur-based company previously built the access roads through the University of Sussex, and will be performing under a £600,000 engineering contract.

Pearce’s Young Lions comfortably defeat Austria 4-0 in friendly

By Liam Lawrence

Stuart Pearce’s youngsters secured their ninth consecutive victory with a 4-0 win over Austria at the Amex.

England continued with their winning streak and kept another clean sheet with goals coming from Jonjo Shelvey, Josh McEachran, Marvin Sordell and Conor Wickham.

This victory is the last before the European Championships in Israel and will ensure they go into the tournament with high spirits and unfaltering confidence.

Swiss official Adrien Jaccottets red cards to Austria’s goalkeeper Richard Strebinger and defender Peter Farkas on either side of half time turned the tide in favor of England.

Strebinger was dismissed after handling the ball outside the area and Shelvey hammered home the resulting free kick.

A handball in the area from Farkas resulted in his second yellow card and Josh McEachran converted the penalty to make it two.

After Austria were down to nine men England were free to dominate with number three coming from Marvin Sordell with a shot from close range.

The final nail in the coffin came on the 74^th minute when Conor Wickham avoided the offside trap, took it round the keeper and coolly slotted it in.

“It was give or take before the sending off,” said England manager Stuart Pearce.

“But there were a lot of pluses, they certainly outweighed the negatives.”

England will be prime contenders for success in the European Championships with this ninth consecutive win and having not conceded in any of these games.

Pearce’s side start the championships against Italy on 5 June before facing Norway three days later and then play the hosts on 11 June.

Hat-trick hero Ulloa sinks Huddersfield in 4-1 victory

Poyet confident ahead of Huddersfield clash

Poyet targets Chelsea job

by Tom Mackintosh

Brighton manager Gus Poyet reaffirmed his desire to manage at the highest level after being linked with a return to former club Chelsea yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of his side’s clash with Huddersfield, Poyet responded to claims that he was one of the front runners to replace Benitez at Stamford Bridge.

Brighton currently lie sixth in the Championship and go into Saturday’s game on the back of three straight league victories and have conceded just once in the last four games.

When informed that he was 7/1 on to succeed Benitez, Poyet said “That’s my aim. I want to go to the highest level whether it’s Chelsea or someone else.”

The Chelsea manager claimed he was ready to leave the European Champions on Wednesday night and this has fuelled speculation surrounding who will replace him in the summer.

Benitez reacted angrily when the Chelsea supporters targeted him with a series of chants and display of banners at his side’s 2-0 victory away at Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round.

“Chelsea gave me the title of interim manager which is a mistake.” Benitez told BBC Radio 5 Live. “I am the manager. The fans are not helping us. At the end of the season I will leave. They don’t have to worry about me”.

Gus Poyet made 105 appearances for The Blues in a four year stint, winning the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, earning him legendary status at the Bridge.

However despite the rumours, the Uruguayan insisted he didn’t watch Chelsea in midweek and was focussed solely on preparations for Saturday as Brighton look to cement a play-off spot.

“I can assure you I didn’t watch Chelsea against Middlesbrough. I was paying attention to preparing for our game against Huddersfield on Saturday by watching them in a competitive game at Burnley. That’s my job.”

Lopez strike lifts Brighton up to sixth

By Tom Mackintosh

Brighton 1 Burnley 0 - report of Saturday’s match

David Lopez’s first-half volley was enough to sink Burnley on Saturday, and move Brighton into the play-off places, as the season moves into the business end. The Spaniard latched onto the end of a Wayne Bridge cross to score his fifth goal of the season in front of a bumper crowd at the Amex Stadium.

Burnley, whose promotion push has started to recede, have failed to win any of their last four league games. Brighton, on the other hand, have won three of their last four. And despite a number of commanding outfield performances, it was Tomasz Kuszczak who stole the show with a string of sensational saves.

Albion boss Gus Poyet on goalscorer David Lopez: “He is a different player and I always try to play him. Because of his technical ability he scores some very important goals and he showed that again.”

Burnley manager on his side’s efforts: “We deserved something, absolutely. You win games with displays like that and to come here and perform like that was very pleasing.”

Brighton, who started slowly, had to withstand early pressure from the visitors but took the lead on the twenty minute mark. Vicente capped a masterful display in the heart of the Seagulls midfield by spraying a ball out wide for Bridge. The former England defender’s cross was flicked on by Ulloa and Lopez arrived at the back post to fire past a helpless Grant to give Brighton a 1-0 lead.

