Brighton fans wait for new boss but Tony Bloom's record is good

Those of you who see the printed newspaper (or digital page-turner version) might have noticed it.

Our “ten years ago” feature recorded Sami Hyypia’s appointment as Albion manager.

It is widely acknowledged as the one managerial/head coach appointment made by Tony Bloom which did not come off.

His introduction to the media was the first press conference staged at the newly-opened training complex in Lancing.

Albion had taken a bit of time over the decision.

It is easy to forget now that, at the time, common consensus seemed to be it was a clever appointment.

He had done well at Bayer Leverkusen, knew English football (if not the weird and wonderful world of the Championship) and had a playing stature which commanded huge respect.

Hyypia was seen as tactically innovative and, most notably, used his full-backs as a chief attacking weapon while midfielders would cover.

As we now know, it did not work out as intended.

After a slow start, it seemed Albion had found their feet with a classy 2-0 midweek win at Leeds and a home success over Bolton.

But there were too many draws in games they led, too many leads relinquished and the whole thing came crashing down in a chaotic first 20 minutes or so at Derby leading up to Christmas.

Years later, his right-back Bruno said Hyypia was actually a good coach.

Some of his ideas were bright and progressive but there were question marks for many over the scattergun recruitment that was going on at the time, including too many loan signings.

As we now know, there was some great talent-spotting going on for the academy at that time, but not at senior level.

Now ten years on almost to the day, we await Bloom’s seventh appointment and wonder whether it will be arguably his sixth success.

What we can take from events in 2014 is it is not just about getting the right head coach.

It is also about giving him the right structure within which to work, an area in which the club have certainly progressed.

Cards are kept rather closer to chests these days than ten years ago – or even less than that.

The betting markets on “next Brighton manager” appear to have gone very quiet.

We are not even hearing the customary speculation and lips are tightly sealed as to what might be going on.

As frustrating as that might be for those of us on the outside, it also reassuring.

Let them get on with it, trust the process.

Remember De Zerbi was still in situ just three weeks ago.

A decade ago, the representative of one former Premier League manager told me on a phone call that his man would be very interested in taking charge at Albion – on the record.

When I ran a back-page story to that effect, the same agent called to offer a polite but firm rebuke.

He said there must have been a misunderstanding, that his client was far too classy to ever put his name forward in that way.

But the job had been done. His name was out there to be discussed.

And he DIDN’T get the job.

Even longer ago (I forget during which managerial changing of the guard), a former England international called our old office in Hollingbury asking to be linked with the Albion vacancy.

After Russell Slade was sacked, an out-of-work manager turned up in the directors’ box at the next game.

Neither of the two men in question ever became Brighton manager.

When French coach Frederic Hantz was given a guided tour of the new training ground in 2014, he told a French media contact all about it – who in turn told us.

When Hyypia had the same tour, someone called our office and told us he was there.

This time, Steve Cooper’s name has been pushed forward as a leading contender (which we are assured is not the case) and there has been what fills like void-filling speculation over whether Graham Potter could return.

The latter could probably be filed as “never say never but very unlikely”.

I suspect we would be hearing more about Russell Martin had Southampton not gone up, largely because he comes from Brighton and his team play good football.

Kieran McKenna appears to have been the one obvious candidate for the Albion job but there is something to admire about the way he has committed to Ipswich.

From outside, he appears more than deserving of the new contract he has signed at Portman Road and one suspects reported interest from around the Premier League has helped make that happen.

We have also been informed Albion will use the time available.

That the situation is different to last time they had a big decision to make, when Potter went to Chelsea.

The season was in progress when that bombshell dropped, albeit on hold due to the Queen’s death.

And that is important – the timing.

Comparisons have been drawn to how quickly Albion brought in Potter in 2019 after Chris Hughton was sacked.

But bear in mind Albion did not suddenly decide to axe Hughton after the season-ending 4-1 defeat by Manchester City.

They knew a change would be made at the end of the season from the night they lost 2-0 at home to Cardiff in mid-April.

It wasn't all done that quickly.

As to who the new boss will be, there will be massive interest in the job.

The interim period will be unsettling for those of us who allow it to be.

I sense a school of thought amid the wider world of football followers that Brighton’s bubble, so spectacularly inflated by De Zerbi, might have burst or least started to go flat.

That they have had their moment and will now slip back into obscurity.

Bloom will be determined to prove that is not the case.

If we look at his previous appointments, they come under three categories.

There were Poyet, Hughton and Potter, who all changed the playing style significantly (two as a way of kicking the club forward, one to halt a slide).

There were Oscar Garcia and Hyypia, who were broadly asked to keep the same playing ethos but with weaker squads than their immediate predecessors had.

And there was De Zerbi, who had the challenge to build on great foundations and add a different dimension.

I expect an appointment which many of us will see as a calculated risk – but which Bloom will see as anything but, given the amount of research and thought he will have put into the decision.