League Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion Owner Tony Bloom "will resist the temptation to make lavish changes to Brighton’s playing staff" following the club’s return to the Premier League and will "instead use the rush of revenue to encourage further evolution," according to Dominic Fifield of the London GUARDIAN. Bloom, a fan of 40 years, has invested £250M ($321M) in the club since '09, building the Amex Stadium and the new training facility at Lancing "as well as improving the squad to take the club from the third tier into the Premier League." Promotion could be worth up to £200M ($257M) given "increased media and commercial revenues, catapulting Brighton to a new level virtually overnight." Bloom hopes to maintain "gradual" progress as the club prepares for its first EPL campaign in 34 years. The club's wage structure "will shift," but Brighton is "likely to follow the models implemented by Bournemouth and Burnley rather than offer huge contracts" to potential new recruits. Bloom has "already discussed targets for the summer with his manager, Chris Hughton." Bloom: "The amounts of money in the Premier League does equalize things a bit. We have to strengthen, that goes without saying, but we’re not looking to spend huge amounts. We’ll do things on a gradual basis as we have done" (GUARDIAN, 4/18).
PARTY TIME: In London, Paul Hayward reported Brighton pitch invasions "have tended to be torrid." But "this one was a fiesta -- an eruption of pleasure" that sent centerback Lewis Dunk "off the field in his pants, and had the owner twirling his scarf at the sea of supporters on the pitch." Dunk "lost his shorts and shirt to souvenir hunters, but gained a place as a Premier League defender." After "decades of pent-up frustration, and hope," it was "no surprise" to see a crowd of 29,940 "pour over the barriers of the comely Amex Stadium, despite requests to resist that temptation." Hughton, who took over a team in "relegation peril" in Jan. '15, said, "All those memos that went out to stop the supporters going on the pitch didn’t work too well, but I can understand the emotions this club have gone through" (TELEGRAPH, 4/17).
