The campaign for Graham Potter to return to Brighton is seemingly beginning to build momentum. Former Albion defender Mark Lawrenson has said Potter would be his pick to replace Roberto De Zerbi at the Amex Stadium.
Lawrenson was speaking to Best Online Poker Sites about both the next man in the Brighton hot seat and the dip in form suffered by Evan Ferguson since November.
Like Ferguson, Lawrenson was also a Seagull who represented the Republic of Ireland. He won 39 caps between 1977 and 1987.
“I’d like to see Graham Potter back at Brighton,” said Lawrenson. “He knows the club and he was the one who set them up to be the side they are today. He made them such a good a passing and pressing team, and only left because Chelsea came knocking.”
Potter not only left when Chelsea came knocking, but he took five members of staff with him. Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamberg and Kyle Macaulay all arrived with Potter from Swansea City in 2019 but Glow Up also convinced Brighton greats Bruno and Ben Roberts to slither off to Stamford Bridge with him.
Within a month of Potter departing, Chelsea were back for Albion head of recruitment Paul Winstanley. In the January transfer window, the Blues then bid £55 million for Moises Caicedo… just four months after Potter said the midfielder was worth £100 million.
Aside from pillaging Brighton, Potter further dented his standing with Albion fans via comments such as “if I wanted a nice easy life, I could have quite easily stayed working at Brighton.”
Lawrenson went onto add: “I know sometimes it’s easy to say ‘we never want him back’ when a manager goes like he did, but you look at who Brighton have their eyes on at the moment, and Graham Potter seems the best choice, while also knowing the club inside out.
“He knows the owner and the board very well and he’ll still know a lot of the players. He had a really attractive way of playing and I think getting him back to Brighton looks to be the easy decision.”
If the Albion do put their faith in Potter (again), let us hope they are prepared for a potential backlash from fans. Not to mention Glow Up jumping ship at the first sign of a better offer. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.
As for Ferguson, Lawrenson’s comments are likely to go down better with Brighton supporters than his views on Potter returning to the Amex.
Ferguson scored 11 Premier League goals in 2023, equally Wayne Rooney’s record for most by a teenager in a calendar year.
But having burst onto the scene in such spectacular style, the forward failed to net from the start of December until injury brought his campaign to an early end in April.
“It’s second-season syndrome,” said Lawrenson. “Evan Ferguson has come in as an 18-year-old, that first season with no fear whatsoever, it was all great.”
“All these chances were landing for him and he was hitting them first time and he’d score, but when the second season comes around, you start to think about everything you did last year and sometimes it doesn’t quite happen.”
“Brighton have slightly struggled this season and haven’t been as good, and I think that’s what it boils down to. I’d be very surprised if he didn’t score 15 goals next season when he’s in the team because he’s just got second-season syndrome – they’ve all had it, even Ryan Giggs!”
The Albion endured an xG nightmare for the first two-and-a-half years of Potter’s previous reign. If Glow Up is to be a controversial reappointment to the role of Brighton manager, let us hope it does not take another 30 months for the Albion to start scoring.
Otherwise Ferguson is going to struggle to match Lawrenson’s prediction of scoring over 15 goals in 2024-25.