This didn’t prevent Burnley’s dominance and they were unfortunate not to equalise on the half hour mark. Keith Treacy’s corner was met by Burnley skipper Jason Shackell but his effort was cleared off the line by Wayne Bridge.

A few minutes later, Shackell got on the end of another Treacy corner, but his bullet header was excellently saved by Kuszczak. Brighton manager Gus Poyet hailed his keeper’s performance after the game and at times he kept his side in the contest.

Burnley started the second half the same way they started the first by maintaining possession of the ball effortlessly It was Brighton who wasted the best opportunity of the half as Leonardo Ulloa failed to convert from close range midway through the second half.  Burnley could have snatched an equaliser right at the death but top scorer Charlie Austin squandered a great chance after getting on the end of Danny Ings’s cross.

Brighton, rather fortunately perhaps, clung on to all three points.

Van Persie saves the day for United in the FA Cup

By Robert Dean

Manchester United’s Robin Van Persie broke West Ham hearts with an injury time equaliser in the FA Cup third round at Upton Park.

Van Persie was able to come on and make a telling contribution, despite Sir Alex Ferguson choosing to rest his star man from the start.

The Dutchman showed his class to expertly control Ryan Giggs’ raking long pass, before finishing confidently with his right foot to level the game at two apiece.

Manchester United had the brighter start and looked comfortable in possession, with Tom Cleverly intelligently knitting play together.

On nine minutes this pressure nearly paid off when Javier Hernandez was inches away from connecting onto a knock down from Chris Smalling.

After this West Ham grew in confidence and the game looked like it had all the makings of a classic cup tie.

They were unlucky not to take the lead on 12 minutes when Alou Diarra rose well to head home a Jack Collison corner, but Paul Scholes stuck to his duty to clear of the line.

Less than ten minutes later West Ham were forced to clear of the line themselves, when 18 year old Dan Potts, son of former Hammers favourite Steve, denied Nemanja Vidic his first goal of the season.

Potts, who was making his first appearance since returning from a loan spell at Colchester,  looked calm and assured in defence and showed he is ready to compete at the highest level.

Manchester United made the break through on 23 minutes with a slick counter attacking move down the right hand side.

Hernandez delivered an inch perfect low cross to find Cleverly in the box, who coolly stroked home to put the visitors 1-0 up.

The game also marked the return of Joe Cole to the club where he started his career.

The former Chelsea and England star always remained popular with the home support and received a rousing reception.

The cultured midfielder was instrumental in West Hams equaliser on 27 minutes, when he delivered and in swinging cross from the left for defender James Collins to skilfully glance home.

The only other chance of the half fell to Danny Welbeck when another counter attack led to him breaking with pace and power to get into the box, only for Jussi Jaaskelainen to beat away his powerful effort.

Manchester United started the second half brightly and should have put themselves ahead on 48 minutes.

After West Ham failed to clear a Rafael cross, the ball, again, sat up nicely for Cleverly but this time he was not so accurate, blazing the ball over from 18 yards.

Joe Cole continued to sparkle and was able to carve out to two good chances for his team around the hour mark.

The first came from a mazy dribble on the right followed by a pin-point cross to Carlton Cole in the box, but, the striker’s header was confidently held by David De Gea.

The second lead to West Ham’s second goal, which was a near carbon copy of their first.

Joe Cole  found himself with room on the left and was again able to find James Collins in the box, who superbly headed home into the corner of the net  to leave De Gea no chance.

After that Ferguson decided to bring in the reinforcements in the shape of Van Persie, Giggs and Antonio Valencia.

Van Persie made an instant impact with his first touch of the game and should have done better with a near post header from a corner.

From there on West Ham defended doggedly and kept Manchester United quiet for the large part, restricting them to very few goal scoring opportunities.

Welbeck and Giggs may feel they could have done better with close range, headed opportunities to level the game, after crosses from Alexander Buttner and Rafael respectively.

Carlton Cole also had a chance to put the game to bed for West Ham, on 88 minutes, when he received the ball unmarked at the far post but De Gea was quick of his line to smother the ball.

The game appeared to be petering  out into an historic West Ham win before Van Persie’s moment of genius levelled the game to send it to a replay.

The replay will be played at Old Trafford on Wednesday 16th of January and the winners will face either Fulham or Blackpool at home in the fourth round.

Hastings United FA Cup Run

By Anthony Scott

Despite lying 18th in the Premier Division, Ryman League side Hastings United have proved to be this season’s fairytale in the FA Cup.

