In-depth Seagulls chat with drummer of The Kooks...

[footballburp]

Hope you don't consider this spam but thought you might be interested in reading our Brighton-based chat with Kooks drummer Paul Garred. Seems I'm not allowed to post links but you can find it at footballburp.com

Good luck with this season - it's a wonderful story what's happening at your club and it would be great to see you in the Premier League next season.

All the best,
FootballBurp.com

 

[Southwick_Seagull]

Talking Brighton with Football Burp

 

[footballburp]

Cheers SS!

 

[JBizzleBeard]

A good read thanks!

There’s always stuff on forums saying “what if it was Palace?”

Hello Paul

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The chap is clearly a PROPER Albion fan, and also clearly on here. Show yourself drummer-boy!



Onto more cheerful matters, can the Seagulls go all the way?

Well, I’ve been a Brighton fan since 1991 and it was just downhill for years (laughs). Then the ground went, so me and my dad went to Gillingham all the time to see Brighton play, which was a bit weird, and then we went to the Withdean, which had no atmosphere, and now we’re at this beautiful stadium – going there feels a bit like going to theatre! It’s just wonderful and I do think we’ve got a good squad. Gus Poyet is an absolutely brilliant manager and I do expect him to take us to the Premier League, but then he’ll probably inevitably go to someone big. Alex Ferguson won’t go on forever and Gustavo Poyet wouldn’t be a bad replacement.

Your owners seem to have invested more into the club’s infrastructure than on the pitch. Do you think that this is more conducive to long-term success?

Well, the ground had to be sorted and that took fourteen years. Our two most recent chairman are both big Brighton fans and I think that makes a big difference. They probably look at the spreadsheet a bit differently and let their heart rule their head at times – “oh, go on then, let’s get that player in” – but yeah, all the interests are in the possibility of growing a club with huge potential and I wish there were more owners like that out there. Fans would be a lot happier.

Your signing of Vicente seems to have passed by relatively unnoticed by those outside Brighton…

He looks stunning – I don’t know quite how we got him! It has gone completely under the radar, hasn’t it? To be fair, I didn’t know who he was until he signed for us. It was only when it was being mentioned that I looked up on him and he looks incredible.

How do you see him fitting in to the team?

Well, because we have such a big pitch and we use wingers a hell of a lot, which tires out the opposition, I think he’ll fit in marvellously. We’ve got three or four wingers now – Craig Noone, who’s exceptional, Will Buckley, who’s brilliant and can score goals as well, [Kazenga] LuaLua on loan and we’ve just bought a guy from Swansea called Ryan Harley who can play across the midfield. I think Vicente can play on the left or in the middle, a creative player, so between him and Harley I think there could be some fun.

Are you disappointed you didn’t bring in a centre-forward, perhaps Billy Paynter?

He scored a few goals with Swindon in the league below but he’s never quite made it up in the Championship. However, as the old saying goes, “in Gus we trust!” He fancies a player like that and we all go hmmm, then inevitably Gus will turn them into a more cultured player, or a player who does something specific that we didn’t have before. He’s phenomenal, Gus Poyet, absolutely phenomenal.

Which of the other new boys have impressed you so far?

Every one that’s played in the first team! Mackail-Smith runs forever and he can put it in the back of the net – David Pleat called him an irritant and he really is. Central defenders get in bit of a tizz when he’s playing, which opens space up for the wide players to cut inside and get a shot off. We’re top of the league so all the players have done brilliantly so far, and the fact that we can’t put LuaLua in all the time just shows how far we’ve come.

What do you think of the Brighton fans’ campaign to help Plymouth?

It’s brilliant. It was well documented in the lower leagues that a Plymouth fan devised Fans United – I was there, loads of people were there, at the Goldstone when we nearly went out of business. For us it’s a thank you, a “you helped us, so now we’ll help you”. Brighton’s a good club for that – as fans, we go against the grain. There’s always stuff on forums saying “what if it was Palace?” – but, bloody hell, you want to keep your rivals! It’s good camaraderie, you know? It’s a sad situation at Plymouth – it’s taken them a year-and-a-half to two years to work out what the problem is, whereas at Brighton, for instance, it was very obvious what the problem was. I feel sorry for all Plymouth fans at the moment and I hope it works out.

