[Albion] If Graham Potter is re-appointed...

[dippy2449]

First:
Sorry if I'm being overly dramatic or provoking but I'm a big, big time licker of both Potter and Bloom as they both promote a world where 8-year-olds can have a realistic dream of playing in their local (or at youth adopted) team rather than being denied their dream by some £100m Rolls Royce-owning ****. I'm a big fat IN, IN, IN, IN, IN on owners saying "we're going with the kids" and managers saying "the kids are alright".

Anyway...

How come the people asking for this are the same ones defending the previous manager trashtalking our owner, policies and players for months and months while losing game after game and blaming it on the club as well as the "players lack of motivation"?
Bringing up internal issues at every press conference is integrity? Blaming others for your failures is honourable? Telling the world that our owner isn't as ambitious as he allegedly is is loyal? 33 points in 32 games and making Ansu Fati look like Billy Arce, that's ability?

The insane thing about the GP vs RDZ attitude isn't the dislike for GP. The insane thing is that people have been able to watch, up close and live, Roberto De Zerbi playing a game frightenly similar to that of a psychopath, creating a situation where Roberto De Zerbi was the main attraction and the main subject, while creating a rift between the owner and the fans through stating how much he'd like to give every fan a blowjob while at the same time blaming all his and everyone elses failures on the "lacking ambition" of our owner.

This demagogue has created the impression you can't do well if you don't sign lots and lots of expensive quality players and that a crazy narcissist on the sidelines is more important than the club. Through this demagouge the fans have decided Tony Bloom is to incompetent to pick the right manager, too cheap to give us the necessary tools, and too meeky to keep the narcissist cult leader around.

Fan power is now quite possibly playing an important role in our next, very important decision.
And I suppose thats good as long as people really are as clever as they think they are.

If Tony decides (against the odds) to go with Graham, and Graham (against the odds) decide to accept it, fans will have to make a decision if they want to go to war against the owner or not. And if they indeed decide that booing the owner, manager and team is the right way to go about it, they imho lose any right to complain about the potentially very severe consequences of "winning the war against Bloom".

He would not be the first or last fan owner to lose interest because of people always demanding more investment and more decisions aligned with the fans increasingly unrealistic expectations. I'd f***ing hate to see it, I'm shocked at what you're taking for granted.

Maybe I'm just a thick old dirt-pitch-with-the-buddies footy romantic. Or maybe sometimes the outside perspective is necessary to appreciate some things. Or maybe my history lesson was just more recent than yours

Well said

 

[dippy2449]

For all those who are convinced that Graham Potter slagged as off by saying the Brighton job was an easy life. He didn't.

Here are his quotes in full from that press conference. Try to make your own informed opinion without the aid of a big read tabloid headline to guide you.

'Football is emotion. It's about the results and so, therefore, that overrides everything but the coaching process is something that gets better with time because you go through the ups and downs and then you understand more about this person, who can come with us, who maybe we’re not on the right path together [with] how you can help them, how they can help you.’

If I wanted a nice, easy life, I could have quite easily stayed at Brighton in the Premier League, signed a new contract and been absolutely okay.

And I wouldn’t have had too many questions about myself, pressure, sackings or anything like that.’

The starting point at Brighton was we were a bottom three team in the Premier League and we're trying to change the playing style.

‘You can imagine you get all the narratives that say “you can't do that, you need to fight and need to do this” so you have to try and convince and you go through a process of convincing the players, working and developing the players, changing the players and over time, the team progresses, and then the team functions and everything is ok.

‘You have to go through it. There is discomfort and pain along the way. If you want to do something new, in my mind, you have to fail. It'd be wrong of me to say anything else. There’s no shortcut to it in my experience.'


So for the hard of thinking, what he actually said was he had been through the pain at Brighton and was beginning to reap the rewards. The hardest part of the job was done and it was getting easier, with less pressure and little chance of getting sacked. By taking the Chelsea job he accepted that it was going to be hard and the pressure was greater and there would be a greater risk of getting sacked.

He was speaking to the Chelsea fans, saying trust me. We went through this at Brighton and it worked.

But in typical tabloid fashion, the Daily Mirror headline was,

Graham Potter makes jibe at Brighton as Chelsea manager explains "significant" challenge

The Daily Mail headline, (notice they added an explanation mark)

'If I wanted an easy life, I would've stayed at Brighton!'


