Everton, away. That is where Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler’s Premier League story began just over a year ago.
While Sunday’s return to Merseyside will be in a brand-new stadium, memories of that Goodison Park bow in August 2024 will be forever etched in the young manager’s mind.
“I thought I’d prepared myself, but when the game started I was just impressed by how loud it was, how intense the Premier League is,” Hurzerler tells Sky Sports. “I remember very well how my emotions felt. It was a nice feeling afterwards, but during the game it was a tough experience and one that I learned a lot from. Overall, it was an experience I wanted, it was very positive.”
A 3-0 victory set the youngest permanent Premier League head coach off on the front foot. Another step on a journey that had begun eight years earlier.
Hurzeler was just 23 years old when he gave up a modest career, mainly in semi-professional and amateur football, to concentrate on coaching.
His early experiences came at amateur level with Pipinsreid in Germany’s fifth tier before a move to St Pauli in Bundesliga 2, alongside coaching the country’s U18s and U20s teams.
The Premier League represented a huge leap but last season’s eighth-place finish proved he was ready.
“I try to be supportive for my team and my players,” Hurzeler continues. “I know I can’t win games on my own, I know I need my staff and players. That’s how I interpret my role, I don’t view myself as more important.
“Football is a team sport, a people business. You have to take care of the people and know that you can only be successful with the people. It’s not a one-man show. Here in Brighton, I felt from the first day that I was part of a family; a really good club with good values. This makes me feel that it’s the right place where we can really work on something and be ambitious.”
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Brighton and Fulham.
Forming positive relationships in the dressing room has been a key part of the process, and it is here that the 32-year-old believes his age puts him at an advantage.
“I speak the language of the players,” Hurzeler explains. “What I mean by this is that I’m not that much older than them and some of them are older than me, so I understand their feelings, their needs, their wishes. You have to understand not only the player but the person behind the player, the family background and the cultural background. That’s something I can be good at because I am their age.
“I played football – not at their level – but I know how it feels when you don’t play, how you feel when you’re in a good moment. That’s an advantage I have. Of course, I don’t have the experience of someone who has played 500 Premier League games, so I gain my experience through the games now as a coach.
“I try to listen to players who are older than me, those who have played hundreds of games like James Milner, Danny Welbeck and Lewis Dunk. It would be stubborn or naïve not to listen to their experiences.
“That’s where you have to put your ego behind and say, ‘Yes, these are the guys with the experience, they know what it means to play every week in the Premier League, what it means to win trophies’. That’s where, in some moments, I need to listen, just shut my mouth and try to understand their good and bad experiences, how they see things.
“In the end, I can still decide whether or not I am convinced. It’s very important to stay authentic, not to do anything you don’t really feel. Everyone from outside will judge my age and judge the results I deliver for this team. But I will grow as a person for this experience. The key thing is to stay authentic and listen to experiences from players and staff who have experienced more than myself.”
Brighton’s Matt O’Riley celebrates scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot
Part of that authenticity has brought trouble to Hurzeler’s door. His desire to immerse himself in the team environment and support his players led to some fiery touchline behaviour. His first season in England brought four yellow cards and a sending off.
“In some moments, I think I was not a good role model. I need to be better on the sidelines and it’s something where I reflected after last season that I have to control my emotions better. I have to learn that controlling emotions under pressure is a big thing. I really want to improve on that this season.
“But on the other side, I want to be authentic and support from the sidelines. I want the players to feel I’m there for them, no matter if they suffer during the game or are in a good place. You need to be there, in it together.”
Another opening day win appeared on the cards for Hurzeler until deep into stoppage time at home to Fulham last weekend, when Rodrigo Muniz grabbed a point for Fulham after Matt O’Riley’s earlier penalty.
The departure of Joao Pedro to Chelsea will take time to adapt to. His replacement – 18-year-old Greek striker Charalampos Kostoulas – is not the finished article and did not make the squad last weekend, but the head coach is relishing the prospect of working with him and the other new arrivals on a daily basis.
Watch Everton vs Brighton on Sunday live on Sky Sports, kick-off 2pm
It is hard to imagine Hurzeler ever switching off from the job, but after spending some time in America over the summer on a fact-finding mission visiting professional clubs in other sports, he did find time to enjoy a break in the mountains in Germany with family. “That’s my place where I can calm down with nature.”
Now, back at Brighton’s Lancing training centre, Hurzeler is consumed in the role once more, ready to take the club forward.
“You have to breathe it, be in it,” he insists. “It has to be your obsession and your passion otherwise it won’t work. In some moments, you need to switch off to get mental refreshment, but overall, I can say that the job is not a job – it’s a passion.
“Every day I stand up and have this feeling, ‘Let’s go. Let’s try to be better today’. That’s my attitude when I wake up and if that changed, I would have to leave my job. It’s a big privilege to be a Premier League manager and I am very thankful for the opportunity. Now it is about living it every day and trying to improve.”
Everton host Brighton in their first game at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 2pm
Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games this season
215 live Premier League matches up from 128 this season on Sky Sports
This season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports.
