[Albion] Good Chris Hughton interview today

[Acker79]

If you feel you have made your decision (which I am guessing Bloom had before the city game) then what does waiting achieve? Surely that just heightens the surprise. With players and managers on holiday you need every day you can get if you are taking a change in direction

I've been thinking on Hughton's sacking and think there was a degree of calculated waiting. I am starting to think maybe Bloom didn't make it clear Hughton's job was in danger because he felt it would be an unhelpful pressure added at a time when we were struggling. There were reports that Bloom was considering firing him after the Cardiff game - the back up would all have been Hughton's men since Jones had gone, or we'd have to dip down to the younger teams' managers, and how easy would it have been to bring in Potter with a handful of games left in the season? How disruptive would that have been to our efforts to stay up. Better to stick with Hughton to the end of the season and then act. He had, after all, kept us out of the relegation places up to that point, and we saw what happened with Norwich in the same situation.

Then better to act as soon as possible - for the club it gives us more time to fill the vacancy, give the incoming manager as much time as possible to prepare (look at videos of our games to get a better feel for our players, etc), move and settle in to a new home, and get a full pre-season with the players, and also means we went for him at an end point in his previous club's season, would he have been willing to come to us if he had just met up with the boys to start a new season, having signed some players sold them on Swansea's vision etc.

It also frees Hughton up for any other job that comes up. Boro, West Brom, Derby have all changed their managers, Hughton was free and able to apply for those jobs because Bloom sacked him so soon, if he had waited and instead of firing Hughton explained his misgivings and giving Hughton a chance to put forward and argument for staying, an action plan and transfer approach etc and then decided to fire him anyway, Hughton would have missed out on those opportunities. Sure, that's all moot as it appears Hughton wasn't interested in them, but it gave him that choice.

 

[b.w.2.]

Not sure about that.

I can see that 'progression' was his main target - but it would possibly not be defined as narrowly as league position.

I reckon the reason for the sacking was straightforward - Tony Bloom simply lost confidence that Chris Hughton would keep us up next year.

Yes, that is 100% true. Although Tony is not going to publicly announce “I sacked Chris because we were almost certainly going to get relegated with him in charge and, if we get relegated, it is really going to screw us up financially”.


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[b.w.2.]

Any evidence for this? Rather an unreal target to expect a club to improve it's position every year.

Progression is a better way of putting it - see above...


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[b.w.2.]

I've been thinking on Hughton's sacking and think there was a degree of calculated waiting. I am starting to think maybe Bloom didn't make it clear Hughton's job was in danger because he felt it would be an unhelpful pressure added at a time when we were struggling. There were reports that Bloom was considering firing him after the Cardiff game - the back up would all have been Hughton's men since Jones had gone, or we'd have to dip down to the younger teams' managers, and how easy would it have been to bring in Potter with a handful of games left in the season? How disruptive would that have been to our efforts to stay up. Better to stick with Hughton to the end of the season and then act. He had, after all, kept us out of the relegation places up to that point, and we saw what happened with Norwich in the same situation.

Then better to act as soon as possible - for the club it gives us more time to fill the vacancy, give the incoming manager as much time as possible to prepare (look at videos of our games to get a better feel for our players, etc), move and settle in to a new home, and get a full pre-season with the players, and also means we went for him at an end point in his previous club's season, would he have been willing to come to us if he had just met up with the boys to start a new season, having signed some players sold them on Swansea's vision etc.

It also frees Hughton up for any other job that comes up. Boro, West Brom, Derby have all changed their managers, Hughton was free and able to apply for those jobs because Bloom sacked him so soon, if he had waited and instead of firing Hughton explained his misgivings and giving Hughton a chance to put forward and argument for staying, an action plan and transfer approach etc and then decided to fire him anyway, Hughton would have missed out on those opportunities. Sure, that's all moot as it appears Hughton wasn't interested in them, but it gave him that choice.

