[Albion] Club PR and Expectations

[twickers]

Since Sunday's disappointment I've been reflecting on why there's a growing divide between those who are increasingly frustrated by the way the season is panning out, and those who acknowledge this but argue "where do you expect a club like us to be?" (For the record on this theme I was talking to family members yesterday and we are of the "Potter in, but..." camp).

I wonder to what extent our expectations have been driven by ourselves and to what extent they've been manufactured by club PR? Since we reached the PL, and especially since Potter took over, we're frequently treated to interviews with football pundits and new signings praising the club's "top ten facilities" and "ambitions for the future". When Lallana joined, if I remember rightly, all the PR coming out of the club was that Adam could see past our recent league position and envisage a brighter future for the club.

Of course, the club didn't say these ambitions would happen overnight. And likewise, I understand that those are the club's ambitions and much of what they say about our facilities is true. Plus it'd be a difficult sell every year to dish out a load of pessimistic realism that we're in for another relegation fight because our finances aren't like those of the clubs around us. However, it can hardly come as a surprise to the club that fans are growing increasingly disgruntled when they are constantly telling us how wonderful our future could be, whilst the present realities show few signs of us travelling in that direction. Again, just for the record, I'd be more than content with a 14th place finish this year, indicating gradual improvement in the right direction of this so-called long-term aim.

We spend a lot of time blaming Potter, the board and the fans for either our current predicament or perspective on it. Yet I don't think the club's PR can be without fault here too. I, for one, may have had lower long-term expectations if not for everything the club has churned out the past couple of years.

Happy Boxing Day!

Good post. There is a gap between the PR and reality Potter has to manage, which to be fair we'd all like him to say something more aspirational, but he's right to call it as it is...a hand to mouth scrap to stay up whilst trying to turm the team playing style. I suspect no one found it more unhelpful than him when the Top Ten long term aspiration PR inevitably mutated into fans sentiment of a near-medium term objective.

It's a nice problem to have though. After playing at Gillingham we've been a club with long term and medium term goals and a habit of achieving them...getting out of Gillingham, getting our own stadium, getting promoted to the PL, playing interesting football, being a club with past and future international stars...making it into the top ten...who knows maybe one day dare we dream of more?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Since Sunday's disappointment I've been reflecting on why there's a growing divide between those who are increasingly frustrated by the way the season is panning out, and those who acknowledge this but argue "where do you expect a club like us to be?" (For the record on this theme I was talking to family members yesterday and we are of the "Potter in, but..." camp).

I wonder to what extent our expectations have been driven by ourselves and to what extent they've been manufactured by club PR? Since we reached the PL, and especially since Potter took over, we're frequently treated to interviews with football pundits and new signings praising the club's "top ten facilities" and "ambitions for the future". When Lallana joined, if I remember rightly, all the PR coming out of the club was that Adam could see past our recent league position and envisage a brighter future for the club.

Of course, the club didn't say these ambitions would happen overnight. And likewise, I understand that those are the club's ambitions and much of what they say about our facilities is true. Plus it'd be a difficult sell every year to dish out a load of pessimistic realism that we're in for another relegation fight because our finances aren't like those of the clubs around us. However, it can hardly come as a surprise to the club that fans are growing increasingly disgruntled when they are constantly telling us how wonderful our future could be, whilst the present realities show few signs of us travelling in that direction. Again, just for the record, I'd be more than content with a 14th place finish this year, indicating gradual improvement in the right direction of this so-called long-term aim.

We spend a lot of time blaming Potter, the board and the fans for either our current predicament or perspective on it. Yet I don't think the club's PR can be without fault here too. I, for one, may have had lower long-term expectations if not for everything the club has churned out the past couple of years.

Dunno about anybody else, but I for one would pay really good money to read DK's take on recent events, up to and including TB's decision to give his rookie EPL manager a 2 year extension on his 4 year deal only 6 months into the 'project'. Any of our lazy journalists up to the task? Strongly suspect it would make for tremendous reading

 

[Icy Gull]

Dunno about anybody else, but I for one would pay really good money to read DK's take on recent events, up to and including TB's decision to give his rookie EPL manager a 2 year extension on his 4 year deal only 6 months into the 'project'. Any of our lazy journalists up to the task? Strongly suspect it would make for tremendous reading

Given how it ended for DK I’d lay big money that it would be quite a bitter take

DK always did things his way when he ran the show so no sympathy from me if he chose to gripe about TB doing exactly the same but with much deeper pockets

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Given how it ended for DK I’d lay big money that it would be quite a bitter take

DK always did things his way when he ran the show so no sympathy from me if he chose to gripe about TB doing exactly the same but with much deeper pockets

For sure. But would make for a magnificently entertaining read tho eh? A bit like his book

 

[Badger Boy]

Potter's a miserable loser who couldn't motivate the sun to rise.

 

[doogie004]

Since when do fans, not even in the stadium, have any influence at all? You sound paranoid

Who is BLAMING the fans?

If you read the thread a couple of posts mention fans


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[Dorset Seagull]

Its all about sustainability. We may go backwards but as long as in the medium term we correct that and go forwards we will probably be set to remain a permanent fixture in this division. That surely is the minimum end goal.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Its all about sustainability. We may go backwards but as long as in the medium term we correct that and go forwards we will probably be set to remain a permanent fixture in this division. That surely is the minimum end goal.