They are just one game away from travelling to north-east giants Middlesbrough in the Third Round for what would be their first ever appearance in the last 64 of the nation’s most decorated cup competition.

Jamie Crellin’s equaliser after the hour against Blue Square North side Harrogate Town enforced a replay on the 11th December at the Pilot Field, in front of what promises to be a bumper crowd.

Hastings’ FA Cup run began way back in September, beating Chatham Town in the First Qualifying Round 3-1, their first win in the FA Cup since 2006-07.

In the Second Qualifying Round, they travelled to Staines Town, who themselves were the subject of a historic FA Cup run back in 2009 when they reached the Second Round proper.

A Bradley Goldberg brace helped United to a 3-2 win and seal a place in the Third Qualifying Round.

It then took a replay to get past Hitchin Town, who had defeated Whitehawk 5-0 in the previous round, as player/manager Sean Ray scored possibly one of his most important goals in his career with the winner in a 2-1 victory in Hertfordshire.

Attention was then turned to Blackfield & Langley in the Fourth Qualifying Round, where in front of 800 people the U’s progressed to the first round for the first time in 10 years.

Goals from Zac Attwood, Goldberg and Ray in a 3-0 home win.

A tough away trip to Blue Square North side Bishops Stortford awaited for United on November 3rd, but once again the Ryman Premier outfit caused an upset.

After going 1-0 down after just seven minutes, an inspirational last 20 minutes saw the visitors turn around the deficit and courtesy of Ray and an 87th minute winner from Attwood, the club booked their place in the second round proper for the first time in their 118 year history.

Now after Crellin’s equalizer cancelled out Tom Platt’s first half effort, Hastings believe they can cause another upset and set up a tie with one of the north-east footballing giants.

Should footballers be allowed to use social networking sites?

By Mollie Bennett

When you think about football, you think of passion, pride and commitment; you think of proudly wearing your team’s jersey on match day.

You don’t think of following your football hero on twitter, well at least you never used to.

Rewind ten years and social networking wasn’t an issue, in fact most people wouldn’t have a clue what it was, they would talk to each other face to face or by telephone. Today it’s broadcast online for the world to see.

Footballers run the risk on a daily basis when using social networking sights, take Rio Ferdinand for example, calling his fellow England international a “choc ice” for all of his 3.4m followers to see and receiving a mere £45,000 fine for his troubles.

Ferdinand branded his Premier League rival a “choc ice” after Cole gave evidence on behalf of Terry in a racist trail involving Rio’s younger brother Anton (Ferdinand).

Charlotte Bennett, a member of Southern Women’s Premier League side Lewes, believes that footballers should remember they are role models, when using social networking sites.

She said: “I think footballers should be allowed to use it but for the right things, for example communicating with fans or for match advertisement. I don’t agree with it being used to voice frustrations against other professionals, if people feel that strongly, they should say it to their face. All footballers need to remember they are role models, on and off the pitch and they represent their clubs.”

As technology is ever-growing, so is the number of troublesome tweets. The FA have recently announced a new social networking policy which includes separate sections for when players are on England duty or with their clubs.

The new code of conduct, due to come into force in November 2012, states that England players will not be permitted to use social media sites, 24 hours prior to any international game.

The full details of the conduct are not being made public, although it is said to include the recommendation that all England internationals should consult the FA before posting a tweet, however, doesn’t that defeat the object of tweeting in the first place?

Surely footballers understand that when tweeting on social networking sites, the whole world can see what their saying and just because they choose to tweet instead of talk, it doesn’t make it acceptable to call your employer a ‘bunch of t***s’.

The life of a footballer is undoubtedly surreal but surely not so bizarre that they can label their employers ‘t***s’ and carry on like nothing’s happened.

For every day people, social networks are a way of broadcasting their personality and meeting new people and this could be the case for footballers as well, if they understood the difference between what is acceptable and what is not.

Nobody is denying that twitter is a way for footballers to connect with their fans, but certain footballers feel it’s acceptable to publish personal opinions on a worldwide platform and that is where the problem lies.

Success for Brighton and Hove Football Club

By Josh Harrison

The recent success of Brighton and Hove Football Club has been a joy to see for fans of the club and football fans throughout England.

A new award winning stadium, promotion to the championship, and an exciting style of football have given fans much optimism about the future, with many believing that the premiership is not far away, and you can hardly blame them.

Not many would have predicted Brighton would be in such a good position when Gus Poyet took over as manager. The team continued to struggle in the bottom four of league one, but the Uruguayan has inspired a remarkable change in fortune.