I agree. And Tony has gone on public record saying he considered an earlier sacking but decided to max our chance of survival by axing Chris after the final game.


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[BLOCK F]

Kneon, are there other things in life that you are obsessive about, other than defending CH?
Not meaning to be rude, but you do bang on a bit!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I've been thinking on Hughton's sacking and think there was a degree of calculated waiting. I am starting to think maybe Bloom didn't make it clear Hughton's job was in danger because he felt it would be an unhelpful pressure added at a time when we were struggling. There were reports that Bloom was considering firing him after the Cardiff game - the back up would all have been Hughton's men since Jones had gone, or we'd have to dip down to the younger teams' managers, and how easy would it have been to bring in Potter with a handful of games left in the season? How disruptive would that have been to our efforts to stay up. Better to stick with Hughton to the end of the season and then act. He had, after all, kept us out of the relegation places up to that point, and we saw what happened with Norwich in the same situation.

Then better to act as soon as possible - for the club it gives us more time to fill the vacancy, give the incoming manager as much time as possible to prepare (look at videos of our games to get a better feel for our players, etc), move and settle in to a new home, and get a full pre-season with the players, and also means we went for him at an end point in his previous club's season, would he have been willing to come to us if he had just met up with the boys to start a new season, having signed some players sold them on Swansea's vision etc.

It also frees Hughton up for any other job that comes up. Boro, West Brom, Derby have all changed their managers, Hughton was free and able to apply for those jobs because Bloom sacked him so soon, if he had waited and instead of firing Hughton explained his misgivings and giving Hughton a chance to put forward and argument for staying, an action plan and transfer approach etc and then decided to fire him anyway, Hughton would have missed out on those opportunities. Sure, that's all moot as it appears Hughton wasn't interested in them, but it gave him that choice.

This. End of thread.

But it won't be though

 

[Kneon Light]

Kneon, are there other things in life that you are obsessive about, other than defending CH?
Not meaning to be rude, but you do bang on a bit!

Sorry. Thought this was a discussion forum.
My mistake.

 

[dazzer6666]

Rubbish.

We relied on getting more points than the teams below us. That's because over 38 games we were better than them.

....but deteriorated significantly after Christmas and could barely buy a chance, goal or point after that.

 

[drew]

the back four stayed narrow in the box. to prevent being out flanked the two wingers were positioned as full backs, making six defenders

I'm not sure what games you were watching but the wingers never operated in the full back position. The were, however, very deep as they were expected to support the full back on whichever flank they operated on.

 

[GT49er]

....but deteriorated significantly after Christmas and could barely buy a chance, goal or point after that.

Still better than three other teams over thirty eight games - that's what mattered.

 

[BLOCK F]

Sorry. Thought this was a discussion forum.
My mistake.

Touchy, touchy; no need to get the hump, Mr. Grump!

 

[drew]

This. End of thread.

But it won't be though

Another one here agreeing but the problem seems to be that some posters have put CH on a very high pedestal and revere him. The guy is a nice bloke with integrity but when all is said and done, he was an employee of the club who had done well but performances had significantly deteriorated.

Yes, he did manage to keep us up and 'turned' around a slump by playing the dullest football I have seen at Wolves. That was followed by the worst half of football all season against Newcastle. I disregard Arsenal as there was no pressure as we were already safe.

As regard being shocked, I find that hard to believe from someone who has been in the game as long as he has. He had presided over us finishing in a worst position than the previous year, playing dire football and with a lower points tally. Who would not be thinking that there was a possibility of the sack. He might not have expected it the morning following Man City but that doesn't mean it wasn't aware it was a possibility. I also agree with the proposition that TB didn't tell him so as not to add pressure. People need to remember that what is said for the benefit of the media is not always what is going on behind the scenes.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Still better than three other teams over thirty eight games - that's what mattered.

That's not all that mattered though - in the larger perspective.


