New Brighton boss Sami Hyypia was officially unveiled to the media yesterday morning, and spoke for the first time since his appointment as manager last week.
The 40-year old took over the reigns at the Amex after the resignation of Oscar Garcia last month and signed a three-year deal with the club.
Hyypia took part in a lengthy press conference at the club’s new multi-million pound training facility in Lancing – set to fully open later this month – along with chairman Tony Bloom and Chief Executive Paul Barber. The trio posed for photographs afterwards, along with Executive Director Martin Perry.
Bloom opened proceedings with a statement welcoming Hyypia to the club, and praised the former Finnish international’s credibility.
“Sami’s football credentials as a player and a coach speak for themselves, and having met him twice during the process twice and gauged a lot of opinion from people in the game what has shone through is how respected he is in the game.”
For Hyypia, the job is his second coaching role, having taken over at German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen on a temporary basis near the end of 2011-12 season, before being offered the job full time the following season.
He spoke about what appealed to him that Brighton had to offer, having had a number of meetings with Bloom and Barber during the interview process.
“What I liked about the club was their ambition. When I first came to see the stadium and the training ground I knew they were serious. That was one of the main reasons why I’m sitting here now.
“I like people who have ambitions to move forward and hopefully I can help them progress in the next three years.
“The club has had two good seasons recently and I want to make that better. I’ll do everything I can to match that and go a step higher. I want to win every game, and if everyone else has that mentality then I will be a happy man.”
One of the talking points regarding the new boss was their style of play. Under Gus Poyet and Oscar Garcia fans have been used to a passing and possession game based on the Spanish tika-taka philosophy.
Hyypia spoke about his beliefs on how the game should be played, and indicated areas where he felt Albion can improve.
“As a defender I like that a team defends very well and not conceding many goals. Attacking play is also important because without goals you can’t win. Compact and good defending with quick transition is one of the things I’ve seen we could do a lot better.
“Possession for me is only a number, but what you do with the possession is more important for me. That kind of possession where we try to score every time and not only just try to keep the ball is something we need to work on.”
The former Liverpool defender will have a small rebuilding job on his hands this summer, with six players having been released by the club at the end of the season, with Matthew Upson having left for pastures new at Leicester after being offered a new deal.
Hyypia says he wants to get to work straight away on bringing new blood into the side, however he refused to put a number on how many recruits he wants to make when the transfer window pens on July 1st
“The first priority is to get the squad together so we can be competitive in the Championship
“I want to sit down and talk about things with [head of football operations] David Burke because we’ll have to be quick to get the players in we want.
“If we get three new players in and it helps the team go forward then three is enough. If we need seven then that’s okay, but there’s no number we have in mind.
“I don’t want to sign a player just for the sake of it. A signing has to have a purpose to it, and with a good academy here hopefully a few youngsters can make the step up to the first team as well.”
Hyypia’s two-year spell in Germany came to an end in April this year after he was sacked by Leverkusen after a run of six defeats in nine games, which saw them come close to slipping out of the top four and nearly miss out on a spot in next seasons Champions League.
Bloom believes the knowledge of going through the rough and the smooth of football management gives Hyypia an idea of what he might face at Brighton.
“As Sami has said the last two or three months didn’t go so well, but it’s how you learn from those difficulties is key.
"I’m much happier bringing someone like him who’s experienced that into the club because dealing with those difficult times is what's necessary in the Championship. There are highs and there are lows, and that experience will put him in good stead.”
Talk also turned to what sort of budget Albion’s new boss will have available to him when the transfer window does open, with Bloom giving his assurances that Hyypia would have similar funds to work with as his predecessors had in the past two seasons.
“We will have a very healthy budget as we did last season and we will get the best out of it that we can. It hasn’t held us back the last two seasons finishing 4th and 6th, and hopefully we’ll have that opportunity to get in the top six, and that’s our aim.”
The expectation for the past number of seasons has been for a top six finish, with both Poyet and Garcia having matched that benchmark whilst in charge. Bloom believes that progress towards Albion securing a place in the Premier League will continue under Hyypia, and would be happy to see the Finn match his predecessors achievements - or go one better – in his first season at the club.
“We believe we will have a good and competitive squad, and our aim is to reach the Premier League. To do that you need to finish in the top six, but situations can change so we‘re not going to put pressure on him by saying 'if it’s not top six it’s not good enough.’
“I’m confident he’ll get the best out of the players and if it all goes well we’ll have a realistic chance of finishing in the top six and a chance of getting promoted.
"Whilst we’re in the Championship then that that is our goal.”
