Boss Chris Hughton has hailed Albion’s promotion parade as one of the highlights of his career.

He labelled yesterday’s open-top bus celebration from Brighton to Hove as “right up there” with moments he has cherished as a player and manager.

Around 100,000 jubilant fans lined the seafront route to congratulate Hughton and his players for taking the Seagulls to the Premier League for the first time and back to the top flight for the first time since 1983.

Hughton, 58, said: “It’s right up there. I’ve been at the front end of the bus as a player with some of my achievements at Tottenham, cups and stuff.

“I know every bit of what they are going through. I have to try to be a bit calmer, because it’s a little bit of a bigger picture, but it’s not really about the football club, it’s about the city.

“Only a percentage of the people here come to the games. It’s not cheap to watch football and some people might not be as fanatical as others, but they are all Brighton supporters. They all support their team.

“We knew there were going to be big numbers, I’m surprised how big they are.

“This is testament to what the football club means to the city and what this group of lads have done for it.”

The players’ bus crawled along from Madeira Drive to the presentation stage at Hove Lawns through a sea of blue and white as fans, several deep, lined both sides of the seafront.

A year ago Albion missed out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season, while 20 years ago the club almost dropped out of the Football League and had to groundshare with Gillingham following the sale of the Goldstone.

Hughton said: “It’s outstanding stuff. It fits in incredibly well. We have a group of players that have achieved something this season and they’ve achieved it because they’ve showed that motivation, that desperation to want to go one better than last season.

“I’ve been here two and a bit years and it’s still hard to comprehend. I haven’t experienced what a large majority of the crowd have experienced over the last 20-odd years and what the club means to the city.

“I have managed other clubs and I know what Newcastle means to the city, Birmingham and Norwich the same. It’s no different here, it’s a great catchment area for a football club and this is their club, irrespective of whether you go to games or not.

“We have a huge fan base in the city and they’ve all turned out.”