Brighton’s Bizarre Decision To Sack Chris Hughton

The Premier League season, as most of you know by now, came to an end yesterday. One of the main stories heading into the day was who would win the Premier League title – Manchester City or Liverpool. All City had to do was beat Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex, in a rematch of their FA Cup semi-final from last month.

In the end it wound up being a pretty competitive first 45 minutes, as reported by BBC, with the Seagulls even taking the lead. Glenn Murray looked as if he could be the hero that handed Liverpool the title, but alas, City proved to be far too strong as they wound up running out 4-1 winners. A lot of Brighton fans decided to stay and watch the celebrations of Pep Guardiola’s men, and whilst they were doing so, they probably could never have imagined that it would be the last time they’d be seeing Chris Hughton in charge of their club.

Farewell, Mr Hughton

That’s exactly what came to fruition, though, as The Guardian has reported that the club has decided to sack Hughton and his staff with immediate effect. The following statement was issued by the chairman.

“Undoubtedly, this has been one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make as chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion, but ultimately one I have made due to how we struggled in the second half of the season.

“Our run of 3 wins from 23 Premier League matches put our status at significant risk. It is with that in mind, and the performances during that period, that I now feel it’s the right time for a change.”

Logically speaking the poor football that they’ve played as of yet really isn’t good enough, but you only need to look at this objectively to realise it’s a pretty bizarre decision. Hughton, who already had a reputation as one of English football’s most underrated managers, was able to gain promotion with Brighton before keeping them up in consecutive seasons.

Is it fair?

That alone would seemingly indicate he should be given more time, but it goes far beyond that. Why? Because as we noted earlier in the piece, he was able to guide them to the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley.

They weren’t able to do all too much to trouble City on the day, but the fact that they had a day like that just a few years after being in the lower leagues should tell you what a great job Hughton has done. He doesn’t always play the most beautiful football in the world but he isn’t exactly expected to. He was there to do a job, he did the job, and he gets the sack? That doesn’t sound particularly fair to us, but perhaps we’re being a little bit misguided.

Brighton fans seem to be split down the middle with this one, but to be honest, it all kind of depends on what happens with the next appointment.

Best of luck, Chris.