The Pitch from Simon Jordan

This is an unusual season. That gets said every year, but there is something different about this one. Brighton, Bournemouth and clubs like them are improving, while a decline among the established clubs is opening the door. 

There will be a drag on Manchester City the longer they go on without resolution to their self-inflicted conundrums. Liverpool have a new manager. United are being mentioned, as they have been for the last five or six years, for all the wrong reasons.

That decline is nominal. The Arsenals of the world are still going to win the league, or Manchester City. But it leaves an opportunity for Brighton and Brentford.

Ironically, they are run by two people cut from the same cloth. Both do what most football clubs should do: be diligent in their decisions and the reasons they make them – the managers they appoint, the players they recruit. When football clubs buy players, it is almost like buying a bloody luxury hotel. You should do all the diligence you would do on a building you were investing significant money in.

That is what Brighton do well. They have their metrics, their sporting directors working with thinkers, people who understand the mechanics of matching coaches and recruiting players.

It opens the door for these clubs to achieve things which would be significant: qualifying for Europe, qualifying for the Champions League. Tragically, what it does not do is enable them to sustain that success year after year. The rules of engagement, established through football’s governing bodies and shaped by the influence of Europe’s biggest clubs, make it difficult to stay in the room – or even get there.

Their best players get picked off. PSR constraints can require them to sell, make changes or restrict their wage structures to stay within the rules. It is a tragedy that clubs can do so much right and still find their ability to grow constrained by a system that preserves the opportunities of a legacy cartel.

I spent time with Fabian Hürzeler, the Brighton manager, over the summer. He did shows with us during the World Cup, then reached out because he wanted to understand the mechanics of how all aspects of the job create outcomes. This is a guy who appears to eat, sleep and breathe football, and thinks his way through every aspect of it.

That is why Brighton, alongside a brilliant owner and a brilliant CEO in Paul Barber, are punching above their economic weight. But there is a ceiling. Chelsea have been a funding pool for Brighton for two or three years. Selling well is one thing. Being able to keep your best players and build on success is another.