Chris Hughton and his Brighton side came agonisingly close to an extremely unlikely promotion in May, missing out on automatic promotion courtesy of goal difference alone, before being squeezed out of the play-offs by Sheffield Wednesday.
After a disappointing season previous to that, expectations were fairly low around the Amex Stadium 12 months ago, but this has all changed now, with many supporters looking for another promotion push next time around.
It certainly won't be easy. With clubs such as Newcastle and Aston Villa entering the Championship, it will be an extremely competitive division at the top end, and many clubs will have to perform to the best of their abilities on a consistent basis to be in the promotion reckoning.
Brighton will be one of these, as they will not have the budget of others, but nonetheless they will be quietly optimistic they can make a push once again.
FLW's Tom Percival identifies THREE reasons why Chris Hughton and his side could be celebrating promotion to the Premier League come May 2017.....
Use this season's hurt as motivation
It would have been a very low dressing room at the Amex Stadium after Brighton went crashing out of the play-offs at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.
Brighton were one goal away on the last day from sealing an automatic promotion spot, before losing to the Owls over two legs who has finished a mammoth 15 points behind them in the regular season.
However, instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they need to take a look at the side who pipped them to that second spot, Middlesbrough, and see how they responded to play-off heartache of their own 12 months previously.
After losing out to Norwich City, Middlesbrough came back determined to rewrite the wrongs of the previous campaign. If Brighton can replicate this, they have every chance of going one better next season.
Experienced manager
In Chris Hughton, Brighton have a manager who knows how to win games in the Championship and get sides out of the division, and this is certainly a valuable asset to have.
Having led Newcastle to the title and Birmingham into the play-offs as well as Brighton, there are few managers in the division that can boast the record that Hughton has at this level.
Hughton should be able to call upon his Championship know-how and learn from the very few mistakes the Seagulls made this season to make it a marginally better campaign next term which would inevitably result in promotion.
Strong squad already in place
The recruitment that Brighton need to make over the summer should be fairly minimal, as long they keep the majority of the current squad in place, only minor changes are needed to ensure Brighton can get over the line.
With a spine of David Stockdale, Lewis Dunk, Beram Kayal, Anthony Knockaert an Tomer Hemed, Brighton are already well equipped for another good season.
If Hughton can bring in just one or two to make their starting XI stronger it could be the difference, and would also give them a greater degree of depth when injuries and suspensions inevitably hit.
There only needs to be subtle, not wholesale changes over the summer at the Amex Stadium, and this could be a huge advantage for Brighton over their potential promotion rivals.