[Albion] Fans Forum

[raymondo]

First time I've been to one of these and I took my eldest boy also. I thought it was a good event and some sensible questions, particularly from the kids - and I am a deeply cynical person. Very pleased there were no long intros from those posing the questions about how much of a superfan they are / making clear how local they are.

Although there was a lack of breaking news (as expected) - apart from the news on De Zerbi's chef, what came across to me was, looking into the whites of his eyes., he seems brutally honest. Obviously everyone (the fans, the media etc) always read between the lines of his broken English and often dour facial expressions but his answer in respect to his future was a good one. He came across as honest, that regardless of the club he is at, he needs to feel motivated - by the owner, ceo, club, fans - all the factors that combine. It is clear that he has been and he feels that connection with this club. Of course any of those factors may change, and he may lose his mojo. I personally hope he keeps it for next season (and beyond).

Interesting also he said the fans are good / the atmosphere is good and implied that recently the team are disappointed not to have created some atmosphere. He said the home game vs Marseille was a great atmosphere that stuck with him (I thought it was a good atmosphere but there have been better whilst he's been here).

I agree...but if he wants to be motivated by the fans 100% then he needs to make sure the team are motivated to give everything on the pitch - the fans will respect that.

 

[Zeberdi]

Barber has done another interview , this time with Andy Naylor for The Athletic.
https://theathletic.com/5425504/2024/05/01/brighton-paul-barber-interview/ (not sure if its available without a sub)

Its about his relationship with Bloom.

"“I must admit, when I joined Brighton, I wasn’t sure how far we could go. Tony has convinced me over a number of years there is no ceiling, we can keep pushing.”

I think as a subscriber it is possible to share articles (not sure if that extends to a public forum though ) and a subscriber can also give access for 5 people for up to a month.

Paul Barber: 'Tony Bloom is a genius and there is no limit to what Brighton can achieve'

Brighton's chief executive discusses his relationship with the owner-chairman and what he hopes the club can achieve in the near future

theathletic.com

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Think they specifically meant spend on midfield but Baleba is a midfielder so they weren’t entirely correct.

I'm sure they did, but yes, we spent £20m on Baleba, and hefty wages on Milner and Dahoud. So money WAS spent. How WELL it was spent is of course, up for debate.

 

[raymondo]

Better ask Mitoma that one. He’s still outside the players car park with his Japanese followers.

Mitoma Flash Mob

 

[el punal]

I’m sure we won’t sack RDZ but we need succession planning in place if he wants out.
I think we are probably already doing this. Eg rumours that we’ve had informal initial discussions with Kompany and R Martin. ( no smoke without fire)
However, it’s clear from the Fans Forum that RDZ is still focused on the job but we need a good transfer window to keep him engaged.
The recruitment of the new senior medical guy is a great statement of intent.
I’m sure we have done a ‘drains up’ on why we have fallen back a bit this season. Very simplistically this could be put down to a drop in player quality ( losing MacAllister and Caicedo in one window and not properly replaced) and the huge extent of our injuries.
The recruitment of a new medical team addresses the injuries ( not going to stop injuries but shows we are doing our best to reduce them).
A strong summer transfer window will hopefully address the squad strength issue.
Will be an interesting summer.

No smoke without fire? Go onto t’internet and it’s a merry-go-round of who’s goes where and when. All of course provided by ‘reliable sauces’. In fact 99.9% is pure bollocks and hearsay. FFS even down here in Southampton it’s rumoured that Russell Martin will be the next Brighton coach. Who next, Sam Allardyce?

 

[peterward]

no it doesn’t always work and it didn’t work last summer. i think the recruitment wasn’t as diligent as it could’ve been, particularly igor and baleba, as neither really offer the main traits RDZ wants or needs, not to say that they aren’t decent players. but what i’m saying is, we don’t need to break the model or the wage structure to give the manager what he needs, and i will stand by that

Agree that inbounds didn't give the required instant levels to cover what we lost, which has affected our form, but see big potential differences in Igor and Baleba.

Igor is already pretty well formed, Doubt we'll see huge uptick in levels, hes a decent enough squad player, but he doesn't start ahead of Pervis at LB, nor JPVH/Dunk at CB, so as someone who isn't really challenging to start each week, or better options exist, that's what I hope we are striving for. Genuine first team challengers.

Baleba though has got bags of potential, massively raw, he hasn't filled the Caicedo sized hole, but he could be another star in the making. His runs with the ball have often been great, his lack of experience has caught him out defensively at times.

If we got in say, a Ross Barkley type who can play more in the DM role, I could see Baleba being really effective higher up the pitch.

Baleba for me shows more potential than Adingra, a sound "future" purchase.

 

[pigmanovich]

Barber also got it wrong with the ages of our players, we do have a lot of younger players , and lots of players 30 or over ,
we don’t have many mid 20s players

Didn't he try to pass the 33-year-old Steele off as a player in his mid to late 20s?

