An Apology to Gus Poyet

[BensGrandad]

How many true supporters would have Gus back tomorrow, the vast majority I would think as he produced the best football we have seen since Mullery took us to Div 1.

 

[martin tyler]

Playing well true.
Able to score goals, er, no.

Able to attack with pace, no again.

Able to react and change if things weren't going well, that'd be a third no.

Good riddance Poyet.

All managers have their faults. Him as well. But i would take that over what we are currently having to endure. I am not saying i want him back but since he has left I have not seen anyone do a better job.

 

[terryberry1]

didnt he massively overspend, which is why we are in this situation now in terms of uninspiring transfers and reining in of budget?

No, Tony Bloom overspent.

 

[kevo]

As I said on another thread, the incident that led to his initial suspension (as reported in the Argus at the time) was his refusal to deal with the retained list. This presumably means there was a fundamental disagreement between him and the three Bs over which players we could afford to keep on. Either he didn't like the interference or he knew the club wasn't prepared to invest in the playing side, making promotion to the PL completely unrealistic.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I don't know Gus Poyet but I do know that he built a side full of really good players, half of whom are now playing in the Premiership, and got us playing the best football I've ever seen from an Albion side. Now look at us.

 

[JBizzle]

You mean this team?

Kuszczak
03 Greer
14 Calderon (LuaLua - 72' )
20 Upson
28 Bridge
04 Hammond
11 Orlandi (Barnes - 64' )
21 David Lopez
26 Bridcutt
30 Buckley
19 Ulloa

What was wrong with it? Who would you have picked instead?

In my opinion:

- Barnes should have started to give Calderon more protection for a start ahead of Buckley (or David Lopez);
- Lua Lua should have started as well to give Bolasie more to think about.
- After Leg 1, it seemed so obvious that Calderon would be targeted by either Bolasie or Zaha and that neither Buckley nor Lopez would be able to protect him in the way Barnes did;
- It was also clear that Ulloa was physically knackered although if Barnes was doing the defensive work I don't know who would have replaced Ulloa.

I just remember thinking at the time "has Poyet learned nothing from the second half at Selhust?". I agree on paper that it's an excellent team, but it was not capable of playing two consecutive games in 3 days as Ulloa, Lopez and Buckley were all clearly exhausted and played like it.

 

[El Presidente]

Playing well true.
Able to score goals, er, no.

Able to attack with pace, no again.

Able to react and change if things weren't going well, that'd be a third no.

Good riddance Poyet.

I'm sure we scored 69 goals that season, and finished fourth, our best finish for 30 years, are you thinking of another football club?

 

[El Presidente]

In my opinion:

- Barnes should have started to give Calderon more protection for a start ahead of Buckley (or David Lopez);
- Lua Lua should have started as well to give Bolasie more to think about.
- After Leg 1, it seemed so obvious that Calderon would be targeted by either Bolasie or Zaha and that neither Buckley nor Lopez would be able to protect him in the way Barnes did;
- It was also clear that Ulloa was physically knackered although if Barnes was doing the defensive work I don't know who would have replaced Ulloa.

I just remember thinking at the time "has Poyet learned nothing from the second half at Selhust?". I agree on paper that it's an excellent team, but it was not capable of playing two consecutive games in 3 days as Ulloa, Lopez and Buckley were all clearly exhausted and played like it.

But Bolasie didn't come on until the 62nd minute, and Poyet immediately brought on Barnes as cover for him. It was two games in four days wasn't it? As for Ulloa, there were no other choices for a striker, as both CMS and Hoskins were injured.

 

[Insel affe]

To be honest, although the board dealt with the situation pretty horrendously I get the impression Gus would have moved on to a Premiership team regardless.

Is the correct and only answer, no need to apologise too anyone and definitely not Gus Poyet it is all history now as will Sami be eventually.

 

[stss30]

"I have plans to stay in Brighton: the way I see it, as a manager, either you go to a top, top team or you stay at one club and try and create something." - Gus Poyet

Gus said a lot of things, but when his stock was quite high and he had the opportunity to manage a Premiership team with a far bigger budget than ours he wasn't going to turn it down.

 

[Mellotron]

Or you apply for the Reading job

Funnily enough, was the exact reaction Tano gave when asked whether Gus would actually go to Reading. His exact words I believe were: "C'mon, it's Reading!"

