A large part of their strategy is to recruit from countries with an established football culture but often overlooked by top teams because they’ve not always produced a slew of elite players.
They have shunned scouting the Brazilian league pretty much entirely as all top talent has left the country for top teams by the age of 20. You also pay a Brazilian premium. However, they knew Ecuador had good youth teams and the top clubs didn’t trust the players coming over until proven elsewhere in Europe. Caicedo was known throughout world football as a top young talent but none of the top clubs were willing to risk signing an Ecuadorean unproven in Europe. Brighton took the gamble and sent him to Belgium for a year. He was 18 and already an international so not a huge gamble but the top teams really are shortsighted with this kind of thing (they can afford to be inefficient). Encisco is a very similar case. Young, talented, unfashionable country, so they got him cheap.
They’ve also had a keen eye on Asia as their players were undervalued but now, alongside Celtic, clubs are waking up to the idea they can find top talent relatively cheaply in Japan.
The real coup seems to be Ferguson though and I’m not sure of the background to how he was uncovered. It’s great that the Irish seem to have produced another top talent after a decade + dry spell. I’ve heard a lot of talk that he could prove to be something very special.
What Brighton have done is really something but you’d think the back room team will eventually be lured away for higher wages elsewhere. If Bloom is sensible he’ll be pumping a reasonable amount of the return on transfer fees into the wages of his key players in the back room scouting system. They deserve a large share of the reward for transfer success and it will keep the competition away.
It’s gonna turn into one of those situations where people say “they can’t keep doing it” but they will and everyone will continue saying “just wait a couple more years it’s coming” and before you’ll know it they’re a top half Prem team for 10 years.
The thing is the gap between the PL and the Championship gets ever wider and the teams coming up from the Championship are less and less equipped to compete in the PL. Anyone want to put any money on Luton or Sheff Utd surviving this year?
If you can usually rely on 2 of the promoted clubs going down, you have a good chance of managing to stay up after you get established in the PL. Palace - sorry to say - are a good example.
I know a bloke called Dick Knight who is currently life president at Brighton. Whilst I appreciate what Bloom has done, no discussion about the success of Brighton can take place without Dick being mentioned. There is a ‘Dicks Bar’ as the Amex. Without Dick there would be no Brighton Football Club. Perhaps even Steve Gritt can claim a bit of the plaudits. Bloom took them on to bigger and better things , but there would have been nothing to take on without Dick Knight.
Dickie Knight was in my local on Saturday night. A Brighton and Hove Albion legend, much revered in these parts.
A large part of their strategy is to recruit from countries with an established football culture but often overlooked by top teams because they’ve not always produced a slew of elite players.
They have shunned scouting the Brazilian league pretty much entirely as all top talent has left the country for top teams by the age of 20. You also pay a Brazilian premium. However, they knew Ecuador had good youth teams and the top clubs didn’t trust the players coming over until proven elsewhere in Europe. Caicedo was known throughout world football as a top young talent but none of the top clubs were willing to risk signing an Ecuadorean unproven in Europe. Brighton took the gamble and sent him to Belgium for a year. He was 18 and already an international so not a huge gamble but the top teams really are shortsighted with this kind of thing (they can afford to be inefficient). Encisco is a very similar case. Young, talented, unfashionable country, so they got him cheap.
They’ve also had a keen eye on Asia as their players were undervalued but now, alongside Celtic, clubs are waking up to the idea they can find top talent relatively cheaply in Japan.
The real coup seems to be Ferguson though and I’m not sure of the background to how he was uncovered. It’s great that the Irish seem to have produced another top talent after a decade + dry spell. I’ve heard a lot of talk that he could prove to be something very special.
What Brighton have done is really something but you’d think the back room team will eventually be lured away for higher wages elsewhere. If Bloom is sensible he’ll be pumping a reasonable amount of the return on transfer fees into the wages of his key players in the back room scouting system. They deserve a large share of the reward for transfer success and it will keep the competition away.
If I remember rightly Manchester United wanted him but there was about 4 different agents trying to claim an interest etc, Brighton obviously put the work in to sort that out.
I remember seeing brighton play their home matches at priestfields at the bottom of then division 3. What an incredible story. They've always been good about bringing through young talent and investing in the right sort of player.
I know a bloke called Dick Knight who is currently life president at Brighton. Whilst I appreciate what Bloom has done, no discussion about the success of Brighton can take place without Dick being mentioned. There is a ‘Dicks Bar’ as the Amex. Without Dick there would be no Brighton Football Club. Perhaps even Steve Gritt can claim a bit of the plaudits. Bloom took them on to bigger and better things , but there would have been nothing to take on without Dick Knight.
True, but I wonder if DK ever mentioned any “uncredited support” from TB during his tenure ?
Comments
They’ve also had a keen eye on Asia as their players were undervalued but now, alongside Celtic, clubs are waking up to the idea they can find top talent relatively cheaply in Japan.
The real coup seems to be Ferguson though and I’m not sure of the background to how he was uncovered. It’s great that the Irish seem to have produced another top talent after a decade + dry spell. I’ve heard a lot of talk that he could prove to be something very special.
The thing is the gap between the PL and the Championship gets ever wider and the teams coming up from the Championship are less and less equipped to compete in the PL. Anyone want to put any money on Luton or Sheff Utd surviving this year?
If you can usually rely on 2 of the promoted clubs going down, you have a good chance of managing to stay up after you get established in the PL. Palace - sorry to say - are a good example.
Back to back 4-1 victories has them at the top of the Premier League, at least for the time being.