[Albion] Was TB right to sack Chris Hughton?

[AmexRuislip]

Football is a business, no one person is bigger than the Albion.
Chris Hughton did wonders for our club, but in the end the footy was rather dire.
As much as I liked CH, a change was needed and as it's Tony Blooms train set, the right decision was made.

For those pedants on here......YES

 

[Wardy's twin]

Good point about WBA, I remember one of their fans coming on 606 show and saying the same thing. I think there are teams like WBA and Norwich too that are coming to regard relegation as an occupational hazard, rather than the unthinkable that the media like to portray relegation as. Watford and Burnley may come into that category too - they certainly control their spending.

I am surprised that Chris hasn't got another job. I think Fulham, Derby and Forest may all have more points if he was in charge.

I was amazed at their comments at the time but 18 months later I could understand it. Potter has not got it right all the time but shows flexibility and on a good day we are playing some nice football. IF we took our chances then we would be higher up as our defence is not bad..

 

[Perkino]

I honestly thought I had said my goodbye's to CH when we lost 0-2 to Cardiff City having been blown away by Bournemouth 0-5 only a few days before. I was excited pre match expecting a real performance following our humiliation from Bournemouth

 

[martin tyler]

Yes - the 2nd half of that season was terrible. We had run out of ideas and literally stayed up by the skin of our teeth. We had gone stale and needed a change. It’s a shame we couldn’t give Chris the send off he deserved as he was a legend for the club in the way he dragged us to the PL and the 2nd half of the season we didn’t quite make it and the following season had some of the best football I’ve seen us play. But it’s a change that was needed.
In hindsight now it’s easy to say we have done the right thing as the football is better and we will most likely have more points this year than last. With an emphasis likely to be in developing youth players we actually have an exciting looking squad. Lampety mupaay Mcallister white bissouma to name a few who are very young and likely to be there it there about a as regular starters next season. We appear to have the right set up manager wise. It won’t be an easy ride but the more games they get at this level the better they and us will be.

 

[Badger Boy]

The same could be said of Steve Bruce being a Championship manager that has often flattered to deceive in the Premier League and been relegated a few times too boot. Give him half a decent squad though and he isn't half doing a good impression of a progressive looking tactically astute attacking manager when things are going well.

Not for me, Steve Bruce has significantly more experience in the Premier League and I think he's shown a far better pedigree as a manager at this level. He has had his failings and I think he's also quite limited when it comes to progressing a team and establishing them in the top 10, for example, but I think there are very few managers who have consistently managed at the top level with clubs more in our general range. I think Bruce has proven himself an astute but uninspiring manager at this level.

Hughton did here exactly what he did at Norwich which is why both jobs ended the same way although in different circumstances. He was harshly treated by Newcastle, that is the outlier because his team was doing well at the time he was harshly sacked. He did a very good job with Birmingham in the Championship in his only season there and I'm sure he'll do a good job at another Championship club should he decide he wants to get back into management. I'm certainly not going to be critical of him, he did a fantastic job here but the club had progressed beyond his level of ability in my opinion. Much like the players who have been left behind by our progression, he was a victim of his own success but can be proud of his time with us. I was certainly proud having him as our manager.

 

[luge]

Yes. Thought he was toast when we started losing the games we should have easily won, especially the Cardiff match.

I say that through gritted teeth. I've worked with Chris a few times and he is what everyone says he is, a very nice - very professional man who did a fantastic job with this club.

I'm making a BBC film on Liverpool's 30 years without a trophy and it is interesting to hear what the likes of Evans, Houllier and Benitez say about their time ending. They all knew it was coming; and in hindsight were quite glad of it.

No idea what Hughton thinks - probably quite pissed off - but there will have been a chunky financial payment, and he looks like an excellent manager - it was only a brief period of results being bad (even though performances were bad for most of last season).

 

[Farehamseagull]

Yes he was very right.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Same here, I loved Chris Hughton but if he had to leave I am glad it was for a manager who was a little leftfield and not your usual firefighter dinosaurs on the manager merry go round. Potter fits the bill exactly.

Exactly this. I voted “no question”, but wanted an “it doesn’t mean I don’t rate CH”.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

Do we really need another thread on this - and one with a question that is not possible to answer.

Nobody can predict what Hughton would have done with this team and six new first team players - so it is impossible to state whether Bloom was correct to sack him or not. If the question was 'has Potter met or exceeded expectations this year?' - then you could have a valid poll.

It really is time to give this a rest - it has been flogged to death at this stage.

 

[The Wizard]

I was and still am extremely disappointed we didn’t get a chance to say a proper farewell to him, it was the correct decision but timing slightly wrong. Hughton laid the foundations, and the foundations are extremely important so it would have been nice to give him a proper send off.

 

[rogersix]

Do we really need another thread on this - and one with a question that is not possible to answer.

Nobody can predict what Hughton would have done with this team and six new first team players - so it is impossible to state whether Bloom was correct to sack him or not. If the question was 'has Potter met or exceeded expectations this year?' - then you could have a valid poll.

It really is time to give this a rest - it has been flogged to death at this stage.

so what is your relationship to Mr. Hughton then?

 

[vagabond]

Bingo

Uncle Tony made TWO great decisions really. Moving CH on. AND appointing Graham Potter.

