If you had asked most Brighton & Hove Albion fans back in April 1997 where they saw their club in 20 years' time, very few would have dared suggest that they could be in the Premier League. At that low point in their history, they would have gladly taken any future at all.The Seagulls were about to play their last match at the Goldstone Ground, the club's home for 95 years, which had been sold to developers by the previous owners. Worse still, the team had to avoid defeat a week later away to Hereford United or be relegated from the Football League.Yet today, Chris Hughton's team are second in the Championship table, below leaders Hull City only on goal difference. They are still unbeaten after 16 games, setting a new club record of 17 matches without defeat including the final game of 2014-15.The pundits and oddsmakers clearly had last season's unexpected brush with relegation fresher in their minds than the two preceding play-off campaigns. And perhaps some were still thinking of Brighton as the team that played in a 7,000-capacity athletics stadium between 1999 and 2011.Brighton have never played in the Premier League, but they were a top-flight club for four seasons from 1979 to 1983, when they also reached the FA Cup final.And if they can stay the course this season, they will be equipped to keep their place among the elite for longer than they did last time, thanks to the investment that has delivered an award-winning 30,000-seat stadium and a training complex that is the envy of all but a handful of Premier League clubs.How did Brighton get here' Their present position seemed very unlikely indeed, even after a 1-1 draw in that do-or-die match at Hereford safeguarded the club's league future.The sale of the ground meant that the club had no debts, but no assets eitherbeyond the goodwill of their fansand new chairman Dick Knight had to find a temporary home and build a new stadium.After two years of ground-sharing 70 miles away at Gillingham, Knight brought the club back to Withdean Stadium, a hurriedly converted athletics facility in Brighton with a severely limited capacity and very little covered seating.With the help of fans who wrote letters, went on marches and filled in petitions, he managed to secure permission for a permanent new home, but the planning process dragged on through two public enquiries and numerous objections. It all cost money that the club struggled to find on Withdean's tiny gate receipts, despite help from investors including Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook.Somehow, the team managed to win promotion four times during 11 seasons at Withdean, but the tiny ground never had the capacity to take advantage.To a generation of football fans, Brighton were no longer seen as a club that had regularly attracted crowds of over 25,000 and played in the top tier, but rather a small-time outfit whose gates of around 6,000 bracketed them alongside Stockport County and Carlisle United.The cruel irony was that promotion campaigns at the Goldstone, not to mention occasions such as the 2008 League Cup defeat of Manchester City, would have attracted 20,000-plus crowds, which was why Knight refused to think small when planning for a new stadium.The American Express Community Stadium, finally opened in 2011, now seats 30,750, and Knight was sure that many thousands of fans who could not squeeze into Withdeanor chose not to watch League One football in the rainwere waiting to come back."I knew the history of the club, and I've been in crowds of 35,000 at the Goldstone," he told Bleacher Report. "The catchment area is the whole of Sussex, and the club engenders incredible devotion. The fans rose up to support us at our time of need, and I knew that while a lot of fans are very fickle, there was a huge potential to bring back the crowds if we did it right."Office for National Statistics figures show that the Brighton area's population of 475,000 easily outstrips those of Southampton, Stoke and Sunderland. Despite last season's struggles, the average Amex crowd of 25,645 was larger than those at West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and Swansea City. Season-ticket sales regularly top 20,000, per BBC Sport (h/t the Brighton and Hove Independent)."The reason that our initial planning application was only for 23,000 was the difficulty of getting approval," Knight explained. "A 30,000 capacity was always in my mind. And we wanted a stadium that was stunning to look at, set in the South Downs. I told the architects that we wanted a Henry Moore stadium, following the contours of the land."We told Bobby Zamora when we signed him in 2000 that he would be playing in this fantastic stadium one day. We didn't think it would take until 2015 for it to happen."Zamora was sold to Tottenham Hotspur in 2003 after three seasons as Brighton's top scorer and returned to the club in August after gaining extensive Premier League experience with Spurs, West Ham, Fulham and QPR, as well as playing in a Europa League final and winning two England caps."The talk back then was always of the new stadium, although I loved it at Withdean," Zamora told Bleacher Report. "But it is here now, and what a ground it is. And I've played in all four divisions, but this is the best