Based their remarkable success in recent seasons, Brighton & Hove Albion increasingly feel like top-flight fixtures.
Yet in 123 years of existence, the South Coast club have only featured at the very highest level for twelve years, staying in the old First Division for four years during the early eighties before their promotion to the Premier League under Chris Hughton.
Prior to their modern resurgence, Albion bounced around the second and third divisions of English football. The high point was undoubtedly their famous 1983 FA Cup Final encounter against Manchester United, renowned for Gordon Smith’s last-gasp extra-time “miss” – in truth a good save from United’s Gary Bailey – that prevented the Seagulls from lifting the trophy (Brighton would lose the replay 4-0).
Though national silverware eluded Brighton in the post-war era, the club did enjoy some success in its formative years. Prior to joining the Football League in 1920, Brighton & Hove Albion competed in the Southern League. In 1908-09, they lost more games than they won, finishing in 18th place – just one win clear of the bottom.
The following season marked a sensational turnaround in fortune. Under the watchful eye of Jack Robson, Albion stormed to the Southern League title, finishing five points clear of second-placed Swindon Town.
Billy Jones – often referred to as Bullet Jones – had recently been released by Small Heath. On the South Coast, Billy rediscovered his fitness and form, topping the club’s scoring charts with 22 goals. He scored the only goal in that year’s Southern Charity Cup final against Watford, clinching a league and cup double for the club.
The title victory afforded Brighton the opportunity to compete in the Charity Shield, which for a brief time was contested by the Football League and Southern League champions. FL winners had come out on top in the previous two fixtures, and Aston Villa were expected to triumph at Stamford Bridge.
However, Brighton shocked their illustrious opponents in front of 13,000 spectators. Amateur forward Charlie Webb scored the game’s only goal – a rising cross-shot following a post-corner scramble – eighteen minutes from time.
Webb would go on to feature over 250 times for the club as a player, before taking the reins as manager for 28 years. A club stalwart in every sense, Webb was afforded not one but two testimonials: a benefit match in 1921, and a second upon his retirement from management, with Portsmouth and Arsenal featuring at the Goldstone Ground.
This object, an Armorial souvenir jug, commemorates Albion’s 1910 Southern League triumph. It depicts a goalkeeper in blue and white colours saving a shot, though it doesn’t appear to be first-choice stopper Robert “Bob” Whitting, rather a non-descript figure (Bob did not sport a moustache).
Brighton would, in the following decades, eventually lift Football League silverware: the Division 3 South title in 1958, the Division 4 title seven years later, and three more titles in the modern era, the most recent of which was the League One championship in 2010-11.