In February, Brighton's own supporters sang that Fabian Hurzeler would be sacked in the morning. They had just lost at home to Crystal Palace, the team was 14th with one win in 12 league games, and the mood leaving the Amex was not complicated. "Give up or keep pushing harder, and that's always the option I choose in my life," Hurzeler said that night. It sounded like a manager buying time.
Palace come back to the Amex on Sunday. Brighton are third.
Eleven wins in 18 games changed the argument
The turnaround since has been quick enough to unsettle the fans in the opposite direction. Brighton have beaten the defending champions Arsenal and the Europa League holders Aston Villa, and the conversation on the phone-ins after last weekend's win at Sunderland was not about whether Hurzeler is good enough but about who might come and take him. He signed a long-term contract before the end of last season and was handed £150m to spend in the summer, which is not usually how clubs treat a manager they expect to lose.
Scott McCarthy, who writes for the We Are Brighton fan site, says the drop in temperature was severe. "Leaving the stadium after losing at home to Palace, the only conversation fans were having was: 'he has got to go'," he told BBC Sport. "It's totally different now. It's worked out phenomenally."
McCarthy credits a retreat rather than a doubling down. Hurzeler leaned on the experienced players to drag the side out of the hole, which McCarthy reads as the pragmatic streak that separates him from managers who would rather lose their job than their philosophy. What came out the other side presses harder than what went in.
Pipinsried, paintings and a lot of questions
The route here is not a normal one. Hurzeler gave up playing in 2016, at 23, after one injury too many in the reserve sides at Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim and 1860 Munich, and took a player-manager job at Pipinsried in Germany's fifth tier. The village is about 30 miles from Munich and the wages were what you would expect, so he sold paintings for an art dealer to wealthy Bavarians on the side. He was fired from that job for watching too much football.
He told the Guardian in 2024 that the work left him with something usable. "You can't go there and say: 'Look at this picture, it's an amazing picture'. You have to understand the needs and the wishes from the clients. That's a little bit similar to being a coach. The most important thing is to understand the person behind the player."
The same appetite shows up in the way he gathers information. While at St Pauli, whom he took back to the Bundesliga after a 13-year absence, he was invited to watch Tottenham train. He asked Ange Postecoglou so many questions that Postecoglou handed him off to another member of staff.
Keown called him wet behind the ears
Hurzeler was 31 when Brighton appointed him in June 2024, making him the youngest permanent manager in Premier League history, and the early evidence was not kind. His side were beaten 7-0 at Nottingham Forest in that first season, and after a 4-2 defeat at Chelsea in September 2024 Martin Keown described him on Final Score as "wet behind the ears". Two eighth-placed finishes followed, respectable without ever settling the question.
Born in Houston and raised in Germany from the age of two, he has now been linked with Manchester United should they move on from Michael Carrick. McCarthy is not convinced he would go. "Does he want to go to another club where he isn't going to get time? What has happened at Brighton has shown he needs two-and-a-half years to build a squad." That argument works until a bigger club puts a number on the table.
Context: Fabian Hurzeler became the youngest permanent Premier League manager in June 2024 at 31. Brighton are third ahead of Sunday's home game with Crystal Palace, 14:00 BST. He has won 11 of his past 18 top-flight matches and signed a long-term contract before the end of last season. Quotes via BBC Sport and the Guardian.
0 Comments