Trouble is tho, how do you achieve that? Don't pay the going rate for EPL players, then you start to sink. Go down and your best players get asset stripped and a large chunk of your 'customer' base just quietly slink away. When you're in that place, you suddenly find that other clubs want it far more than you do. It's a perfect storm just waiting to happen

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Trouble is tho, how do you achieve that? Don't pay the going rate for EPL players, then you start to sink. Go down and your best players get asset stripped and a large chunk of your 'customer' base just quietly slink away. When you're in that place, you suddenly find that other clubs want it far more than you do. It's a perfect storm just waiting to happen

By having your CEO doing zoom after zoom to tell you the club is right and if you disagree you're wrong, I think

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[e77]

I am sure if you put together a league table of playing budgets we would probably be in the same position we are in the actual league now, give or take a position or two. If we are to improve on this we have to play Moneyball signings better than everyone else, which we are beginning to see signs of now with the likes of Sanchez and White but it will presumably take a few years to see a trickle become a flood - if ever. Lallana and Wellbek were interesting as they both have probably seen their best days but presumably Potter wanted a bit more experience on the pitch.

Can we kick on to mid table? Possibly given a good prevailing wind. Sheffield United had a great year last year and they can't buy a win this season but Southampton seem to be making steady progress.

 

[Mike Small]

Not getting a single home win versus Villa, Watford, Palace, Newcastle, Burnley, WBA, Sheffield United is terrible. Am I disappointed where we are? Not really. To be expected to some extent. It’s the manner. Soft and dull management and lack of belief at both ends of the pitch and no signs of fixing this. Just ‘keep progressing’ and dull interviews.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Trouble is tho, how do you achieve that? Don't pay the going rate for EPL players, then you start to sink. Go down and your best players get asset stripped and a large chunk of your 'customer' base just quietly slink away. When you're in that place, you suddenly find that other clubs want it far more than you do. It's a perfect storm just waiting to happen

I suspect that the idea is over time we wont have to buy quality EPL players as we will have grown our own. The difficult bit is muddling along at trying to stay in the Prem until that time arrives

 

[blockhseagull]

I just believe fans expected or want progression.... even if it’s only in a very small incremental way.

I think the problem this season is that we aren’t making progress, either in results or in my opinion the style of play.

We have become more predictable and pedestrian with the ball, which has made us easy to defend against at home and also we aren’t sacrificing style to pick up points either.

I think the majority of fans are aware this is a long term project but there is always going to be frustration and noise when the club is on a downward curve which we currently are on. Yes the fans probably need to be more patient and accept the ups and downs a bit more, but also I think there have been mistakes on the clubs part which they need to address.

 

[Icy Gull]

Club PR is Corporate bollocks speak, best ignored imo. We are nowhere near the quality they would have you believe. We have the right manager but the recruitment team and budget are very definitely bottom five. Top
10 is a pipe dream at the moment, don’t believe the hype.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I just believe fans expected or want progression.... even if it’s only in a very small incremental way.

I think the problem this season is that we aren’t making progress, either in results or in my opinion the style of play.

We have become more predictable and pedestrian with the ball, which has made us easy to defend against at home and also we aren’t sacrificing style to pick up points either.

This is the bit I am struggling to understand as I am sure we used to move the ball much quicker which was more effective. Perhaps as we got caught out a bit at the back every now and then It was decided to slow the pace to counteract that?

 

[Doonhamer7]

I don’t get where this is a club PR issue, Tony has stated a desire to be consistent top10, this is an aspiration and I expect it includes the odd season in Europa League and the ofdd 12th / 13th. I do yet to see anything at the club saying we will be 10th this season. Every non top6 top club (Arsenal would never anticipated this) would have taken surviving this year with the huge financial implications of COVID-19. As far as I am concerned as long as we stay up the season on even goal difference is a success hopefully playing nice football (ie not reverting to a Pullis/Alardicy stay up at all cost). If the club had said they wanted to play in champions league regularly then that would have been cloud cook-coo land, so aspiring top10 is reasonable.

 

[BeHereNow]

I would be quite happy to finish just above the relegation zone for at least another 6 seasons as we are a minnow at this level and have the least PL experience out of all the clubs. We are still finding our feet, and that includes attracting players. A lot of it is to do with money, if we can get to a point where we aren’t losing ‘much’, then we can invest in the squad a lot better, but we aren’t that sustainable at the moment. Our financial outcome, when it comes to stadium upkeep, is probably quite a lot more than a lot of grounds in the PL, so that already puts us at a monetary disadvantage, that’s why we need more seats and corporate stuff.

I think the thing that grates with fans though is having teams coming up and doing better than us. Also that Palace consistently finish above us. Obviously, the home form is a concern, but if we stay up, it’s not too bad. It seems maybe our home and away forms have switched, if we can balance that out better then we will easily stay up.

I expect us to be in a relegation battle, because that’s what our funds allow, anything more than that is a bonus.

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

Feel like both Potter’s October quote and your summary is exactly where I am.

I’m 100% Potter in for the length of his contract and the buck stops with TB in terms of how he measures that/any success.

If we go down and his style needs more time then I’m all for it.

It won’t diminish my desire to remain a supporter, even though I can’t currently commit to attending anymore, and I’ll support the efforts to achieve sustainability over profligate spending for the sake of our premier league status.

This is a long term project and any ‘fans’ not onboard with it should pretty much get off the bandwagon or stop wasting their breath getting so frustrated and demanding change because I firmly believe TB won’t be sacking/changing things anytime soon no matter what happens.

Well said. Especially the bit about remaining a suppporter, come what may. I never cease to be amazed at all the toy-throwing knne-jerkery of an alarming proportion of NSC posters. The only consolation is in remembering that the spectrum of viewpoints expressed on NSC is unlikley to mirror that of the 27k who populate the Amex every matchday.

 

[vagabond]

Potter's a miserable loser who couldn't motivate the sun to rise.

But why personally attack our manager though?

Fair enough if you don’t rate him. But given he kept our club up last season, and blooded a lot of exciting young talent (Alzate, Lamptey, Molumby, White, Connolly, Sanchez), he deserves a bit more respect than that.