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

[Iggle Piggle]

I'd rather we didn't get Potter back because that guarantees another 6 months of this shit. "Told you he was a wanker" "Told you he was brilliant" and repeat ad infinitum. I'd rather someone came in we got behind from the start. It's pretty clear that is not Potter.

The thing is the last 14 games of Potters reign were brilliant. Only the 2 losses - one against Man city away - and we swept aside Arsenal, Man united (twice) and Spurs along the way. We were free scoring too. 3 past Wolves, 4 past Man Utd and 5 past Leicester albeit with the ghost of Graeme Smith in goal. That made his departure all the more frustrating because it had finally clicked after immense periods of frustration that preceded it.

When RDZ took over we were already a free scoring team. I think 90% of what we achieved that season was already there. RDZ built on that but the foundation was without doubt there. For a variety of reasons whoever takes over next won't have such a solid base to build on. From Apr-22 to Jan-24 I thought we could beat anyone. It's a great period of time to.support the Albion for which I am grateful to the pair of them.

 

[jimhigham]

I'd prefer Potter not to come back but it would seem some of our other choices have gone elsewhere or signed new contracts so he might be what the club consider to be the best of the rest.

This is more or less where I am. I’d rather he didn’t return but I’m not ideological about the idea. I still trust our owner to act in the best interest of the club and if he considers Potter to be a viable option then so be it. I’ll still be back in August to get behind the team.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Press conferences ARE irrelevant as long as you don't use them to actively cause harm to the team and club, like in the case with Roberto.

And yeah I've seen injury crisises under Potter and De Zerbi and us playing multiple formations under both managers.

The only "balance" De Zerbi cultists accept is the one interpretation of reality where we had a world class manager who got f***ed over by Brighton & Hove Albion. And I'm not buying it.

Yeah i think it's a stretch to get that interpretation. I'd love to know when Potter dealt without 5 of his best players for a huge chunk of the season

I'd say it's more like, a potentially world class manager was let down by a couple of dire transfer windows and a lot of people are disappointed to see it end prematurely, despite his obvious faults. See Roma (a).

But you are not going to agree, so, er, it is what it is.

 

[Han Solo]

Yeah i think it's a stretch to get that interpretation. I'd love to know when Potter dealt without 5 of his best players for a huge chunk of the season

I'd say it's more like, a potentially world class manager was let down by a couple of dire transfer windows and a lot of people are disappointed to see it end prematurely, despite his obvious faults. See Roma (a).

But you are not going to agree, so, er, it is what it is.

Alright, 2020/21 then. Lamptey only playing 11 games, March getting his ACL injured in the beginning of February, Pröpper (who was always starting until covid) generally unavailable due to depression and homesickness, Adam Lallana and not-yet-hamstring-corrected Welbeck both missing a third of the season and struggling to play for any more than 60 minutes.
Yeah, like I said - "was let down by a couple of dire transfer windows". But none of you, GB or any of the other De Zerbi cultists showed much interest in excusing every single bad result through the club continously providing Graham Potter with possibly the worst selection of strikers to ever stay up in the Premier League.

You said yesterday that you don't care about Tony's vision and so forth, you only care about the result. This is the main argument you don't (and didn't IIRC) like GP - results were bad.

But now, with the results being WORSE, you're suddenly removing the responsibility of the manager and pointing at the model of the club that you apparently didn't give a shit about when Potter was in charge.

Roberto De Zerbi let himself down. He probably sacked himself in December when promising the owner a bad working atmosphere if he didn't give Roberto a couple of new Dahouds and Igors. Luckily to you and the other cultists, he also explained that if he doesn't get what he want, he'll stay and take the money.

"If we have different targets, we can hug, we can kiss but after that we have to live if we are serious people. Otherwise you work, you take the money but it can’t be a good atmosphere to work together.."

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

Looking at our situation from the club's viewpoint, without any sentiment, does it make sense to reappoint Graham Potter?

Its undeniable that he was previously making progress, improving our league position, goal scoring and win percentage.

We went through some terrible bad runs of form, and many called for him to be sacked. But Tony stuck with him, which proved to be the correct decision.

At the end of the 21/22 season we scored 16 goals in the last 8 games and this carried on into the start of the 22/23 season when we scored 13 in his final 6 matches.

That's an average of over 2 goals and 2.14 points. (Over 14 games)

To put that into context and without wanting to throw shade on De Zerbi, in the remaining 32 games of that season, when we finished 6th, RDZ averaged 1.53 points and 1.9 goals per game.

What's clear is that many fans don't want him back, but will that really dictate a footballing decision? Many fans wanted him sacked during his long winless run, but the club ignored those fans, stuck with him and on the pitch things improved.

Personally I'd rather we went for a more exciting option, Gallardo or Amorim would be amazing but unrealistic.

