US President Donald Trump has left Brighton without a pre-season base. His helicopters wrecked the pitches earmarked for the English club, rendering them unusable and forcing the cancellation of their training camp for the new season.
Brighton and Hove Albion had planned the camp in France. It fell through after their pitches were used as a landing zone for the helicopters carrying world leaders, including Trump, to the G7 summit.
According to "The Athletic", the pitches in the French town of Évian-les-Bains doubled as a helicopter landing site during the recent gathering. They did the job for the politicians. But the landings tore up the grass surface and left it unfit for the English club to use.
Brighton had lined up the "Royal Resort" near the Swiss border for their preparations, running from 23 July to 1 August.
The summit took place in mid-June, drawing figures such as Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron. Yet the surface never recovered in time. Brighton dispatched a team of their staff to inspect the facilities and made their unhappiness with the state of the pitches clear.
Scrapping the camp also killed off a friendly against Annecy, one of the clubs in the French second division. Brighton chose instead to keep training at their own centre in the town of Lancing in the south of England, where they staged a closed-door friendly.
On Sunday the team fly to Austria for an alternative camp. The club insist the change of plans will not affect their preparations for the new season.
Brighton kick off their friendlies against France's Strasbourg on 1 August. They then face Italian clubs Roma and Bologna on 8 and 15 August respectively, part of an intensive programme ahead of the start of the season.