Lifelong fan and season ticket holder Stephan Warr thinks Poyet’s appointment has been a key factor to the Albion’s climb up the football league: “Gus took over as manager when we were in the bottom 4 of league one has propelled us to a top 10 Championship side in under 4 years. Therefore he must be doing something right. I think the main thing is that he has a good knowledge of the game and his enthusiasm and desire is second to none. He has the character that has managed to persuade top players to come and play for Brighton, players like Craig Mackail-Smith”.

Another thing that has inspired the team to do well is the number of top quality players Poyet has bought to strengthen the team; players such as Mackail Smith, Vicente, Bruno and Wayne Bridge, all players with international experience, and all players fans wouldn’t have dreamed of signing four years ago.

Brighton and Hove Albion tour guide Sam Evans still can’t believe how far the team has come under Poyet: “Gus (Poyet) has totally transformed the team and from watching them at the Withdean during the league one years, bottom of the table, the transformation under his regime has been incredible. Signing players like Vicente and Bruno, Spanish international player, has shown how far we have come, and really do think it won’t be long until we achieve promotion to the premiership.”

The championship is without doubt a very tough league and the task of achieving promotion may prove to be too difficult for the team. However with a young exciting manager, talented new players, and one of the best stadiums in England, surely it won’t be long before Brighton’s brilliant revolution continues and they achieve promotion to the Premiership.

Why is sexism still tolerated in football today?

Why is sexism still tolerated in football today?

While football has spent millions of pounds setting up campaigns to kick racism and homophobia out of the game, sexism continues to be tolerated.

Whether it’s sexism by mocking any female’s involvement in the sport, sexism by insulting a female official for making the CORRECT decision or half the nation still holding the prejudice view that football is a “man’s sport”.

Either way sexism is not acceptable and should not be endured.

It is almost two years since the sexist comments made by the male pundits Andy Gray and Richard Keys (below) were broadcast live to the nation.

For those of you that don’t remember the snide and pathetic comments made during a premier league game, I am about to remind you.

It was the 22^nd January 2010 and Sian Massey (below) was running the line in a Premier League game between Wolves and Liverpool.

Keys and gray mocked Ms Massey, who correctly allowed Liverpool’s first goal to stand, despite Wolves claiming Raul Meireles was offside in the build up.

Keys began the abuse saying: “Somebody better get down there and explain the offside rule to her.” Gray then joined in, expressing his ancient prejudice views: “Can you believe that? A female linesman, women don’t know the offside rule”.

With almost every woman in the country offended, the low abuse continued when in a later exchange Keys added: “The games gone mad. Did you hear charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Do me a favour love.”

With Andy Gray and Mr. Keys having offended Sian Massey, as well as the majority of the females in the nation, they continued to make matters worse by trying to deny their comments.

When Keys was confronted about the sexist remarks, he showed just how spineless he is, saying, “I have no recollection of that. I have no idea what you are talking about”

Gray then tried to defend himself, claiming he is not a sexist before continuing to say: “This was a private bit of banter released to the social media and for some reason the press tore us apart.”

So after both Keys and Grays did not have the backbone to express their views publicly, they tried to deny their comments. And to make matters even worse Mr Gray still doesn’t see what he’s done wrong. Hilarious.

I must say I did love it when Gray and Keys were both humiliated by a number of sporting heroes, who unlike them, are strong enough to broadcast their un-prejudiced views publicly.

Firstly, Manchester United and England international Rio Ferdinand took to twitter, he said: “I’m all for women refereeing in football, discrimination should not happen in our game at all… prehistoric views if you think otherwise”.

Then it was the turn of the females, firstly Kelly Dalglish – daughter of Liverpool Legend Kenny- who sarcastically tweeted: Phew, I’m exhausted. Just read about something called ‘the offside rule’, far too much for my tiny brain, must be damaged from nail polish fumes.”

It was then the turn of Karren Brady, who said: “ I just think its unfair, everyone is entitled to a personal opinion but what really upsets me is the fact that only females in our industry are judged by their gender and that is categorically wrong”.

She continued: “ I don’t think any of the comments were anything other than sexism. You know, ‘we’d better go down and tell her the offside rule’. I’m surprised they didn’t say ‘we’d better go down and tell her to put the kettle on’. It almost makes it worse that they were speaking when the microphones were not on because they have never really had the brass neck to say it publicly, they would only say it privately”.

Justice was done in the end, when Sky Sports made the correct decision and sacked both Andy Gray and Richard Keys from their roles, leaving them humiliated and rightly so.

