Solid pre-season sets Brighton up for the challenge of 2023-24

With the final fixture of the Seagulls Best Ever Season at Aston Villa on Sunday 28th May 2023, it was like someone had taken all my energy away! How many of us were left thinking… what will we do now for the next two-and-half months?

There were chores and tasks around the house and garden to be tackled, and why not get them done when no football is going on?

However, there was a more critical task before any of that for me – to complete the final preparation of the manuscript for my book chronicling the 2022-23 campaign, Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2.

Being a newbie in this publishing business, I am still surprised by how there is so much to do. Time has to be allocated to get the pre-reading and typesetting to be checked, for example.

Then there is trying to connect up the legal side for the use of photos. A big thank you to Paul Hazlewood, official club photographer at the Albion for his help in that area. Without it, this edition would never have made it to market as quickly as the second week of July.

The official launch date is 25th August 2023. The publishers Morgan Lawrence Publishing Services Ltd have it on their website now, as do Waterstones and WH Smiths, along with Amazon.

I have been informed it will soon be on the Albion website and in-store at the Stadium Superstore and Churchill Square Pop-Up Shop in Brighton.

By the time all of that was nearing completion, the Premier League Summer Series was about to get underway in the United States. Turns out the house and garden will have to wait…

Brighton kicked off their tour of the US with a game against Chelsea. I was grateful we could watch the games on TV in the UK, even if it meant staying up to the early hours of the morning. For those attending in person, it looked like an exciting experience in fantastic stadiums.

The Chelsea game took place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the home of NFL team Philadelphia Eagles. I don’t know much about NFL, other than they use a funny shaped ball.

It finished Chelsea 4-3 Brighton. Despite the defeat, there were plenty of positives to take in the Albion rallying with 10 men against a Blues side who will surely be much improved this season after their struggles last year.

Next came Brentford in the Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia. The ground cost $1.6 billion to build and looked more like a space ship than a sporting arena.

Those fans attending were to be treated to two games with Chelsea against Newcastle United following the Albion versus the Bees.

Simon Adingra was the star of the show for Brighton, scoring both the goals in a 2-0 win. Will Adingra be the latest young attacking signing to take the Premier League by storm in Albion colours?

The final Summer Series game took Brighton to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey to face Newcastle. The Albion started well but mass changes from the hour mark saw Roberto De Zerbi opting to end the game with a mixture of new recruits and young players on the pitch.

A couple of errors which we can put down to inexperience cost Brighton the win as the Magpies ran out 2-1 victors. But that is exactly what pre-season is for, finding out who is ready and areas for improvement.

The views from the Red Bull Arena looked stunning across to Manhattan and New York City. Already, the club are hailing the US Tour as a big success and talking about future pre-season adventures to Japan and Australia. Brighton & Hove Albion really are global these days.

One last friendly followed, back at the Amex… sorry, the American Express Stadium… against Rayo Vallecano. It was not a game which captured much imagination, with only around 10,000 in attendance.

Only the basic facilities were open, the Amex Superstore was being set up for the new season and just the East and West Lower Stands were in use.

This meant I got to experience the West Lower for the first time. It made me realise just how good my elevated view in the East Upper is; being able to have a birds eye view of the action is definitely my personal preference.

Not much happened on the pitch with a final score of Brighton 1-1 Rayo. Joao Pedro hit a really good second half penalty. The Rayo goal came after a real boo-boo from Jason Steele, without which the Albion would have won. Still, he will not make that mistake again this season… we hope.

Four real tests for the Albion should leave them in good stead for when the real stuff gets underway against Luton Town in the Premier League.

Will it be the start of a Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 3? With De Zerbi as head coach and this fantastic group of players, you never know.

You can order the Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2 using this link.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony