[Albion] Article - Football Changed and Chris Hughton Didn’t Keep Up

[Chicken Run]

I’m a fan first , wanted Hughton to stay and this is nonsense.

I want to believe you.....

 

[Nobby]

It’s a well written article, well thought out and obviously written by a long term Albion fan.
All of us watched the last four months and realised that something had to change for next season. At one stage, after Cardiff, I had lost faith in CH and believed that the change needed to be him.

But after reading some of El Presidente’s league tables vs finances, I realised that to better guarantee Premier League survival, it was our budget that needed to change, not our manager.

And that is where this well written piece falls down. A lot of emotion reflecting how a lot of us felt at the time, but not once does it refer to the Albion’s relative finances against the bottom 10 in the Premier League.

Hughton managed clubs in the Championship with top 10 wage budgets and got them promoted or in the playoffs.

Hughton managed clubs in the Premier League with bottom six wage budgets and kept them up.

So what has to to change, to give us a better chance of staying up, is our wage structure, to compete on a more level playing field, in recruiting better quality players.

That is the change that is needed now, or in the short or medium term, Graham Potter’s days at Brighton are numbered already.

I really like the guy, he comes across well and I think he’ll do ok, but I feel a little sorry for him, because he will be operating with one hand tied behind his back.

 

[chaileyjem]

This is a point that irked me somewhat, at a point when we were desperate for some pace and craft to shake up our attacking play, he refused to even consider any of the Dev squad.... there were two or three options right then who could have been given a run and some regular minutes in the 1st team squad....

Who ? Would you have picked Gyokeres over Locadia and Andone or Molumby over Kayal or Bissouma ?
(Connolly was injured and then on loan)

 

[chaileyjem]

I want to believe you.....

You’re “fairly certain” , because they don’t agree with a change in manager that fellow fans want the club to fail and when I deny it vehemently don’t take me in good faith either. Oh well.

 

[heathgate]

Who ? Would you have picked Gyokeres over Locadia and Andone or Molumby over Kayal or Bissouma ?
(Connolly was injured and then on loan)

In the absence of signings in January, when pace WAS needed, some of those mentioned could have been given a sequence of outings from the bench... who knows how any of them would have performed.... surely no worse than some of the performances we saw from Ali J, Locadia and dare I say it Andone at times.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[BLOCK F]

Like Warnock?? - Sheff Utd - relegated after 1 season, qpr - sacked but they were still relegated, Palace - sacked - in bottom 3, Cardiff - relegated in 1 season.

Hughton never once managed a club in bottom 3. Kept Newcastle up, Norwich up (then sacked), brighton up .
If he keeps relegating every team in the prem he goes near then remind me when .

I read that Delia Smith said that the mistake the Board made at Norwich, in the relegation season, was not sacking CH earlier.

 

[chaileyjem]

I read that Delia Smith said that the mistake the Board made at Norwich, in the relegation season, was not sacking CH earlier.

Good for Delia and i'm aware of how Norwich performed that season. But to then take the leap and compare Hughton to Warnock or insist, in a back handed compliment, that he's a good "Championship" manager rather than an effective premier league manager who keeps teams up on low budgets is a misreading of his skills. (whether you appreciate how his teams play or not - and clearly on NSC there's a sizeable majority who no longer do and wanted him out. )

 

[chaileyjem]

In the absence of signings in January, when pace WAS needed, some of those mentioned could have been given a sequence of outings from the bench... who knows how any of them would have performed.... surely no worse than some of the performances we saw from Ali J, Locadia and dare I say it Andone at times.

As much as those three players have underperformed this season , you'd have been a very brave manager to drop them entirely from the squad in favour of a 20 year old Swede who's only played a few minutes of senior football, and fairly anonymously, in a couple of cup ties. But clearly you are that man !

 

[BLOCK F]

Good article,but I still think Chris should have had a chance after the sort of investment needed for next season.If he failed to produce the goods with better players,then wave bye-bye.Just hope he doesn't come back to bite us with his new team.Best of luck to the new guy and hope he's better than the previous GP!

By making the change now, it has given the new manager the best possible chance of making a success of next season, for all the reasons that are too obvious to point out.
Additionally, if CH had stayed and was failing, let us say by mid October, then to sack him and recruit the kind of manager we wanted, mid term, could well have been a protracted drawnout process, or even ending in a failure to attract that person.
Additionally, this would have been very unsettling for the team.
The decisiveness of T.B.'s action may appear to be brutal to some , but it has given our club the best possible chance of , to use the old cliche, 'hitting the ground running', next season.
And let us not forget, it has also given CH, a damn' fine opportunity to get fixed up pretty quickly!

