Brighton Odds

Brighton and Hove Albion Odds

Brighton & Hove Albion appear to be a team on the up, but that doesn’t mean that odds on Brighton to be relegated can’t be worth considering - the Championship is a league where a side can go from world beaters to relegation fodder in the space of a season. Brighton relegation odds could be considered, but equally Brighton odds for staying up should be looked at too. Brighton consolidated their Premier League status last season, but in such a tough division, relegation Yes/No bets might be a good shout. 

Other popular Brighton betting odds include those on situations off the pitch, like Brighton manager odds. 

In big clashes for Brighton, such as a promotion race or the M23 derby, certain betting markets and odds can be subject to bookmaker special offers such as enhanced odds. Betfair are one of a few bookmakers who offer enhanced odds on a regular basis. 

History

Brighton & Hove Albion are a professional football club based in East Sussex, England. Brighton are currently members of English football’s top tier, the Premier League.

The history of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club begins in 1901. Firstly members of the Southern League, they won their first and only national trophy in 1910 when they beat Aston Villa to win the FA Charity Shield.

In 1920, Brighton & Hove Albion joined the Football League Third Division. That was the first of a 37 year stay in the third tier of English football, when in the 1957/1958 season the club won the Third Division title for the first time in Brighton & Hove Albion history.

The club’s stay in the Second Division last for just four seasons. In the 1961/1962 season, they were relegated back to the Third Division. Worse was to come for Brighton, in their first season back in the third tier the club were relegated again, and started the 1963/1964 season playing Fourth Division football.

The following season saw Brighton win the Fourth Division title and with it promotion back to the third tier. There they remained for the next seven seasons. In the 1971/1972 season, a second place finish saw the club return to the Second Division. 

Unfortunately for Brighton & Hove Albion, they suffered relegation immediately. Mike Bamber became chairman of Brighton in 1972 and brought in Brian Clough to manage the side. In 1976, Alan Mullery took the manager’s job and a year later Brighton returned to the second tier in 1977. Two seasons later won promotion again. The 1979/1980 season saw Brighton play First Division football for the first ever time.

Brighton never settled in the top flight and were relegated in 1983. The season wasn’t a full disappointment, though, as the club had reached their first ever FA Cup Final. They could have won it, but were held to a 2-2 draw by Manchester United, with United winning the replay 4-0.

The club were relegated again in the 1986/1987 season but gained immediate promotion with a second place finish in the Third Division. The 1990/1991 season saw Brighton reach the play-offs, but they were beaten in the final by Notts County.

From being so close to promotion the club went the opposite way in the following season and Brighton & Hove Albion were relegated. Third tier football awaited them once more, the third tier now known as Division Two after the formation of the Premier League led the Football Leagues into being renamed.

In 1996, amidst financial difficulties, Brighton were relegated again. The club’s finances were a huge worry and their Goldstone Ground had to be sold to pay off some of Brighton’s debts. In 1997, Dick Knight took over the club.

Brighton were struggling in Division Three, and twice in two seasons the club were almost relegated twice in two seasons. A late equaliser against Hereford United in the final game of the 1997/1998 season saw the club escape relegation on goal difference.

Following the sale of the Goldstone Ground, Brighton & Hove Albion had to play their home games at the Priestfield Stadium, the home of Gillingham Football Club, situated 70 miles away.

For the 1999/2000 season, the club played at the Withdean Stadium, back in Brighton. The following season saw Brighton win the Division Three title, and followed that with a successive promotion from Division Two. 

The club were relegated in their first season in Division One, but immediately gained promotion via the Division Two play-offs. However, their stay in the second tier, now called the Championship, was short. They just avoided the drop in the 2004/2005 season but couldn’t escape relegation the following season, finishing bottom of the Championship table.

The club started the 2006/2007 season back in the third tier, now called League One. After four seasons of mid table finishes, the club stormed to the League One title in the 2010/2011 season, gaining promotion back to the Championship.

In 2009, Tony Bloom became chairman of Brighton replacing Dick Bloom, and had secured funding for the club to move for the Falmer Stadium along with his 75% of Brighton shares.

