Chris Hughton has commented on Colin Calderwood’s move to Aston Villa.
Brighton manager Chris Hughton
Brighton and Hove Albion boss Chris Hughton has told BBC Sport that he was left ‘very disappointed and very surprised’ by Colin Calderwood’s decision to join Aston Villa.
The Seagulls were in action against Villa on Friday evening, and played out a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium as Glenn Murray’s powerful strike cancelled out Nathan Baker’s opener.
Both teams took a point, but Villa also headed back up to Birmingham with a new assistant manager, having raided Brighton for Steve Bruce’s new right hand man.
After Bruce arrived as Villa boss last month, he chose to let Steve Clarke – Roberto Di Matteo’s assistant – leave the club, and began the search for his own assistant.
Bruce brought in Stephen Clemence as his First Team Coach having worked with him at Hull, he has gone without an assistant for his first six games in charge of the club – but now, he’s raided Brighton for Colin Calderwood.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce
The 51-year-old Scot had a spell with Villa as a player, featuring in 26 games for the club before embarking on a managerial career, and he’s worked closely with Brighton boss Chris Hughton in recent years.
The pair have worked together at Newcastle, Birmingham, Norwich and Brighton, but Calderwood has stunned Hughton by choosing to leave the Seagulls and head to join Bruce at Villa.
Brighton assistant manager Colin Calderwood
Hughton confirmed the move to BBC Sport, and revealed that he is ‘very disappointed and very surprised’ that Calderwood has decided to leave the club and join Championship rivals Villa.
“It’s been agreed for Colin to go to Aston Villa, and he’s free to go as of this moment,” said Hughton. “We have to move on…yes I’m very disappointed and very surprised, but these things happen in the game, and my main concern now is to make sure that we have no disruption here. I’ll think long and hard about bringing somebody in, in that position, but we have a team that’s very well-drilled at this moment,” he added.
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