[Albion] Who's the best manager Brighton have ever had?

[nicko31]

Going with Gpot, laid the foundations for RDZ...

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Since when was winning anything part of Brighton's raison d'etre.

It will be the day we win something.

And winning something is my hope.

I am not into the performance art project for its own sake.

 

[RandyWanger]

RDZ has taken us to heights no other manager has yet.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It will be the day we win something.

And winning something is my hope.

I am not into the performance art project for its own sake.

I always thought it was the existential angst.

It's the hope that kills.

 

[JBizzle]

This is tough, but I'm going with Hughton. He managed to turn a totally dire team that could and maybe should have been relegated into one of the most exciting teams in the Championship (two years in a row) and keeping a team in the Premier League for two years on a comparatively shoe-string budget.

Honorable Mentions for Gritt, McGhee, Mullery. Potter and Poyet

 

[The Rattler]

Not our greatest but wish we’d had him at a different time… Liam Brady. With better players he’d have been great I reckon

 

[golddene]

Obviously Fabian hasn't curated any actual games so far, but who knows, perhaps he'll prove to be our best manager yet.

Don’t know if mentioned later in this thread but, I think Peter Taylor who was Cloughies partner who then succeeded him when he decided to jump ship for his debacle at Elland road, was my favourite manager. He was peerless when spotting, assessing and signing talent. Shame he left us to continue his partnership with Clough as his last year with us we played some great football and were unfortunate to end the season still in the third division following a disastrous Easter weekend of fixtures which put paid to our promotion push.
He probably made the correct decision in resuming his career with Clough and their success together underlined that they were better as a team rather than individually.

 

[brighton_tom]

In my 27 years watching the Albion, some of the football over the last 2 seasons has been far better than anything I have previously seen for us and took us to Europe for the first time. For that reason it's got to be RDZ. Obviously you need the players to do it, so if RDZ had Leon Best & Kemy Agustien to work with then he probably wouldnt get the title. But combinations of Mitoma, March, Estupinan, Mac Allister, Caicedo, Pedro, Enciso, Ferguson, and Dunk (and others) playing an RDZ brand of football over the last few seasons have produced some really sexy viewing & some fantastic lift you out your seat are we watching peak brazil style goals.. which at the end of the day is what we all crave!

 

[tigertim68]

Don’t know if mentioned later in this thread but, I think Peter Taylor who was Cloughies partner who then succeeded him when he decided to jump ship for his debacle at Elland road, was my favourite manager. He was peerless when spotting, assessing and signing talent. Shame he left us to continue his partnership with Clough as his last year with us we played some great football and were unfortunate to end the season still in the third division following a disastrous Easter weekend of fixtures which put paid to our promotion push.
He probably made the correct decision in resuming his career with Clough and their success together underlined that they were better as a team rather than individually.

If I remember properly, that season with Taylor we were great at home , hardly lost a match at home , but could not win many away from home , lots of draws that eventually cost us promotion, not the Easter weekend

 

[Albion my Albion]

It will be the day we win something.

And winning something is my hope.

I am not into the performance art project for its own sake.

The question was "Who's the best manager Brighton have ever had?" It was not "Who's the Brighton manager that actually won something?"

 

[Beanstalk]

Graham Potter for me.

Hughton did an incredible job for getting us up and keeping us up against the odds, but Potter was the man who turned us into the established mid-table Premier League side that we are today.

RDZ was the right man at the right time, who rode the wave of Potters success, but over time I suspect it will be proven that he is overrated and a one trick pony.

Hughton took a team that were heading out of the Championship via the back door, made it likeable, did the impossible and got promoted from the Championship, and then kept it in the Premier League and took us to Wembley for the first time in over a quarter of a century.

Potter was the right man at the right time, who rode the wave of Hughton's actual success, but over time I suspect it will be proven that he is overrated and a one trick pony.

--

All stupid comments aside, it's obviously, inarguably Roberto De Zerbi. Highest win rate in the AMEX era, best football, highest finish in the history of the club, followed by a European campaign where we topped the "group of death" and still managed our 3rd highest finish in the history of the club. There isn't an objective way of looking at this and thinking it's anyone else.

 

[Mustafa II]

All stupid comments aside, it's obviously, inarguably Roberto De Zerbi. Highest win rate in the AMEX era, best football, highest finish in the history of the club, followed by a European campaign where we topped the "group of death" and still managed our 3rd highest finish in the history of the club. There isn't an objective way of looking at this and thinking it's anyone else.

