The 2023/24 season will go down as a historic campaign for our football club as we made our eagerly awaited debut in European football.
We can look back on our Europa League exploits with immense pride. After a difficult start at home against AEK Athens, we grew into the competition impressively and enjoyed some memorable performances and results, both at the Amex and on our travels.
The trips to Marseille, Amsterdam, Athens and Rome will live with me forever and each time the players emerged from the tunnel to a cacophony of noise – against clubs with a massive European pedigree – it reminded me of just how far we have come in recent years.
To top Group B was a magnificent achievement and, while our journey came to an end at the Round-of-16 stage against AS Roma, we restored plenty of pride in our second-leg victory at the Amex.
Our fans have represented the club with pride, passion and propriety on the continent. It’s been a long time coming – more than 120 years – but, together, we’ve enjoyed our first European journey, and it’s certainly given us the taste for travel as we strive for further European adventures in the years ahead.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Roberto De Zerbi, his coaching staff and our players for their superb efforts throughout the competition – and, indeed, over the course of what has been a long and testing season as we competed on four fronts.
Given the increasing demands of the Premier League and other competitions on our squad, I am particularly pleased to welcome Florian Pfab as the club’s new head of medicine and Gary Walker as our new head of performance. Both will take up their positions ahead of this coming pre-season.
On matters of performance – and player progression – I am delighted that so many of our home-grown academy players have made appearances for the first team this season: Benicio Baker-Boaitey, Josh Duffus, Jack Hinchy, Jack Hinshelwood, Mark O’Mahony, Odel Offiah and Cam Peupion. We are extremely proud of the superb work being done inside our academy by our many coaches and backroom staff – a massive well done to everyone at the club who has played such a significant role in their development.
Huge congratulations as well to all the winners at our recent end-of-season awards – in particular, from the men’s team, Pascal Gross, who was named both the fans’ and players’ Player of the Season, and Jack Hinshelwood, who was named our Young Player of the Season. Also, from the women’s team, Elisabeth Terland, who was Player of the Season, Sophie Baggaley, the Players’ Player of the Season, and Maisie Symonds, our Young Player of the Season.
Our women’s team fought back really well in the second half of the campaign after a disappointing start to the season. I’d like to thank Mikey Harris, who became interim head coach in February, for his professionalism and hard work during these final months of the campaign. There has been a lot of talk recently about getting the women’s team playing back in the city, and we are working very hard with the local council to make that happen.
Elsewhere around the club, I am again grateful for the tireless efforts of CEO Paul Barber, his management team and all our staff in making Brighton & Hove Albion the special, successful and much-admired club we are today.
It’s also been another progressive year for the Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation, whose work continues to make a real impact in the city and throughout Sussex. We were delighted to have opened our new hub in the heart of Brighton, meaning the charity’s staff will be even closer to the communities they serve.
I would like to give a special mention to Adam Lallana, who, after four superb years, is leaving the club for family reasons. He has had a massively positive influence on all around him and he continually made us believe we can consistently reach high levels.
Finally, I want to thank you, the fans, for your continued superb support. We’ve consistently had sell-out crowds at the Amex again this season and you have travelled in huge numbers, not just in those European games, but all around the country. With the cost-of-living crisis continuing, we never take your support for granted, and we are always grateful for the way you have backed the team – and the players absolutely appreciate you being their ‘12th man’.
Enjoy the summer break, enjoy watching the Euros – in which we hope to see Lewis Dunk, Billy Gilmour, Pascal Gross, Jakub Moder, Deniz Undav and Bart Verbruggen all participating – and we look forward to welcoming you all back at the Amex in August.