What Planet are Hart & Hawes on?

[Bromley shrimp]

Ian Hart claimed on SCR after today's game that the best thing that could happen this season would be for 30,000 Albion people to go to Cardiff for a day out in the play-offs to show how much support there is for the club.

WRONG. We're 2nd, an auto play-off place so he wants us to slip up between now and the end of the season.

WRONG. This level of one off "support" would convince no-one of anything about the stature of the club.

WRONG. The club is about the squad and the people who go week in and week out, not thousands of OAP's, children and hangers on in kiss-me-quick-hats.

WRONG. The play-offs are a lottery. We were desparately unlucky to go down last season and should in theory be capable of holding our own in Div 1, where we want to get back to in the least painfull way possible.

HAWES then come on and to my utter amazement says "I'm sorry to agree with you again Ian, but what Dick Kinight actually wants is to see us LOSE on this theoretical day out in Wales".

Did they witness Notts County beat us 3-1 at Wembley in 1991? Hart is nieve and looks at everything Albion thru' rose tinted glasses He amounts to an idiot looking for a village. Hawes is always non-plussed however we do who I suspect strongly of being a closet Palace supporter.

Why do we have to put up with Hart's wining nonsense and Hawes's traitorus rubbish every week?

 

[MRRF 10]

and calm, have a

 

[Citrus]

 

[Easy 10]

In a word, Bromley - bollocks.
If someone said to me today "we'll offer you a place in the playoff final" I'd take that right now. Just cos we could (perhaps) be considered unlucky to go down, we've got no divine right to bounce straight back up again. We're 2nd right now after a few indifferent performances, but don't let that kid you into thinking we're certainties for a top 2 spot. We have a small squad, and this is going to be a long, hard season. A top 6 finish will be an achievement.

And those thousands of "children and hangers on in kiss-me-quick hats" are potential future fans of this club - do not be so quick to dismiss them. We can't get them into Withdean as it is. A playoff final could be just the occasion where more lifelong fans of the future are found.

Ian Hart is Albion through and through, and can hardly be described as naive. YOU on the other hand....

 

[The Great Cornholio]

My head agrees with a lot of their sentiments. For the financial stability of the club, the ideal scenario would be consolidation in Division 2 until the season before we move to Falmer. A Play Off Final or 2 would help the money side.

If we go up again this year, we will struggle again and pressure will be on to spend money we can't afford to stay in a division we can't currently afford.

My heart, like everyone else's wants us to go up and play big teams again. But it doesn't make very good financial sense.

I think you'll find it was Mike Ward agreeing with Ian Hart. And Andrew Hawes is an admitted Swindon fan, not that you'd have known it from his commentary of the Swindon game.

 

[The Cat in the Hat]

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

How about we win the division by a mile

and,

just to show the level of support for the Club we get to the LDV Final for a big day out.

 

[Rambo]

And what of Hartys 'gremlins'?
Seems to happen every time, is someone trying to tell him something?
I do enjoy the show though, always makes me chuckle.

 

[Biscuit]

Ian Hart claimed on SCR after today's game that the best thing that could happen this season would be for 30,000 Albion people to go to Cardiff for a day out in the play-offs to show how much support there is for the club.

WRONG. We're 2nd, an auto play-off place so he wants us to slip up between now and the end of the season.

WRONG. This level of one off "support" would convince no-one of anything about the stature of the club.

WRONG. The club is about the squad and the people who go week in and week out, not thousands of OAP's, children and hangers on in kiss-me-quick-hats.

WRONG. The play-offs are a lottery. We were desparately unlucky to go down last season and should in theory be capable of holding our own in Div 1, where we want to get back to in the least painfull way possible.

HAWES then come on and to my utter amazement says "I'm sorry to agree with you again Ian, but what Dick Kinight actually wants is to see us LOSE on this theoretical day out in Wales".

Did they witness Notts County beat us 3-1 at Wembley in 1991? Hart is nieve and looks at everything Albion thru' rose tinted glasses He amounts to an idiot looking for a village. Hawes is always non-plussed however we do who I suspect strongly of being a closet Palace supporter.

Why do we have to put up with Hart's wining nonsense and Hawes's traitorus rubbish every week?

I happen to agree with Harty and Hawes. Its a totally valid point. It would show people how many we can take to matchs...if the stadiums have the room! Im guessing you didnt phone in and complain, youd rather wait and moan on here...not to his face..(voice).

Sorry mate, but I think harty was spot on.

UP THE ALBION

 

[Bromley shrimp]

I've only ever phoned Talk Sport once, one wet Friday when we'd lost 4-3 to Rochdale after leading 3-2. I was incensesd by the performance or lack of (the previous caller was Palace), but I got engaged in conversation with the presenter and ended up in the middle of Croydon.

So I am certainly not frightened to go on the local stuff Biscuit.

Today I was very happy and certainly did not feel moved to phone in, particularly as coverage is very patchy on SCR north of the M25.

However, I'm so pleased that I used this medium as I have appeared to have uncovered the Ian Hart appreciation society. Sad bunch or what?

You show me someone who'd swap an automatic promotion place for a play-off place and I'll show you someone who's going to football for the wrong reasons.

