RECRUITMENT, RECRUITMENT, RECRUITMENT

As Brighton begin their first ever European campaign, having unearthed gem after gem in the transfer market, FourFourTwo chats to key figures inside the club to discover their secret - from algorithms to clandestine spreadsheets...

- Chris Evans

A sense of bemusement crept into the room as Paul Barber addressed Brighton & Hove Albion's 300-strong workforce. The Seagulls' chief executive had gathered his staff together to lay out his and owner Tony Bloom's vision for the future on the south coast, and it wasn't being met with universal agreement. 

Albion had just completed their first season back in the Championship, finishing a credible 10th in. 2012, their highest league position in more than 20 years. But Barber wasn't in any mood for backslapping and talk of consolidation. Instead, he was discussing what needed to be done for them to become an established Premier League side.

It was a display of ambition that inspired some of the assembled group, although the headshaking and facial expressions among the cynics in the room suggested some felt the aim was a mere flight of fancy. Eleven years on, it has proved to be anything but.

Now, the Seagulls are embarking upon their seventh successive Premier League campaign and preparing for their first ever experience of European football. Last term's sixth-placed finish was the highest in the club's history, earning them a spot in the group stage of the Europa League.

This has been no overnight success story. As Barber's speech in 2012 showed, Brighton have been attempting to break new ground for more than a decade.

"It's something the club has been aspiring to for a very long time," Barber explains to FourFourTwo. "The first task was to set that vision for everybody; to communicate it and make it real for people, to make them feel as though it was a possibility and a likelihood.