[Albion] Hughton: Judge us after the transfer window

[Working class pride]

Meanwhile our most valuable player is helping minnows Bury avoid defeat against higher division Blackburn.
Ludicrous time, wasted effort and money spent erroneously on a position where there is no problem

Totally agree. If you are good enough you are old enough. He shouldnt have been dropped after Spurs last season to let an accident prone but older number 1 back in the side. He earned his place as our number 1 and should be number 1 now. Its a cliche to send him out "for experience". His job is to stop shots and distribute the ball and as he did it better than Stockdale when he got in the side. That is all there is to it. Over thinking and again another footballing mistake by the "footballing people" at the Albion to add to the Murray / CMS debacle. The Albion are second to none at shooting itself in the foot.

 

[deslynhamsmoustache1]

You see this is the bit I don't understand, thats 5 league matches 15 points played before you have the team you want together.
Those players could be the difference between points that had you got them making a play off spot or saving the club from relegation. We have had since last January to be talking to players who would be out of contract and available, Have we not learned anything from Ward and Clayton and the players we ended up with last summer.

Unfortunately the players and their agents have the power at the moment, unless they get exactly what they want now then they will hang on to the last moments of the window. See link: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30923145

This is where the league should stipulate that the window should close 24 hours before a season starts, that way a lot of this nonsense would stop. At present you could play for two different teams before August has even finished.I know a lot of players nowadays come from overseas and their leagues start and finish at various time but they could start by introducing it to UK based players at first. I share your disappointment, i thought the club would of made a "landmark signing" of a striker by now if not only to shut up all the doubters and boost season ticket sales.But at the end of the day we have no choice but to have our hopes and expectations firmly in the hands of the club. Overall I'm still quite optimistic, as i don't think CH is here to make up the numbers and like you i just wish we could close some of these deals and go against the current transfer trend.

 

[Working class pride]

Thirdly that quote "what we certainly want to be doing is challenging, in or close to that top six". That is exactly the realism a lot of people have been calling for and now people are saying they don't want to hear it (probably two different sets of people to be fair). There's no spin in that quote and it's toned down considerably on Bloom's statements this time last year. It is also pretty much exactly where I see us.

What are your expectations for clubs with a far smaller fan base and gates than ours?

 

[Quinney]

I would be much happier if I saw an end to the terrible decisions made at management level that we've seen in the Amex era.

Off the top of my head, the Murray debacle then compounded with CMS, how the Poyet sacking was handled, Sami Hyypia etc etc etc . There are many more though not as big. All are not looking in retrospect but were seen as disasters at the time by the majority of fans.

It really has made me lose faith in how the club is being run and I just want them to stop .

Clearly not sure what went on regarding Murray / CMS but the way the club handled Poyet was down to the board following the correct procedure for dismissing an employee and the fact that Poyet received no payoff would suggest the club handled the situation pretty well.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Totally agree. If you are good enough you are old enough. He shouldnt have been dropped after Spurs last season to let an accident prone but older number 1 back in the side. He earned his place as our number 1 and should be number 1 now. Its a cliche to send him out "for experience". His job is to stop shots and distribute the ball and as he did it better than Stockdale when he got in the side. That is all there is to it. Over thinking and again another footballing mistake by the "footballing people" at the Albion to add to the Murray / CMS debacle. The Albion are second to none at shooting itself in the foot.

Do you follow every club as closely as the Albion?

 

[One Love]

Clearly not sure what went on regarding Murray / CMS but the way the club handled Poyet was down to the board following the correct procedure for dismissing an employee and the fact that Poyet received no payoff would suggest the club handled the situation pretty well.

I was talking mostly about the timing of the dismissal on a Sunday night when Poyet was on TV giving him a ready-made platform to put his spin on it.

 

[Working class pride]

[/B]

Do you follow every club as closely as the Albion?

