# 2010–11 Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. season

The 2010–11 season was Brighton & Hove Albion's fourth consecutive season in the League One. It was their last season at the Withdean Stadium before moving to Falmer Stadium. Brighton won League One in this season, gaining promotion to the Football League Championship for the 2011–12 season.

## Key dates

2010
* 7.5.10: Swansea defender Marcos Painter agrees to a two-year pre-contract which he later signs.
* 11.6.10: Albion sign goalkeeper Michael Poke from fellow League One side Southampton.
* 28.6.10: Argentinean Club Comunicaciones players Agustín Battipiedi and Cristian Baz both sign one-year contracts.
* 29.6.10: After spending over a decade at Scunthorpe United Midfielder Matt Sparrow signs a three-year contract.
* 8.7.10: Albion acquires young gun Ashley Barnes from Plymouth Argyle with the striker signing a two-year contract.
* 11.7.10: Speculation is ended when it is announced Gordon Greer is transferring from Swindon Town to take up a three-year contract with the seagulls.
* 16.7.10: Brighton sign former Bulgarian international Radostin Kishishev on a one-year deal.
2011
* 28.1.11: Chairman Tony Bloom confirms that Elliott Bennett has submitted a transfer request. He told seagulls.co.uk "Nothing has changed. We do not want to sell Elliott, we don't need to sell the player."
* 12.4.11: Promotion to Championship secured with 4–3 win over Dagenham & Redbridge.

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Brighton & Hove Albion (C, P) | 46 | 28 | 11 | 7 | 85 | 40 | +45 | 95 | Promotion to Football League Championship |
| 2 | Southampton (P) | 46 | 28 | 8 | 10 | 86 | 38 | +48 | 92 | Promotion to Football League Championship |
| 3 | Huddersfield Town | 46 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 77 | 48 | +29 | 87 | Qualification for League One play-offs |
| 4 | Peterborough United (O, P) | 46 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 106 | 75 | +31 | 79 | Qualification for League One play-offs |
| 5 | Milton Keynes Dons | 46 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 67 | 60 | +7 | 77 | Qualification for League One play-offs |

## First team

As of 29 January 2011.
| No. | Name | Position | Date of Birth (Age) | Previous Club | Notes |
| Goalkeepers ||||||
| 1 | Peter Brezovan | GK | (1979-12-09) 9 December 1979 (age 44) | Swindon Town | |
| 13 | Mitch Walker | GK | (1991-09-24) 24 September 1991 (age 33) | Youth team graduate | |
| 16 | Casper Ankergren | GK | (1979-11-09) 9 November 1979 (age 44) | Leeds United | |
| 19 | Michael Poke | GK | (1985-11-21) 21 November 1985 (age 38) | Southampton | |
| Defenders ||||||
| 3 | Gordon Greer | CB | (1980-12-14) 14 December 1980 (age 43) | Swindon Town | Club captain |
| 4 | Tommy Elphick | CB | (1987-09-07) 7 September 1987 (age 37) | Youth team graduate | |
| 6 | Adam El-Abd | CB | (1984-09-11) 11 September 1984 (age 40) | Youth team graduate | |
| 14 | Iñigo Calderón | RB | (1982-01-04) 4 January 1982 (age 42) | Deportivo Alavés | |
| 22 | Marcos Painter | LB | (1986-08-17) 17 August 1986 (age 38) | Swansea City | |
| 27 | Mauricio Taricco | LB | (1973-03-10) 10 March 1973 (age 51) | A.S. Villasimius | Assistant manager |
| 30 | Steve Cook | CB/RB | (1991-04-19) 19 April 1991 (age 33) | Youth team graduate | |
| 33 | Jimmy McNulty | LB | (1985-02-13) 13 February 1985 (age 39) | Stockport County | |
| 37 | Lewis Dunk | CB | (1991-11-21) 21 November 1991 (age 32) | Youth team graduate | |
| Midfielders ||||||
| 5 | Agustín Battipiedi | CM | (1990-09-01) 1 September 1990 (age 34) | Club Comunicaciones | |
| 7 | Elliott Bennett | RM | (1988-12-18) 18 December 1988 (age 35) | Wolverhampton Wanderers | |
| 8 | Alan Navarro | CM | (1981-05-31) 31 May 1981 (age 43) | MK Dons | |
| 10 | Matt Sparrow | CM | (1981-10-03) 3 October 1981 (age 43) | Scunthorpe United | |
| 11 | Cristian Baz | LM/FW | (1987-05-05) 5 May 1987 (age 37) | Club Comunicaciones | |
| 12 | Kazenga LuaLua | LW | (1990-12-10) 10 December 1990 (age 33) | Newcastle United | loaned from Newcastle United |
| 15 | Gary Hart | RM/FW | (1976-09-21) 21 September 1976 (age 48) | Stansted | |
| 18 | Gary Dicker | CM | (1986-07-31) 31 July 1986 (age 38) | Stockport County | |
| 24 | Jamie Smith | CM | (1989-09-12) 12 September 1989 (age 35) | Crystal Palace | |
| 25 | Radostin Kishishev | CM | (1974-07-30) 30 July 1974 (age 50) | Litex Lovech | |
| 26 | Liam Bridcutt | CM | (1989-05-08) 8 May 1989 (age 35) | Chelsea | |
| 28 | Jake Forster-Caskey | CM | (1994-04-25) 25 April 1994 (age 30) | Youth team graduate | |
| 29 | Yaser Kasim | MF | (1991-05-10) 10 May 1991 (age 33) | Tottenham Hotspur | |
| 31 | Craig Noone | LW | (1987-11-17) 17 November 1987 (age 36) | Plymouth Argyle | |
| 36 | Ryan Thomson | CM | (1992-07-26) 26 July 1992 (age 32) | Youth team graduate | |
| Strikers ||||||
| 9 | Ashley Barnes | FW | (1989-10-30) 30 October 1989 (age 34) | Plymouth Argyle | |
| 17 | Glenn Murray | FW | (1983-09-25) 25 September 1983 (age 41) | Rochdale | |
| 20 | Chris Holroyd | FW | (1986-10-24) 24 October 1986 (age 37) | Cambridge United | |
| 21 | Francisco Sandaza | FW | (1984-11-30) 30 November 1984 (age 39) | Dundee United |
| 23 | Torbjørn Agdestein | FW | (1991-11-29) 29 November 1991 (age 32) | Stord IL | |
| 39 | Chris Wood | FW | (1991-12-07) 7 December 1991 (age 32) | West Bromwich Albion | loaned from West Bromwich Albion |

### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss

#### Pre-season friendlies

* ↑ At the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira, Portugal

### League One

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | L | D | D | L | D | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | L | D | L | D |
| Position | 5 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

#### Notes

* ↑ Game was postponed due to a clash with Albion's Third round FA Cup match versus Portsmouth scheduled for the same day.
* ↑ Game was rescheduled due to postponement of original fixture because of snow Archived 10 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
* ↑ Game was postponed due to a clash with Albion's Fourth round FA Cup match versus Watford scheduled for the same day.

### FA Cup

As they will be playing in League One, Albion will enter the 2010–11 FA Cup at the first round proper.

### League Trophy
## Statistics
### Appearances, goals and cards

    As of Fixture vs Notts County(7 May 2011).
    (Substitute appearances in brackets)
| No. | Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | League Trophy | League Trophy | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline |
| No. | Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | | |
| 1 | GK | Peter Brezovan | 1 (1) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Gordon Greer | 32 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | DF | Tommy Elphick | 22 (5) | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 (5) | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Agustín Battipiedi | 3 (5) | 0 | 1 (3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 (8) | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Adam El-Abd | 36 (1) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 (1) | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Elliott Bennett | 45 (1) | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 51 (2) | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Alan Navarro | 2 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Ashley Barnes | 31 (11) | 18 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 38 (11) | 20 | 7 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Matt Sparrow | 21 (8) | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 (8) | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| 11 | MF | Cristian Baz | 0 (7) | 0 | 2 (3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 3 (11) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | Kazenga LuaLua | 7 (4) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (4) | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | Mitch Walker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | Iñigo Calderón | 44 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| 15 | MF | Gary Hart | 0 (3) | 0 | 1 (3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 (7) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | GK | Casper Ankergren | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | Glenn Murray | 38 (4) | 22 | 6 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 45 (5) | 22 | 6 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | Gary Dicker | 38 (8) | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 44 (8) | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| 19 | GK | Michael Poke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | Chris Holroyd | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | FW | Fran Sandaza | 3 (12) | 2 | 1 (3) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (15) | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | Marcos Painter | 46 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 54 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | Torbjorn Agdestein | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | Jamie Smith | 3 (5) | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 3 (9) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | Radostin Kishishev | 21 (11) | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 (11) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | Liam Bridcutt | 31 (6) | 2 | 5 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 37 (7) | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 27 | DF | Mauricio Taricco | 2 (2) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 (2) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 | MF | Jake Forster-Caskey | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | Yaser Kasim | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | Steve Cook | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | Craig Noone | 10 (13) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 (13) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | Jimmy McNulty | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | MF | Ryan Thomson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | DF | Lewis Dunk | 2 (3) | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | FW | Chris Wood | 22 (7) | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 (7) | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| | | Own Goals | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |

