It is not a good look for any manager when cries of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and “You’re getting sacked in the morning” are coming from your own supporters.
A tipping point was reached for Fabian Hurzeler with sections of the fanbase at the Amex Stadium by Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat against rivals Crystal Palace. Not only did it stretch the run to one win in 12 league games, it left Brighton looking down rather than up the table for the first time since the early seasons of trying to establish themselves as a top-flight club after promotion from the Championship in 2016-17.
Palace have been in desperate form as well, nine league games without a victory prior to a result which lifted them a point and a place higher. Hurzeler’s side are down to 14th, the same number of points (eight) separating them from West Ham in the relegation zone and Brentford in seventh.
They have been in relegation form since the end of November, when a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest lifted them to fifth in the table. They have taken nine points since then, the latest defeat adding to losses against Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Fulham, six draws and a lone victory at home to Burnley. Only doomed bottom pair Burnley (five points) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (six points) have a worse record over the corresponding period.
The anti-Hurzeler brigade has been building during the two games before Palace’s visit. There were a few boos at the 32-year-old German’s substitutions and at the end of a 2-1 defeat from 1-0 up at Fulham, a few more after conceding a 97th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 home draw with Everton.
The discontent was more widespread, more vociferous and more insulting this time. It began when Hurzeler made a triple substitution in the 70th minute which included hooking Carlos Baleba — replacing the Cameroon midfielder after 81 minutes also prompted boos at Fulham. Shouts of “You don’t know what you’re doing” came from a small number of voices in the home end behind Bart Verbruggen’s net.
The chants grew in intensity early into six minutes of added time as, following further changes, a cross from Ferdi Kadioglu which sailed straight into the arms of Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson reflected the tame attempts by Hurzeler’s side to fashion an equaliser. A few seconds before the final whistle the wrath directed at Hurzeler went up another level to the “sacked in the morning” rendition. It was an unedifying spectacle.
He made a forlorn walk onto the pitch to shake hands with both sets of players, preceded by a sympathetic hug from Verbuggen, before turning near the halfway line and heading down the tunnel, more boos from a few fans in the main stand ringing in his ears.
Hurzeler took it on the chin during his post-match press conference, saying: “I’m responsible for that, and it’s part of being a football coach, that you’re blamed for results, and therefore I have to take responsibility. I always promise I give my heart and soul for this club and I will keep doing this, and I will keep trying to find solutions together with my team. We have a loss of self-confidence, and how you get the self-confidence back is only by getting the right results.”
What does all of this mean for the future of the head coach, who guided Brighton to eighth place in his debut campaign in 2024-25? You will struggle to find a more level-headed hierarchy than owner-chairman Tony Bloom, chief executive Paul Barber and the board of directors. Barber referred in his programme notes to “growing fan impatience across large parts of the football landscape”.
Hurzeler is probably safe for the rest of the season before a summer review of how things stand for a club with ambitions to build on reaching Europe for the first time in 2022-23 by competing regularly in the top half of the table and for their first domestic silverware. Of course, the buck stops with Hurzeler — that is just how it works in football — but how much he is to blame and how much of the abuse coming from his own fans does he deserve?
His bold team selection against Palace — giving 17-year-old England youth international Harry Howell his full Premier League debut on the right flank and 18-year-old Greek centre-forward Charalampos Kostoulas his second league start — did not pay off. Nor, on this occasion, did his multiple second-half substitutions (five in total in two batches from the 71st minute). They often have previously.
In other games during the barren run, chances have been created and squandered. On this occasion, his team only threatened to restore parity once, Henderson blocking Kostoulas’s shot after he was put through by Georginio Rutter.
Rutter struggled against Palace (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Substitutions will always be scrutinised by supporters when results go badly. Baleba’s early exit was justified, because he was back to being careless in possession after recent signs of a return to form. It is harder to explain why the ineffective Rutter stayed on the pitch until the 82nd minute.
Fans being fans, it is the manager who gets the flak more than out-of-form forwards missing chances or defenders making costly mistakes. Even players that Hurzeler can normally rely on are letting him down. A misplaced header by Lewis Dunk straight to Evann Guessand — which led to the substitute releasing Ismaila Sarr through the space the long-serving captain should have been occupying — caused Palace’s 61st-minute winner in a contest which otherwise had written 0-0 all over it.
Another draw would not have been enough to satisfy Hurzeler’s most vocal and impatient detractors. Boos and questioning his judgment are fair game in the circumstances, but he has not been helped by the club’s much-heralded recruitment falling below its normally lofty standards.
Calling for your own manager to be sacked when the team is 14th in a congested table, still only three points off a top-half finish with 13 games left, is a more telling reflection of their sense of entitlement and inflated expectations than Hurzeler’s level of competence.
It could get worse before it gets better. Aston Villa on Wednesday is followed by an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Liverpool on Saturday and another challenging assignment against Brentford a week later. Every cloud has a silver lining. All three fixtures are away, which provides an element of respite and protection for Hurzeler from the seething discontent on home soil.