[Albion] Chris Hughton leaves with immediate effect

[Chickenlittle]

What bothers me is there’s been no mention of “Annie Bodie”...surely her position’s safe??

 

[GT49er]

Many thanks Chris for all you have done, now the uncertainty starts for us. Is the new guy going to be a fit? will it work? will we improve or bomb? Please, please, please, no journeyman who have done the rounds i.e. Big Sam, Nigel, Neville, Jose OMG he's free, Wally with the brolley, Pardew etc.

Agree with you that we don't want any of those, but to say Neville (whichever one you mean) has 'done the rounds' is stretching it more than a bit!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Not sure who the “we” you refer to are.

CH has done a fantastic job in getting us to where we are and he’ll go down as one of our greatest managers. I am truly thankful for the pleasure and status he has brought our club.

But, as TB states, our PL status was seriously at risk and he hasn’t invested £ms to dice with death again. He works on probabilities and his instincts told him the risk of carrying on “as is” was too great.

Dan Ashworth must have had similar views and what’s the point of struggling til November and then getting rid having already spent heavily in the summer? We know what TB thinks of inflated prices in the Christmas window.

Let the new manager have the funds to spend in a measured way over the whole summer. The transfer window opens soon.

All these comments about spending, but what about the money we are paying Barber as vice chairman and Ashworth? Are there too many chiefs now and not enough indians?

 

[The Fifth Column]

Surprised and disappointed but I can understand TBs decision. CH is 60yrs old and not the young progressive manager some people paint him to be, I can imagine that this decision may well have been influenced by the players as they have seen a lot of teams around them with younger managers playing different styles of football and having a degree of success perhaps they want to experience a similar style of management. CHs style and tactics have always been very conservative and with very little leeway or alternatives and this has been his downfall, add to that the number of players he ultimately sanctioned to be signed that have failed to perform or live up to expectations, Locadia, Jahanbaksh, Izquierdo are the obvious ones and then also not playing to players strengths and positions. This has to have been Tony Bloom's toughest decision yet however I trust him and he's taken us this far so I'm willing to give him a pass on this one.

 

[BLOCK F]

This is a dark day for our club. What he has acheived has been monumental. At the first run of real challenge, we sacked him. It makes us no better than the swinging door mentality of other clubs. THis is not what we stand for and not how we operate. I'm beyond angry and also very very sad.

Tedebear, get a grip. This is business and the man who has got our club to where it is and has pumped zillions of his own money into us getting there, has decided, quite rightly in many peoples' minds, that it was time for a change.
C.H. a decent man, I am sure. A competent Championship manager ? Yes. Tactically limited ? Almost certainly. The man to take this club on to the next level? An emphatic no.

 

[SUIYHP]

Absolutely gutted. Chris is a quality bloke and Id have kept him personally, but at least he leaves on a high point of giving us 3 seasons in the EPL rather than being sacked at the in the relegation zone. Thank you Chris for everything, you will always be a legend at the club.

On the plus side. Tony seems determined to initiate the next phase of consolidation. New management and a more ambitious budget are a very exciting prospect for the club, and hopefully one that pays off. I just hope Tony knows what he is doing and a manager who has what it takes is ready and waiting...

 

[Wozza]

Newcastle, Norwich now Brighton, #Together?

Big difference: Albion didn't sack him mid-season.

When were we supposed to move on? Wait for him to resign? Wait until the end of his contract (never, ever happens with managers) with a chance we'd be in Championship?

Albion is a HUGE investment for Bloom. Can't blame him for wanting a refresh.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The fact is that we stayed up because other results went our way. If Cardiff had beaten Palace we'd be preparing for Championship football, and what that means is that this was a season where, measured by our own work, we were just as much relegated as we were safe.

I have never been on the CH out bandwagon, and I have mixed feelings about this, there aren't many managers as respected as Chris. However, I did not want to watch another season like that, and I was fearing that next season could well have been a repeat of this one, just without the luck at the end.

What CH has done for us has been great, but it has seemed for a while now that he was not the guy to take us much further forward, and we are in need of progress now. It's a bold decision and I respect and trust in TB if he feels that is the call to make. He's braver than I might have been in his shoes, and it's his bravery and boldness which has got us in this magical position.

Now we move forward. I don't know how likely or possible it is, but the dream for me, a dream I have had for years, is bringing Arsene Wenger to the Amex.

Make it happen Tony.

