Hinshelwood leads march of the foot soldier

If Martin Hinshelwood, newly appointed at Brighton and Hove Albion, is not the best-known manager in the First Division this season, the surname, at least, should ring a bell. Football Family Hinshelwood now extends to three generations, starting with Wally, a winger in the 1950s with half a dozen clubs including Reading and Bristol City; his son Paul achieved the family's greatest distinction as a player, reaching England Under-21 level as a right-back with Crystal Palace (1973-82); Paul's son Adam is now on Brighton's books, where the new boss is Uncle Martin.

Oh, and for advice about modern management, he need only speak to his own son, Danny, the 26-year-old manager of Selsey in the Sussex County League.

In fact, Martin is not short of experience, having packed a lot into almost 25 years of coaching since injury forced him out of League football. A highly regarded midfielder, he sustained a knee injury during Palace's run to the 1978 FA Cup semi-final (The One With Malcolm Allison's Fedora) and was replaced in the team by younger brother Paul before eventually accepting that his professional career was over.

Had Palace really become the Team of the Eighties, as one journalist rather rashly predicted, Hinshelwood might have been able to take some of the credit: his first coaching appointment, in 1979, was as their youth team manager. A busy cv subsequently records spells working for John Hollins at Chelsea, Jim Smith at Portsmouth and any number of people at Brighton, acting as caretaker manager three times (without losing a game), only to be sacked as soon as a new man was appointed and insisted on bringing in his own backroom staff. When Peter Taylor suddenly walked out on Brighton in April, the chairman Dick Knight decided against employing another new broom that would want to sweep clean and decided it was time to give Hinshelwood his chance.

Reserves and youth teams apart, his managerial experience was gained in a rather different world, doing the rounds of Surrey non-League clubs such as Leatherhead, Kingstonian and Dorking ("a bit of an eye-opener, fixing up pre-season friendlies and finding eight of the team were on holiday, that sort of thing"). There have been no such problems at Brighton, where a squad with two successive championships behind them look mustard-keen at their pleasantly situated training ground on the South Downs, preparing for Saturday's opening game away to Burnley – the club's first at Division One level in a decade.

Hinshelwood, 49, is confident in his own ability and that of his team: "It was something I've always wanted to do. I've been waiting 25 years and I've done every job except manage at this level. It's a big step for me, but I'm looking forward to it very much. Even a year ago you could have said it would be hard for us stepping up into the Second Division from the Third. We're not silly, we know it'll be hard, you only have to look at the fixture list to see that, but it's exciting. It's new to everyone, from the board of directors to the players, but we're all in it together and I'm confident we'll get through it."

The downside is being stuck, for the time being, at a ground capable of holding fewer than 7,000 people. Plans for an additional 2,000 seats are in the pipeline, though middle-class Withdean is understandably less than enthusiastic; senior citizens did not choose to retire there in order to have a Football League club on the doorstep. In the longer-term, the local council voted 11-1 in favour of a proposed new stadium, near the training ground, which may or may not be called in for a public inquiry.

Like most other Nationwide League clubs, Brighton have felt the collapse of ITV Digital, and are concerned that a transfer window is likely to prevent any movement of players between 31 August and January. There is what Hinshelwood calls "a bit of money" available for new recruits, which is just as well, since he has lost the experienced central defender Simon Morgan. More important, though, is that Bobby Zamora, the scourge of the lower divisions with 63 goals in two seasons, remains a Brighton player. "I'm surprised he's still here," Hinshelwood candidly admits. "He's a great athlete, and a finisher, and he's quick. I think he'll play in the Premiership and I'd like to think it would be with us, but we're realistic."

Confidence tinged with realism, then, in Sussex-by-the-Sea, where – to emphasise football's ever-changing fortunes – Coventry City will be the first visitors on Tuesday week. Nice guys don't always finish last, even on gates of 6,500, and it would be good if Hinshelwood, knowledgeable, amiable and enthusiastic, were to succeed and strike a blow for the less fashionable foot soldiers.