While Sunday’s return to Merseyside will be in a brand-new stadium, memories of that Goodison Park bow in August 2024 will be forever etched in the young manager’s mind.”I thought I’d prepared myself, but when the game started I was just impressed by how loud it was, how intense the Premier League is,” Hurzerler tells Sky Sports.
“I remember very well how my emotions felt. It was a nice feeling afterwards, but during the game it was a tough experience and one that I learned a lot from. Overall, it was an experience I wanted, it was very positive.”
A 3-0 victory set the youngest permanent Premier League head coach off on the front foot. Another step on a journey that had begun eight years earlier.
Hurzeler was just 23 years old when he gave up a modest career, mainly in semi-professional and amateur football, to concentrate on coaching.
His early experiences came at amateur level with Pipinsreid in Germany’s fifth tier before a move to St Pauli in Bundesliga 2, alongside coaching the country’s U18s and U20s teams.
The Premier League represented a huge leap but last season’s eighth-place finish proved he was ready.
“I try to be supportive for my team and my players,” Hurzeler continues. “I know I can’t win games on my own, I know I need my staff and players. That’s how I interpret my role, I don’t view myself as more important.
“Football is a team sport, a people business. You have to take care of the people and know that you can only be successful with the people. It’s not a one-man show. Here in Brighton, I felt from the first day that I was part of a family; a really good club with good values. This makes me feel that it’s the right place where we can really work on something and be ambitious.”
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