Brighton have become what Stoke no longer are – the tables have ...

Why do you support your club?

Is it because of where you were born, following a family tradition, the lure of a big name that wins trophies or perhaps a favourite player?

In my case, it was the latter. A vivid memory as an impressionable six-year-old was watching the late Gordon Banks make an incredible save from a Pele header in the 1970 World Cup for England against Brazil.

I was hooked. Banks played at that time for Stoke. I’ve stuck with them ever since through thick and thin. Frankly, an awful lot of thin.

My first introduction to my local club, as a Brightonian, came at around the same age through my late grandparents. They were both long-serving season ticket holders. I followed Brighton home and away when I was at school and college. They’ve always come a close second to Stoke in my affections.

The third round of the FA Cup pitted the team I’ve supported since I was a boy against the team I’ve reported on for 35 years for the Brighton Argus newspaper and, since 2019, The Athletic.

Stoke gave their all, but the Championship strugglers were ultimately undone by Brighton’s superior quality in their 4-2 victory at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday. This gap in quality was highlighted by Pervis Estupinan’s superbly struck equaliser in first-half stoppage time and Joao Pedro’s second-half header, which the Brazilian later supplemented by finishing off a slick move.

Brighton also knocked Stoke out of the competition last season away from home in the fifth round, an Evan Ferguson goal separating the sides. They have become what Stoke no longer are — a progressive club with a clear identity. The tables have been well and truly turned.

Shortly before the kick-off at a half-empty ground, the big screen showed clips of Stoke in their pomp. They had a golden decade from 2008 to 2018 under Tony Pulis and then Mark Hughes.

Pulis took them up from the Championship and kept them comfortably in the Premier League for five seasons in which they never finished lower than 14th with a direct, robust brand of football. With a vociferous crowd behind them, they were particularly hard to play against at home. They also reached an FA Cup final, losing 1-0 to Manchester City in 2011, and the last 32 of the Europa League before bowing out 2-0 on aggregate to Valencia in the following season.

Where were Brighton when all of this was happening? Playing, for the most part, in the second and third tiers at Withdean Stadium, a converted athletics track. Two divisions divided the clubs when Stoke dumped them out of the FA Cup 3-0 in the fifth round on their way to that 2011 final.

Pulis made way for fellow Welshman Mark Hughes in 2013 as Stoke went in search of taking the next step of signing better players and playing in a more adventurous style. It worked for a while. They finished ninth in the table for three seasons in a row and, in 2016, were unlucky to lose a League Cup semi-final over two legs against Liverpool.

It was special for me when Brighton joined them in the Premier League under Chris Hughton five years ago — but that only lasted for one season. It feels poignant now to reflect on two of the goal scorers in the 2-2 draw between the clubs at the Amex Stadium in November 2017.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting opened the scoring for Stoke. The Cameroon forward has gone on to reach a Champions League final with Paris Saint-Germain and to win the Bundesliga three times in succession with Bayern Munich.

Pascal Gross, scorer of Brighton’s first equaliser, continues to thrive. He provided the cross for the Joao Pedro header which restored the second-half lead on Saturday. The midfielder became a full Germany international in September at the age of 32. He epitomises Brighton’s relentless development.

Meanwhile, it has all been contrastingly downhill for Stoke since a sliding doors moment in the return clash in February of that 2017-18 campaign, when both sides were threatened by relegation. Hughes had been sacked by then and replaced by Paul Lambert. Maty Ryan, Brighton’s Australian goalkeeper, saved a Charlie Adam penalty in the 90th minute to preserve a precious 1-1 draw.

The diverging fortunes of the clubs can be traced back to that moment. Brighton ended up in 15th place, Stoke were relegated. Since then, Brighton have finished 17th, 15th, 16th, ninth and sixth last season in the top flight. They are currently seventh under Roberto De Zerbi and through to the last 16 of the Europa League.

Stoke have been nowhere near rejoining them. They have been consistent back in the Championship — consistently bad — 16th, 15th, 14th, 14th, 16th and currently 19th under new head coach Steven Schumacher, who suffered his first defeat in his fifth game at the helm.

Only three men have been in charge of Brighton in eight years — Hughton, De Zerbi and, in between them, Graham Potter. The former Stoke defender left by his own free will for Chelsea.

Potter was laughably linked with the Stoke vacancy by bookmakers and supporters at the same time as he was being linked with Manchester United, before the appointment in December of 39-year-old Liverpudlian Schumacher via Plymouth.

Stoke have already gone through four managers since they were relegated — Gary Rowett, ex-Brighton defender Nathan Jones, Michael O’Neill and Alex Neil. They all had decent track records at other clubs, or in O’Neill’s case at international level with Northern Ireland. That hints at more fundamental, systemic explanations for the difference between Brighton and Stoke now.

Player recruitment has been a key element. Brighton’s envied record in the transfer market is a product of clear thinking and the creation of a DNA. Stoke lost their DNA in their relegation season when they dispensed of too many dependable performers at the same time. They went for flashy, high-risk signings that backfired, such as Saido Berahino and Jese.

Both clubs are, or rather were, run by men who have made their fortunes in the sports betting industry, Tony Bloom at Brighton and Peter Coates at Stoke.

Coates, co-founder of gambling giants bet365, is still joint-chairman of Stoke at the age of 85 with son John, but that is in name only. Inside the club nowadays, John is referred to as the chairman.

Stoke’s decline has hastened under Coates junior. There has been no shortage of funds for team strengthening in recent seasons, aided by Premier League parachute money to begin with, but there has been a lack of nous at the top.

And so it has come to this. I no longer feel nervous watching Stoke, just disillusioned. There is not much joy in season after season being over by February. Watching De Zerbi’s Brighton, on the other hand, is a delight.

There was an inevitability about the outcome, even when they fell behind to an early own goal by Jan Paul van Hecke, who made amends with the assist for Joao Pedro’s second goal.

I am glad they won. Brighton could win the FA Cup. There was no chance of that happening if Stoke had progressed. I am left clinging to the hope that they do not end the season two divisions apart.

(Top photo: Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)