In the real world we are in a very precarious position, get this wrong and we might undo all the good work that has been done over the past 3 seasons and find ourselves back in a relegation scrap.

At least with Potter we know what we would be getting and who knows, he might have even learned a thing or two about passion and how Roberto rewrote our history?

 

[Worried Man Blues]

I didn't want Potter back as he's untrustworthy but now I'm anyone will do!

 

[Han Solo]

“Still, it is what it is”….

Indeed. If you prefer melodramatic Italian poems and essays of De Zerbi describing himself victim of everything and everyone, there's plenty of content on Roberto De Zerbi's Roberto De Zerbi fan site here: https://www.facebook.com/robertodezerbiofficial as well as on the BHAFC Youtube channel.

Just me or are the constant references to ‘we’ or ‘our’ in these posts doing their head in?
When potter is not reappointed you’ll disappear as quick as you arrived

I've watched every nearly every game under De Zerbi just like I did with Potter and just like I'm doing with whoever we're appointing.

 

[Han Solo]

“Still, it is what it is”….

Indeed. If you prefer melodramatic Italian poems and essays of De Zerbi describing himself victim of everything and everyone, there's plenty of content on Roberto De Zerbi's Roberto De Zerbi fan site here: https://www.facebook.com/robertodezerbiofficial as well as on the BHAFC Youtube channel.

Just me or are the constant references to ‘we’ or ‘our’ in these posts doing their head in?
When potter is not reappointed you’ll disappear as quick as you arrived

I've watched every nearly every game under De Zerbi just like I did with Potter and just like I'm doing with whoever we're appointing next.

 

[boik]

I didn't want Potter back as he's untrustworthy but now I'm anyone will do!

Any manager that does well with us will likely be tempted away by one of the big boys. Better get used to it.

 

[One Love]

After the hostility and venom he experienced from our fans at that Chelsea home game I wouldn't have thought he'd want to come here.

Not knocking that by the way, that was a great day.

 

[Seasider78]

This is all getting quite comical with people getting more and more entrenched in their support/objection to Potter.

I'd prefer Potter not to come back but it would seem some of our other choices have gone elsewhere or signed new contracts so he might be what the club consider to be the best of the rest. 50 years of watching the Albion and I'm not going to stop now if Potter comes back but lets put some perspective to his record.

He took over a team that had two relegation battles and were playing a dire brand of football. He changed that. Yes, we had a run of 7 losses. However, Potter's last 14 games saw us win 9 (including away at Arsenal and Spurs and of course home to Utd), losing just twice in that run, scoring 27 goals in the process. We were 4th when Chelsea came calling. What we will never know is where we might have finished had he stayed. RDZ turned up and seemingly added some spice to the system and we had a great 20 months before he threw it all away (by that, he knew the model when he accepted the job and presumably was aware of our unique history and therefore TB was not going to put that at risk).

The Chelsea home game was fantastic but it was pantomime. The fans used the situation to really get behind the team and it worked.

Nailed it football fans are fickle if he came back and we showed that kind of form again all would be forgotten.

Like many I would rather we went a level up with someone else but with nobody seemingly available and some of the names being kicked around as alternatives sometimes it’s better the devil you know.

 

[jackalbion]

The only "balance" De Zerbi cultists accept is the one interpretation of reality where we had a world class manager who got f***ed over by Brighton & Hove Albion. And I'm not buying it.

That's how you interpret it, I don't think that's been suggested at all. I think both parties completely f***ed up by not agreeing to go forward into the next season. People read too much into the press conferences, I think the board got 50/50 right last season, much like RDZ. Potter was just as disrespectful with is 'easy life' comments, thats one of the most belittling statements I've heard from a manager. He moved on, he didn't care for us as a club, and I'm glad we've gone a different direction, he's old news, there's ten a penny managers like him these days, theres better options out there.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I was absolutely gutted when he left to the point I actually called called up TalkSport to vent on the basis it had finally clicked and we were seeing results before that f***ing **** American oaf got involved

Equally, I was livid in view we had stuck with him and the moment something “better” (on paper) came along he was off.

I let myself down the day he came back with Chelsea and said some things that I actually had to apologise those around me including my son in the lower west at the time!

Maybe I’ve mellowed but wouldn’t be against the idea of him coming back if he’s the best available person for the job. I will say however this is caveated that there would be any grace period or settling in, there won’t be a 6 game successive defeat run or not seeing a home win in a calendar year. He changed us for the good over that period and left based on this success but he for me will be judged “as it is” based on the familiarity of some and the playing style we are used to

My hunch live many is hes coming back and Naylor is leaking to soften the blow and discredit others (cooper) who if I had a choice I’d take what we know and pick Potter

Contractually we will lock him up against and it will be some fee to walk again, but am prepared for this should it happen again, and it will, if he’s a success, we have to accept that based on club policy

 

[Commander]

I think I am slowly coming round to the Potter idea. It makes a huge amount of sense on a footballing level. The only issue for me is whether the fans could get over it. I'm sure they would if he did really well quickly, but a lot will be on his back from day 1.

