Liam Rosenior is sitting cross-legged on the synthetic turf of Brighton & Hove Albion’s cavernous indoor pitch contemplating a campaign that will test his ability to multitask. His principal focus will be as a player embarking upon a seventh Premier League season, with a fourth different team, and all the associated responsibilities as an experienced older head at a club thrilled to be back after more than three decades outside the elite. Then there is his pursuit of his coaching badges, with a Uefa pro-licence course to be concluded outside on the windswept pitches of the Lancing campus.
Throw in his duties as an active ambassador for Brighton’s community projects or with Show Racism the Red Card and a family life that revolves around his four daughters and it means free time is at a premium. Yet the full-back has added to his workload by writing a weekly column for the Guardian. Rosenior feels there are stories he wants to tell and issues he can address as he enters a 17th season in senior football. “I was brought up in the sport,” he says. “My dad [Leroy] played for West Ham in the 1980s at a time when a more natural connection existed between players and fans. After a game my dad would go into the players’ lounge and we would be there, mixing with the fans. Talking.
“But the way football has gone, players are shielded more from the public these days. There isn’t that interaction that existed 20 or 30 years ago. It’s like the music industry now: footballers are hoisted up as celebrities when we’re just lucky to be able to be playing a game we love.
“I remember Kyle Walker as a ball boy at Bramall Lane when Fulham played up there and he asked me for my shirt. He must have been 15 or 16, a kid whose dream was to be a professional footballer at Sheffield United. And he was looking up to me. Now he’s a £50m England full-back, one of the most expensive defenders in the world. Football is one of the biggest industries in the world, with the Premier League at its heart, so I’d like to give an insight into what it’s like to be in that bubble.”
Walker will be a direct opponent next Saturday when Brighton’s return becomes a reality with the visit of Manchester City, a team bolstered by the addition this summer of £130m-worth of full-backs. Rosenior chuckles at the role reversal, but while he doubts escalating fees can be healthy in the long term he argues these are merely the going rates in an entertainment business.
There are far uglier sides to the game. He has witnessed his father being subjected to monkey chants from the stands, seen black managers continue to struggle for opportunities at the top level and experienced the unrealistic pressures heaped upon youngsters embarking on careers at academies. “My dad never pushed me to become a footballer because he knew this sport can be treacherous but I watched a lot of academy games last season and saw young kids being pushed by parents to become the next David Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo, to be something they’re not. It has to be about enjoyment.”
His own playing career as an energetic full-back had taken him from Bristol City to Fulham, Reading to Hull, before this stint on the south coast. Last season was wrecked by ankle problems and while the 33-year-old returned to enjoy another elevation to the top flight, his rehabilitation offered time to prepare for the future. His initial coaching badges gained in Belfast, he would watch games from the mouth of the tunnel at the Amex Stadium or from a similar vantage point “to gain a manager’s perspective of the play” at academy games, soaking up information from the sidelines and fuelling a passion for coaching that will sustain him once his playing days are over. He is due to spend time observing Pep Guardiola at the Etihad campus and José Mourinho at Carrington, all with his education in mind.
The defender once stated he knew he would be a manager from the age of 20. “But when I was six or seven I’d draw pictures of myself and I’d always be on the touchline, not on the pitch,” he says. “Dad went into management and I saw his struggles and that served as another incentive. I played for him on loan at Torquay [he did not talk to his father for two days after he was dropped] and I used to travel with him, watching players, compiling scout reports, devising the set pieces ... I’d do all the diagrams. I’ve always loved being a footballer but I’m more passionate about coaching.
“Most of the players who have become coaches have had that interest from an early age. Look at Guardiola: he was always organising out on the pitch as a player and he’s taken that into his coaching career. The way he had Barcelona play, with that style, was all about having a clear idea about football ... I have clear ideas about how I want to play the game, too. Over my career, I haven’t worked for too many managers who have had that clear a philosophy, a structure or way of doing things, a process. I’m fortunate now to be working under Chris Hughton, who does: he has a process and is a fantastic role model.
“I’m talking about approach, philosophy, value, how you play, your identity, your system, the way you work, your routines, how you train players, even the culture of a club and how you want players to behave. The discipline around the place. It all stems from the manager.
“There’s a lot more to the role than just picking a team or a formation or buying players. It’s a cultural thing. We go out there every day and everyone knows their job, not just the players but the staff too. If you watch us play on the pitch, we’re so organised as a team. That comes from every day’s organisation and process laid down by the manager.”
Hughton, who signed Rosenior after he was released by Hull in 2015, encourages his team to select their own leadership group of five senior players, with Rosenior duly joining Steve Sidwell, Lewis Dunk, Sam Baldock and the captain, Bruno, on the committee. “We discuss how we train or travel, even what we should wear or should be eating. It creates accountability. People see their decisions make a difference and we don’t have any excuses if things go badly. We can’t turn around and say we weren’t prepared.”
The manager will have Brighton ready for what awaits. This club has been gearing up for this moment ever since the Goldstone Ground was stolen away, via homelessness or life in the lower leagues at the soulless Withdean, to the recovery with Falmer, the Amex Stadium and Tony Bloom’s progressive ownership. The Lancing complex is one of the most sumptuous in the division.
Hughton ended Brighton’s 34-year stint outside the top division by breaking a run of excruciating near-misses to take them up in May. He and Brighton’s recruitment department have since tweaked the squad rather than instigated a revolution but each of those brought in has settled almost immediately. Even an ankle ligament injury that has disrupted Anthony Knockaert’s pre-season has failed to douse any optimism.
Establishing them in lofty company will still be a challenge, even if Rosenior is less daunted by what awaits than some might assume. He knows the divisions and is aware of the relative strengths of those from mid-table Premier League down to the upper echelons of the Championship. Outsiders are blinded by astronomic wages and mind-boggling transfer fees but he insists there is not a big difference in terms of quality even if City, with their lavishly assembled ranks, will be a tricky opening test. “There’s no pressure on us,” he says. “It’s the first Premier League game in the club’s history, on an amazing stage like the Amex, and we’ve got probably the highest-profile team and manager coming down.
“I liken this club to Southampton in terms of infrastructure. If we can survive the first few seasons, Brighton have so much potential to grow and become an established top-10 club in the Premier League. That has to be the ambition, not just to survive. There’s no point limiting yourself to that. After all, this is a league that was won by Leicester City.
“People pay to watch football because amazing things can happen. This club can evolve, grow and become a force but that’s long-term. A few of our lads have been in the Premier League before but most have been dreaming of playing at this level since they were five or six years old. Now they have the opportunity to do it. I’m sure they’ll grasp it.”