Look at Huddersfield - a shocking 2nd half season in 17/18. This lead directly into.... a shocking full season in 18/19.



There was a risk that history would repeat with the albion. The albion clearly judged this as a greater risk than rolling the dice.

 

[drew]

That's not all that mattered though - in the larger perspective.


Look at Huddersfield - a shocking 2nd half season in 17/18. This lead directly into.... a shocking full season in 18/19.



There was a risk that history would repeat with the albion. The albion clearly judged this as a greater risk than rolling the dice.

Agree. Can't understand why some people think finishing 17th, possibly doing it every year, is success. As you quite rightly say, that poor form could well carry on into next year and we'd be sacking CH before xmas and still his fans would bemoan the situation demanding that he had earnt the right to turn it around!

 

[drew]

Tony would have taken the Norwich outcome on board - they sacked Hughton at the end and went down.

I have no doubt after seeing Tony's face of thunder on TV after the Cardiff game that Hughton was 'gone' then.

So, learning from Norwich, the axe was delayed. After achieving survival, the only question then became 'before or after the Man City game'.

And then Bruno retired... and perhaps Tony didn't want to take the spot light away from the send off.

I'm not sure that was the reason. Norwich were down whether regardless of whether they had kept CH. You just need to look at their last four games to see they weren't getting another point on the form they were in. Had TB sacked after the Cardiff game and we had been relegated it would have been a PR nightmare. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

 

[BLOCK F]

I'm not sure that was the reason. Norwich were down whether regardless of whether they had kept CH. You just need to look at their last four games to see they weren't getting another point on the form they were in. Had TB sacked after the Cardiff game and we had been relegated it would have been a PR nightmare. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

I understand that Delia Smith and the Norwich Board, said later, that their mistake was not sacking CH earlier than they did.

 

[Mackenzie]

Football is a business, Brighton and Hove Albion is a brand.

The tactics employed by Chris Hughton last season were damaging “the brand”, we were getting pelters from all directions for the horrible negative football we were playing. Staying up was imperative but we also need to keep the media on our side. Chris managed somehow to be admired as a person, lauded as a role model for BAME managers and at the same time had us castigated for our terrible football, quite a trick.

I’d say he’d run his course as a manager here. Four and a half years is a decent innings, he’ll be welcome back any time and still remains one of, if not the best manager we’ve ever had, but the timing of his sacking seemed spot on to me.

As for the future, who knows! The Hughton forever folk might have the smug “we were right” feeling at the end of the season, Potter could be a disaster or he could be great or he could be average.....but for me it was the right time to have a change. You never know it could be quite good fun.

 

[Acker79]

I'm not sure that was the reason. Norwich were down whether regardless of whether they had kept CH. You just need to look at their last four games to see they weren't getting another point on the form they were in. Had TB sacked after the Cardiff game and we had been relegated it would have been a PR nightmare. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

But look at our form leading into the final 5 games in our first season up when we were staring at a list of games including tottenham, man utd, liverpool and man city. Our form was 1 point from 12 from the previous 4 games heading into those final games (and only 3 wins out of our previous 14 games). We then drew against spurs and beat man utd. We can't say Norwich were down regardless.

 

[Bwian]

Our full backs were Bernado and Bruno/Montoya - All full backs not wingers.

Explain his use of Solly March to the class please.

The Solly March who was told not to go too far forward in games.

The Solly March who frustrated the daylights out of many supporters for seemingly regressing rather than progressing when all along he was told to not go too far forward.

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[Bwian]

Not sure about that.

I can see that 'progression' was his main target - but it would possibly not be defined as narrowly as league position.

I reckon the reason for the sacking was straightforward - Tony Bloom simply lost confidence that Chris Hughton would keep us up next year.

You can add the rapid increase of empty seats at every home game. The fans were voicing their concerns by staying away. That isn't what Tony Bloom was looking for when he built The Amex.

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