 

[Wozza]

As I said on another thread, the incident that led to his initial suspension (as reported in the Argus at the time) was his refusal to deal with the retained list.

I saw that as a convenient excuse to suspend Poyet while the club put together a dossier of issues which started many, many months before.

 

[Mellotron]

Gus said a lot of things, but when his stock was quite high and he had the opportunity to manage a Premiership team with a far bigger budget than ours he wasn't going to turn it down.

Especially as our budget appeared to be going down dramatically and Gus's job description and freedoms were changed massively from under him. Why would he want to stick around? No one else in his position would.

 

[peterward]

I don't know Gus Poyet but I do know that he built a side full of really good players, half of whom are now playing in the Premiership, and got us playing the best football I've ever seen from an Albion side. Now look at us.

The season we won league 1, the football was generally incredible.

Away at Peterborough ("Nightmare on London Road") was one of the best examples of passing i've ever seen, we cut them to shreds and blew them away.
CMS for all his running couldn't get near the ball, what a spectacular performance. Walking back to the car, i can remember thinking, I'm just so glad i went today and witnessed that, then listening to 606 with Albion fans on cloud 9, bristling and 2 peterborough fans called in saying how brilliant we were........ The joy of being an Albion fan that day and with the impending move into the Amex, it was a great time, playing great football, on the up under a great manager.

Momentum is a powerful thing, positive momentum lifted our club to the L1 championship that year, and negative momentum will just as easy see us through the trapdoor back there again, this year.

You don't change much when the momentum is in your favour, youre a complete fool if you sit back and do nothing when its working against you and all that good work is unraveling.

 

[stss30]

Especially as our budget appeared to be going down dramatically and Gus's job description and freedoms were changed massively from under him. Why would he want to stick around? No one else in his position would.

Even if our budget had stayed the same or increased he would have left for a Premiership job. As he mentioned several times his ambition is to manage Chelsea and if a Premiership team came calling it's the next step on the ladder. I think any notions that we 'could have kept hold of him' are false, and some of his comments appeared petty and stupid to me at the time, however when the pattern repeated itself with Oscar you do have to think that the issue is with the suits and his comments were justified.

 

[marshy68]

Ha ha, what an absolutely shite thread.

Poyet is a wanker, we are well rid of him.

Sami is clueless, we will be well rid of him soon.

Then we will climb the table.

Anyone backing Poyet now needs to go and soak their head in something.

I think Poyet was an egotistical maniac but definitely not a w@nker, we played some great football under him the best I have ever seen. However I think he did under acheive as we should have won the league the year we finished 4th. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I would give a lot to have someone like GP currently in charge of the Albion.

 

[spanish flair]

I saw that as a convenient excuse to suspend Poyet while the club put together a dossier of issues which started many, many months before.

I agree as the case against him was Gross misconduct which arguing over the retained list hardly comes near.

Examples of gross misconduct
Acas lists the following as examples of gross misconduct:

“dishonesty, theft or fraud;
malicious damage;
fighting or assault on another person;
serious incapability through alcohol or illegal drugs;
actions which endanger employees' safety;
falsification or unauthorised removal of company records or property; and
a serious act of insubordination”

Out of all those reasons for gross misconduct, I know which I would put my money on when dealing with a fiery Uruguayan.

 

[Wozza]

BTW, the latest goings on are completely changing the way I look at the Bloom/Barber v Poyet/Oatway situation...

 

[Mellotron]

Even if our budget had stayed the same or increased he would have left for a Premiership job. As he mentioned several times his ambition is to manage Chelsea and if a Premiership team came calling it's the next step on the ladder. I think any notions that we 'could have kept hold of him' are false, and some of his comments appeared petty and stupid to me at the time, however when the pattern repeated itself with Oscar you do have to think that the issue is with the suits and his comments were justified.

Depends at what point you are talking. Right at the end of the season yes, he was going even if we got promoted as relations had broken down massively and the job wasn't the one he had when he joined. Earlier in the season I believe he was of the mindset to stick with us if we got promoted, after all our side really wouldn't have been much weaker than Sunderland's if we'd strengthened a bit.

 

[Mellotron]

I saw that as a convenient excuse to suspend Poyet while the club put together a dossier of issues which started many, many months before.

The list of "issues" is laughable, I have heard from an impeccable source who still works at the club and has no obvious reason whatsoever to be "pro" Gus or "anti" the board.