16 or so years ago, if you’d had told any Manchester United fan that one day Brighton & Hove Albion would have more chance of qualifying for Europe than the Reds, they would just have laughed at you in quite a nasty ‘’we’re Manchester United ‘’type way......and by any, I mean either those who go to Old Trafford regularly or those that don’t and never have been, but do own last season’s shirt and wear it proudly in the office on dress down day.
 

When I put this scenario to some Manchester United ....er... fans,  near where I work in mid Sussex earlier this week however , they did laugh a bit, then , and this is the good bit , realised they would actually have justify why the Albion didn’t have more chance of qualifying for Europe than the team they see on the telly.
 

To actually have to enter into an argument that this suggestion was possible must have been very sobering, the two teams in 1998 were 91 places apart in real terms.
 

The Albion of course only need to win the FA Cup to enter the Europa League , United need to over haul  five point gap to take 5th place, just to get into the Europa League, or they could of course just win The Champions League.
 

Recently I wrote that Gus Poyet should try and ‘mackem’ laugh in Sunderland. Well they are all laughing, out loud in wearside , as Poyet has not only taken them to a Cup Final , but has taken them close to the Premier League mid-table.
 

I always found Gus incredibly easy going at the Albion press conferences, and we managed to have a laugh once or twice, mine out of shock he found my intentionally amusing questions, even slightly amusing, his (I expect) that he was answering questions from this funny little bloke, who just had to ask something, even if every other relevant aspect had already been covered.
 

The Albion are ninth in the Championship as I write and looking unlikely to mount a challenge for the play-offs unless something sensational happens over the course of the next month.
Winning the three league games scheduled at the Amex would be sensational , but not as sensational as signing a prolific striker currently not making the starting line up in Shepherds Bush , and now seemingly further down the pecking order .
 

Well the loan window opens next week and ‘’when the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine that’s’’............