 

[Easy 10]

You show me someone who'd swap an automatic promotion place for a play-off place and I'll show you someone who's going to football for the wrong reasons.

For christs sake, of COURSE we'd rather have a guaranteed promotion spot and go straight up. But winning a playoff final is still a pretty damn fine way of doing it, in a magnificent stadium, in front of 30,000 travelling fans.

I didn't hear Hartys phone-in, so all I know of his comments are what you have typed on here. But it goes without saying that going up is the priority, and if we can do that automatically then so much the better. But it would still be fantastic to go up through the playoffs. Nervewracking, but fantastic. I think that was the gist of what Harty was getting at.

 

[Harty]

Bromley, in answer to your first question I'm on this planet, what one are you on?
If you misunderstood what I meant I apologise but the point I was trying to put across is that until Falmer is built, at best 3 years down the line, what this club desperately needs is a day out to Cardiff for either the LDV or the Play Off final, so we can ignite real interest in the club with the lost generation of fans.
I believe that this club could take 30,000 or so to such a fixture including a large number of younger fans who have never really seen the club live, that would get them all hooked on the Albion and that is what the long term future of the club is all about.
As for the gremlins I can reveal that the reporter from Grandstand, Steve May, accidentally unplugged our kit, after last weeks technical problems it really put the tin hat on it.
Thankfully normal service was resumed fairly quickly.

 

[Bromley shrimp]

Easy 10, I appreciate you're honesty in saying that you didn't hear the programme, but it explains to me why you've gone off at the deep end.

Let me explain.

Hart mentioned NOTHING about us actually going up.

He just said that the best way to finish the season would be to get 30,000 to Cardiff for the play-offs. End of.

I'd take that and whatever went with it, win or lose, but not in preference to going up automatically.

He wasn't even prepared to argue the point, as alleged in front of him him, that Dick Knight wanted us to stay down. (After all he wouldn't want to be seen to be taking an opposite stance to the board would he?). In my view he should have layed into the other guy (Mike Ward?) Paxman style if could only get those blue and white striped blinkers off every now and then.

 

[sully]

I too agree with Harty that a day out in Cardiff would be fabulous, but would like it to be for the LDV final - even though the turnout would be lower than a play off final.

And as for Andrew Hawes, I think he's actually a closet BRIGHTON supporter, even though he claims to be a Swindon supporter. He really must struggle to deny it to himself now.

 

[Bromley shrimp]

Harty, I don't want to sound too harsh, cos I know alleigance comes across in different ways.

I was told for years that the Albion didn't want to go up and it really annoyed me then. Enter Mike Bamber and the circle had been squared. We were for many years thereafter capable of holding a first division place (4 years) and more than holding our own in 2.

So I really believe that you should not, albeit by not disassociating yourself from your studio guests remarks today, lend weight to a re-run of the same argument when not only are we only in division 2 (old 3) but are actually making a decent fist of challenging for top spot.

 

[Dunkstar]

Uranus

 

[Harty]

Bromley what I actually said was that although he wouldn't say it in public Dick Knight's ideal scenario for the end of this season would be a defeat in the play-off final. The interest in the team would be kept right up to the last game, the shop would sell loads of merchandise, provided they had it in stock!, and the season ticket re-newals in March/April would provide funds for the Summer. Defeat in front of at least 30,00 Albion fans in Cardiff would be a case of 'so near but yet so far' but money would have been made and bums on seats guarenteed for the next year.
For my part I want to go up, hopefully as champions, and if and when we do the board then have the financial savvy to actually put a plan into place that will keep us in Div One until Falmer is built rather than Fred Karnos Circus, one for the teenagers, which we had for much of last season.

 

[Turkey]

We're going up as Champions



A trip to Cardiff would be nice though.

 

[Beach Hut]

Not sure Falmer would be ready for 2005/6 unless Prescott pulls his finger out.

We just better get Falmer sorted or else

 

[NMH]

Worthy of note here, perhaps, is that - although Harty and Hawesy have a responsibility as radio presenters to put forth a solid and balanced opinion, they are also just lads with personal opinions that they can voice. They DO invite listeners to voice theirs, but I doubt that either of them would express their own opinions as being of greater import than others.

I have not heard that from them, personally, and in defence of them, I certainly don't believe they have an overblown 'opinionated' attitude - unlike the last line of your opening missive Mr bromley shrimp.

Ok, so they may say stuff that is wrong, completely rubbish, or perhaps sometimes just silly - but you should appreciate that a better alternative to the balanced humour and not-mental-on-drugs, candid, and spur-of-moment banter is unlikely to exist.

Incidentally, I disagree with the original H & H opinion.
I also believe that the best thing for BHAFC is to go up again (pref. auto, cos playoffs can be a lottery and we could get a poor ref), and win fans the normal way - with brilliant breathtaking football . I cannot imagine DK wanting anything different, but if he did then I hope we get MY wish and not his!
I believe SC might stay and can do well for us in the higher div.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Harty, you don't have to bother explaining yourself to that imbecile. Whether people agree with you or not (and I do, it would finally give the lie to the '6,000 fans' nonsense), they ought to be able to tolerate opinions other than their own about everything concerning their club.

Give me opinionated radio any day (apart from Mellor), but always with the proviso that airtime is given to those with a different viewpoint. Which it is.