 

[Baldseagull]

I’m sure we won’t sack RDZ but we need succession planning in place if he wants out.
I think we are probably already doing this. Eg rumours that we’ve had informal initial discussions with Kompany and R Martin. ( no smoke without fire)
However, it’s clear from the Fans Forum that RDZ is still focused on the job but we need a good transfer window to keep him engaged.
The recruitment of the new senior medical guy is a great statement of intent.
I’m sure we have done a ‘drains up’ on why we have fallen back a bit this season. Very simplistically this could be put down to a drop in player quality ( losing MacAllister and Caicedo in one window and not properly replaced) and the huge extent of our injuries.
The recruitment of a new medical team addresses the injuries ( not going to stop injuries but shows we are doing our best to reduce them).
A strong summer transfer window will hopefully address the squad strength issue.
Will be an interesting summer.

If the club has spoken to Russell Martin about a coaching role here, it's for the Women's team.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I thought you already supported Huddersfield

I do but gillingham is closer

 

[pigmanovich]

Did anyone ask how much to get in the new fanzone? Will it be home fans only? How much will a decent pint be?

Gracias.

This was my interpretation, as Barber spoke of keeping away fans out and having security on hand in case any slipped in -- and thanked Albion fans for not being the sort to react "violently" to situations like that But he also said home fans would be "prioritized" which is more equivocal.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

It was much better than these events have been recently. As for RDZ, not sure if it has already been mentioned but if you watch the video of him entering the room, as he walked down the side of the room he made a point of touching the two powerchair supporters on the shoulder as he walked past - something so minor but which probably made their evening.

 

[portlock seagull]

I don't understand this. 'Thousands will desert when players move on'. Will they? Which players?

Mitoma for example. These days it’s a well known fact many younger fans follow players not teams. And heaven forbid when we eventually get relegated from the PL, there will be an exodus as many people only come for PL brand.

 

[portlock seagull]

It was much better than these events have been recently. As for RDZ, not sure if it has already been mentioned but if you watch the video of him entering the room, as he walked down the side of the room he made a point of touching the two powerchair supporters on the shoulder as he walked past - something so minor but which probably made their evening.

I noticed this and you saw one’s reaction to this effect. Players and managers do a lot of unseen and unrecognised things for Powerchair fans. I have buckets of first hand experience of this.

 

[KZNSeagull]

I may be sailing this ship alone but I am not impressed by a manager appearing to be holding a gun to the head of the club, however charismatic or good he is or could be

If he were holding a gun to the club's head I doubt that last night would have been as genial as it was - in fact I doubt it would have taken place at all. The last thing the club would want is a rogue manager spouting off at a fans forum.
There may well be a difference of opinion on what RDZ may expect from the club this summer but I don't believe that any difference is currently insurmountable.

 

[chaileyjem]

I'm sure they did, but yes, we spent £20m on Baleba, and hefty wages on Milner and Dahoud. So money WAS spent. How WELL it was spent is of course, up for debate.

Agreed.
We'd also spent £8m-10m on Billy Gilmour the previous summer to give us options in midfield - he'd barely played in 22/23 and he turned into our first choice pairing with Gross for most of this season rather than Baleba anyway. And until Christmas that worked fine.

 

[portlock seagull]

I found Barbers comments about injuries the most interesting insight.

 

[Flounce]

If he were holding a gun to the club's head I doubt that last night would have been as genial as it was - in fact I doubt it would have taken place at all. The last thing the club would want is a rogue manager spouting off at a fans forum.
There may well be a difference of opinion on what RDZ may expect from the club this summer but I don't believe that any difference is currently insurmountable.

Time will tell but he’s treading a fine line imo and TB is nothing if not considered in how, when or if he pulls the trigger.

Luckily I don’t run the club as I would certainly have reacted to recent comments to the media

I hope you are right and the enthusiastic RDZ returns next season btw

 

[um bongo molongo]

i didn't realise but it sounded like he'd been carrying the ankle injury since he came back at Christmas and playing through it.
They've only just decided to commit to the operation.

I’m not surprised as I thought it was fairly obvious he wasn’t fully fit (it was either that or he’d suddenly become s***). It’s the other side of the injury crisis - players playing with injuries. When you hear ex pros talk it’s exceedingly common. I suspect the same applies to Ferguson, Dunk, Mitoma, all of whom have seemed off (pre injury in the case of Mitoma).

On balance it’s probably better that he was injuried as otherwise he’d become s***!

 

[Commander]

Mitoma for example. These days it’s a well known fact many younger fans follow players not teams. And heaven forbid when we eventually get relegated from the PL, there will be an exodus as many people only come for PL brand.

I'm just not convinced. The Japanese Mitoma fans maybe. Although they are still coming in their thousands, despite Mitoma having been out for a long time. But the amount of Albion shirts you see around Sussex now is absolutely incredible. Any kids football training you see in the parks are literally half full of Brighton shirts. Those kids are all-in, and their parents are slowly being converted. I just cannot foresee a situation now where we lose thousands and thousands of fans because some players move on. If we were to get relegated and have a few crap years in the Championship then yes our gates would dwindle, but that is the same for virtually any club in the country.

The Palace jibe about Brighton fans having second teams has some truth in it, but these people's children are proper Albion fans, and the vast majority of them are not going to jump ship and go somewhere else if a few players move on.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

. Any kids football training you see in the parks are literally half full of Brighton shirts. Those kids are all-in.

I’d be more concerned about losing them to TikTok when are into their teens.