All this "getting behind the team" stuff. It's just meaningless bollocks

[Spider]

Does ANYONE care?

We're playing atrocious football in a shit stadium and are slipping into the bottom division, yet would you say anyone (other than fans obviously) has proved they really CARE about it? I can't think of anyone who seems to accept our situation, care about our situation, and be doing something to sort our situation.

I very rarely believe that players or managers don't care about the club. I don't believe that this season our problem is a lack of care from our players (with a few exceptions). I haven't seen many, if any, performances this season that I would say suggests the team aren't trying. I don't know what the problem is, I don't think anyone really does. You're wrong about how poor the team is, there are frailties but we have a squad that should be in a much higher position. I hate it when people say "on paper", but I truely believe in this case it's true.

And what are you talking about with regards to the youth? I can't remember very many people defending Fraser or El-Abd after rthe last two performances. If the players aren't good enough then they aren't good enough, they've all had ample chance and unfortunately this has been a season where we had to improve. That said, in the last line up I recall Sullivan, Hinshelwood, Elphick, Virgo, Fraser, El-Abd, Cox and Robinson all starting. I'd say 8 out of 11 players suggests we are still giving our youth chances, and they are still something the club can be proud of.

 

[algie]

Does ANYONE care?

We're playing atrocious football in a shit stadium and are slipping into the bottom division, yet would you say anyone (other than fans obviously) has proved they really CARE about it? I can't think of anyone who seems to accept our situation, care about our situation, and be doing something to sort our situation.

I'm not sure it's the players fault though.It's down to the manager to motivate them and get them working as a team.We do have some good players who are not showing there potential.A couple of new players in the right areas will see this team finish around 16th.
I'm sure people like Virgo and Elphick do care more then certain other players.

 

[cjd]

And yet those youth team players have been continually criticised for the past 2 years. Fraser, El-Abd and Cox have all taken a hell of a lot of criticism.

I think the youth team took us as far as it could, and it was time to combine that with the necessary quality to challenge at the top of the division. I believe players like Thornton, Johnson and Savage all showed that they were well capable of this early on in their loan spells, I don't know what happened after a few weeks of the MA brand of coaching.

Yes, I think you may be right in thinking some of the youth team players had taken us as far as they could.

I can understand that Micky Adams wanted to sign more experienced and better players to help the younger players who could still improve.

Where it all falls apart, is that "better and more experienced players"........cost money. Surely Mr.Knight understood this basic principle, before he exchanged Wilkins for his friend Mr.Adams.........?

 

[cjd]

That said, in the last line up I recall Sullivan, Hinshelwood, Elphick, Virgo, Fraser, El-Abd, Cox and Robinson all starting. I'd say 8 out of 11 players suggests we are still giving our youth chances, and they are still something the club can be proud of.

I agree that the line-up against Luton contained many youth players........and to be honest, although I believe they all tried......they lacked confidence and belief.

Hardly surprising, when Mr.Adams at the beginning of the season, quite clearly didn't rate Fraser, El Abd, Cox, and Robinson. Add to that list Sullivan who is playing due to Michels injury, and the desperate injury situation meaning Hinshelwood only playing due to Hawkins injury, it doesn,t leave much of a team that the manager has belief in.

If the manager doesn't believe in his team he has now.....why should the players...?

 

[Sir Sarcy]

I have to admit that even i an eternal optimist am getting a little concerned with the way things are gpong.

The results are bad and the performances are worse. The league position is precarious and is only really shinned up by a few freak wins at home with a load of loan players in the side.

Clearly the problem is the lack of a midfield. We have no bite or edge in the centre and no creativity to support our capable strikers. Cox tries but opponents soon work him out McLeod has been a huge let down Fraser and El Abd are average at best Livermore has been out injured Thompson did well whilst he as here but cleared off Burchill may well give us something and what Loft has done wrong i dont know.

I accept that deadly may not be the best footballer in the world but he is forward thinking and cant be anyworse than what is out there at the moment.

