[Albion] Chris Hughton statement

[BLOCK F]

And I'm afraid for a club like ours that must continue to be the only target for the next few years. For the size of our club abd the limited playing budget we have Chris Hughton did a brilliant job.

I'm so sorry this decision was made Chris.

'The only target?'
I think Tony Bloom may have something to say about that!

 

[Wellesley]

He is the same age as me. He has been paid well, and there is no way I will be able to match his level of income in the next year. And yet I am considering retiring. So if CH is hungry for more football success he can pick and chose his next move. I doubt that his reputation and prospects have been remotely harmed by this 'grossly unfair dismissal' (as a proportion of people on NSC and out in the wider world appear to see it).

Well if that's true, he's too f****** old to manage anyway.

 

[BBassic]

We survived mostly thanks to Cardiff being shitter than us. It was hardly The Great Escape a la Russell Slade.

And, I personally believe, if Fulham had been able to sort out their defence the race for those two relegation spots would have been even further up in the air.

 

[Peter Ward]

Bit pointless.

I don't think he was doing it for you.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

I think we did great recruitment and had an excellent Championship team under Gus. That then totally changed for about a year under the two less successful managers but Chris brought it back. I often think the whole 22nd and looking like relegation is over done, we were in a bad way but it was an anomulous (if that's the word) year and not the true level of the club. We were on the up and had back to back play-off finishes beforehand. Compared to the Gus years he was the cherry on the top for sure but it wasn't a complete rebuild of the whole club. He came in and stopped / cut out the rot extremely efficently and quickly and is my favourite manager probably of 36 years supporting the team but there's a middle ground for those of us with less agenda either way.

 

[Peter Ward]

This praise for getting to the FA Cup semi is a bit silly really.

We beat Bournemouth reserves, got taken to a second leg and extra time against West Brom with Glenn Murray's cock saving the day, scraped past a second-string Derby team at home and were saved by a goalkeeping howler in a shambolic performance against Millwall.

It was interesting, for what it's worth, that Gus Poyet said at the time that Brighton took our eye off the ball and nearly went down because of the FA cup run.

 

[El Presidente]

A lot of our fans seem to have the same mentality as Chris in that 17th is really the best a small club like bhafc can possibly hope to achieve. Anything above is a massive bonus. I think Bloom has the bar higher. I am with Bloom

Where has anyone said that 17th is the best a club such as the Albion can possible hope to achieve?

 

[El Presidente]

And, I personally believe, if Fulham had been able to sort out their defence the race for those two relegation spots would have been even further up in the air.

But they were entertaining though, which is what it's all about.

 

[RexCathedra]

But they were entertaining though, which is what it's all about.

But were they playing attractive football?

 

[Munkfish]

“Surprised” is the interesting word. I can’t interpret it in any more than only three ways:

1 “I paid no attention to the targets that had been set for me by the Board; I hadn’t realised they were important”

2 “The b’stards had more targets for me than they told me. That’s not on”

3 “I got stitched up”

2 and 3 are not mutually exclusive. Personally, I don’t believe 1.

4. He had faith in his own ability, why would you admit you werent suprised you were sacked.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I agree that Hughton turned the team around, but I also contest that had he been in charge at the start of the season, then we would not have flirted with relegation, but instead finished mid to upper-table. It would just have been seen as a transition from the relatively successful Poyet and Garcia years. We'd have all been thinking that the wheels were on the bus and we had a great management team.

It's Hyypia's total inability as a manager that allows for the narrative 'transformed a relegation bound team'.

But, hey I'll stand down. I'm alone on this one.

Fair comment. I will just add, the first thing Chris did was bring Kayal in, which reinforced our midfield.

 

[BBassic]

But they were entertaining though, which is what it's all about.

If being a shambles is considered 'entertainment' these days, sure.

 

[Perkino]

I'm a little surprised that Bloom didn't offer him the chance to step down with a compensation package...by mutual consent rather than end things in the way that they appeared to

 

[El Presidente]

I'm a little surprised that Bloom didn't offer him the chance to step down with a compensation package...by mutual consent rather than end things in the way that they appeared to

He may well have done so but CH insisted that if the club wanted to leave they sack him, as it was clearly not a mutual decision. He signed a new contract in May 2018 for three years, it will contain payoff sums if the manager is sacked.

 

[BLOCK F]

Had enough of this toing and froing about the sacking of C.H.. After all, there have been numerous threads about the rights and wrongs concerning the departure our erstwhile manager and surely everybody who wanted to have their say has had ample opportunity to do so.
We don't all agree and never will, but surely it is time to move on and look forward to a new season under an exciting new manager,and so it is a tad disappointing that the doomsayers amongst us are already saying/ hinting ' big mistake, we'll go down under this unknown fellow'.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Or for ever?

Can anyone seriously think we will ever be anything but a bottom 6-8 club? We haven’t the money to compete with the big boys and therefore we can only look to be a Burnley or Bournemouth.

Leicester was an absolute fluke in the general scheme of things...and to be honest they are miles better team than we are anyway.

What about being part of the middle mini league, you know, places 7 - 13? I do so dislike being resigned to forever being a ‘small’ club. It might take 20 or 30 years, but we should aspire to being a big club, look where and what Chelsea were in the late 70’s and early 80’s compared to today.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

A lot of our fans seem to have the same mentality as Chris in that 17th is really the best a small club like bhafc can possibly hope to achieve. Anything above is a massive bonus. I think Bloom has the bar higher. I am with Bloom

The *Little old Brighton* *Above their station* narative is so tedious. I'm with Tony as well on the height of setting the bar.

 

[Mellotron]

I'm a little surprised that Bloom didn't offer him the chance to step down with a compensation package...by mutual consent rather than end things in the way that they appeared to

Why do you assume he didn't?

 

[Icy Gull]

The *Little old Brighton* *Above their station* narative is so tedious. I'm with Tony as well on the height of setting the bar.

Me too.I remember laughing my head off, when on their arrival in the Championship, Bournemouth declared that their next goal was getting to and staying in the Premier League. If ever there’s a lesson in aiming high, that is it.

I have much higher expectations of the Albion than perennial relegation scrappers with lots of gratitude for even being in the Premier League. Too many of our fans seems to think just being here is enough and we should just accept our place as relegation candidates every season.

Top 10 is my SHORT TERM target for us.

 

[Goldstone1976]

4. He had faith in his own ability, why would you admit you werent suprised you were sacked.

Fair point; except when he was fired by Norwich he said “I understand the recent frustrations...” and while saying “I am naturally very disappointed to have lost my job...”, he didn’t mention surprise at all.

These sentiments convey to me an understanding of why he was dismissed from Norwich; the ones in his release about his dismissal from BHAFC convey, well, surprise.