Albion have come a long way since they did pre-season on a bumpy old pitch in a tiny Irish village.

Those who were involved and able to remember those days might have reflected on the contrast as they watched their club play in huge USA venues recently.

Or as representatives of the club were invited to tour the White House.

Or as they were involved in five community events in one day around New York and New Jersey.

Or even as they saw many of their 75 staff members on tour shifting kit and equipment to get to the next base.

Albion will review their recent trip to the Premier League Summer Series in depth.

But it has already been hailed as a big logistical success as the whole show was flown across the Atlantic for about ten days.

Alongside three quality friendlies in three cities, they were also involved in an array of events which spread the word and image of the club.

It was also very good practice for staff on and off the field for the European missions which are coming from next month.

The trip was financed by the Premier League itself.

Albion chief executive and vice-chairman Paul Barber said: “We've long promised American Express that we would bring the team to the United States and, in particular, to New York, which we did.

“We promised that we would engage with all of their staff at their worldwide headquarters, and we did and that was absolutely fantastic, and we also were able to meet a lot of our US-based fans, both locally-born and also travelling.

“We did an open training session at New Jersey, which was which was attended by about 1,000 supporters, which was incredible, and we also did a number of different activities, ranging from visits to some of the American sports teams like the New York Mets, New York Jets, up to attending a function at the White House.

“There were a lot of people that we engaged with who were not Brighton fans but they have come to watch what they described as one of the most entertaining teams in the Premier League.

“The performances and the way the club conducted itself throughout the tour would have helped grow our fanbase.

“That's part of the long-term plan.

“As we've always said, we need to dominate the South of England, in terms of fans, before we worry about the rest of the world.

“But, when the opportunities come to spread the word further and to convert fans in different countries, we'll take that opportunity and this is a good example of where we've been able to do that.

“I was also very proud of the staff.

“We took around 75 staff, including players, and everybody worked flat out for two weeks.

“There was one day where we had five events going on simultaneously.

“A lot of our people haven't been on international tours before.

“They haven't seen how these things operate and, when you're moving 75 people around a different country 3,000 miles away from home with kit and equipment, logistics have to be absolutely spot-on.

“The team did a fantastic job in putting the tour together and managing the logistics as well as they did.

“Three cities, different training camps. It's quite an undertaking.

“We were thrilled with the way it went. Absolutely thrilled. There's nothing I would change.”

On one memorable day, Albion academy staff worked with American coaches, the club were represented at three separate events and there was an open training session.

Former striker Glenn Murray, now a club ambassador, was a busy man as he attended pretty much everything that was going on.

Staff were also working in temperatures way past 30degC.

They hope the benefits will be there to see on and off the pitch, starting against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

But does the Summer Series also prepare the States to host English league or cup games in the future?

It would be the next step but Barber, previously chief executive at Vancouver Whitecaps, does not see that around the corner.

He said: “In terms of preparation, the Summer Series provided a level of intensity the players need to get themselves match fit.

“So that's the point of it being a competition.

“Whether that then extends in the future, that's something for the Premier League.

“But, at the moment, I don't see a movement away from 38 games in England.

“I think we've been down that road and the Premier League got fairly firm feedback at the time.

“But this competition has shown there is a huge and rapidly increasing appetite for football or soccer in the United States.

“The attendances were phenomenal.

“Certainly even in the 13 or 14 years I've been away from North America, there was a significant and tangible difference to the engagement with North American audience to what I experienced when I worked there.

“And that's not to say it wasn't good then.

“It was good and growing 14 years ago.

“Now, I think it's really coming to the boil at a great time.”