Barber confident Hurzeler can handle Brighton dressing room

Brighton manager Paul Barber has no doubts that Fabian Hurzeler knows how to handle the dressing room.

At 31, Hurzeler arrives younger than some of Brighton’s more experienced players.

But Barber says, “I knew within five minutes of meeting him[that his age was not an issue].

“There was something in my mind when I first met him to say ‘what’s this going to be like?’ I have a son of a similar age. But after five minutes of talking to him, I didn’t think about it anymore because of the way he spoke in general.

“English is his second language and he is very impressive in English, but also what he had to say about his philosophy, the work he had already done and why he gave up his playing career to focus on coaching.

“It was always explained logically and carefully thought out, you could see that his decision making was something he thought deeply about and knew would have significant consequences for the rest of his life.

“He took these decisions not lightly, but very seriously. And I thought, again, at 31 years old, to have the presence of mind to make these decisions ten years earlier was quite something.”

Barber also said: “He has charm, humor and a great manner. I went to dinner with him on Monday and he told me the names of people he had met for the first time just 24 hours earlier (at training camp). And not just the names, but what they did and how they would help him do his job.

“That’s a nice quality. I think at a football club, often the staff behind the scenes who don’t have a high profile are very important to the club, but they rarely get recognised publicly and I thought doing that was a really nice touch on his part.”