Brighton’s pre-season plans thrown off by G7 helicopter landings

By Edward Elliot, Press Association

Brighton have revised their pre-season plans after helicopter landings during the recent G7 summit ruined the pitches they were due to use in France.

Albion were scheduled to train in the town of Evian-les-Bains, close to the Swiss border, from Thursday, July 23rd until Saturday, August 1st.

However, the pitches they intended to use were damaged when helicopters carrying heads of state, including US president Donald Trump and former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, landed during last month’s summit.

Club staff discovered the issue when they arrived on Wednesday to prepare the camp.

With the surfaces deemed a potential injury risk, head coach Fabian Hurzeler and his squad worked at their Lancing training ground on Friday and will instead travel to an alternative base in Austria on Sunday.

The Press Association understands Brighton already had a contingency plan in place and the changes have caused minimal disruption for players and coaching staff.

Saturday’s scheduled friendly against French Ligue 2 side Annecy has been cancelled and will be replaced by an in-house training match.

A second friendly against Ligue 1 club Strasbourg will go ahead as planned on August 1st, although it will now be played at a different venue.

On their return home, Brighton are scheduled to host friendlies against Italian sides Roma and Bologna on August 8th and 15th respectively.

Those matches will be followed by the first leg of the Conference League play-offs on August 20th.

Albion begin the Premier League season three days later when Aston Villa visit the Amex Stadium.