[Albion] Hughton's future (and past)

[Thunder Bolt]

And further flaws, in that:

1. we haven't (comparatively) spent 'a lot'.
2. we haven't bought badly at all, on the whole. More hits than misses under the current recruitment / management teams, for sure.

One further flaw, the fans turned against Hughton at Norwich, and apart from a small minority, Brighton fans are happy with Chris.

 

[Icy Gull]

Apart from Locadia I’m struggling to see who could be claimed is an failure ... yet.

Ali J the jury is still out but has been injured and has shown against West Brom and on Saturday that there is promise.

Other than that I’d argue the recruitment has been very good

Your failure has scored goals that have given us four points....

 

[crodonilson]

Just as a point of interest, assume he does get the sack, who is available that you’d feel comfortable with managing the Albion, who is a realistic target. Personally I’m struggling to think of anyone who I’d prefer. The job is too big for a beginner or someone like Nathan Jones at the moment imo, who else is out there? Who could we realisically poach?

Better the devil you know imo and although I’ve had my moans about the way we play in the past, it seems CH is trying to be more adventurous and expansive in the way we play. It’s been more entertaining but has led to less positive results. I’m happy with him and I reckon TB is too.

Slowly slowy catchy monkey

I think we could easily attract the likes of David Moyes, Alan Curbishley, Big Sam here.

 

[Superphil]

I heard that too, but there is a fundamental flaw in the argument, Hughton isn't responsible solely for the signings.

More to the point, we haven't spent "a lot".

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Any talk about CH's future is as a direct result of some poor recruitment decisions that are not mainly down to CH. Hopefully Dan! Dan! will be able to tighten up that aspect. Starting with stopping trying to unearth a gem from the crappy Eredivisie. How often does the club needs to get it's fingers burnt on that one before the penny drops?

Nothing lasts forever, but CH is a good manager, a decent man and a credit to the club. He's a class act and one that will be VERY hard to follow.

I'd take a majority of those crappy Eredivisie players that were playing against Real Madrid the other night plus Propper. I'd always take him.

 

[Diablo]

More to the point, we haven't spent "a lot".

You must be mega rich if many tens of millions isn`t a lot.

 

[Stat Brother]

You must be mega rich if many tens of millions isn`t a lot.

You must be mega naive if you think Brighton's entire transfer budget over the past 4 windows can't be spent on just 1 player.
Not including wages.

 

[Triggaaar]

well liked/respected and a decent start in PL but doesn't know how to progress beyond that and, when given money to improve, makes poor signings.

I heard that too, but there is a fundamental flaw in the argument, Hughton isn't responsible solely for the signings.

And overall, are our signings poor? I don't think they are. I also don't agree with this 'when given money to improve' argument. We're not exactly one of the big spenders.

 

[Munkfish]

I would say since we have been in the Premier league, More of our signings have been a hit, however I dont believe this seasons signings have taken us any further forward than where we last year, so from the outside looking in I can see how it is easy to point the finger on the transfer front. But as we all know this isnt soley down to CH.

The one area that has frustrated me recently is the rigidness of the system and the constant we were unlucky and deserve more post match press conferences. If we Get to a FA Cup Semi Final and stay up I am not sure what more CH could do inside his first two years in the Premier league, I would have us down as overacheiving for sure.

 

[Weststander]

You must be mega rich if many tens of millions isn`t a lot.

Relative to the squad cost of 19 other PL clubs, and their player wage bills, not a lot. Fulham last summer spent almost as much as we have in 4 PL transfer windows, for example.

 

[BLOCK F]

First of all, let us see what happens for the rest of this season and by that I don't only mean staying up, but how the results go and our overall performances, including the new signings.
I reckon we will stay up but unless we surprise and put together some impressive performances between now and the end of the season, it is almost inevitable that next year's expectations will be for an improvement on this year, regardless of what some may say. I venture to suggest that a run of away form like this year's would be a total no-no.
At this stage, speculation about who could take over from CH should he get the gooner at some stage is irrelevant.
Let us hope we stay up and can secure the signings we desperately need to improve the team for next season( I assume this is where Dan Ashworth can earn his crust.) and that we go on to improve on this year.
I suppose in the harsh world of football management , the relationship between manager and club more often than not ends in tears and so it may well be the case here, at some stage. It is up to CH , the management team and the players, with the backing of the board ,to try and make sure that will not be happening any time soon.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Our signings in the summer were made to make our squad much deeper, not to massively improve the first XI. In that respect, I would say recruitment has been extremely successful - and our Cup run tends to show that. We've also had long injuries to the two wingers that CH expected to be in the first team (AliJ & Jose). Claims we're having a bad season don't ring true. We're in the Cup QF, and remain 5 points clear of relegation with winnable home matches to come. If we finish in 17th and make the FA Cup Semi-Final (and maybe even final!) that's a tremendous season in my book.