Since then, the women’s game has improved rapidly; in 2011 The Women’s Super League was introduced to the female game. The WSL is a semi professional league for the top tier of women’s football in England; it is televised regularly on ESPN and is helping to promote women’s football as a whole.

Also, the success of the women’s football Team GB (below) was another chance for the public to endure the quality and flare the women’s team boosts, after their journey was broadcast on the BBC throughout the Olympic games.

However despite the constant increase in both popularity and quality in the game there is still no doubt that sexism still happens within the sport.

Some men are still to this day so prejudice that they believe women should have no involvement in football whatsoever.

Unfortunately, this view is shared with quite a range of males as men’s football is still far superior and women are still frowned upon for having any sort of passion for the sport they love.

The hardest thing to accept is the fact that society is rejecting previous prejudice views such as homophobia, but is still allowing sexism to continue.

For me the FA have got to step in and act by introducing an anti-sexism campaign – similar to that of the recent ‘kick racism out of football’ campaign to stop racism – it cannot be tolerated any more.

I understand it will take time – possibly generations – to eliminate every sexist person from the sport, but it needs to start somewhere.

It is simply no longer acceptable for males to portray their arrogant sexist views into society today. They need to wake up and realise humanity has moved on and that women’s football – whether playing it, watching it or officiating it – is now a worldwide trend.

By Mollie Bennett

Seagulls Flying!

If you asked Seagulls fans how their season would pan out after 3 games most would have have given a less than favourable reply. With a loss and a draw in the league as well as getting knocked out of the Capital One cup by League 1′s Swindon, its fair to say their season started with a stutter.

However, since then Gus Poyet’s boys have been on a fantastic run with 5 wins in a row. During this impressive stretch, which included 3 tough away days, they’ve also managed 14 goals whilst only conceeding 3.

A big part of this is record signing Craig Mackail-Smith rediscovering his goalscoring touch. The hard working forward struggled at times last season but with 6 goals in 7 games, hes given a big boost to his sides promotion hopes.

This has been coupled with 2 big name name experienced signings in the back 5.

Tomasz Kuszczak and Bruno have been consitent performers in defence, with both bringing champions league experience from Manchester United and valencia respectively.

So with Seagulls fans rejoicing at how far they’ve come under Poyet’s stewardship, they look forward to another promotion push in what promises to be an exciting season.

Breaking news: Brighton & Hove Albion players charged with sexual assault and voyeurism

By Liam Dawes

Three Brighton & Hove Albion players and a Bournemouth player have been charged with sexual assault and voyeurism.

This week’s Albion Press Conference

By Paul Healey

 Today’s Amex Stadium conference included the views of Assistant Manager Mauricio Tarrico and players Liam Bridcutt and Sam Vokes.

There is a common view that every game is going to be like a cup final ahead of play-off rival Middlesbrough’s visit on Saturday.

Mauricio said: “At the start of the season we wanted a good championship team. We had not considered…the play-offs…which are nice to be in.”

The team do not feel they are under particular pressure and will be urged to carry on playing their normal game.

When asked how the next opponents are expected to play he said “We will know at 3:05!”.

He has seen many teams change the way they play when they come to the Amex.

Cool heads need to prevail unlike the debacle at local ground Crawley Town this week which ended in a post-match scrap and five red cards.

Mauricio jokingly left the conference with: “Are you going to ask me about new signings?!” when Gus Poyet had already stressed in the week the main focus is now on finishing in the play-offs.

Liam Bridcutt confirmed it works for him to think about the next game to come and not to get carried away with the league position.

Sam Vokes was asked if like Norwich his team had what it takes to be in the premiership and was firm on the point that it really could happen.

He said: “We will carry on with the lone striker and two wingers style of play or switch it depending on which works”.

Gary Dicker is confirmed as in the squad and may feature in the next game.

Crawley in with real chance of promotion

By Paul Healey

Division Two side Crawley have ex-Brighton goalie Michael Kuipers to thank for their latest clean sheet, and are now in the play-offs by a clear distance and with games in hand.

Do they have what it takes to achieve back-to-back promotions? It certainly looks that way. Two wins and three draws gives them the best form of all the top teams second only to Crewe who are in eight.

Their next matches are away to Bradford, Burton Albion, Barnet, Dagenham & Reds, with the final game against Accrington. But there are home games against Rotherham, Crewe, Wimbledon, Northampton and Hereford. These means they do not have to play any of the teams in the top seven in the run-in to the end of the season.

It looks very bright for the The Reds at the moment.  If not champions, then second or third place is entirely achievable.