A Brighton/Fulham celebration

Alan Tanner and myself had promised to host a celebratory lunch with some Brighton supporting pals should Brighton stay up and Fulham go up. Both happened and we were as good as our word. We chose the right day yesterday as there was no World Cup game and we could also add England’s successful if slightly surreal journey in the World Cup to the mix.

Alan reminded us of the connections between the two clubs.

Alan Mullery – seventh in the list of Fulham’s longest-serving players with 371 games in the Cottagers shirt but unforgiving that he was never given the managership of the club as promised to him by Alec Stock – was a successful Brighton manager.

Micky Adams as manager achieved promotions with both clubs with a Brighton team largely drawn from his Fulham side (Walton, Watson, Brooker, Freeman, Carpenter, Cullip and Morgan). The most famous player to play for both was probably Bobby Zamora.

Chris Hughton had kindly sent a video message to which we listened as the champagne was served and the successes toasted.

The Ivy In the Lanes served us proud and, though I would not trespass on Daffers’ territory, I could find no fault at all with the service, food and ambience. The noise level was high enough to create a buzz and low enough to be heard. This might be because the tables were sensibly spaced apart.

And what of both team’s chances next season in the Premiership?

Will Brighton catch that dread disease “second season syndrome”?

The club, including its fans, are grounded in their expectations of survival – we only lost 4 times at the Amex and have the resources to continue to strengthen, but it will be tough.

Fulham look to be consolidating by securing the players permanently that contributed so much to promotion, notably Alex Mitrovic and Matt Targett, but they will still be looking for a keeper, central defender, midfielder and striker.