Graham Potter has emerged as the frontrunner to become the next Brighton head coach, just 20 months after leaving the club for Chelsea.
Bookmakers have Potter odds-on for a return to the south coast and the prospect of the move is already dividing Brighton’s fanbase.
In the blue, more forgiving corner, there are those recognising Potter’s previous achievements at Brighton, who enjoyed a first-ever top 10 finish in the top-flight under his watch in 2021-22.
And in the red, far angrier corner, there are those pointing towards his “easy life” comments while at Chelsea, where Potter is viewed to have undermined the Brighton job.
“If I wanted a nice, easy life, I could have quite easily stayed at Brighton in the Premier League, signed a new contract and been absolutely okay,” Potter said two months into his Chelsea stint, five months before he was sacked.
Having gutted Brighton’s backroom staff before head of recruitment Paul Winstanley joined Chelsea to boot, Potter could therefore find a return is anything but “easy”.
The hostility is evident across social media and forums, with Jack Stephenson, one of two Brighton fans stabbed in Italy before their match against Roma in March, joking on X he would set fire to himself outside the Amex if Potter returns – to which one reply said there was a “0.000001% chance” of this reappointment happening.
Now, it looks a little more possible, and given in Potter’s own opinion this represents a step down, the more disgruntled Brighton supporters are within their rights to fear it is a backwards step for the club as well, having reached greater heights after he left.
Comments from Brighton chairman Tony Bloom are worth dissecting too. At the end of the 2022-23 season, after Roberto De Zerbi led the club to sixth and European football for the first time, Bloom said: “In all my years following Brighton & Hove Albion, I’ve never seen us play football of such quality and style. We are undoubtedly watching the best Albion team we have ever had and it gives me such pleasure to make that statement.
“Not only is it aesthetically pleasing on the eye, we are also playing with a real purpose, a real desire to take the game to the opposition, and we are dominating games. There’s a new dimension to the way we play and it’s been a joy to watch.”
A chairman revelling in his club’s most purple of patches is perfectly understandable, but it could lead to further scrutiny should Bloom return to a coach that offers a downgrade on quality and style.
Of course, the simple get-out clause for Bloom would be to claim Potter laid down the foundations for De Zerbi’s side to flourish, while in Potter the chairman may find a coach more accepting of the Brighton way.
De Zerbi left Brighton “so that the club and I can continue to work in the way that suits each of us best, following our own ideas and visions,” a roundabout way of saying there was a clash of ideas over the club’s recruitment policy – which largely combines the pursuit of young talent from across the globe with signing experienced Premier League players.
Potter witnessed this approach first-hand in 2020-21, when the club signed “veterans” Adam Lallana and Danny Welbeck, as well as a 17-year-old Evan Ferguson from Bohemians and an 18-year-old Moises Caicedo from Independiente del Valle.
He was also there for the beginning of the great, and profitable, exodus, kickstarted by Ben White a year before Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma and eventually Potter himself left.
It led to a Premier League record profit of £122.8m in 2022-23, an impressive feat but one that De Zerbi wanted to see reinvested into big-money players in their prime.
While sustainability does not get fans out their seats, as Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR) constraints affect other Premier League clubs this summer, Brighton are undeniably in rude health ahead of what could be the second coming of Potter.
Leaning towards the blue corner, Brighton could do much worse than returning to a coach who knows the club inside-out and guided them to ninth.
There are some who prefer Henrik Rydstrom, the Malmo coach who has foregone strict positional play to great success, but this represents a gamble that Brighton look unwilling to take.
And with primary target Kieran McKenna staying at Ipswich, also forcing Manchester United to potentially rethink their plans, Potter is arguably the best man for the job.
It is a good fit on account of what he has achieved there already, while a drop from sixth to 11th also provides Potter with a platform upon which he can improve.
Evidently, though, he will have fires to put out from the get-go should he return. Those in the red corner will have little patience in this regard, and so a positive start would be essential.
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