The 2016/2017 season was Brighton & Hove Albion’s sixth consecutive season in the Championship. During that time, they qualified for and subsequently knocked out of the play-offs three times. The most painful play-off failure came in the 2015/2016 season. Brighton missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League on goal difference by just two goals, and were then knocked out at the semi-final stage of the play-offs.

However, that all changed at the end of the 16/17 campaign. Brighton earned a second place finish and with it an automatic promotion spot to the Premier League. Their first season in the Premier League saw Brighton in 15th place, seven points ahead of the relegation zone.

Crest

Between 1977 and 1998, the Brighton & Hove Albion badge consisted of a circle shape encasing an image of a seagull, representing the club’s nickname. The background was blue, and the team name was printed around the circumference.

In 1998, a new Brighton & Hove Albion football badge was created. The seagull was still central to this new Brighton crest, but instead of a circle the image of the seagull was placed inside a blue shield with a red trim, with the club’s initials above the bird and the club’s nickname ‘The Seagulls’ below.

This Brighton & Hove Albion crest was updated in 2000. The badge essentially remained the same, the only change was the initials of the club were removed and replaced by the full team name.

In 2011, the club updated their badge once more. A more modern and sleeker badge, this was a return to the original circle design of 1977. The seagull in this current badge is facing the opposite way to the other images of the gulls used previously.

Colours

The standard Brighton & Hove Albion colours are blue and white striped shirts, blue shorts and blue socks. This has been the typical Brighton kit colours since 1904.

There have been changes over the course of the Brighton kit history to the style of the kits. When blue and white striped shirts were first introduced, these Brighton jerseys were worn with white shorts and black socks.

This kit remained until 1948. For three years, Brighton wore blue shirts with white sleeves, black or white shorts with blue socks. 

In 1951, the blue and white stripes returned. Instead of black socks, though, the club wore blue socks. In 1957, the colour of the socks changed once again and until 1972, the club wore white socks.

Although blue shorts had been worn before, it wasn’t until the 2010/2011 seasons that blue shorts became a staple part of the Brighton & Hove Albion kit.

The first Brighton & Hove Albion kit was worn from 1901 to 1903. This kit featured a light blue shirt with white shorts and black socks. The kit was similar for the 1903/1904 season, aside from the shirt now featuring a darker blue shade.

Brighton and Hove Stadium

The current Brighton & Hove Albion stadium is the Falmer Stadium. Brighton moved into the Falmer Stadium in 2012.

The club played for most of its existence at the Goldstone Ground, but due to serious financial problems the club had to sell its stadium.

Brighton & Hove Albion then moved temporarily to Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium. Brighton spent two years there before moving back to Brighton and playing at the Withdean Stadium, which was primarily used for athletics.

The Brighton & Hove stadium layout has undergone many changes since Brighton moved in, particularly in terms of its capacity. When Brighton first moved there, the Falmer Stadium had a capacity of around 21,000. The club then submitted Brighton stadium plans to the council for 8,000 more seats to be added. This was approved and the stadium’s capacity stood at 27,250 at the beginning of the 2012/2013 and had reached 30,750 by the end of the season.

The Falmer Stadium is also known as the American Express Community Stadium, or the AMEX, for sponsorship reasons.

Supporters

Brighton & Hove Albion Supporters traditionally hail from Brighton, Hove and other area around East Sussex. There are also a large number of Brighton & Hove Albion supporters clubs across the country.

Brighton supporters enjoy a rivalry with Crystal Palace. When these two sides meet, it’s known as the M23 derby, the name of the motorway that geographically links these two clubs.

This rivalry began in the 1940’s, but it gained force in the 1970’s when both clubs went from the Third Division to the First Division.

Ownership

The Brighton & Hove Albion owner is Tony Bloom. Bloom is also the chairman of the club. In 2009, Tony Bloom bought 75% of shares in Brighton & Hove Albion invested £93 million into the building of the new Brighton ground, the Falmer Stadium.

