Brighton chairman Tony Bloom refuses to break the bank following their promotion into the Premier League
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Brighton chairman Tony Bloom has promised to back manager Chris Hughton in the transfer market following their promotion into the Premier League but will not break the bank as they look to cement their position in the top flight.
The south coast club are celebrating their return to the top tier in English football for the first time in 34 years and are now bracing themselves for a financial windfall.
Promotion into the Premier League is worth an estimated £200million and Hughton will want to bring more experience into his squad as they look to compete with the big guns next season.
(Photo: Rex Features)
But with Brighton having a history of financial problems and Bloom having settled the club with his successful business model, he has no plans to jeopardise the club's future once again.
Bloom said: “The amounts of money in the Premier League does equalise things a bit.
“Money is spent every season at every single club. We have to strengthen, that goes without saying. But we're not looking to spend huge amounts.
(Photo: Getty Images Europe)
“We'll do things on a gradual basis as we have done. We have good players already and we want to strengthen from that position.”
Bloom also made it clear that the club will do everything to keep star midfielder Anthony Knockaert following his superb displays this season.
The French winger was named Championship Player of the Year and the Brighton supremo has no intentions of letting him leave during the summer.
(Photo: PA)
Bloom added: “He'd been a player we'd followed for a while. He wasn't settled at Standard Liege and wanted to come back to England.
“We knew how brilliantly he'd done at Leicester and, in the last 18 months it's been a pleasure watching him. He scores goals and creates goals. He has that X-factor.
“Anthony Knockaert loves Brighton and loves playing for this club. We wanted to keep him and that was one of our easier ones.”
(Photo: Getty Images Europe)
Bloom had special praise for one of the best coaches in England.
Hughton arrived at Brighton when they were struggling near the bottom of the Championship but has worked his magic to help them achieve their dream of gaining promotion back into the flight.
Bloom said: “'He is one of the most respected managers in football. He gets a lot of respect and huge amount of credit from me.
(Photo: Rex Features)
“Everyone is impressed with the job he's done at Brighton. Should he get more credit? I don't know. But he deserves the respect and credit.
“He has done a magnificent job. We were in a bad position when he came in. The first stage was get us to stay up. He did that.
“It wasn't pretty or easy, but even the biggest clubs in the world have bad seasons.”