 

[Goldstone1976]

It’s a well written article, well thought out and obviously written by a long term Albion fan.
All of us watched the last four months and realised that something had to change for next season. At one stage, after Cardiff, I had lost faith in CH and believed that the change needed to be him.

But after reading some of El Presidente’s league tables vs finances, I realised that to better guarantee Premier League survival, it was our budget that needed to change, not our manager.

And that is where this well written piece falls down. A lot of emotion reflecting how a lot of us felt at the time, but not once does it refer to the Albion’s relative finances against the bottom 10 in the Premier League.

Hughton managed clubs in the Championship with top 10 wage budgets and got them promoted or in the playoffs.

Hughton managed clubs in the Premier League with bottom six wage budgets and kept them up.

So what has to to change, to give us a better chance of staying up, is our wage structure, to compete on a more level playing field, in recruiting better quality players.

That is the change that is needed now, or in the short or medium term, Graham Potter’s days at Brighton are numbered already.

I really like the guy, he comes across well and I think he’ll do ok, but I feel a little sorry for him, because he will be operating with one hand tied behind his back.

This is broadly where I am.

There is one further possibility: that Tony et al believe that, despite being cheap in PL terms, Locadia, Ali J, Andone, and 2-3 U23s have been sadly overlooked and poorly managed; with the right management we’ll be able to keep the payroll the same (broadly) but finish 12th (say).

God, I hope they don’t believe that. If they do, and we don’t recruit extensively and expensively, and Potter goes on to take us to 12th - hats off to them and to Potter. If, however, they do recruit extensively and expensively, there’ll always be a part of me that wonders just how well Hughton would have done with those new players.

 

[Icy Gull]

It was very clear that nearly every other manager had worked us out and knew how to play us. Once that happened, with no plan B we were in trouble and it showed. Relying on the core of championship players as the season went on struck me as pretty desperate. I do not think the players we signed are as bad as they often looked in a CH team. Time will tell as I imagine all will get another chance now

 

[GT49er]

Having now digested a lot the the threads surrounding the departure of Hughton and indeed the new appointments I’m fairy certain that a few of the ‘Hughton in’ supporters will be ( they won’t admit to this) mildly irritated if the the first few months go well for Potter which means that there are a albeit small section of our support who want this new team to fail purely for a ‘told you so’ prospective.

Rubbish! I hope Potter's Brighton turn out to be great - but I'm going to have to wait to be convinced that sacking Chris wasn't a mistake.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Having now digested a lot the the threads surrounding the departure of Hughton and indeed the new appointments I’m fairy certain that a few of the ‘Hughton in’ supporters will be ( they won’t admit to this) mildly irritated if the the first few months go well for Potter which means that there are a albeit small section of our support who want this new team to fail purely for a ‘told you so’ prospective.

Are you seriously suggesting that we start well, win a few games and look good to watch, supporters will be mildly irritated, seriously? I'm not sure if this is more of a reflection on how you see the world.

 

[Bold Seagull]

It was very clear that nearly every other manager had worked us out and knew how to play us. Once that happened, with no plan B we were in trouble and it showed. Relying on the core of championship players as the season went on struck me as pretty desperate. I do not think the players we signed are as bad as they often looked in a CH team. Time will tell as I imagine all will get another chance now

Dyche went on a similar run this season, 3 wins in 19, they lost 13 in that run, including being smashed 5-1 at home to Everton, losing 4-2 to Fulham. They had no plan B, until Dyche went back to basics, and despite a revival, still lost 7 of their last 11. Let's put this in perspective, Dyche has been relegated with Burnley, taken them back up, survived, finished 7th, then had a dire period this season. Their football hasn't evolved, in fact this season it had to go back a couple of steps. Their entire squad pretty much is relying on Championship players given that is where they focus their signings - would you call that desperate?

I understand that looking into the future, we have to hope that certain players were held back by Hughton, no one wants them to be flops, and perhaps a new manager plus being more settled will mean they can have an impact, I find it hard to believe we can blame everything on the manager though, that strikes me in turn as being a bit desperate.

Every team needs a sprinkle of fairy dust. We had it with Izqueirdo and Gross last season, Newcastle who were fairly ordinary first half the season found it in £25m Almiron, Burnley found it with a suddenly prolific Barnes, Bournemouth had it at different points with Fraser and Brooks.

Now I don't see Hughton as infallible or inculpable, but he tried several Plan Bs to try to get Jahanbakhsh, Andone, Izquierdo, Knockeart and March to add that fairy dust, they did occassionally, but with Gross out so much, Izqueirdo a shadow of the previous season version, it never happened, or just too briefly such as Knocky at Palace.

Like I say, I don't hold Hughton in such esteem that he doesn't shoulder same blame, but not all of it, not that every player couldn't raise their game, or perform better than they did regardless of tactics.

