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Brighton and Newcastle have both had moderately successful seasons as they prepare to face each other at the Amex Stadium on Monday night, although both sets of supporters might not be able to help looking back at a manager who did great things for both clubs.

Chris Hughton took the Magpies straight back up to the Premier League in 2010 and had them in 11th place in the top flight when he was shockingly sacked near the end of that calendar year. Following spells at Birmingham and Norwich, the former Republic of Ireland international was appointed as Brighton boss on New Year's Eve 2014, taking the reins after the brief and unsuccessful reign of Sami Hyypia.

The Seagulls were a lowly 21st in the Championship at the time of his appointment and, while they finished the campaign only one position higher, three wins from his first four games at least steadied the ship. Once he had a full pre-season to work with the Brighton squad, the Seagulls really took flight.

Hughton's first full season in charge ended with them finishing third, missing out on automatic promotion by virtue of a goal difference only two worse than Middlesbrough despite losing just one of their final 20 league games. Unfortunately, they came up short against Sheffield Wednesday in the play-offs, but the progress that he made in less than 18 months was enormous.

Hughton would come up against his former club Newcastle in the Championship the following season and, while he wasn't able to prevent them from topping the division, he made sure there would be no play-off heartache this time around by getting the Seagulls mathematically promoted with three matches still to play. Premier League football was coming to the Amex for the first time.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brighton had to survive some uncomfortable moments in their first season at top flight level since 1983, but there were some memorable victories along the way. Just after Hughton was named as Premier League Manager of the Month in February 2018, his team defeated Arsenal at home. Two months later, victory over Manchester United confirmed a second successive season in the top tier, with Brighton taking down the Red Devils again at the start of the following campaign.

They also reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 2018/19 but it would be Hughton's most difficult year at the Amex. Chastening home defeats to Bournemouth and Cardiff in a four-day spell in mid-April left them in serious danger of relegation but some good draws against the likes of Wolves and Arsenal eventually got them out of trouble.

It wasn't enough to keep Hughton in a job, through, as he was sacked less than 24 hours after the final game of the season. It was a decision which angered some journalists and pundits, with Chris Hatherall calling him "one of the most reliable and yet under-rated coaches in the top flight" and John Barnes labelling the decision as "ridiculous".

Hughton, who has recently been linked with the vacant manager's position at Bristol City, has been out of football for 14 months, which seems staggering given what a tremendous job he performed at the Amex. He took over a Brighton team under threat of relegation to League One, got them promoted and kept them in the Premier League for two seasons, duly establishing them in the top flight.

His 215 matches in charge of the Seagulls yielded 89 wins and 56 draws, the equivalent of 323 league points, which in turn works out at 1.5 points per game (as per TransferMarkt). There is no questioning that Hughton left Brighton in a far better state upon exiting than entering.

Brighton fans, is Hughton the best manager that the club has had in the modern era? Comment below with your views!