Brighton & Hove Albion

The club was founded in 1901, playing at Hove County Ground in the Southern League. They moved to the Goldstone Ground in 1902 and won the Southern League Championship in 1909-10.

They also beat Football League Champions Aston Villa to win the FA Charity Shield in 1910, their first and only national trophy.

Second and Third Division

The Seagulls joined the Football League in 1920, playing in the Third Division. They stayed in the Third Division for the next 38 years before winning promotion in 1957-58. 

They played in the Second Division for just three seasons. Back-to-back relegations had the Seagulls in the Fourth Division for the first time ever after the 1963 season. But they immediately won the Fourth Division title in 1964-65 and went back up.

Brighton and Hove Albion played in the Third Division for the next six seasons, finishing as runners-up in 1972 and getting promotion back to the Second Division. 

That promotion coincided with Mike Bamber taking over as chairman. He brought in Brian Clough from Derby County to manage the Seagulls.

Clough lasted one season before moving on to Leeds United and eventually Nottingham Forest. Alan Mullery was also a manager of the Seagulls in the 1970s, leading the team to a second-place finish in 1979 and automatic promotion to the First Division. 

Seagulls’ Success

The Seagulls found some success in the top tier and stayed up for four seasons. They had a decent start to 1982-83 with wins over Arsenal and Manchester United but changed managers in December and were relegated with a last palace finish. 

The 1983 season also saw the Seagulls reach their first-ever FA Cup Final, against Manchester United. In front of more than 99,000 fans, Gordon Smith scored the opener and United led 2-1 when Gary Stevens tied the game in the 87th minute. 

At the time, a tie meant a full replay and the teams got together five days later at Wembley Stadium in front of 91,534 fans.

The replay was all United with three goals in the first half and a 4-0 win to deny Brighton their first FA Cup trophy. 

Bamber left as chairman in 1983 and Brighton struggled in the Second Division. They went down to the Third Division after the 1986-87 season but were immediately promoted back up.

They had a chance to return to the top flight in 1991 but lost a play-off final to Notts County 3-1 at Wembley. 

The Seagulls played in the newly renamed Division Two until relegation came in 1996. In Division Three the team suffered financial issues with massive debts and a point deduction.

The board sold Goldstone Ground to property developers, triggering fan protests and a takeover by Dick Knight.

A goal in the final minutes of the last game of the season kept the Seagulls from being relegated from the Football League.

1997-98 Season

Without a stadium, Brighton had to play their home games in Gillingham for the 1997-98 season. Gillingham is more than 70 miles away from Brighton, giving the home fans quite the trip to see games.

After two seasons they played at a local park in Brighton, a converted athletics track that barely held more than 1000 fans. 

The Seagulls won Division Three in 2001 to earn a promotion under manager Micky Adams. Peter Taylor took over in Division Two and won a title to move the team up for a second straight season. 

Knight stayed as chairman until 2009 when Tony Bloom took over 75% of the team and started working on a new stadium as well.

Brighton played at Withdean through the 2010-11 season when manager Gus Poyet led the team to a League One title. 

Falmer Stadium opened for the 2011-12 season as the team unveiled a new crest. They lost in the playoff semifinals in 2012-13 after finishing fourth in the regular season.

They made the playoffs again in 2013-14 but lost to Derby County. In 2015-16, the Seagulls had a 22-game unbeaten streak to start the season and made the playoffs again, before falling to Sheffield Wednesday. 

2016-17 Season

They started the 2016-17 season with 18 unbeaten games and still led the league into February. The Seagulls avoided playoff failure but earned automatic promotion to the Premier League on April 17. 

Back in the top flight, the Seagulls finished 15th in 2017-18 and reached the FA Cup semifinals in 2019. Graham Potter took over for the 2019-20 season and the Seagulls finished 15th. They survived again in 2020-21 and turned in their best Premier League season ever in 2021-22 with 51 points and a ninth-place finish.