True but was Potter on the radar of bigger clubs at the time? Genuine question as most pundits thought is was a very risky appointment. Would a Championship club have been able to poach him assuming there was interest? He took a while to make his decision, not convinced he would have gone for a sideways move.

Hmmm easy to say now, but at time we appointed him Graham Potter hadn't exactly been setting things alight at Swansea.

Um, that’s precisely WHY Potter was a great appointment... it’s easy to hire a Guardiola. To choose a relatively unknown bloke who’s mid table in the Championship shows a lot of serious insight and monitoring was involved.

A much riskier choice and you’d be in the firing line if it went wrong. Tony Bloom saw something in GP that you, and many others didn’t.

That’s why I say it’s an appointment that deserves more credit.

 

[Weststander]

Yes, absolutely.

Around February 2019 I saw CH as staying for years to come. But as it became apparent that we were increasingly awful at football, doubts surfaced. I wasn’t sure if was the fault of CH or a substandard player recruitment process.

TB’a surprise, decisive move, to me was an exciting and seminal moment, a fresh direction taken. With TB’s inside track, CH must’ve been identified as the main cause of our woes.

I have total faith in TB.

 

[Weststander]

Daft as this going to sound I was more interested in seeing a game I enjoyed than staying up. I have enjoyed pretty well all the games this season. After Xmas last season I was actively looking for excuses not to go as every game I came out feeling angry

I HAVE actually quite enjoyed large parts of the season in seasons we have ended up being relegated. I actually hated the end of last season.

I recall sitting on packed park n ride buses after the Stains, Bmuff and Cardiff shockers ... thoroughly outclassed, we were clueless donkeys.

Instead of the usual chat, perhaps a debate about if a player was awful that day, instead it was just a resigned silence. A rudderless club and team heading for relegation, an atmosphere I’d liken to when Stoke put 5 past us at Withdean in 2006.

For TB, this was the moment that:

 

[Icy Gull]

I recall sitting on packed park n ride buses after the Stains, Bmuff and Cardiff shockers ... thoroughly outclassed, we were clueless donkeys.

Instead of the usual chat, perhaps a debate about if a player was awful that day, instead it was just a resigned silence. A rudderless club and team heading for relegation, an atmosphere I’d liken to when Stoke put 5 past us at Withdean in 2006.

For TB, this was the moment that:

I was definitely in the CH out camp after those games, but after Hyypia I was really shocked when TB pulled the trigger. I did not see that coming and yes I did feel for CH. It was a really shit ending to some of my best and finally worst days as an Albion fan. I hated the end of last season more than what we went through in the “war years”

Entitled to feel that way? Yes quite possibly

 

[Weststander]

I was definitely in the CH out camp after those games, but after Hyypia I was really shocked when TB pulled the trigger. I did not see that coming and yes I did feel for CH. It was a really shit ending to some of my best and finally worst days as an Albion fan. I hated the end of last season more than what we went through in the “war years”

Entitled to feel that way? Yes quite possibly

It was ‘being won over’, in reverse. The home losses and draws, accompanied by cringeworthy non-football, making the CH out camp quietly larger by the day. I can’t remember it getting personal, a sign of respect.

 

[jessiejames]

Yes. Surprised it was not done a month earlier. I remember after the playoff defeat against Massive, C H said that the following day he was in a meeting with the board regarding the following season, so when the news broke of his departure it did not surprise me.

 

[wigman]

Chris took us to the PL so will always have a place in my heart.
However in the 2nd half of last season, the football became boring and we were saved from relegation in the end by our rivals.
It was the correct decision to dismiss him, but I wish him all the success in the future.

 

[jessiejames]

It's easy to say yes now that we're probably going to stay up but were those people saying yes before the lockdown, when points were few and far between?

At the time I said no, he deserved a shot at another season even though in general we were playing fairly boring and safe football. He still kept us up and managed to get some big results (like 6 points off Palace).

It could also be argued it was the player recruitment that was the problem not CH's management.

I have said all through this season the correct decision was made. Even when results have not gone our way I believe we have recruited the right manager, even if we had gone down. Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Do we really need another thread on this - and one with a question that is not possible to answer.

Nobody can predict what Hughton would have done with this team and six new first team players - so it is impossible to state whether Bloom was correct to sack him or not. If the question was 'has Potter met or exceeded expectations this year?' - then you could have a valid poll.

It really is time to give this a rest - it has been flogged to death at this stage.

How is it not possible to answer whether TB was right to sack Hughton? Of course he was. He was right the moment he did it, and he is right now we are 99% assured of Prem safety.

Furthermore, the players we brought in don't necessarily get brought in under Hughton or - if they do - they might not have got game-time. It is unlikely Hughton would have gone with two small but pacy forwards. His recruitment of Locadia suggested a like for like replacement for Murray and a continuation of 4-5-1. This - in itself - prevents the sort of attacking full-back play we've seen from Burn and especially Lamptey.

Chris did nothing to introduce pace into the side when it was patently obvious Gross and Murray, Stephens and Propper were just too slow. He didn't utilise Burn, while Bissouma was a peripheral figure throughout his tenure.

Had Hughton stayed I fancy we'd now be 19th - somewhere between Villa and Norwich.