training ground I've seen."Staying in the Premier League can be a question of fine margins, but there can't be any excuses from the players in terms of the facilitiesand players will use any excuse. But everything is here for us."Yet Zamora found that, in some ways, the club he had previously played for was still recognisable, with some of his former team-mates still around. Paul Watson, provider of many of his goals, is a physiotherapist; left-back Nathan Jones is now chief coach; and skipper Paul Rogers works in the marketing department."It was strange that when I signed in the summer, Derek Allan, the secretary who did my first signing, was still here," Zamora says. "It seems pretty much the same, and the fans are still brilliant at filling the stadium."One significant change did take place after planning permission for the stadium was finally secured in 2009. Major investor Tony Bloom, a lifelong fan who represents the third generation of his family to sit on the club's board, offered to finance the construction in exchange for the position of chairman, with Knight becoming life president.Bloom's earliest memories of the team were of Alan Mullery's buccaneering side of the 1970s and 1980s that reached the top flight in 1979, when his grandfather, Harry, was deputy chairman, breathing his last on the team bus on an away trip to Stoke. Bloom himself regularly travels to away matches on the same trains as supporters.Mentions of Bloom usually refer to his "Lizard" nickname, a reference to his cold-blooded style in high-stakes poker, and the money he made in the online betting industry. But his considerable wealth comes from a diverse portfolio that is largely based on property and investment.Precisely how wealthy he is remains unknown, as he managed to stay off most of the guesswork-generated rich lists beloved of the media for a long time. But he did not blink at the estimated stadium build cost of 93 million, and as even the visiting fans will attest, the spec was high, with padded seats throughout. Further investment included expansion of capacity and the training ground, completed in summer 2014 at an estimated cost of another 32 million.When former FA director of marketing and communications and Tottenham executive director Paul Barber became Brighton's chief executive in June 2012, part of the attraction was the commitment from Bloom, which he described to me in an interview for Sussex Sport magazine as "off the charts." He has seen no need to revise that opinion."We are incredibly lucky to have Tony Bloom as chairman," Barber told Bleacher Report. "Not only is Tony financially committed to this football clubhe's built a world-class stadium and a new training ground to matchbut he is as passionate and as emotionally committed as any of our most ardent supporters. But he's also approachable, decent, calm, realistic and humble. These are rare qualities."Bloom denied when taking over that he had the wealth to match a Roman Abramovich, but there are no signs that his funds are running low. Although the club has been scrupulous in observing Financial Fair Play (FFP) rulesand called for them to beas strictly observed elsewheremoney has always been available for signings as well as infrastructure investment.Whether he would step aside if an Abramovich type wanted to become involved is uncertain, but even last season's blip in the upward trajectory did not dent his enthusiasm."I'm absolutely loving being chairman of this great football club," he told Andy Naylor of theArgus. "I have absolutely no intention of selling. I think I will be here for many years to come."Of course, many chairmen and owners have thrown money at clubs without delivering the ultimate success. But Hughton, who was brought in to replace Sami Hyypia on December 31 last year and has managed in the Premier League with Newcastle United and Norwich Cityleading the Magpies to the Championship title in 2010believes that the balance of ambition and realism is about right."There is no doubt that in the ambition the club have shown in the infrastructure, the stadium and the training ground, this can be a Premier League club," Hughton told Bleacher Report. "The way they have gone about the organisation, the setup, the way departments work together, is something I have been incredibly impressed with, how well new players are looked after."The other aspect is what is on the field. I think we do it the right way. We have bought well, and we have a management structure that tries to keep everything in perspective as regards what we pay, and pay for, players. I applaud them for that."It can be easy to get carried away with what can bethe Premier League and what that could bring. There has to be balance, but there is great ambition to be there."With FFP rules relaxed, Bloom financed several key signings in summer, including winger Jamie Murphy from Sheffield United, German defender Uwe Hunemeier from Padeborn, Israeli striker Tomer Hemed from Almeria and Netherlands under-21 forward Elvis Manu from Feyenoord. The balance was provided with the arrival of Scotland under-19 attacker Jack Harper, who became available when Real Madrid disbanded their C team.But perhaps the most significant statement of intent was an extension to the