Bloom succeeded Dick Knight, who had rescued the club from financial ruin in 1997. Knight had been heavily involved in the Brighton fans’ attempts to remove the board from the club after they sold the club’s beloved Goldstone Ground and seemingly showed no interest in what was happening to the club on the pitch.

Mike Bamber had been chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion from 1972, two years after joining the Brighton board of directors. He left the club in 1984, and was replaced by Bryan Bedson.

Stats

Brighton & Hove Albion stats start with the club’s leading appearance maker. Ernie Wilson has that honour, making 566 appearances for Brighton between 1922 and 1936.

Brighton & Hove Albion’s record all time goalscorer is Bert Stephens if you include wartime football, or Tommy Cook if you don’t. Stephens scored 174 goals for Brighton from 1935 to 1948. Cook played for Brighton between 1922 and 1929 and in that time he found the net 114 times.

Brighton & Hove Albion’s biggest win came back in 1902. The club beat Brighton Amateurs 14-2 in the FA Cup.

Brighton & Hove Albion’s biggest ever defeat came during the time the Second World War was taking place, and wartime football was played while the Football League was postponed. Brighton faced Norwich City and were beaten 18-0. The club’s biggest defeat outside of that was 9-0, Middlebrough the team putting nine goals past Brighton in the Second Division in 1958.

The highest attendance at the AMEX came in 2016 when a crowd of 30,292 watched Brighton & Hove Albion play Derby. The club’s highest attendance at the Goldstone Ground was 36,747, the total number of spectators who saw Brighton take on Fulham in the Second Division in 1958. At the Withdean Stadium, Brighton & Hove Albion’s highest crowd was 8,729, an attendance who saw Brighton play Manchester City in the League Cup in 2008.

Brighton & Hove Albion’s record transfer signing is Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Jahanbakhsh was bought from AZ Alkmaar in 2018 for a fee of around £17 million.

The highest transfer fee Brighton & Hove Albion have ever received is £1.5  million. This fee was paid on three separate occasions, firstly Tottenham Hotspur paid that price when they signed Bobby Zamora in 2003, Celtic paid that fee when signing Adam Virgo in 2005 and finally Norwich City paid £1.5 million for Elliott Bennett in 2011.

Brighton and Hove Albion Players

The Brighton & Hove Albion players list contains 26 members of the first team squad and 22 members of the Brighton & Hove Albion Development Squad.

Bobby Zamora won a recent poll to be named the best ever Brighton & Hove Albion player. Other notable ex Brighton & Hove Albion players include Peter Ward, Sergey Gotsmanov, Danny Cullip, Mark Lawrenson and Peter O’Sullivan.

Pascal Gross is the current Brighton & Hove Albion player of the year. Since the 1968/1969 season, two players have been named player of the year twice in consecutive seasons. The first was Bobby Zamora, who won the award in 2000/2001 and 2001/2002; and Liam Bridcutt, who won it in 2011/2012 and 2012/2013.

The most internationally capped players whilst playing their club football with Brighton & Hove Albion are Gerry Ryan, who played for the Republic of Ireland, and Steve Penney, who played for Northern Ireland.

Peter Ward holds the record for scoring the most goals in a single season for Brighton. Ward scored on 26 occasions during the 1976/1977 season.

Brighton and Hove Manager 

The current Brighton & Hove Albion manager is Chris Hughton. Hughton took the Brighton & Hove Albion job in December 2014.

Brighton & Hove Albion have had some famous names associated with their manager’s position. These include Sami Hyypia, Gus Poyet, Mickey Adams, Mark McGhee, Peter Taylor, Liam Brady, Alan Mullery, Brian Horton,  and one of the legends of English football, Brian Clough.

The first ever Brighton & Hove Albion manager was John Jackson. Jackson was manager of the club from 1901 to 1905.

Charles Webb is Brighton & Hove Albion’s longest serving manager, take charge of the club from 1919 to 1947.

Honours

Brighton & Hove Albion honours list reads as one Charity Shield (1910); three third tier winners (1957/1958, 2001/2002, 2010/2011); and two second tier titles (1964/1965 and 2001/2002).