At the end of the summer transfer window, when Albion lost at Newcastle and then returned from an international break to be beaten at home by Brentford, you did not have to look very far for criticism of the club in making Shane Duffy their record signing.

'What a waste of money' was the gist of the reaction across social media platforms as the Republic of Ireland centre-half, captured for around £4 million, followed an error-riddled conclusion to his career for Blackburn Rovers, blighted by own goals and red cards, by featuring in successive league defeats which dropped the Seagulls to 13th.

Four months on, a lot of searching would be required to find anyone with a bad word to say about Duffy and Albion now.

He returns to Lancashire at Preston tomorrow with Chris Hughton's side on top of the table, defending an undefeated 18-match run in the Championship which has included wins at Rovers (below) and another of North End's neighbours, Wigan.

The Argus: Duffy and his team-mates have come a long way since an uncomfortable Amex debut against Brentford's two-goal Scott Hogan, which has proved to be such a turning point.

 

"Personally it was for me," Duffy told The Argus. "I had to sit down and have a look at it. Those two games weren't good for me. I thought 'I've got to change to play in this team' and I did.

"The manager sat me down and had a word with me about the way the team play. In those first two games I was away (with the Republic of Ireland). I had one day here, so he didn't really know which way he wanted me to play, then I had a week's training, we played Huddersfield and I just went and played my own game.

"Bruno was back at right-back. It was just difficult for the first couple of games when you don't know which way to play. It's definitely been more enjoyable since the Brentford game and long may it continue."

Duffy had little inkling of the pleasures awaiting him when he left Ewood Park. He knew he was joining a progressive club, but had no idea he was stepping into a squad with such a deep-rooted sense of camaraderie, illustrated to the outside world by the response to the death of Anthony Knockaert's father.

"No, not at all," he said. "Just from the outside I could just see it was a club that was progressing and it looked exciting to join.

"From last season I thought I'd love to play for that club, but when you get here it's different.

"The togetherness here is something I've never seen before. Anywhere in the building, it's all the same.

"It's brilliant to be involved in and for me so far I couldn't have had any better, off the pitch as well.

"As we've seen with Anthony, it's a team that wants to play each other, friends on and off the pitch.

"You don't notice it at the start. You just want to come in and play football. You don't really take it all in, but from the day you walk into the changing room they've just welcomed me.

"It doesn't matter if you are 16 or 36, everyone is treated quite similar here."

The Argus: Duffy, 25 on New Year's Day, has played an imposing part alongside Lewis Dunk (above) in 11 clean sheets in the sequence which has transformed Albion from the uncertainty of mid-table into the team everybody has to catch.

Hughton said: "He's been excellent and, credit to him, he's learnt and developed from that period.

"Our interest in Shane had been for some time. You also have to remember in that initial period before he came here he had a very difficult period at Blackburn.

"He's had to go through all of that. We were obviously very confident that he would. He's built up a very good relationship with the back four and goalkeeper.

"Since he's been here he's probably missed one day's training, played a lot of games and has now become a fairly regular player at international level.

"Without being a strong figure vocally, he certainly doesn't like losing. On anything that is questioned he is very comfortable saying his piece.

"He is a good figure around the changing room and he is certainly showing leadership qualities on the pitch. He has a real desire to win matches."

The dominant Duffy-Dunk combination is disrupted at Deepdale tomorrow by the latter's completion of a two-match ban for accumulating ten cautions.

Duffy will be accompanied instead by Connor Goldson (below), renewing a one-off partnership which served Albion well at Wigan in October.

The Argus: "On the day it got better as the game wore on," Duffy said. "Obviously, it was brand new, like when I first played with Lewis.

"I know him (Goldson) as a person a lot better now, so it will be a lot easier to play with him.

"Everyone knows how good Connor is and hopefully it will be the same outcome, 1-0."

Everybody knows how good Duffy is now as well.