When Paul Barber referenced “growing fan impatience across large parts of the football landscape” in his programme notes before Sunday’s game against their arch rivals Crystal Palace, the Brighton chief executive must have feared what was to come.

The clamour for change on the south coast that began as a murmur last spring after Fabian Hürzeler’s side had collected one point from four Premier League matches and been knocked out of the FA Cup in the sixth round has been steadily building ever since. Despite recovering from a slow start to this season, a second successive December without a victory has been followed by more disappointment in the first few weeks of 2026 to heap pressure on the German head coach’s slender shoulders.

Brighton were booed by a small section of away supporters after the last-minute defeat to Fulham on 24 January when they had led until the 72nd minute. The following week, some even pointed the finger at Hürzeler for bringing James Milner off the bench for his 652nd Premier League appearance as the reason Everton were able to score an equaliser in the seventh minute of stoppage time after six additional minutes had been announced. But the...