Hughton hopes his long-term future is with Brighton

Chris Hughton says he is very happy at Brighton and hopes to be the club's manager for a long time to come.
Chris Hughton. Picture by Phil Westlake (PW Sporting Photography)Chris Hughton. Picture by Phil Westlake (PW Sporting Photography)
Chris Hughton. Picture by Phil Westlake (PW Sporting Photography)

The 59-year-old was appointed Seagulls manager on December 31, 2014, and guided the club to promotion from the Championship last season after narrowly missing out the previous campaign. They now sit 13th in the Premier League with four games to go.

Hughton hopes to be with Brighton for the forseeable future but admits he won't get near the 22-year reign of Arsene Wenger, who will leave Arsenal this summer.

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He said: "I don't think I'll be here 22 years - I think I can quite safely say that!

"I'm also realistic and have been in the game a long time; I know there are good times and times that are not so good. Thankfully here there's been more good times than bad since I've been here. But I know that can change.

"So I can only speak on how I feel at any particular moment - and I'm very happy here.

"It's a club that has developed over the last few years. We've managed to achieve the club's ambition, which was to get to the Premier League.

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"It's now about staying there and developing it. And I've no doubt that if we are able to stay in this division that this is a club which will want to develop and will want that stability.

"So I'm very happy to be around it. And as regardless longevity - yes I hope so! I hope so. But in our game you never because you look forward to and want the good times but you always know there will be times that are not so good. But I'm very happy here."

Hughton added the majority of conversations he has with chairman Tony Bloom are about Albion's short-term future.

He said: "The conversations I have with the chairman are very much about now and the near future. And sometimes it's a bit uncomfortable because you are talking about preparations for next season, bringing in players and recruitment, but at this stage we still don't know what division we'll be playing in. You have to work around those issues.

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"But my conversations with the chairman would be more short term than long term."

Hughton praised Albion for providing him with the platform to do well at the club and added: "As a manager you want to do well. And to do well you have to have the right circumstances to do well.

"What the club has done is provided me with a platform to do well.

"That's with the facilities here and most importantly with recruitment. I think we've recruited really well over the period of time I've been here.

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"I don't see any lack of drive for that not to continue. I'm very much part of that and would like to continue to be part of that.

"That's what I see at this moment. It's always difficult to look too far into the future because you never know - but that's what I would like, yes."