Well, I have observed and watched lots of other clubs having lived away from Sussex from many years. I have observed that clubs with a smaller fan base have historically done far better than the Albion. They do better with with less. I also have seen the Albion do things such as Murray, Ian Wright, Roy Keane, sell a ground without having another one and the catalogue of failure at the Albion is second to none. Bloom is we all agree doing his best and we will see

 

[LamieRobertson]

Well, I have observed and watched lots of other clubs having lived away from Sussex from many years. I have observed that clubs with a smaller fan base have historically done far better than the Albion. They do better with with less. I also have seen the Albion do things such as Murray, Ian Wright, Roy Keane, sell a ground without having another one and the catalogue of failure at the Albion is second to none. Bloom is we all agree doing his best and we will see

Well then I trust you have a good broad based knowledge ...but as regards to the 2nd to none bit... can't agree and will leave it at that

 

[severnside gull]

Oh dear Chris!
Better to say nothing than to trot out almost verbatim the "promises" from last year? Poorly judged & poorly timed IMO

 

[Icy Gull]

Oh dear Chris!
Better to say nothing than to trot out almost verbatim the "promises" from last year? Poorly judged & poorly timed IMO

Very true, bad or no advice coming from his employers. They should have warned him against coming out with this comment given what a cluster **** the season turned into after we were told exactly the same last summer.

Deja vu Albion

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

Maybe we'll sign a couple of players on last day of window. Who knows what's going on behind then scenes? Or maybe not!?

 

[Murray 17]

Someone posted a useful link a few days ago with a summary of all activity to date. Derby, Midds and QPR are going for it big time, and Sheffield Wednesday to a lesser extent. Apart from those 4 however, our transfer activity so far has looked reasonably consistent with the rest of the league, and probably a better quality.

Blackburn and Forrest are forced into having to sell their best players, and one of Bolton's two first team signings include Steven Jobbie.

As I see it, the clubs in this division who haven't been splashing the cash, already had better squads than us anyway.

 

[Bozza]

Pretty much no club has every signing in place by the time of the first game, but it's all about how close you are. I don't think you can go into the first game more than two players short of what you need and expect to challenge. At the moment, we're at least three away, and more importantly the positions we need are the most difficult to fill.

I really think we need one more signing before Forest so that we haven't got too much to do in late August and to inspire a bit of confidence.

I agree with that, but would make two points...

1. It's where those players play that is key. We've not added any creativity at all yet.
2. After last season's dross, I felt that there was a real onus on the club to give people something (which really means 'someone') to get excited about, to really lift spirits ahead of this season and, so far, they have failed to deliver that.

 

[Murray 17]

am I being a little optimistic here, my thoughts are that CH has his eye on several premeirship players who will not be named in any 25 hopefully a CH and a winger and obviously cannot be named until it is certain they will not be wanted.
our transfer activity has been very good up to now, so maybe he is right judge him/us when the window shuts.




did I really write that ......ah well always half full

The problem I see with getting loanees from the Premiership is that the 26th player for a top 6 side would be worth having if we could 'afford' his wages, but would the 26th player from a West Brom/Watford be worth having? Yes, Upson was, but I think he was a one-off.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

No it won't it'll be a load of boring old farts fawning over every word from the Manager like usual.

Because you can't be bothered to go and ask the questions. If you can't be bothered, then don't moan about those that go.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Oh dear Chris!
Better to say nothing than to trot out almost verbatim the "promises" from last year? Poorly judged & poorly timed IMO

He's being fed the party line.

 

[Sheebo]

The fans forum will be intresting

Every year this gets said.. And it's always the same boring shite spouted and lapped up as [MENTION=13836]deletebeepbeepbeep[/MENTION] said

 

[Sheebo]

I always intended to judge the team a few months after the transfer window as I'm sure the majority of posters with half a brain will. Nothing new to see here... Business always will be done after the start of the season. Preseason is pretty meaningless these days - just a fitness and sharpness exercise with half the squad!

 

[chaileyjem]

The season might well be as bad as last season or even worse. Not much to be gained from blaming the club for how it will turn out with 46 games to go or even really with 41 games to go..
But its really not going to be because of something that Hughton said or didn't actually say in a press conference in July and its not going to be because he signed the players he wanted in mid or late August instead of a few weeks beforehand. Or because he "sounds" like Hyppia in July 2014.
If he doesn't end up signing the 3-4 players that will fill the gaps that everyone including Hughton has said he's after (Centre Back, Winger, Attacking Mid, Striker) has identified, or they turn out to be disappointments then fair enough. Its the bleedin obvious that until thats complete we won't know. Or for that matter until we've played a few matches.
But calling the season on August 1st based on how the Argus have subbed their headline for an innocuous Friday press conference is premature to say the least. But i can see why some will make hay...