Wednesday 31 December 2014 20:38, UK
Brighton have named former Newcastle and Norwich boss Chris Hughton as their new manager on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Hughton was unveiled as Brighton's new manager at a press conference on Wednesday morning and replaces former boss Sami Hyypia who resigned from the post on December 22.
Nathan Jones took temporary charge of the team since Hyypia left, guiding Albion to a 2-2 draw against Reading and a 2-0 win away to Fulham.
The former Norwich boss takes over at the AMEX Stadium with the club sitting just above the relegation zone in the Sky Bet Championship and his first game in charge will be away to Brentford in the FA Cup on January 3.
Hughton said: "You only have to look around this wonderful training facility that is here, a brand new facility and what the club have achieved with the new stadium and their ambition over the last few seasons.
"They have of course fared very well in the division and have been very, very close to their ambitions, but for whatever reason this season hasn't perhaps gone as well.
"It's about the ambition of the club and the people here - I know the club very well having been to watch numerous games here.
"I know the squad quite well and some individual players that I have come across having watched the team over this season and previous seasons - some of those players are still here.
"Certainly a lot of the structure of the club I have known for some time, I'm hoping it's not going to take me too long to settle in. In this short period of time I have been made very welcome here.
"As soon as I knew there was an opportunity to come here it was one that very, very much excited me for a lot of the reasons like the infrastructure and where this club want to be in the future.
“I'm at a club here who have real ambitions to progress and real ambitions to push on."
Hughton took charge of 82 games at previous club Norwich and in his first season led them to 11th place in the Premier League.
But he left the Canaries in April with the club one place above the drop zone and they went on to be relegated to the Championship.
