Can anyone meet Brighton's standards?

BBC News

22-04-2025

Tony Bloom famously does not go in the director's box at Brentford because of a falling out he had with Bees owner Matthew Benham 20 years ago.Images of Bloom celebrating victories at Gtech Community Stadium have gone viral in the past because no other Premier League chairman joins supporters on the terraces.It is brilliant when things are going well, but maybe not so much when the Albion sink - as was the case on Saturday, when Bloom found himself sat in the middle of an away end in which a lot of people could be clearly heard singing: "You don't know what you're doing" at manager Fabian Hurzeler.Brighton value their reputation as the best run club in English football so much that when there has been dissent from the terraces before, they have gone out of their way to tell the media it was only a "small minority" of "doom and gloom" fans.That spin will not work this time though.Just 1,600 Albion fans could buy tickets for Brentford. Those inside the Gtech were at the top of the loyalty points scheme and the most dedicated Seagulls supporters around - and enough of them turned for it to warrant mentioning in every match report about the game.It seems a bit mad because Brighton are10th in the Premier League. If they end the season there, it would be the third highest finish in the club's history. It is a position every fan would have bitten your arm off for... before 2023.The problem is Roberto de Zerbi. He tore up the rule book and showed European qualification was possible for Brighton - and that was before a £200m spending spree.No Albion supporter expects a top-six finish every season, but managers are now being judged against what De Zerbi did. The standards have been raised.The question is can Hurzeler - or anyone else for that matter - meet them? And if they cannot, does that mean they don't know what they're doing?Find more from Scott McCarthy at We Are Brighton, external