Carole.

[Starry]

Carole joins Leeds on free

Seb Carole is on his way to Leeds - without Albion receiving a penny for their talented French winger.

Carole is joining the Yorkshire giants on a free transfer, a blow softened for the Seagulls by their first signing of the summer.

They have snapped up former Cambridge United striker Alex Revell from non-league Braintree Town.

Carole signed a two-year contract with Albion last August when moving from Monaco on a free transfer but had a clause inserted allowing him to leave for nothing if they were relegated.

The Seagulls paid Carole's agent an undisclosed five-figure fee but chairman Dick Knight insisted today the whole deal was "very good business" for the club.

Knight said: "If that clause hadn't gone in then Seb's wages over the two years would have been higher and the signing-on fee would have been more, so it was a no-brainer.

"If we'd had to buy him on the open market he would have cost around £350,000.

"West Ham had offered 600,000 Euros to buy him a few months before we signed him.

"We fought hard to keep him but the agent has persuaded Seb to go."

Carole is expected to put pen to paper on a two or three-year deal with Leeds before they report back for pre-season training on July 3.

The 23-year-old impressed Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell and chairman Ken Bates when he scored and starred for the Seagulls in a 3-3 draw at Elland Road last September.

His imminent departure after two goals in 41 games has rocked manager Mark McGhee's bid to get Albion promoted again from League One following their relegation from the Championship.

McGhee said: "I am very disappointed. We gave Seb the opportunity to come here and be part of the team.

"Regardless of that clause the decent thing for him to do would have been to stay, at least at the start of the season.

"I think he's a player that would have been a major help in us getting out of this division."

McGhee will now have to find a replacement for Carole. He said: "We have alternatives on the right like Harty (Gary Hart) and Reidy (Paul Reid) but we'll be looking for a winger as opposed to a midfield player who can fit in there."

Albion's other French winger, Alex Frutos, has the same release clause in his two-year contract but the former Metz man is being offered revised terms.

Knight revealed: "I'm in the process of making a new offer to Alex. We want to keep him and I'm reasonably confident."

 

[Frutos]

Albion's other French winger, Alex Frutos, has the same release clause in his two-year contract but the former Metz man is being offered revised terms.

Knight revealed: "I'm in the process of making a new offer to Alex. We want to keep him and I'm reasonably confident."

A small piece of good news at least, hopefully they can persuade Frutos to stay with us. I think he could be a really important player in League One.

 

[Da Man Clay]

Shit, obviously a free release.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Well it was a pleasure to watch him and worth the gamble, if he had stayed on and revised his terms. Hopelly Fruity will stay on.

Disappointing though

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Gutting that he's going on a free, but without that clause would we have been able to afford his wages etc. Offering him reduced wages but an easy get out clause was more than likely the only way we could get him.

 

[Dave the OAP]

why are we expecting a fee?


We got him for nowt and I recon we will get nowt for him.

If we are looking to bounce straight back i would hazzard a guess that most people would see this as a negative step and would send out the wrong message

Ahem

"cough" " Cough"

 

[Da Man Clay]

Ahem

"cough" " Cough"

I bow down to your superior knowledge Dave

 

[Dave the OAP]

I bow down to your superior knowledge Dave

 

[Skaville]

This just f*cking sums up everything that is Brighton and Hove Albion at the moment. Shit ground, crap manager, the worst squad in years, no one wants to play for us, lack of atmosphere, dire division, Falmer dragging on till eternity... I'm almost at breaking point. My enthusiasm for next season is seriously lacking.

 

[Gully]

Sad to hear that Jimmy, I am already looking forward to next season, planning my away trips and trying to deconflict other commitments to make sure that I don't miss any of the ones I want to go to, am off on holiday this week but will be putting in for a couple of days when I get back into the office to make sure that I can get to the odd Tuesday evening game (Yeovil comes immediately to mind).

So, we have lost Seb. Do you think he would have come to the Albion from Monaco without a release clause because I don't. I know we like to think of ourselves as being a little special, the English club from a smart seaside town, but to bring in a player from Monaco, albeit for just one season, was a bit of a coup. From the little I saw of him he frustrated me, there were quite a few times when he beat several players but ran into a blind alley, if we could have taught him how to cross then he could have been a very good player, in my opinion he was no better than average.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

This just f*cking sums up everything that is Brighton and Hove Albion at the moment. Shit ground, crap manager, the worst squad in years, no one wants to play for us, lack of atmosphere, dire division, Falmer dragging on till eternity... I'm almost at breaking point. My enthusiasm for next season is seriously lacking.

