New Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has described himself as “the grounded one” and a “friendly authority”.
The 31-year-old has been appointed as Roberto De Zerbi’s replacement at Brighton and becomes the Premier League’s youngest permanent head coach.
“I will work here the same as I have done before,” said the German, who steered St Pauli to the Bundesliga II title last term.
It was not quite as flamboyant as Jose Mourinho’s ‘Special One’ introduction at Chelsea in 2004, more in keeping with the ‘Normal One’ description fellow German Jurgen Klopp applied to himself when he arrived at Liverpool.
Hurzeler gave the impression of someone who wasn’t that keen to dwell on his age, preferring instead to outline the philosophy he will bring to the Amex Stadium.
“I am aware this is a huge job and a big challenge,” he said. “I need a lot of courage and to stay humble. If I am not convinced me and my team can do it, I wouldn’t do it.
“I call myself the friendly authority. Football is my passion. I try to convince my players using the power of ideas. I will learn a lot and by that I won’t become a worse manager.”
It was almost in keeping with Brighton as a club and a city that they should appoint someone so young.
It remains to be seen whether Hurzeler adopts the same combative approach as De Zerbi, which led to him criticising the data-driven model that has brought Brighton so much success under the ownership of Tony Bloom.
“We do think data is really important in all high level sport,” said Bloom. “It is important to have someone who believes in that, whether it is in recruitment or medical or anything else.”
Hurzeler certainly talks as though he believes that to be true.
“I really like the DNA, and the very analytical data-based approach,” he said. “I like the style and playing with courage. I want to achieve big things here. I want to challenge the establishment.”
Bloom continues to set high standards for Brighton, who he believes are capable of becoming a top-10 club on a regular basis.
Last term, they failed in that objective by a single place. Bloom wants improvement. He also wants a return to Europe after their momentous debut campaign last season in which they exited the Europa League in the round of 16.
He does not believe he is taking a chance by putting his faith in someone so young.
“I wouldn’t talk about it as a gamble at all,” he said. “We put a lot of work into appointments. This was the least risk option of all the options we had.”
