Rafa Benitez may have Champions League winner on his CV and a heavyweight reputation but he has a lot to learn about the Championship and, in particular, Albion.

Likewise Jurgen Klopp's former team-mate and best man at his wedding, David Wagner.

The respective managers of promotion rivals turned victims Newcastle United and Huddersfield Town under-estimated Chris Hughton's Albion.

Hughton's No.1 David Stockdale has twisted the knife by hitting back at the Seagulls' detractors and declaring: "Who's bottling it now".

The straight-speaking Yorkshireman's comments in the immediate aftermath of Monday's promotion-sealing triumph over Wigan at a euphoric Amex were general rather than aimed at anyone in particular.

But Stockdale and his team-mates have made Benitez and Wagner eat their words.

At the end of 2016, after Albion had replaced Newcastle at the top of the table, Benitez (below left) predicted they would feel the heat.

The Argus: The Spaniard said: "Now every team that will play against Brighton will see it as an opportunity to do something important and there will be more pressure on them."

Wagner also shot himself in the foot at the start of March by claiming: "Brighton have struggled in the past very often at the end of the season. Newcastle I am totally sure will (get promoted) but for Brighton we will see."

Wagner (below) was latching on to a lazy myth that Albion, after succumbing in the play-offs last season for the third time in four years, were chokers.

The Argus: First time around under Guy Poyet they blew it in the second leg at home to arch-rivals Crystal Palace. Second time, with an inferior set of players, they did well just to squeeze into the play-offs under Oscar Garcia.

And third time? Having so nearly hunted Middlesbrough down for the second automatic promotion spot with a powerful run of results, a catalogue of injuries in the first leg of the play-offs at Sheffield Wednesday sealed their fate.

Never mind the evidence, throw enough mud and some will stick. So the whispers gathered pace. The perception of Albion as chokers grew with a setback at Stockdale's home city club Leeds last month, prior to the final international break of the campaign.

Look what has happened since? Albion have reeled off five wins in succession to secure a place in the Premier League with time to spare. Newcastle and Huddersfield are scrapping it out to join them following two wins, two defeats and a draw apiece over the same period.

Belief inside the Albion camp never wavered, to the extent that Stockdale, in the pre-match bonding ritual, has been imploring his colleagues to win not just promotion but the title, which they will now with one win from their remaining three matches.

While Albion were easing past Wigan, Newcastle were slipping up again at Ipswich to fall seven points adrift.

Stockdale told The Argus: "Even if they had won, we would still have been going for the title. I said in the huddle before 'Forget about promotion, let's win the title.

"I give a teamtalk before every game. I said it before QPR (April 7) 'Our dream is to be champions so let's make it happen'. To come back after the international break when people were doubting us, some saying we were going to bottle it again, I just want to say to them 'Your welcome'.

"That just spurred us on. Bottlers? Who's bottling it now. Not us, an incredible group of players, staff, from the chairman down.

"Don't write us off, we've still got a job to do. Let's make it seven or eight on the spin. We can reach a hundred (points) now. There are boundaries now which will put a lot of smiles on people's faces for a lot of months before we go into the Premier League and a different type of fight."

A fight, realistically to begin with, for survival. Stockdale, 31, knows how tough it is, having made 39 appearances over the course of six seasons in the Premier League with Fulham, culminating in relegation.

"We've got to consolidate and the gaffer's the perfect man to do that," he said. "He's been there and done that, I'll leave it up to him.

"We'll take it game by game and who knows we might be in the Champions League in the next two years? That's a joke by the way! But why not, who said Leicester were going to win (the league)?

"Dream big, dream a lot. Everyone's happy and what a time for the club. You've got to enjoy every minute."

Not that Stockdale was getting too carried away. Together with Hughton and Glenn Murray, he kept a relatively low profile in the party atmosphere straight after the match.

Ultra-professional, he was miffed about the late goal Albion conceded, wrecking an addition to the club record 21 clean sheets at Championship level this season.

"I wish we had got a clean sheet," he said. "I was angry at that. We are trying to break all kinds of records this year and you can't just rest on your laurels.

"We let them come on us a little bit in the last ten minutes and they are fighting for survival, so it was a dangerous game we were playing.

"If they had scored in the last minute it would have been an anti-climax of the biggest order, so there are things to talk about on Wednesday."

The players are back in training today, preparing for the trip to Hughton's old club Norwich on Friday night "He's calm, collected and measured," Stockdale said. "He didn't come out and celebrate, he wants us to win the Championship now.

"It's going to be a hard game again and again you can't take anything for granted but one win in three, we'll be confident of lifting the trophy."