Finally i think Mickey is going to get till the end of the season now and it is all dependent on who we can get in so really Mickey Gerrard and Lampard are the way forward.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Dick Knight is understandably keeping a low profile and has gone " missing in action ". It must all be hugely embarrassing for him. Naylor is just an Adams voicepiece now. He is not an independent journalist , he may as well be on the Albion payroll. Harty has gone soft , some would say sold out but is not the man after lickergate her was before. As the club backed Harty to get him back on air I think he feels he owes them a debt and is now in their back pocket it would seem.

Adams, well frankly Adams can feck right off with that article. The supporters have been conned by Adams. His appointment added 1000 sth's including 2 and £ 900 from me on the promise of a wonderful future in a letter signed by Adams in June. He has served up consistant SHITE all season and the support of 6000 odd is amazing consudering. Also apart from the odd boo and a few people heckling behind the dug outs at the end he has had a a very easy ride. If he had been in Newcastle he would have been chasing out of Town by now. So I think Adams will regret that article and maybe as soon as this afternoon.

 

[Seasider78]

Its more b*llocks I would love to hear the following from MA

'We are in a relegation scrap because our performances have not been good enough and the league table does not lie. Its clear we need some additions to the squad and we are working behind the scenes on that front. In the meantime we have to work with what we have and its my job to turn this around starting this weekend. I call on the fans to give us that extra lift in what is a crucial game for us if we are to get out of this mess'

There its not that hard is it!!

 

[El Presidente]

I blame the EU and all these politically correct do-gooders, If we were allowed to bring back the birch and publicly flog some of the underperforming players at the end of another tedious Withdean performance we'd be in the top half of the table before you could say Daily Express Editorial

 

[Jim in the West]

Finally i think Mickey is going to get till the end of the season now and it is all dependent on who we can get in so really Mickey Gerrard and Lampard are the way forward.

It's not as easy as that - everyone knows that Gerrard and Lampard can't play together....

 

[El Presidente]

Dick Knight is understandably keeping a low profile and has gone " missing in action ". It must all be hugely embarrassing for him. Naylor is just an Adams voicepiece now. He is not an independent journalist , he may as well be on the Albion payroll. Harty has gone soft , some would say sold out but is not the man after lickergate her was before. As the club backed Harty to get him back on air I think he feels he owes them a debt and is now in their back pocket it would seem.

Adams, well frankly Adams can feck right off with that article. The supporters have been conned by Adams. His appointment added 1000 sth's including 2 and £ 900 from me on the promise of a wonderful future in a letter signed by Adams in June. He has served up consistant SHITE all season and the support of 6000 odd is amazing consudering. Also apart from the odd boo and a few people heckling behind the dug outs at the end he has had a a very easy ride. If he had been in Newcastle he would have been chasing out of Town by now. So I think Adams will regret that article and maybe as soon as this afternoon.

NSC is also in the conspiracy though, 1067Seagull, the fan who inspired Lickergate with his call for Alan Ball to be manager, has been banned permanently from this board. Could it be that Bozza and the mods are on the Albion's payroll too, and they set up 1067 to be a diversion from the problems on the pitch and DK's diversion of funds towards his villa extension off it? If so, where's my f***ing share as the wife wants a new chest of drawers from John Lewis.

 

[Beach Hut]

If anyone now criticises the club they are clearly in trouble these days.

I just think Withdean fatigue has hit us all and it hurts even more when you know the promised land really is very close.

 

[BensGrandad]

I must agree with most of what has been said and am equally disappointed with the results and the performances but where I disagree is that I think that MA will bring in the 2 players possibly 3 that we need to turn this round. I also disagree with the stick that has been given to Ian Hart because he thinks that MA will turn it round. I believe that the major critisicm now should be turned towards the fact that we have spent the entire transfer windown chasing a target Jim McNulty who the youngerst poster on here would realise we wouldnt be able to sign. It looks good to say we have been turned down by this and that player. I keep looking on E bay for a Bentley Turbo with no realistic chance of ever buying one.

 

[Buzzer]

If anyone now criticises the club they are clearly in trouble these days.

I just think Withdean fatigue has hit us all and it hurts even more when you know the promised land really is very close.

Agree with the first sentence and disagree with the second. I think it's the Albion football fatigue. I don't want to seem like I'm labouring the point but the club/DK/the board/MA are the ones who need to offer the olive branch. As someone else has posted above, if we fans can really get behind the team today and over the next couple of weeks then it does get rid of this ridiculous "get behind the team" get out of free jail card the club are playing at the moment.