Unlike what [MENTION=534]Chicken Run[/MENTION] said earlier, I will look forward to the start of the season, and sincerely hope Potter is a success, and by that I don't even mean we start playing some brand of attacking football, I'll be happy if we continue at a decent point a game, and look competitive. Potter may need a bit of time before we start delivering the type of football people are hoping for. Might not happen overnight, and scratching around for survival in his first season in the top flight will have to be seen as a success, regardless of whether it's not actually a huge attacking improvement.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Rubbish! I hope Potter's Brighton turn out to be great - but I'm going to have to wait to be convinced that sacking Chris wasn't a mistake.

I agree, and the reverse is actually true for a lot of fans. They are so convinced it was all down to Hughton, the expectations are that Potter is going to turn us dramatically around, and that puts a lot of expectations on his shoulders.

For me, another 17th place finish, would be seen as a success. Potter may need some time to truly have an impact. I'd actually imagine it will be the Hughton fans that stick by him longer than those demanding a significant attacking improvement.

 

[Icy Gull]

Dyche went on a similar run this season, 3 wins in 19, they lost 13 in that run, including being smashed 5-1 at home to Everton, losing 4-2 to Fulham. They had no plan B, until Dyche went back to basics, and despite a revival, still lost 7 of their last 11. Let's put this in perspective, Dyche has been relegated with Burnley, taken them back up, survived, finished 7th, then had a dire period this season. Their football hasn't evolved, in fact this season it had to go back a couple of steps. Their entire squad pretty much is relying on Championship players given that is where they focus their signings - would you call that desperate?

I understand that looking into the future, we have to hope that certain players were held back by Hughton, no one wants them to be flops, and perhaps a new manager plus being more settled will mean they can have an impact, I find it hard to believe we can blame everything on the manager though, that strikes me in turn as being a bit desperate.

Every team needs a sprinkle of fairy dust. We had it with Izqueirdo and Gross last season, Newcastle who were fairly ordinary first half the season found it in £25m Almiron, Burnley found it with a suddenly prolific Barnes, Bournemouth had it at different points with Fraser and Brooks.

Now I don't see Hughton as infallible or inculpable, but he tried several Plan Bs to try to get Jahanbakhsh, Andone, Izquierdo, Knockeart and March to add that fairy dust, they did occassionally, but with Gross out so much, Izqueirdo a shadow of the previous season version, it never happened, or just too briefly such as Knocky at Palace.

Like I say, I don't hold Hughton in such esteem that he doesn't shoulder same blame, but not all of it, not that every player couldn't raise their game, or perform better than they did regardless of tactics.

Unlike what [MENTION=534]Chicken Run[/MENTION] said earlier, I will look forward to the start of the season, and sincerely hope Potter is a success, and by that I don't even mean we start playing some brand of attacking football, I'll be happy if we continue at a decent point a game, and look competitive.

You make good points. Would it sound very entitled to suggest that I don’t want us to be another Burnley?

I would genuinely prefer us to drop a level if what we saw last season is going to be the limit of our ambitions. We had some fabulous times under CH, in fact my best ever day as an Albion fan was the celebration post Wigan. I am of the opinion that CH was not going to do anymore than just keep us up and if that meant defending against everyone every game it was killing my interest in going. Sorry I’m just going to have to run with being entitled I guess

 

[Bold Seagull]

You make good points. Would it sound very entitled to suggest that I don’t want us to be another Burnley?

I would genuinely prefer us to drop a level if what we saw last season is going to be the limit of our ambitions. We had some fabulous times under CH, in fact my best ever day as an Albion fan was the celebration post Wigan. I am of the opinion that CH was not going to do anymore than just keep us up and if that meant defending against everyone every game it was killing my interest in going. Sorry I’m just going to have to run with being entitled I guess

You don't have ambitions to see us in Europe?

 

[Icy Gull]

You don't have ambitions to see us in Europe?

Not if it means playing like Burnley

Saints before it went pear shaped would be my preference, you know actually being entertained.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I agree, and the reverse is actually true for a lot of fans. They are so convinced it was all down to Hughton, the expectations are that Potter is going to turn us dramatically around, and that puts a lot of expectations on his shoulders.

For me, another 17th place finish, would be seen as a success. Potter may need some time to truly have an impact. I'd actually imagine it will be the Hughton fans that stick by him longer than those demanding a significant attacking improvement.

I agree. It's the usual posters who were calling for Hughton out, that were decrying previous managers out, in the past.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Not if it means playing like Burnley

Saints before it went pear shaped would be my preference, you know actually being entertained.

You don't think Burnley fans were entertained when they won 14 of their 38 games, drawing 12 finishing 7th?