And for those who think the players would have been hurt by his "disloyalty", this is what Alexis said before we played Chelsea in Potters first Chelsea defeat


“I hope the fans give him a warm welcome because he deserves it.

“Graham and his staff have been fantastic for us. They’ve been part of this team's progress and we think he was amazing for this club.
“I’m really looking forward to playing Chelsea and of course after the game we’ll wish them the best.

“I was surprised at the time when he left because it all happened very quickly. But I wasn’t disappointed because that’s football. It was an amazing opportunity for him and we must respect his decision.

“He’s in a big club now and you can see they’re already playing the way he wants and winning games. I’m happy for them and of course I wish him the best.”

“He was the first one who played me as a No6. It was a smart move from him because I enjoyed playing in that position and the way he wanted to play football. That was the most important thing.

"The first year wasn’t easy for me. I found it very hard coming from Argentina with a different language and different way to play football. I physically wasn’t as strong as I am today.

“I wanted to kill him… but that’s part of football. He was very helpful — improving my versatility and physically. I’m a much better player today because of it so I can thank him a lot.”

And this is the Sun headline to accompany that piece.
AL OVER THE PLACE Alexis Mac Allister wanted to KILL Potter for playing him out of position… now he aims to inflict first Chelsea defeat.

So maybe we should listen more to the players and less to the scummy tabloid press.

Nicely put, but I think you are running on the spot.

 

[ewe2]

I shall cheer on my team ,as normal…../

 

[Washie]

And he left Mitoma in the reserves...

I remember Mitoma playing against West Ham in our third game of the season

 

[Flounce]

I really don't think Potter would have inspired us to a 3-0 win directly after losing 5-1 to Everton. The motivation to get us out of a slump after losing 3-1 to Forest, and beat Wolves 6-0 and go on that run to the end of the season, would not have been forthcoming from Potter. He's not a motivator.

You are ignoring the fact that it is extremely unlikely we’d have been turned over 1-5 by Everton at home under Potter

Or 6-1 at Villa this season or 4-0 in Rome

We knew that’s what we’d get with RDZ when we signed him though. Big wins and big losses are his MO, until he loses interest when wins become few and far between.

 

[Krafty]

The over-reaction on this thread is hilarious

 

[dippy2449]

Do “bloody good coaches” preside over runs of one home win in a calendar year very often?

Far too many on here seem to think the purple patch of April to September 2022 was the norm rather than an anomaly compared to the rest of his time in charge.

if he wasn't a “bloody good coach" Cha-Ching-sea would not have wanted him.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

I am incredulous that you and others actually seem to believe what you are saying. He actually said:

'If I wanted a nice, easy life, I could have quite easily stayed at Brighton in the Premier League, signed a new contract and been absolutely okay.'

Yet somehow that isn't saying that he could have had an easy life? The papers will always spin things but even to 'the hard of thinking'
'If I wanted a nice, easy life, I could have quite easily stayed at Brighton in the Premier League, signed a new contract and been absolutely okay.'
means that if he wanted an easy life he would have stayed with us whether it has an exclamation mark or not, by the way, not explanation mark in case you wondered.

Personally, I don't read the press very often and very rarely the tabloid stuff as it is mostly rubbish. I simply listened to what the man said and observed his conduct. He showed not a shred of loyalty, the loyalty Bloom had shown him over more than a season of appalling home form was thrown back in his face. He's not coming back so get over him.

Thanks for pointing out my spelling mistake.

Do you not see the flaw in your argument? I've gone to the trouble of finding the entire quote so it can be taken in context, only for you to clip the part originally taken in isolation and misconstrued in the first place, to use as a counterargument.

Tony Bloom is a cold-blooded businessman. He doesn't allow sentiment to cloud his thinking.

His 'loyalty' was shown because he analyses football as a statistical entity not only on full-time results. So whilst you're complaining about winless runs, smarter folk can see the improvement in the underlying data. Statistically, things were always going to improve, and they did.

Graham was offered a job with a better salary, better players and a greater chance of success. Frankly, he would have been an idiot to turn it down and the club knew it. Tony could have said no when Todd came calling, but he had already factored in Graham's worth to the club as an asset and decided to allow him to go for £20m+ compensation.