It’s scary but look at the likes of us, Swansea, Hull and Doncaster – they all had a board who worked on their club’s infrastructure and gave them good, solid ground to move forward. It sounds simple but it’s good that lower league clubs are starting to realise that they can’t spend more than they get coming in, that they need to do things probably, and hopefully that ethos will build back up to the Premier League. Apart from the entertainment side of it, there’s a business which has to be catered for. As fans, we kind of get caught up in the euphoria of Ronaldo going for £80m or Kaka for £55m and think it’s normal, but we’re not paying the money! (Laughs) We just get caught up in it, don’t we?

Would you be able to name the first, best and worst games you ever went to?

The first game I ever went to was a 2-0 friendly defeat against Palace at the Goldstone around ’92. I can’t really remember too much about it.

The best game? There are so many! There was a game against Bristol City at the Withdean where Lee Steele scored in the 96th minute and it was pretty much the turning point in terms of us getting promoted, so I’ll probably say that.

The worst game was also against Bristol City – we had Mark McGhee in charge and we lost 4-1 at home. You just couldn’t see us scoring, sitting in a stand with no roof and no atmosphere, watching goal after goal go in. In fact, I can rival that with a game at Gillingham where we lost 4-1 against Torquay. It was one of them – you travel all the way up to Gillingham, which is a 175-mile round trip for us, maybe more, and you’ve got players like Rodney Jack pinging them in from everywhere. I thought, “Why did I come? I’ve got to go home now!” (Laughs) There’s nothing worse.

Finally, would you be able to name your top five favourite Albion players from your time watching them?

Absolutely. Bobby Zamora is obvious. Leon Knight was phenomenal during the 2004 season before he lost his way – he had real talent, I don’t know what went wrong with him. More recently, Craig Noone looks very good. In the past, Paul Brooker was phenomenal. Then someone at the back – I’m trying to think of more Goldstone-era players but it wasn’t good back then! I’ll go with Michel Kuipers – brilliant goalkeeper, great shot-stopper. He’s at Crawley now.

You recently signed his son, didn’t you?

Yeah, Duke Kuipers! To be honest, I could name so many players but I’ll go with those five off the top of my head.

Paul, thank you.

 

[footballburp]

Oi, Hans Kraay Fan Club - you owe us some hits ;o)

 

[tonymgc]

Excellent interview cheers [MENTION=21465]footballburp[/MENTION] never really liked their music but its good to see they know their footy

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Oi, Hans Kraay Fan Club - you owe us some hits ;o)

Don't stress. People will read that, see its decent, then go and click the link to see the rest. Done you a favour

 

[Stinky Pete]

That was a good read, knows his stuff. And I agree must be on here....reveal yourself Mr Garred

 

[footballburp]

Don't stress. People will read that, see its decent, then go and click the link to see the rest. Done you a favour

Okay, I've just called the hit man and told him it's off ;o)

 

[beardy gull]

Cheers for that, good read. I think this bit...Is there anyone you’d like to see as England manager who you think could make a difference?

"I have to be honest, I don’t think Capello’s doing a bad job......should be I haven't to be honest.....

..just going by the rest of his answer?

 

[footballburp]

Cheers for that, good read. I think this bit...Is there anyone you’d like to see as England manager who you think could make a difference?

"I have to be honest, I don’t think Capello’s doing a bad job......should be I haven't to be honest.....

..just going by the rest of his answer?

I think I see where you're coming from but I think he said "I have to be honest..." as a lead-up to his assertion that Capello's not doing a bad job. If he'd used a phrase of denial to the question, he should surely have used "No, to be honest" - no?

Do let us know of any typos though - it's the only way we'll learn!

 

[beardy gull]

I think I see where you're coming from but I think he said "I have to be honest..." as a lead-up to his assertion that Capello's not doing a bad job. If he'd used a phrase of denial to the question, he should surely have used "No, to be honest" - no?

Do let us know of any typos though - it's the only way we'll learn!

Ah, gotcha! Reading it wrong in me head weren't I?

 

[footballburp]

Ah, gotcha! Reading it wrong in me head weren't I?

Don't worry, I happen to love debating semantics ;o)

 

[house your seagull]

cool

 

[We're the Stripes]

Only just read the first paragraph (England v Wales) - and blimey, he seems to know his stuff. Looking forward to reading the rest.

 

[Sheebo]

He sits in block I WSU at the Amex

 

[countryman]

I now love the kooks even more. I didn't think that was possible.

 

[Racek]

Hes not the drummer anymore.

 

[willow147]

Yeah he is