Objectively, RDZ took over the strongest BHAFC ever, on a high, that Potter built, in good form. He fine-tuned it, but saying he is in any way responsible for the team that he took over is completely untrue.

RDZ was quite clearly the right man, at the right time, who could add the touch to Potters BHAFC side that was able to finish in our highest ever position.

Objectively, on paper, we were the strongest side in the Europa League group consisting of sides from Greece, Netherlands and France - all of which having weaker squads in weaker leagues. That's not to take it away from the achievement - these are HARD places to play at - but we were the strongest side and only narrowly achieved 1st place due to a world class finish from Pedro.

Objectively, RDZs 2nd season was really poor. We imploded against Roma. Our League form was dire. The tactics were inept. He had no plan B. He got completely found out.

To say RDZ was our best ever manager is, frankly, offensive to the numerous great managers we've had before him. He was fortunate to join the club at the right time, and add his own touches to the brilliant team that Potter built over several seasons - but it is quite clear that once he got found out by the Premier League, he was not the manager we hoped he was.... if anything we should be greatly upset that we didn't do more against Roma, as this opportunity might never happen again at this football club.

 

[sparkie]

RDZ for me.

A lot of other decent ones there as well.

 

[Beanstalk]

Objectively, RDZ took over the strongest BHAFC ever, on a high, that Potter built, in good form. He fine-tuned it, but saying he is in any way responsible for the team that he took over is completely untrue.

RDZ was quite clearly the right man, at the right time, who could add the touch to Potters BHAFC side that was able to finish in our highest ever position.

Objectively, on paper, we were the strongest side in the Europa League group consisting of sides from Greece, Netherlands and France - all of which having weaker squads in weaker leagues. That's not to take it away from the achievement - these are HARD places to play at - but we were the strongest side and only narrowly achieved 1st place due to a world class finish from Pedro.

Objectively, RDZs 2nd season was really poor. We imploded against Roma. Our League form was dire. The tactics were inept. He had no plan B. He got completely found out.

To say RDZ was our best ever manager is, frankly, offensive to the numerous great managers we've had before him. He was fortunate to join the club at the right time, and add his own touches to the brilliant team that Potter built over several seasons - but it is quite clear that once he got found out by the Premier League, he was not the manager we hoped he was.... if anything we should be greatly upset that we didn't do more against Roma, as this opportunity might never happen again at this football club.

You're using "objectively" incorrectly.

Objectively, according to UEFA, on paper, we were the third strongest side in our group and we won it. You may think that subjectively we were favourites to win the group because it is your opinion that "Greece, Netherlands and France - all of which having weaker squads in weaker leagues" but objectively, we were deemed the third strongest side in the group, and we won it.



Objectively, RDZ's second season was still our third best ever as a club. You may subjectively think it was poor overall and that it is defined by a loss to Roma away in the knockout stage of our inaugural European adventure but objectively it was still a better season domestically than all but one of our non-RDZ seasons and only 3 points short of Potter's high.

There is no doubt that Potter did a good job, there is no doubt that Hughton did a great job, there is no doubt that Poyet and Oscar also did a good job. I'm not saying that they didn't. Objectively, as "in a way that is not influenced by personal feelings or opinions", the evidence says that RDZ won more games, finished higher, got further in more cup competitions than ever before and scored the most goals in the Premier League. On paper, by all of those metrics, he is the best manager we've ever had.

I think it's really interesting that you think the club may never get the opportunity to progress in Europe again, something that was delivered by Roberto, but can't bring yourself to say that he therefore did more than any manager previous, and presumably your fear is that no manager may ever again reach those heights. You can dislike RDZ for personal reasons, but to say it is "offensive" to call him our best manager is ignoring the facts.

 

[junior]

Mickey Adams for me. Couldn't put my finger on exactly why. Felt like the start of a new era. Bobby Zamora on loan, the change in style of football after Lloyd, Case, Ryan, Wood etc..
Jones & Brooker on the wings, Watson taking free-kicks, back to back championships, open top bus parades, We Want Falmer, Fatboy Slim, Carpenters pile drivers from 30 yards. Away days at Peterborough, Barnet, Cheltenham...

He also rang me on my mobile phone one day, from his personal phone number as I was due to go on my first tour to Iraq the next day. Someone I knew had mentioned to him I was a big Albion fan and where I was going etc, and he asked my mate for my mobile number so he could ring me and wish me luck and to keep safe. Top bloke.

I could go on.

Granted that's not all down to Adams, but that period of my Albion supporting history was probably my favourite.