Up until a week or two back I was getting grief on NSC for posting that I still had faith that we would be mid-table and that we'd had a few successes this season. That belief has completely gone and I'm seriously worried that we might get relegated and that MA seems clueless with how to deal with it. We could well lose a lot of talent. Ah, what's the sodding use of keep saying this. The club thinks I'm a disloyal twat, Micky thinks I'm an enemy and/or an idiot, Insider thinks I should shut up. Maybe it IS my fault.

 

[clippedgull]

It would be nice for the club to acknowledge the fans commitment by way of an apology for the performances thus far.

Knight/Adams/Forster (as captain) are all culpable.

Still I don't think that is likely to happen.

 

[Horney]

Agree with the first sentence and disagree with the second. I think it's the Albion football fatigue. I don't want to seem like I'm labouring the point but the club/DK/the board/MA are the ones who need to offer the olive branch. As someone else has posted above, if we fans can really get behind the team today and over the next couple of weeks then it does get rid of this ridiculous "get behind the team" get out of free jail card the club are playing at the moment.

Up until a week or two back I was getting grief on NSC for posting that I still had faith that we would be mid-table and that we'd had a few successes this season. That belief has completely gone and I'm seriously worried that we might get relegated and that MA seems clueless with how to deal with it. We could well lose a lot of talent. Ah, what's the sodding use of keep saying this. The club thinks I'm a disloyal twat, Micky thinks I'm an enemy and/or an idiot, Insider thinks I should shut up. Maybe it IS my fault.

Chin up Buzzer.....there are many more who feel like you.
My question is - What is Adams going to achieve if given longer ? Six months is a long enough period of time to see what a manager is TRYING TO DO. They may not achieve the results in this period but you have confidence in the structure put in place.
I am still completely baffled by what he is trying to do and I can't see anything in the style of play, tactics, team selections and man-management that persuades me that in 12 months time we will have turned it all around and will be zooming upwards.
The top managers stamp their identity on a new club very quickly. We've already had to go back to basics once cos the manager admitted he got it wrong in pre-season.
Football is results driven...and apart from a few exceptions at the very top of the game..it is ' hire em fire em '.....this drivel that getting rid of Adams will definitely result in relegation is arrant nonsense. It would be difficult to find a new manager out there who would do a worse job !

 

[Hungry Joe]

It's really starting to grate with me. I've always been behind the team, always will be. I'm fed up with the implication that by questioning what the hell is going wrong that I'm disloyal. The club/manager/insider/Naylor whoever seem to be hiding behind this line and it doesn't wash. Being a loyal Albion fan and requesting that the club address the fans regarding what has gone wrong is not mutually exclusive. Sorry, Mr Naylor and Mr Adams but I'm still going to be here supporting the boys in blue and white long after you've stopped reporting or managing them so let's not start a game of who's the best supporter of the club.

We, the fans, have been there week in and week out cheering on the team. We've BEEN doing our job and some of us are just sick of getting bullshit team selections, bizarre tactics, unbelievable substitutions, a puzzling manager sacking that has clearly had a retrograde effect on our fortunes and let's face it the footie has been absolutely dire. We will continue to be there but in ever more dwindling numbers because of what the club/the manager/the team are doing and the downright refusal of the club and manager to address those concerns publicly.

A little bit of honesty and esprit de corps from the club right now is what is needed, not a load of old flannel/silence that we're currently getting. It's getting beyond a joke.

My feelings exactly Buzzer, well said.

 

[JJ McClure]

I agree with the "get behind the team" sentiment. The Luton game was a prime example. A decent turn out at Withdean with a Place at Wembley at stake and save for maybe two chants of seagulls the only noise that came out of E block was loud moans when passes went astray. Quite frankly the support was shit.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

As was the football.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Look its not up to us to try and motivate a player to play for BHAFC. There should be a burning desire within. As it is we have a bunch of loanees and journeymen whose only consideration is picking up their £ 2000 - £ 4000 a week wages and who do not give a flying feck about BHAFC or their supporters.