Hyypia hoping to make it third time lucky for Brighton

There is no struggle so desperate at the scramble for Premier League promotion. Brighton and Hove Albion have come so close to achieving this, but in each of the last two seasons have fallen short at the penultimate hurdle.

Gus Poyet and Oscar Garcia both endured the misery of losing in the Championship play-off semi-finals, though those disappointments resulted in their respective careers taking different directions. It is now the charge of former Bayer Leverkusen boss and Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia (he was sacked in April) to see the Seagulls soar into the top-flight.

Coral make Brighton 14/1 to win the second-tier next term, and that may well be the only way they can get out of that division. Albion are becoming more and more reminiscent of Cardiff City under Dave Jones because of their failures at the business end – cynics labelled the Bluebirds choke artists.

Under Malky Mackay, however, the Welsh capital club laid such ghosts to rest and took the Championship title. The subsequent farce of their Premier League campaign is not relevant; what is, however, is a mentality must have crept into that dressing room, which made settling for a play-off place unthinkable.

Hyypia would do well to set similarly high standards as he embarks on his new role at south coast side Brighton. A three-year contract handed to the Finn, who delighted the Anfield Kop for a decade between 1999 and 2009 with his defensive displays, suggests the board are willing to be patient, but the Seagulls boss faces some tough decisions.

First and foremost, what will Hyypia make of the Hispanic flavour to the squad he has inherited? Forward flop David Rodriguez, and midfield pair Andrea Orlandi and David Lopez, are all out of contract at the Amex this summer.

Like full backs Bruno Saltor and Inigo Calderon, they had plenty in common with Hyypia’s predecessors Garcia and Poyet. If the Finn opts for a departure from this policy, then it could be adios to them.

Brighton’s reliance on top scorer Leonardo Ulloa could become even greater. As thing stand, four of the five players that came after him in the club goal charts for 2013/14 won’t be there next term. Ashley Barnes has thrown in his lot with Burnley, which turned out to be a wise decision in January as he will play Premier League football at Turf Moor.