Cardiff couldn't beat Palace but we did. We deserved to stay up by getting more points than three other teams. It really annoys me when our own fans write off what we have achieved, and use it as a stick to beat people with.

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

An absolute gentlemen
One of the finest managers to face the Albion
My heart is sad, it is an end of an era, with Bruno going yesterday, but my head says correct decision. Chris can go with head held high, and fans who still adore him. If we had started poorly next season, he may have departed under a less favourable climate.

 

[phoenix]

Adam Virgo just interviewed and puts the decision down to the failure of the new players.

So its everone's fault. Except for the Manage, is it ?

 

[Geestar]

I've hated the Premier League, now even more so

Sent from my TA-1020 using Tapatalk

 

[pigbite]

This is a dark day for our club. What he has acheived has been monumental. At the first run of real challenge, we sacked him. It makes us no better than the swinging door mentality of other clubs. THis is not what we stand for and not how we operate. I'm beyond angry and also very very sad.

Whilst I agree that it might have been a bit more palatable to have waited a few days I think there are lots of clubs that would have sacked their manager with 5 or 6 games to go, declining performances and talk of dressing rooms being lost.

The reason these events smart is because CH is such a respected man in and outside of the club and for us supporters the manifestation of our progression to the PL and our pleasure in knowing the rest of the football world did not think we had a dick in charge. If we were going down or CH was less of the man he is then I am sure the sentiments would be different.

TB is in a no win situation in terms of when and how to drop the bomb. If you are determined that you need a fresh face then it is what it is and I see no reason to assume this means he, or anyone else, is reverting to a revolving door mentality. The issue of course, is that we don't know who is coming in and how things will play out but whatever happens next season there is also little evidence that we would not be fighting a relegation battle once again.

Having CH in charge in that circumstance is not a bad thing, it might be a case of "be careful of what you wish for" and if things go poorly I am sure there will be plenty of "I told you so" on here but you cannot keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

 

[Blue&WhiteVanMan]

Thanks CH for all you have done but i'm with Bloom on this. Its time for change, Premier League survival is no longer our aim, we need to look higher, maybe top 10.

We need to let some of these players of the leash and see what they can do.
Good luck for the future CH, you will not be forgotten for what you have achieved with BHA

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Surprised! Shocked even......
As I heared someone say yesterday, if we had had a rotten first half of the season and rallied to escape the drop - we would be calling him a hero.

He is, I believe , one of the best we have had . Is he blamed for the disappointing form of some new players? I am sure recruiting is not solely on him.

Anyway, who the hell else are we going to get who can do better?

 

[RexCathedra]

I said 14th for next year in one of the prediction threads, and I stick by it.
You fire the manager when you can't fire the team.

There's a significant chance the next man up is gone by Christmas. Remember Sami Hypiaa?

I see no change in the fundamental situation of the team, unless the next manager is a dead cert to personally score 18-20 goals a season.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Anyone taking delight in this announcement (whether they agree with the decision or not) should be banned immediately.

Why? I for one am delighted. In BLOOM I trust.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

On a personal level I feel for CH but, having had the time to digest the news and read the spread of opinions on here, I can see the sense in the decision (I think) from Bloom's point of view. Like it or not, football is a business and an investment for TB. He has to do what he can to protect that.

I don't doubt that it was a very difficult call, but TB is used to making them and a lot of the time gets them spot on. CH worked wonders with the club, the team and he will quite rightly go down as a legendary manager of our football club. I was never 'Hughton out' and I'm still not totally convinced this is the right way to go, but look at the bigger picture and the club is trying to get to the next level. New captain, new squad (I'm guessing a lot of the Championship gang will follow Chris and Bruno out of the door), new structure in place, so it stands to reason that a new manager would come in to oversee all that.

I still feel sorry for Chris though, but I have zero doubts he will walk into another club and I wish him all the best wherever he turns up.

 

[kjgood]

Agree with you that we don't want any of those, but to say Neville (whichever one you mean) has 'done the rounds' is stretching it more than a bit!

Yes agree he hasnt done anything in his managerial career, still dont want him though.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I think a few people are forgetting how lucky we were to be where we were in the league at Christmas. The first half of the season could easily have been as bad as the second half and we can’t risk that again next season. CH did a fantastic job at the club but time to move on

 

[banjo]

Shocked, thank you Chris for what you’ve achieved for us. One of the few good guys in the game.