Paul Barber said that Chris Hughton was doing a great job and all expected of him, and he was sacked shortly after.
If nothing else, I would have though the Hughton sacking might have you a bit more guarded on your general approach of "He said X, therefore X is true".
(That said, I do agree that it seems Chris Hughton was probably surprised to be sacked as he was)
In other news: this article aged quickly and badly didn't it - https://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/17...b-done-by-chris-hughton-since-joining-albion/ - particularly this line "Hughton has lost the support of impatient and over-demanding minority pockets of the fanbase."
I guess this is another thread that's wandered off in to "should he have been sacked" territory. FWIW I also think Chris *was* surprised and that article shows why. He'd just had the backing of the CEO. What Naylor thought in that piece turned out to be wrong but then, based on it and the stuff from PB that was pasted on here, I expected CH to stay as well, despite being an "outer" on the polls. I've looked back at the very many messages I exchanged with people on the day he went and only one or two weren't shocked. That doesn't mean there wasn't good reason BTW but that it seemed to many that CH had ridden out the bad period and the top brass were preparing to draw a line under it.
Funnily enough, this came up in conversation a day or two back, and my guess is that he may well have been surprised also.
Yeah, mine too, because when you read back what he said there's no a hint of it. But other hints of it - Dwayne's Potter thread the prime example - did exist, hence how this thread has taken off.