Rule number one if you are manager of the Albion – never publicly criticise the board. Roberto De Zerbi has found that out the hard with the Italian now set to leave Brighton by mutual consent after the final game of the 2023-24 season.
This time last year, De Zerbi was celebrating leading the Seagulls to their highest ever finish of sixth in the Premier League. He had brought Europa League football to Brighton for the first time.
The Albion were playing a brand of entertaining, attacking football unlike anything else. Rival managers from Pep Guardiola to Jurgen Klopp were lining up to heap praise on De Zerbi.
Why have things turned so sour? The 2023-24 season has delivered exactly what most Brighton fans would have deemed success at the start.
The additional workload of European football always meant domestic performances were going to take a hit. Another top 10 finish and a decent Europa League run would constitute a good campaign.
De Zerbi is on course to deliver that. Brighton sit 10th in the table with one game left to play. Albion fans will never forget the nights when Little Old Brighton beat Ajax, AEK Athens, Marseille and Roma. And all of it done with a crippling injury list.
Excitement was already building for what 2024-25 might have in store. A fully fit squad, some shrewd acquisitions and no European football.
Brighton could have easily got back to the brilliance of last season’s DeZerbiBall and challenged for another top six finish.
Not anymore. Or at least not under De Zerbi. Those Brighton fans familiar with the Parable of Gus Poyet knew De Zerbi was playing with fire when he publicly questioned the club’s approach to transfers.
His goose was cooked even further when he said that the owners would have to learn lessons from what had happened in 2023-24.
But there was always this hope that De Zerbi had enough credit in the bank to be able to survive questioning Tony Bloom.
That had certainly seemed the case based on public comments from both Paul Barber and De Zerbi. The duo appeared at a recent Fans’ Forum together and all seemed right in the world.
De Zerbi meanwhile has expressed his love for the club, players, fans and city and said he wanted to remain as Brighton head coach.
This attitude admittedly contrasted with his moodiness through January and February. A cynic might suggest that De Zerbi was more positive about the Albion when it became clear job offers from Liverpool, Barcelona and Bayern Munich were not coming his way.
That only when he realised he was running out of other options, he decided to affirm his commitment to the Albion.
Brighton’s form in the second half of the campaign has certainly not helped his prospects of landing one of those top jobs.
The decision makes at Anfield, Camp Nou or the Allianz Arena could not seriously consider De Zerbi having seen the way Brighton defended at Luton Town and Fulham.
Or the fact the Albion’s April Goal of the Month Award was won on default by the Burnley goalkeeper putting through his own net.
Bloom has subsequently decided Brighton can do without De Zerbi next season. Make no mistake, if the Albion wanted to keep De Zerbi, they would not have mutually agreed to part company with him.
It represents a huge gamble by Bloom. His track record when it comes to appointing head coaches is generally excellent, the only misstep in 15 years being Sami Hyypia.
Yet this change in head coach feels different. Which means the next appointment is one Brighton must get right. Rarely has Bloom dispensed with a manager even though they have met the objectives set of them.
Other than Poyet. He Who Must Not Be Named was subsequently succeeded by Oscar Garcia. Next came the absolute shit show that was Hyypia.
Within two years of Poyet departing, Brighton had gone from fourth place in the Championship to barely avoiding relegation into League One. Fingers crossed dispensing with De Zerbi does not result in a similar downwards trajectory.
The Albion have at least avoided the sort of messy, EastEnders style divorce they endured with Poyet. De Zerbi should get a heroes reception in his final game in charge against Manchester United at the Amex.
It is the least he deserves for rewriting the Brighton history books and creating memories which will last a lifetime.
Whoever takes over from De Zerbi has big boots to fill. Not just in terms of what De Zerbi did at the Albion, but also in personality.
Good luck to them.