 

[Withdean South Stand]

Mickey Adams for me. Couldn't put my finger on exactly why. Felt like the start of a new era. Bobby Zamora on loan, the change in style of football after Lloyd, Case, Ryan, Wood etc..
Jones & Brooker on the wings, Watson taking free-kicks, back to back championships, open top bus parades, We Want Falmer, Fatboy Slim, Carpenters pile drivers from 30 yards. Away days at Peterborough, Barnet, Cheltenham...

He also rang me on my mobile phone one day, from his personal phone number as I was due to go on my first tour to Iraq the next day. Someone I knew had mentioned to him I was a big Albion fan and where I was going etc, and he asked my mate for my mobile number so he could ring me and wish me luck and to keep safe. Top bloke.

I could go on.

Granted that's not all down to Adams, but that period of my Albion supporting history was probably my favourite.

Thank you for your service. A call from Micky was the least you were due! I think the Adams 1 era was an incredible time to go to games. Almost every game was box office, for better or worse, and well worth the investment of time and money.

I debated whether to vote Mullery or Hughton, but ultimately I've gone Hughton. The job he did taking the squad he inherited to finish 3rd and then 2nd (should have been 1st!) in the Championship was incredible. Yes, there was investment but he set a really high standard for the players and got a tune out of all of them. He then kept us up and was found out a little bit at the higher level, but the fact remains he got us up and kept us up and never threw the toys out of the pram. He never had a bad word to say about the club and he was a true Manager.

 

[W3 BHA]

For me it was Mark McGhee, getting us promoted from League One and even more impressively, keeping us in the Championship the following season when we were on a shoestring budget, playing at Withdean and competing against clubs with far superior resources. I voted for Steve Coppell in error (although his season was also impressive after taking over the mess from Martin Hinshelwood and almost he kept us in the Championship in 2002-03).

I voted for McGhee but I was torn between him and Micky Mk I. RdZ gave us about 12 months of the best football we have seen at our club but I have been going to matches for 59 years and I felt that what Mark McGhee achieved with the resources he had made him the stand out. He had a plan B, C, D, E, etc because he had to. He transformed Virgo into a CF and stood his ground with players like Leon Knight. Micky was close with his two promotions but it's Mark for me. I bumped into him in Scotland a while back and he still has nothing but nice things to say about the Albion. RdZ will get the biggest share of the vote because it's the most recent memory of great things on the pitch but how many of those voting for him were around for some of the managers who did great things with no wriggle room at all?

 

[sakooshi]

I've gone Hughton. The job he did taking the squad he inherited to finish 3rd and then 2nd (should have been 1st!) in the Championship was incredible

Wasn't it Hughton's fault that we didn't win the league, allowing the players to celebrate prematurely and taking our foot off the gas before the job was fully done?

 

[stewart12]

I voted for McGhee but I was torn between him and Micky Mk I. RdZ gave us about 12 months of the best football we have seen at our club but I have been going to matches for 59 years and I felt that what Mark McGhee achieved with the resources he had made him the stand out. He had a plan B, C, D, E, etc because he had to. He transformed Virgo into a CF and stood his ground with players like Leon Knight. Micky was close with his two promotions but it's Mark for me. I bumped into him in Scotland a while back and he still has nothing but nice things to say about the Albion. RdZ will get the biggest share of the vote because it's the most recent memory of great things on the pitch but how many of those voting for him were around for some of the managers who did great things with no wriggle room at all?

McGhee keeping us up in 04/05 was a colossal achievement. Had no business staying up with the resources he had at his disposal. Shame about the following season but we'd lost Virgo and Harding as well as Cullip and Currie in the previous January and wasn't given the money to replace them. In fact I doubt we spent much more that summer than the £150k to Turienzo's agent and the coca cola money for CKR.. He was constantly having to take wild punts on players in a hope that things would click. I think McGhee's energy was spent after staying up and the second half of 05/06 and start of 06/07 were pretty grim but that shouldn't detract from what his did in his first year and a bit (haven't even mentioned the play offs!)

 

[Seagull58]

Don’t know if mentioned later in this thread but, I think Peter Taylor who was Cloughies partner who then succeeded him when he decided to jump ship for his debacle at Elland road, was my favourite manager. He was peerless when spotting, assessing and signing talent. Shame he left us to continue his partnership with Clough as his last year with us we played some great football and were unfortunate to end the season still in the third division following a disastrous Easter weekend of fixtures which put paid to our promotion push.
He probably made the correct decision in resuming his career with Clough and their success together underlined that they were better as a team rather than individually.

Taylor scouted Wardie but Cloughie wasn't convinced at all. Taylor finally convinced him to pay £4,000 to Burton Albion to sign him.