Your optimistic aren't you. Carole leaving is a blow and he has shown no loyalty to a club who gave him his chance in English football. But in League 1 both Harty and Reidy are perfectly capable on the right wing and may be better suited at the level below. Carole has been swayed by money and I can see him ending up like Harding in their reserves.

Now that McGhee is staying why not get behind him and support the team at least until the season starts. Or is that too much to ask?

 

[Dave the OAP]

Sad to hear that Jimmy, I am already looking forward to next season, planning my away trips and trying to deconflict other commitments to make sure that I don't miss any of the ones I want to go to, am off on holiday this week but will be putting in for a couple of days when I get back into the office to make sure that I can get to the odd Tuesday evening game (Yeovil comes immediately to mind).

So, we have lost Seb. Do you think he would have come to the Albion from Monaco without a release clause because I don't. I know we like to think of ourselves as being a little special, the English club from a smart seaside town, but to bring in a player from Monaco, albeit for just one season, was a bit of a coup. From the little I saw of him he frustrated me, there were quite a few times when he beat several players but ran into a blind alley, if we could have taught him how to cross then he could have been a very good player, in my opinion he was no better than average.

If there would have been a decent striker in the area for him to cross to it would have helped...but that is now l'eau sous Le Pont and we should forget he ever played for us.

 

[Caveman]

I actually feel sorry for McGhee through all this. He is constantly being stripped of all his best players every year. Then gets the crowd on his back when they dont over perform.

I'm afraid we'll see more and more of this until LDC are beaten and we get Falmer. I'd still rather all this than mince around in a Arsenal, Man Utd, Tottenham, Chelsea or Liverpool shirt.

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Dick Knight told me in February when we played Watford that his agent was touting for a move to the Premiership. Well he didn't quite make it but it is perfectly clear that he did not want to be around and his mind was already elsewhere in the midst of our relegation battle.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

This just f*cking sums up everything that is Brighton and Hove Albion at the moment. Shit ground, crap manager, the worst squad in years, no one wants to play for us, lack of atmosphere, dire division, Falmer dragging on till eternity... I'm almost at breaking point. My enthusiasm for next season is seriously lacking.

You and me both mate. You know I even felt better when we were at Gillingham!

 

[Gully]

Seb has used us as a stepping stone into British football, I seem to remember a certain Sergei Gotsmanov doing the same thing some years ago, don't recall many complaints when he moved along the coast to Southampton.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Seb has used us as a stepping stone into British football, I seem to remember a certain Sergei Gotsmanov doing the same thing some years ago, don't recall many complaints when he moved along the coast to Southampton.

Sergei wanted to sign for us. We tried to get him. But Southampton in their wisdom decided to buy him for about £10k more which we could not afford. They did it so spite us.

We agreed I think a £100,000 fee.

Sergei spent most of his time in Soton reserves behind Le Tiss and Case.

I still hate Soton now because of it.

Just think we would have had Walker, Codner, Wilkins, Sergei, Byrne and Small that season.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I actually feel sorry for McGhee through all this. He is constantly being stripped of all his best players every year. Then gets the crowd on his back when they dont over perform.

I'm afraid we'll see more and more of this until LDC are beaten and we get Falmer. I'd still rather all this than mince around in a Arsenal, Man Utd, Tottenham, Chelsea or Liverpool shirt.

Well said.

 

[B.W.]

There is one very big difference between us and the rest of the clubs in the league ... we do not have any major assets in which to balance against the type of risk that you are proposing. In asset terms we are arguably the poorest team in the league ....

Personally I thought we needed a midfielder and striker to keep us up and that would have cost approx £6K a week not including transfer fee signing on fee etc.

Well, I think we only needed a striker... and we have now lost a self-confessed £1M (conservative estimate, I reckon) following a lack of investment and relegation... bad business decision...

 

[B.W.]

Spot on, in fact in terms of any asset we are probably the poorest of the poor, or at least within the top 5 poorest clubs

We don't own our ground, so you are probably right about the asset thing... however, we do have reasonable attendances for this league (that is, if we are somewhere near the top of the div, which IS possible with SOME investment in the squad)... we charge more than any other club, I would think, plus we have somewhere near the best commercial revenue in L1... overall, we are NOT the poorest of the poor in L1...