That same £20M+ asset is now available for free and you think Tony isn't tempted to make a business decision, regardless of sentiment?

I am not saying Graham will come back, nor that he should, But you can be certain Tony wouldn't be so stupid as to dismiss the idea just because of a tabloid quote.

 

[papajaff]

I trust Mr.Bloom and PBOBE to NOT bring back TCP.
I would be royally f***ed off to see him and Chelsea Bruno back in the dugout.

 

[BadFish]

The over-reaction on this thread is hilarious

For someone so laid back, and dare I say it, vanilla, he certainly elicits some big emotions.

 

[dippy2449]

I trust Mr.Bloom and PBOBE to NOT bring back TCP.
I would be royally f***ed off to see him and Chelsea Bruno back in the dugout.

I think your trust is misplaced

 

[Goldstone1976]

I can't think of a more underwhelming appointment right now.

Pulis? Colin? Big Sam?

If Potter comes back, I’ll welcome him with open arms all the time we win 3-0. Draw/lose though: nah, not so much.

 

[jackalbion]

I will counter that with our 2-1 win at Arsenal the season before. We’d lost six of the previous seven games (one draw against Norwich 0-0) and only one goal scored. It was a superb performance which led us to finish the season with another four wins, two draws and only one defeat (Man City away). We then ended up in 9th position in the league our highest ever at the time.

So, my question is, where would that inspiration have come from?

A huge part of that was bringing in Caicedo, a good decision, but one made out of necessity, but either way that slump once we hit it, was six games which saw us go from European contenders to having to look over our shoulders at relegation.

 

[Bozza]

Pulis? Colin? Big Sam?

If Potter comes back, I’ll welcome him with open arms all the time we win 3-0. Draw/lose though: nah, not so much.

I see your Pulis, Colin and Big Sam and raise you Pardew.

 

[Brian Fantana]

I see your Pulis, Colin and Big Sam and raise you Pardew.

I'd rather any of them than Snakey Potter returning.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I trust Mr.Bloom and PBOBE to NOT bring back TCP.
I would be royally f***ed off to see him and Chelsea Bruno back in the dugout.

I'd be okay seeing Bruno back. He was in a position where there would be no guarantee of a job under a new manager, a situation caused by Potter. He'll always be the man who captained us to the Premier League.

On GP, he'd be coming back into a very different situation from the one he was beginning to have success with. No Mac Allister, no Trossard, no Caicedo, no Mwepu, no Sanchez, no BDB: a squad built in RDZ's image. Never go back, they say, and for good reason.

 

[papajaff]

I think your trust is misplaced

So we shall see. I would be very surprised but the club is my priority and I will be there supporting regardless.

 

[stewart12]

he'd probably be the first managerial appointment that I'd be actively disappointed by in all my years supporting the club (apart from MAYBE Martin Hinshelwood). I really feel like we kicked on a notch when he left and would be taking a couple of steps back.

Looking back I feel like his spell was really overrated by some, partly because of generally good results against the top teams which caught the medias eye. Our results against the teams at the bottom were really, really poor. I remember us needing a last minute equaliser at home to 10-man Sheffield United, one of the worst teams in Premier League history who we then went on to lose to away. Can't not mention the failure to beat a properly dogshit Palace team in 6 attempts. We were crap at home generally, with teams knowing that all they had to do was stick 10 men behind the ball and we wouldn't have a hope in hell of breaking them down.

Our recruitment was probably at it's peak at that point and was still going a bit under the radar but the best he finished was 9th (which came from a last day win against a disinterested West Ham side). I think he did a good job but nothing spectacular

 

[stewart_weir]

Potter won’t come back UNLESS it’s TBs last choice. IF Potter did come back he and the club would have to put up with a lot of pre season bed wetting and some lost season ticket sales (I suspect). The only way Potter stays past the 10th match (including pre season) is IF it’s a 10 match unbeaten run including the first 6wks of the season.

If Potter loses the first 2/3 Prem games TB will have to sack because the fans won’t tolerate anymore from Potter. It’s for that reason I really don’t see Potter coming back.

 

[BadFish]

I'd rather any of them than Snakey Potter returning.

Oh come on, really?