■ English League Championship: Norwich City v Brighton and Hove Albion, Friday at 10.45pm GST
It is a tale of two rises from the depths.
Twenty years after Brighton and Hove Albion drew at Hereford United to stay in the Football League, they secured promotion to the Premier League.
Two and a half years after Chris Hughton took over a team in danger of relegation to League One, he has piloted them into the top flight.
Win at Norwich City on Friday and Brighton go up as champions.
A more egotistical character might take the chance to gloat. Hughton was dismissed by Norwich three years ago, hounded out by supporters who afforded him too little credit for an 11th-place finish and blamed him for a descent towards relegation.
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Hughton’s preference is to deflect attention. After Brighton guaranteed a Premier League place on Monday, when they beat Wigan Athletic and Huddersfield Town were held by Derby County, he focused instead on the fans.
“I’ve been here for two years and four months but there are supporters out there who have been through all the difficult periods,” he said.
The role of Hughton has not been forgotten by the club’s owner Tony Bloom though, who said: “Chris has done a magnificent job.”
While the self-effacing Hughton might not say so, others had come to the same conclusion. Jurgen Klopp namechecked him as a possible Manager of the Year, citing in particular the way Brighton showed the character to recover from play-off heartbreak last season, when Albion only missed out on automatic promotion on goal difference after securing 89 points.
Hughton has forged a team who are formidably hard to beat.
No side in the Championship have suffered fewer defeats. They began last season by not losing any of their first 21 league games. They went 19 without a loss earlier in the current campaign.
Brighton have spent – their gross debt, partly because of a new stadium, stands at £170.6 million (Dh803m), the biggest in the division – and Bloom’s investment amounts to £251m.
Yet in another respect, their promotion has come comparatively cheaply. They only have the ninth biggest wage bill in the division. Hughton has used his resources intelligently.
Anthony Knockaert, the 15-goal winger named the best player in the Football League at the competition’s award ceremony, was acquired for just £2.2m.
Incremental improvement has come from strengthening sensibly, one window at a time. Last summer brought Shane Duffy to form arguably the division’s best centre-back partnership with the homegrown Lewis Dunk. Top scorer Glenn Murray rejoined Albion then, initially on loan.
Murray may seem the embodiment of this Brighton squad. He is an outstanding Championship performer. His two spells in the Premier League have produced mixed returns.
If he has a point to prove at a higher level, so does Hughton.
He builds outstanding Championship teams: committed and consistent, blending solidity with quality, offering energy and reliability.
It is more of a moot point if those skills are transferable to the Premier League. A few clubs – Leicester City and Burnley in particular – have profited with the 4-4-2 blueprint Hughton favours.
Yet it left his Norwich side outnumbered in midfield and, if they bolstered that department, short of goals in attack.
Newcastle United dismissed him when they sat a respectable 11th, a few months after going up with 102 points.
It prompted an outcry from their supporters. Quiet, measured, low profile, Hughton felt the opposite of some of the managerial hopefuls, real and imagined, appointed on Tyneside, but his exploits engineered a loyalty. Now he is showing it towards his charges.
He is planning for the Premier League with them. “I think what you are not able to do is make absolute wholesale changes,” he said.
Revolution is not the Hughton way. Quiet evolution, on the other hand, has proved very effective, as Brighton can testify.
[ sports@thenational.ae ]
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Dubai Rugby Sevens
November 30-December 2, at The Sevens, Dubai
Gulf Under 19
Pool A – Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jumeirah College Tigers, Dubai English Speaking School 1, Gems World Academy
Pool B – British School Al Khubairat, Bahrain Colts, Jumeirah College Lions, Dubai English Speaking School 2
Pool C - Dubai College A, Dubai Sharks, Jumeirah English Speaking School, Al Yasmina
Pool D – Dubai Exiles, Dubai Hurricanes, Al Ain Amblers, Deira International School
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
The Specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 118hp
Torque: 149Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Price: From Dh61,500
On sale: Now
Apple Mac through the years
1984 - Apple unveiled the Macintosh on January 24
1985 - Steve Jobs departed from Apple and established NeXT
1986 - Apple introduced the Macintosh Plus, featuring enhanced memory
1987 - Apple launched the Macintosh II, equipped with colour capabilities
1989 - The widely acclaimed Macintosh SE/30 made its debut
1994 - Apple presented the Power Macintosh
1996 - The Macintosh System Software OS underwent a rebranding as Mac OS
2001 - Apple introduced Mac OS X, marrying Unix stability with a user-friendly interface
2006 - Apple adopted Intel processors in MacBook Pro laptops
2008 - Apple introduced the MacBook Air, a lightweight laptop
2012 - Apple launched the MacBook Pro with a retina display
2016 - The Mac operating system underwent rebranding as macOS
2020 - Apple introduced the M1 chip for Macs, combining high performance and energy efficiency
2022 - The M2 chip was announced
2023 -The M3 line-up of chip was announced to improve performance and add new capabilities for Mac.
SPEC SHEET: APPLE IPHONE 15 PRO MAX
Display: 6.7" Super Retina XDR OLED, 2796 x 1290, 460ppi, 120Hz, 2000 nits max, HDR, True Tone, P3, always-on
Processor: A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 6-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Memory: 8GB
Capacity: 256/512GB / 1TB
Platform: iOS 17
Main camera: Triple: 48MP main (f/1.78) + 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2) + 12MP 5x telephoto (f/2.8); 5x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out; 10x optical zoom range, digital zoom up to 25x; Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4, Portrait Lighting
Main camera video: 4K @ 24/25/30/60fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, HD @ 30fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps, ProRes (4K) @ 60fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Front camera: 12MP TrueDepth (f/1.9), Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4, Portrait Lighting; Animoji, Memoji
Front camera video: 4K @ 24/25/30/60fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps, ProRes (4K) @ 30fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Battery: 4441mAh, up to 29h video, 25h streaming video, 95h audio; fast charge to 50% in 30min (with at least 20W adaptor); MagSafe, Qi wireless charging
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Apple Pay), second-generation Ultra Wideband chip
Biometrics: Face ID
I/O: USB-C
Durability: IP68, water-resistant up to 6m up to 30min; dust/splash-resistant
Cards: Dual eSIM / eSIM + eSIM (US models use eSIMs only)
Colours: Black titanium, blue titanium, natural titanium, white titanium
In the box: iPhone 15 Pro Max, USB-C-to-USB-C woven cable, one Apple sticker
Price: Dh5,099 / Dh5,949 / Dh6,799
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Meg 2: The Trench
Director: Ben Wheatley
Stars: Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, Cliff Curtis, Melissanthi Mahut and Shuya Sophia Cai
Rating: 2/5
The National selections
Al Ain
5pm: Bolereau
5.30pm: Rich And Famous
6pm: Duc De Faust
6.30pm: Al Thoura
7pm: AF Arrab
7.30pm: Al Jazi
8pm: Futoon
Jebel Ali
1.45pm: AF Kal Noor
2.15pm: Galaxy Road
2.45pm: Dark Thunder
3.15pm: Inverleigh
3.45pm: Bawaasil
4.15pm: Initial
4.45pm: Tafaakhor
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Silkhaus
Started: 2021
Founders: Aahan Bhojani and Ashmin Varma
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Property technology
Funding: $7.75 million
Investors: Nuwa Capital, VentureSouq, Nordstar, Global Founders Capital, Yuj Ventures and Whiteboard Capital
SPECS: Polestar 3
Engine: Long-range dual motor with 400V battery
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Torque: 840Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 628km
0-100km/h: 4.7sec
Top speed: 210kph
Price: From Dh360,000
On sale: September