It just shows why you should never leave a job on bad terms! If he hadn't taken Bruno and Roberts with him and hadn't come out with snide "Easy life at Brighton" comments then I think most fans would be happy to have him back.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I didn't want Potter back as he's untrustworthy but now I'm anyone will do!

To the same level of as having “emergency dental surgery” and bumping into a load of Germans who happen to run a. Football club untrustworthy?

 

[jackalbion]

Alright, 2020/21 then. Lamptey only playing 11 games, March getting his ACL injured in the beginning of February, Pröpper (who was always starting until covid) generally unavailable due to depression and homesickness, Adam Lallana and not-yet-hamstring-corrected Welbeck both missing a third of the season and struggling to play for any more than 60 minutes.
Yeah, like I said - "was let down by a couple of dire transfer windows". But none of you, GB or any of the other De Zerbi cultists showed much interest in excusing every single bad result through the club continously providing Graham Potter with possibly the worst selection of strikers to ever stay up in the Premier League.

You said yesterday that you don't care about Tony's vision and so forth, you only care about the result. This is the main argument you don't (and didn't IIRC) like GP - results were bad.

But now, with the results being WORSE, you're suddenly removing the responsibility of the manager and pointing at the model of the club that you apparently didn't give a shit about when Potter was in charge.

Roberto De Zerbi let himself down. He probably sacked himself in December when promising the owner a bad working atmosphere if he didn't give Roberto a couple of new Dahouds and Igors. Luckily to you and the other cultists, he also explained that if he doesn't get what he want, he'll stay and take the money.

"If we have different targets, we can hug, we can kiss but after that we have to live if we are serious people. Otherwise you work, you take the money but it can’t be a good atmosphere to work together.."

Comparing Lamptey and Propper to Mitoma, Pedro, March, JPVH for periods, Lamptey again, Veltman is wild. If you were on here then most people were critical, or as @Terry Butcher Tribute Act can actually attest to some of these 'De Zerbi Cultists' were pretty critical at games themselves. In the last 3 games, things were starting to turn around again, and following two decent results against Villa and Newcastle, we were unlucky against an incredibly in-form Chelsea, and then the United game was a game that needed context, but were on top for most of that. Following Newcastle my mind set was get through to next season, don't sell anyone important, couple of decent additions and we'll make a serious run for Europa League. Now I think staying up will be an achievement.

 

[Mustafa II]

Looks like a lot of our fans are already coming round to the idea.

It was bloody rubbish to see him leave like he did. But it was inevitable. We were lucky in that we found a new gaffer to carry on his good work for our most successful season, with a bit of nitrous pumped in.

We're even luckier that Chelsea didn't give him the time he needed to build something special there as well.

Let's just hope we can seal his signature nice and early. I am confident that the PR teams will work with him to do and say the right things early on to win back the increasingly smaller subsection of fans that are still seeing red mist regarding Potter.

 

[Guinness Boy]

1. First and foremost that wasn't the starting point. We're not better/more promising than we were in 2021, but we're certainly better/more promising than when Potter took over back in 2019.

2. Not many in here at the time thought that Burn and Maupay was anything but horseshit so bringing them up now is quite funny.

3. The team was indeed excellent and performed amazingly well, which is why its the best ever Albion team (61 pts) according to metrics (expected points) that you may not give a shit but that Tony most certainly found very impressive and knew eventually would result in... well, results. Thats how expected points usually work out over time with a young squad if you develop it well. Probably going to be the same now - If things work out as they should, we should get ca 55 points next season.

4. Many of these players were young and not who they are today. Thats the thing with player development, something that seems to awfully difficult to understand. Mac Allister in 2020 was a skinny lad who would disappear from games. From the beginning of 2022, the Everton game, he was a man ready to carry. Things take time.

5. Thats 15 yeah, and when we go outside of those 15, and when we get those players is when we see why we're in a more promising seat now.
Now we just need to find a manager who is willing to help these players reach their potential. Preferably someone who doesn't make Ansu Fati look like Andi Zeqiri.

When you actually go to a game and a chance goes narrowly wide the crowd will do a collective 'ooooh'.

No one - literally nobody - says 'oh, that was 0.35 of an expected goal'.

 

[RandyWanger]

Initial thoughts were no and it's still a no.

 

[boik]

This thread is so representative of the modern world. Pick a side, stick to it, and manipulate facts to suit your argument. Whatever happened to balance? Surely the fact is that both managers are good and both had their faults. Almost everyone said that they personally would leave if offered 3x their salary, and RDZ seemed to lose heart far too easily and never seems to stick anywhere.

Right then.....where's our next manager?