### Formation

| Formation | League | FA Cup | League Cup | League Trophy | Total |
| 4–4–2 | 33 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 40 |
| 4–5–1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4–3–3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| | 40 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 49 |

### Monthly awards

| Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Notes |
| Month | Manager | Player | Notes |
| September | Gus Poyet | Casper Ankergren | |
| March | Gus Poyet | Casper Ankergren | |

### Team of the Year

League One
| Pos. | Player | Club |
| GK | Kelvin Davis | Southampton |
| DF | Iñigo Calderón | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| DF | Dan Harding | Southampton |
| DF | Gordon Greer | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| DF | José Fonte | Southampton |
| MF | Anthony Pilkington | Huddersfield Town |
| MF | Elliott Bennett | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| MF | Adam Lallana | Southampton |
| MF | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Southampton |
| FW | Craig Mackail-Smith | Peterborough United |
| FW | Bradley Wright-Phillips | Charlton Athletic |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Name | From | Fee |
| 11 June 2010 | Michael Poke | Southampton | Free |
| July 2010 | Marcos Painter | Swansea City | Free |
| 28 June 2010 | Agustín Battipiedi | Club Comunicaciones | Free |
| 28 June 2010 | Cristian Baz | Club Comunicaciones | Free |
| 29 June 2010 | Matt Sparrow | Scunthorpe United | Free |
| 8 July 2010 | Ashley Barnes | Plymouth Argyle | Undisclosed |
| 16 July 2010 | Radostin Kishishev | Litex Lovech | Free |
| 11 July 2010 | Gordon Greer | Swindon Town | £250,000 |
| 1 September 2010 | Francisco Sandaza | Dundee United | Free |
| 28 August 2010 | Liam Bridcutt | Chelsea | Free |
| 31 December 2010 | Craig Noone | Plymouth Argyle | Undisclosed |

### Out

| Date | Name | To | Fee |
| May 2010 | Michel Kuipers | Crawley Town | Free |
| June 2010 | Nicky Forster | Brentford | Free |
| July 2010 | Craig Davies | Chesterfield | Free |
| July 2010 | Andrew Crofts | Norwich | £300,000 |
| July 2010 | Jake Wright | Oxford United | Free |
| July 2010 | Liam Dickinson | Barnsley | Undisclosed |
| July 2010 | Steve Brinkhurst | Eastbourne Borough | Undisclosed |
| 13 November 2010 | Kazenga LuaLua | Newcastle United | Loan Return |
| 7 January 2011 | Andy Whing | Leyton Orient | Free |

### Loan in

| Date | Name | From | Length of Loan | Ref. |
| 31 August 2010 | Kazenga LuaLua | Newcastle United | Four-Month Loan | |
| 19 November 2010 | Chris Wood | West Bromwich Albion | Two-Month Loan | |

### Loan out

| Date | Name | To | Length of Loan |
| July 2010 | James Tunnicliffe | Bristol Rovers | Season-Long Loan |
| July 2010 | Jimmy McNulty | Scunthorpe United | Six-Month Loan |
| September 2010 | Steve Cook | Eastbourne Borough | One-Month Loan |
| September 2010 | Chris Holroyd | Stevenage | Three-Month Loan |
| October 2010 | Steve Cook | Mansfield Town | Three-Month Loan |
| October 2010 | Andy Whing | Leyton Orient | Two-month Loan |
| January 2011 | Mitch Walker | Welling United | |
| March 2011 | Chris Holroyd | Bury | One-Month Loan |

### Trialists

| Date | Name | Position | Club |
| July 2010 | Eric Midtgarden | Forward | |
| July 2010 | Filipe Morais | Winger | Oldham Athletic |
| August 2010 | Diego Camacho | Defensive midfielder | Albacete |
| January 2011 | Emmanuel Ledesma | Attacking midfielder | Walsall |
| April 2011 | Kosta Barbarouses | Striker | Brisbane Roar |