In the summer my guess is that we'll make fewer signings, but they'll be made to improve the first XI. One striker at least, and a box-to-box midfielder (someone like Delaney).

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I think we could easily attract the likes of David Moyes, Alan Curbishley, Big Sam here.

Top bantz, as always, Crodo.

Goes to show that nobody has made one single suggestion (not even a silly one - the above doesn't count) for a Hughton upgrade. Probably the posters who favour a wild punt are still at work and will pop onto the thread in the evening.....hope you had a lovely day, lads.

 

[Triggaaar]

Apart from Locadia, I think we have bought reasonably well.

We bought from abroad so it took us longer for the players to settle in.
,
Happy with Pröpper, Gross, Izquierdo, Bissouma, Ryan and Bernardo. Andone is starting to come good and recently I have also seen some encouraging improvements in Jahanbakhsh.

Agreed.

We were lucky with injuries last season.

I don't think we were. Didn't we start the season without Kayal, meaning we had to throw Propper in at the deep end (and he was very nervous at the start), and March was out for a time at (or near) the start, along with some other injuries I've forgotten about.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Our signings in the summer were made to make our squad much deeper, not to massively improve the first XI. In that respect, I would say recruitment has been extremely successful - and our Cup run tends to show that. We've also had long injuries to the two wingers that CH expected to be in the first team (AliJ & Jose). Claims we're having a bad season don't ring true. We're in the Cup QF, and remain 5 points clear of relegation with winnable home matches to come. If we finish in 17th and make the FA Cup Semi-Final (and maybe even final!) that's a tremendous season in my book.

Sadly it's not the reasonably decent strength of squad that will ensure PL survival, only a core PL Ready first eleven will do that. As for the FA Cup run, decent for sure, but patently as soft a run through the earlier rounds as England in the last World Cup

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Agreed.

I don't think we were. Didn't we start the season without Kayal, meaning we had to throw Propper in at the deep end (and he was very nervous at the start), and March was out for a time at (or near) the start, along with some other injuries I've forgotten about.

Sidwell getting injured a few days after the summer transfer window closed was the other one that really hit us last season. Left us massively light in midfield until Kayal returned from injury in late November.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Sadly it's not the reasonably decent strength of squad that will ensure PL survival, only a core PL Ready first eleven will do that. As for the FA Cup run, decent for sure, but patently as soft a run through the earlier rounds as England in the last World Cup

Well I'm very confident that our first XI will ensure PL survival, but with injuries we're far better stocked than last season.

As for the FA Cup run, we haven't played a team lower than the Championship, and our first match was away to a top half Premier League team. Our cup run really hasn't been as simple as is being painted.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Agreed.

I don't think we were. Didn't we start the season without Kayal, meaning we had to throw Propper in at the deep end (and he was very nervous at the start), and March was out for a time at (or near) the start, along with some other injuries I've forgotten about.

I don't remember March being injured, seems like he started 18 games that season and had 18 appearances from the bench.

Sidwell getting injured a few days after the summer transfer window closed was the other one that really hit us last season. Left us massively light in midfield until Kayal returned from injury in late November.

 

[blockhseagull]

Your failure has scored goals that have given us four points....

I meant by the pundits who would see his fee and amount of goals.

 

[Stato]

The Totally Football Show on Monday included some chat about us and, more precisely, Chris Hughton. The view was that CH might be following the same path with us that he did at Norwich - well liked/respected and a decent start in PL but doesn't know how to progress beyond that and, when given money to improve, makes poor signings. I don't necessarily agree but it's interesting to hear the external perspective on this, particularly that the guys on the show felt we'd spent a lot but had not bought well. To summarise, they reckon CH will be gone before the end of next season.

As has been pointed out it was not the Totally Football Show, but the Guardian's Football Weekly.

It was also not a discussion, but all the opinion of one journalist: John Brewin, who was asked to say something about our game. He gave no specifics, didn't mention any of our signings that hadn't worked and could only remember Van Wolfswinkle of Norwich's signings. It was really just a journalist struggling to find something to say about us and falling back on the old cliche that Hughton is a nice man, but won't advance in the Premier League. All based on his short period at Norwich when he arrived, stopped them getting relegated, got them up to 11th and then didn't stop them getting relegated. Most referencing this also seem to forget that he joined Norwich after Lambert went to Villas and that he didn't get them promoted.

As others have said, he is not fully responsbile for recruitment at Brighton, but the players still here who were here before Hughton are Bruno, Dunk, Stephens and March. All the others have been bought in under Hughton's tenure. During that time the club has enjoyed its most successful period since the early 1980s. In other words, John Brewin had to say something, but didn't really think very hard about what he was saying.