Which Brighton side played the better football?

[Skaville]

I keep hearing people complain about the style of football under Wilkins (including on the phone in tonight), but I have to say that I rather liked it.

So, NSC, answer me this. Which of the past three managers had the better style of play?

 

[Leo Gemelli]

Whenever Potters Mens Outfitters on London Road was still open that is when football was at it's best. Casuals inflicting casual violence, let us get back to the essence. All the managers are poofs anyway, the only way to win is by brute force and aggression. If anyone wants it with me I'll be stood outside Stunning Rags at 3am with my shirt off.

 

[chez]

Some of the football under McGhee was brilliant. Not all of it, but some of the stuff under him was the best I've seen in the 27 years I've been watching Brighton.

 

[O Lads]

McGhee got the best out of so many players. Almost all of the players who either moved on whilst he was still here, or were there afterwards, could never recapulate the same form. I loved the way we used to play under him. Good players with passion for the Albion working hard to win games. He proved that you don't have to have a great squad to stay up in the Championship; work ethic was key.

He was treated like shit by the board. Never given any money to spend, and was sacked after just a few games in league one (a season we went on to finish 18th). People wonder why we suddenly became so bad and it was simple, we sell our best players and don't give the manager any money to sign adequate replacements.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

McGhee.

The Adams shambles, combined with the 7th place finish, has really put Wilkins in a good light. We ground out results, but the football was ABYSMAL. There was no consistency until the last 6 games or so.

 

[Basil Fawlty]

Mcghee was the only manager to keep Leon Knight in control. He also gave us some exciting football to watch, he made us look solid at home and away we looked a difficult unit to break down.

 

[Silent Bob]

The Adams shambles, combined with the 7th place finish, has really put Wilkins in a good light. We ground out results, but the football was ABYSMAL. There was no consistency until the last 6 games or so.

Such inaccuracies.
We ground out some results... mostly in the second half of the season after the team was dismantled and hastily re-assembled, although even then there were some excellent footbaling performances, for example Oldham, Doncaster, Crewe, mixed in with some dodgy performances, some mediocre.
I'm not even sure where to start with the last 6 games comment there is so much wrong with it, I suppose the laughable implication that 6 games at the end of the season can obscure the previous 40 is as good a place to start as any. There's also the inconvenient fact that we weren't consistent over the last six, any playoff chance was gone when we imploded against Port Vale, and then got turned over by Southend. We were also outclassed by Swansea on the last day. I suppose the other three games were "consistent" with mediocre performances but still winning against very average sides.
In the first half of the season we played some lovely stuff.


Under Adams we've played two good games of football, actually since one was Leicester it's more 135 good minutes... and they seemed to happen largely by accident. Aside from that and Man City we've been uniformly dreadful, hoofing the ball with little indication that this was even our game plan, just that we were too incompetent to do anything but aimlessly punt it forward. Worst football at Withdean easily. Though the last year or so of McGhee pushed it close, when he was successful we were a very defensive, abrasive team but effective enough.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

McGhee got the best out of so many players. Almost all of the players who either moved on whilst he was still here, or were there afterwards, could never recapulate the same form. I loved the way we used to play under him. Good players with passion for the Albion working hard to win games. He proved that you don't have to have a great squad to stay up in the Championship; work ethic was key.

He was treated like shit by the board. Never given any money to spend, and was sacked after just a few games in league one (a season we went on to finish 18th). People wonder why we suddenly became so bad and it was simple, we sell our best players and don't give the manager any money to sign adequate replacements.

Shouldn't that read McGhee forced all the best players out?

Some of the dullest, pathetic football i have seem since i started watching the Albion was under McGhee, if his side that won the play-offs been managed by him for the whole of that season, we would have been lucky to have finished 12th.

His teams had no fight about them, tactically, they seemed more worried about not losing 2-0 when 1-0 down rather than trying to gain a draw, and there was just plain apathy from the supporters to the rubbish served up in the relegation season where we appeared to have just accepted it when we were still well placed to mount a bid to escape.

Wilkins had his faults too, but he did try to generate some of the lost passion and desire to go forward as a side and try to entertain, even if he strugggled to do so with the players he had left at his disposal

Adams first spell was also littered with mistakes, like his second spell, but he got the side to play attractive football to watch, a side that looked to get forward, something that gradually went after successive managers came and went, to the much more negative approach we have seen.

The second time around he struggled, results weren't going well and fans were impatient, we were often left chasing matches and over committing players in attack and then being caught on the counter attack.

So Adams first time around is the right answer.

 

[wolfie]

I saw us play Walsall at home last season under Wilkins. The first half saw some of the best passing football I have seen from an Albion side in many a long year (probably since the old Div 1 days) Spoiled only by a Mr Demontagnac late on.

 

[Gav1901]

imho i think its more entertaining football under wilkins so i thought he did the better job

 

[Icy Gull]

His teams had no fight about them,.

Of course they didn't that's how they got promoted and stayed up against the odds

Your vendetta against McGhee makes you sound a bit gormless when you come out with crap like that.

 

[les dynam]

Such inaccuracies.
We ground out some results... mostly in the second half of the season after the team was dismantled and hastily re-assembled, although even then there were some excellent footbaling performances, for example Oldham, Doncaster, Crewe, mixed in with some dodgy performances, some mediocre.
I'm not even sure where to start with the last 6 games comment there is so much wrong with it, I suppose the laughable implication that 6 games at the end of the season can obscure the previous 40 is as good a place to start as any. There's also the inconvenient fact that we weren't consistent over the last six, any playoff chance was gone when we imploded against Port Vale, and then got turned over by Southend. We were also outclassed by Swansea on the last day. I suppose the other three games were "consistent" with mediocre performances but still winning against very average sides.
In the first half of the season we played some lovely stuff.


Under Adams we've played two good games of football, actually since one was Leicester it's more 135 good minutes... and they seemed to happen largely by accident. Aside from that and Man City we've been uniformly dreadful, hoofing the ball with little indication that this was even our game plan, just that we were too incompetent to do anything but aimlessly punt it forward. Worst football at Withdean easily. Though the last year or so of McGhee pushed it close, when he was successful we were a very defensive, abrasive team but effective enough.

that just about covers it for me. didn't always come off but we were set up to play football from front to back, and when it clicked i thought we looked really good last season. one example - the 2-2 draw at orient. great football, i believe the commentators were raving about the quality of the football on display.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

McGhee no question until he had to sacrifice his values in an attempt to keep us up... that's what rebounded badly on him.

 

[chez]

McGhee no question until he had to sacrifice his values in an attempt to keep us up... that's what rebounded badly on him.

Dead right.

 

[murraymints4brighton]

McGhee.

The Adams shambles, combined with the 7th place finish, has really put Wilkins in a good light. We ground out results, but the football was ABYSMAL. There was no consistency until the last 6 games or so.

i thought the football last season was a working progress. the year before that was just hoofball with a few good games and then towards the middle of last season it got better and we where passing the ball along the floor more then we were hoofing it.

 

[withdeanwombat]

McGhee by a country mile,though of course you have to consider the personnel available to each.

I've assumed the second edition of Adams;his first spell was a diffferent thing,though of course it was in a lower division to start with.

And at the risk of upsetting "he bleeds blue and white" Wilkins fans,he played schoolboy football with schoolboy footballers .

Awaits yah boo he finished seventh-ists.