contract of local product Lewis Dunk when Fulham and at least one Premier League club were willing to offer 5 million for a central defender not guaranteed a starting place in Hughton's team. A less ambitious club might have cashed in."It was important," Hughton agrees. "Every player has a price, but I was delighted that we, as a club, showed ambition there. He is one of our better young players, a real prospect, and we wanted to keep him here."Everything, therefore, seems to be in place if Brighton can attain that place in the top flightthe trick is getting there. Barber attracted some ridicule for an expression he had coined"Premier League Ready"when the team flatlined for long periods of last season as Hyypia failed to blend a collection of late-summer signings into any sort of winning combination. But in their present position, it looks like prudent preparation."The term 'Premier League Ready' was only used publicly on one occasion to describe an internal staff program to ensure all areas of the clubfacilities, departments, systems, processeswere as good as they would need to be to ensure we could compete, at least off the field, at the next level," Barber says."At the point you are promoted, your attention can then all be about assembling and preparing the playing squad. To me, that kind of thinking makes absolute sense and represents us being as prepared as we possibly can be."Most recent Premier League debutants such as Blackpool and Burnley have failed at first, while Crystal Palace are only now beginning to look comfortable at the top level after several instant relegations. But clubs with smaller fanbases than Brighton's, such as Blackburn and Bolton, have managed extended spells among the elite.Perhaps the best comparison would be with Southampton, promoted to the Championship as runners-up to Gus Poyet's Brighton team in 2010, who now look like the type of established Premier League club Brighton aspire to be.The priceless advantage they enjoyed over the Seagulls in the race to the top was their long-established academy, which provided them with players such as Adam Lallana and saleable assets like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.Brighton's academy, also based at the new training ground, achieved Category 1 status, the highest ranking under the Premier Leagues Elite Players Performance Plan (EPPP), in 2014, but they are still playing catch-up, adding to their existing academy roster with astute captures such as that of Ireland under-17 captain Jayson Molumby."Academy Category 1 status happened very quickly and gave us a great opportunity," Hughton says. "At that point you can either continue to build slowly or, to a degree, fast-track. We have shown intent under that first-team group, to bring in players that can push for the first team. We have a great facility here that young players will want to come to, and we have to make the best of that scenario, and that is absolutely the aim of the club."England coaches of all age groups have long been regular visitors to Southampton's headquarters at Staplewood on the borders of the New Forest, but Brighton are now building strong links with the national team, too.First-team coach Nathan Jones was invited to St. George's Park to assist the under-21 squad with preparation for last summer's European Championships, three Brighton players are England under-21 regulars, and Gareth Southgate recently praised the club's "great setup." The Amex will host the next England under-21 fixture against Switzerland on November 16."When I first came back, in the first couple of weeks I played a couple of games with the development squad, and I was very impressed with the young guys, and that shows that we're building in the right way, not just looking for instant success," Zamora says."The aim is to be able to sustain Premier League football, and I think the club is in a good area to be able to do that. The owners have taken it slow and steady, and that's certainly the best way. At Queens Park Rangers, a lot of money was spent to try to get the instant fix. It doesn't always work.""Someone once famously described us as having hit the ceiling," Barber says, referring to Poyet's remark after they lost in the the 2013 play-off semi-finals to Palace."Since then, we've made the play-offs again, we've built a world-class training facility and academy, we've battled relegation and we've recovered to mount another promotion challenge, albeit with a very long way to go and, I'm sure, with many twists and turns to come."It's a funny game, football, and there's always another challenge around the corner. But there are some pleasant surprises, too. What less fashionable clubs like Southampton and Swansea City have achieved, like Stoke City before them and more recently Bournemouth, is fantastic and has undoubtedly set new bars."I'm sure, like us, they all started with the ambition of playing at the highest level possible and then took one step at a time. Our first priority is to sustain this latest promotion challengeand then to make that next step."Nick Szczepanik is a freelance football writer who contributes to the Guardian, The Times and Independent, among others. He is based in Brighton.
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