(By [MENTION=7142]Vatican Citys No.2 Keeper[/MENTION] / BradStrat)
The 40-year old took over the reigns at the Amex after the resignation of Oscar Garcia last month and signed a three-year deal with the club.
Hyypia took part in a lengthy press conference at the club’s new multi-million pound training facility in Lancing – set to fully open later this month – along with chairman Tony Bloom and Chief Executive Paul Barber. The trio posed for photographs afterwards, along with Executive Director Martin Perry.
Bloom opened proceedings with a statement welcoming Hyypia to the club, and praised the former Finnish international’s credibility.
“Sami’s football credentials as a player and a coach speak for themselves, and having met him twice during the process twice and gauged a lot of opinion from people in the game what has shone through is how respected he is in the game.”
For Hyypia, the job is his second coaching role, having taken over at German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen on a temporary basis near the end of 2011-12 season, before being offered the job full time the following season.
He spoke about what appealed to him that Brighton had to offer, having had a number of meetings with Bloom and Barber during the interview process.
“What I liked about the club was their ambition. When I first came to see the stadium and the training ground I knew they were serious. That was one of the main reasons why I’m sitting here now.
“I like people who have ambitions to move forward and hopefully I can help them progress in the next three years.
“The club has had two good seasons recently and I want to make that better. I’ll do everything I can to match that and go a step higher. I want to win every game, and if everyone else has that mentality then I will be a happy man.”
One of the talking points regarding the new boss was their style of play. Under Gus Poyet and Oscar Garcia fans have been used to a passing and possession game based on the Spanish tika-taka philosophy.
Hyypia spoke about his beliefs on how the game should be played, and indicated areas where he felt Albion can improve.
“As a defender I like that a team defends very well and not conceding many goals. Attacking play is also important because without goals you can’t win. Compact and good defending with quick transition is one of the things I’ve seen we could do a lot better.
“Possession for me is only a number, but what you do with the possession is more important for me. That kind of possession where we try to score every time and not only just try to keep the ball is something we need to work on.”
The former Liverpool defender will have a small rebuilding job on his hands this summer, with six players having been released by the club at the end of the season, with Matthew Upson having left for pastures new at Leicester after being offered a new deal.
Hyypia says he wants to get to work straight away on bringing new blood into the side, however he refused to put a number on how many recruits he wants to make when the transfer window pens on July 1st
“The first priority is to get the squad together so we can be competitive in the Championship
“I want to sit down and talk about things with [head of football operations] David Burke because we’ll have to be quick to get the players in we want.
“If we get three new players in and it helps the team go forward then three is enough. If we need seven then that’s okay, but there’s no number we have in mind.
“I don’t want to sign a player just for the sake of it. A signing has to have a purpose to it, and with a good academy here hopefully a few youngsters can make the step up to the first team as well.”
Hyypia’s two-year spell in Germany came to an end in April this year after he was sacked by Leverkusen after a run of six defeats in nine games, which saw them come close to slipping out of the top four and nearly miss out on a spot in next seasons Champions League.
Bloom believes the knowledge of going through the rough and the smooth of football management gives Hyypia an idea of what he might face at Brighton.
“As Sami has said the last two or three months didn’t go so well, but it’s how you learn from those difficulties is key.
"I’m much happier bringing someone like him who’s experienced that into the club because dealing with those difficult times is what's necessary in the Championship. There are highs and there are lows, and that experience will put him in good stead.”
Talk also turned to what sort of budget Albion’s new boss will have available to him when the transfer window does open, with Bloom giving his assurances that Hyypia would have similar funds to work with as his predecessors had in the past two seasons.
“We will have a very healthy budget as we did last season and we will get the best out of it that we can. It hasn’t held us back the last two seasons finishing 4th and 6th, and hopefully we’ll have that opportunity to get in the top six, and that’s our aim.”
The expectation for the past number of seasons has been for a top six finish, with both Poyet and Garcia having matched that benchmark whilst in charge. Bloom believes that progress towards Albion securing a place in the Premier League will continue under Hyypia, and would be happy to see the Finn match his predecessors achievements - or go one better – in his first season at the club.
“We believe we will have a good and competitive squad, and our aim is to reach the Premier League. To do that you need to finish in the top six, but situations can change so we‘re not going to put pressure on him by saying 'if it’s not top six it’s not good enough.’
“I’m confident he’ll get the best out of the players and if it all goes well we’ll have a realistic chance of finishing in the top six and a chance of getting promoted.
"Whilst we’re in the Championship then that that is our goal.”
(By [MENTION=7142]Vatican Citys No.2 Keeper[/MENTION] / BradStrat)
