attila
1997 Club
The Faustian pact comes unstuck……
We all knew what we were fighting for: it took about 16 years, but we got it, and we celebrated. To do it we had to embrace the ‘money is everything and we’re customers now’ culture of modern football and replace the passion and hands-on commitment of Dick Knight with the money of Tony Bloom, another lifelong Albion fan, and a vast majority of Albion fans were happy to do that.
Even those of us who weren’t happy accepted that if our long fight to save the club we love was to have its final and glorious conclusion there was no alternative. We moved into the Amex, and apart from those who were priced out of the game or, like my wife, actually preferred the often sneered at ‘cottage industry’ of Withdean (she’s from Northwich, loves non league football and is an Albion fan by marriage, it’s different…) we relaxed, drank our Harveys, ate our pies - expensive to be sure, but the money is going to the club, what the hell - and trusted the shiny new corporate appointees to give us a shiny new future on the pitch to match our shiny new corporate stadium. Speaking personally, I was overjoyed to rediscover the simple pleasures of just being a football fan again and to leave everything else to the people paid lots of money to make sure it happened right. Yes, something is missing for me now in the age of modern football, but the wonderful trappings and the (until recently) on field success more than made up for that.
For a couple of years everything seemed fine: and it’s worth remembering that, compared to the war years, everything is still fine. The future of our club is secure: in the bad old days we used to DREAM about a time when moaning about the playing performance and management tactics was the only problem! But such comparisons are not enough. The fact is that the people in charge of our club are cocking up big time at the moment.
We need a manager with a clear understanding of the changes in tactics necessary to win matches, the ability to motivate the team and the obvious passion and commitment to inspire the fans to back him. And that manager should be in a position to employ the players he identifies as best suiting those tactics, rather than having to work with a squad brought in by an outsider whose current track record is nothing short of disastrous. Hyypia and Burke should go, and go now. A new manager should be in charge of squad recruitment. It’s not rocket science.
Albion fans most certainly are not ‘too nice’: we proved that over many years! What we most certainly have been is exhausted after the years of struggle, happy with our new surroundings and thoroughly prepared to give the new set up plenty of time to get things right. For a time that seemed to be the case but they are not getting things right any more. Relegation would be a disaster. In my opinion, it is time for us to combine 100% backing of the team with a strong show of opposition to Hyypia and Burke. A difficult balance but after all we’ve gone through I’m sure we can manage it! Yes, it’s modern corporate football but don’t underestimate the power of the fans – especially Albion fans - to change things. We ARE still listened to: in a different way to the old days, to be sure, but we are.
Burke OUT
Hyypia OUT
We all knew what we were fighting for: it took about 16 years, but we got it, and we celebrated. To do it we had to embrace the ‘money is everything and we’re customers now’ culture of modern football and replace the passion and hands-on commitment of Dick Knight with the money of Tony Bloom, another lifelong Albion fan, and a vast majority of Albion fans were happy to do that.
Even those of us who weren’t happy accepted that if our long fight to save the club we love was to have its final and glorious conclusion there was no alternative. We moved into the Amex, and apart from those who were priced out of the game or, like my wife, actually preferred the often sneered at ‘cottage industry’ of Withdean (she’s from Northwich, loves non league football and is an Albion fan by marriage, it’s different…) we relaxed, drank our Harveys, ate our pies - expensive to be sure, but the money is going to the club, what the hell - and trusted the shiny new corporate appointees to give us a shiny new future on the pitch to match our shiny new corporate stadium. Speaking personally, I was overjoyed to rediscover the simple pleasures of just being a football fan again and to leave everything else to the people paid lots of money to make sure it happened right. Yes, something is missing for me now in the age of modern football, but the wonderful trappings and the (until recently) on field success more than made up for that.
For a couple of years everything seemed fine: and it’s worth remembering that, compared to the war years, everything is still fine. The future of our club is secure: in the bad old days we used to DREAM about a time when moaning about the playing performance and management tactics was the only problem! But such comparisons are not enough. The fact is that the people in charge of our club are cocking up big time at the moment.
We need a manager with a clear understanding of the changes in tactics necessary to win matches, the ability to motivate the team and the obvious passion and commitment to inspire the fans to back him. And that manager should be in a position to employ the players he identifies as best suiting those tactics, rather than having to work with a squad brought in by an outsider whose current track record is nothing short of disastrous. Hyypia and Burke should go, and go now. A new manager should be in charge of squad recruitment. It’s not rocket science.
Albion fans most certainly are not ‘too nice’: we proved that over many years! What we most certainly have been is exhausted after the years of struggle, happy with our new surroundings and thoroughly prepared to give the new set up plenty of time to get things right. For a time that seemed to be the case but they are not getting things right any more. Relegation would be a disaster. In my opinion, it is time for us to combine 100% backing of the team with a strong show of opposition to Hyypia and Burke. A difficult balance but after all we’ve gone through I’m sure we can manage it! Yes, it’s modern corporate football but don’t underestimate the power of the fans – especially Albion fans - to change things. We ARE still listened to: in a different way to the old days, to be sure, but we are.
Burke OUT
Hyypia OUT