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

[Justice]

Is that not a bit of a sad state of affairs, that at the end of the season, we thought with everyone fit we could give Europa another go, and we're now discussing relegation. I have no doubt if we kept RDZ, I think Gross stays on another year, without him, I can't see it.

European football wasn’t meant to happen it was the dream the club could keep feeding fans with maybe one day. Now they have to manage expectations. A large percentage of the Amex crowd have only seen mostly success the kids that were there in the first season are now twenty somethings.
If they hire Potter and we go back to one home win in a year it will be a massive fail on the clubs part and the crowd will turn.
Of course it might work all depends if Potter has been working on his football philosophy and seen where he went wrong previously.
It would be a convenient almost lazy appointment the club don’t need to spend on players like Kudus as he will work with whoever he is given.
I can’t see how Potter would be driven to bring the club huge success it’s a wage until something better comes along.

 

[sparkie]

Nothing says “desperate” and “on the back foot” like welcoming back your former coach on more money.

That’s not Bloom and PBOBE surely?

Desperate and out of ideas. It would show the much vaunted succession planning was just a paper tiger.

 

[Muzzman]

RDZ wasn't as good as some like to make out
Potter wasn't as bad as some people like make out

Think we'll sign someone completely leftfield.

It's all speculation as we haven't heard one word of anything from the club, which is how it should be.

People need to be more patient, and I wouldn't be surprised if we're still debating this during the Euros, maybe we'll have someone installed following the knockout stages, depending how results go. I'll start to get mildly concerned if no one is installed after the Euro finals.

 

[Baldseagull]

We’ll, it’s quite clear from the comments in the last half an hour that GP’s reappointment would cause a massive split in the fan base.
For that reason alone I’d really think it wouldn’t be a good thing.

I am quite confident that Potter would unite the fans pretty quickly, and within a couple of months absolutely everyone would want the **** gone.

 

[Stato]

The attitude of Roberto De Zerbi and his groupies - that Roberto is great and that the club isn't - has done f*** all to remove any inferiority complex - it has only removed reasonable perspectives and replaced them with the idea that the accomplishments of this club are down to the manager, working against his own plucky little shit club and the owner that refuses demolish the entire club model to please him.

As usual top quality iconoclasm, but a little out of touch with reality. Your portrait of our fans seems very wide of the mark despite what quotes you can find to cherry pick. Yes, some would like to have done more to try to keep RDZ here, but you have to remember that very few of us arrived here with Graham Potter's appointment. We've mostly been on the Bloom journey since the beginning and, though you'll hear occasional moans of frustration that we never get to keep nice things, we all know that, whatever noises are made, Tony Bloom is by far and away the single most important factor that got us to where we are. Long before RDZ, we'd already had the charismatic manager who wanted the club to break 'the ceiling'. He went. Tony stayed.

RDZ arrived to find a very strong group. He said that he had to thank Graham Potter, but if he didn't know that the recruitment wasn't down to Potter, he soon found out. He did have Potter to thank for developing the youngsters to the level that they were at when he arrived and he made the most of his good fortune by pushing the group to believe that they could acheive more.

As players forced moves and more youngsters came to replace them, what has become clear is that De Zerbi didn't want to do the development part of the cycle that Potter had done. Okay, see you then. We'll find someone who wants to. It seems from the noises about England and Man Utd, that Potter also doesn't see himself as that man at this point in his career. The argument about the various strengths and weaknesses of our two very good previous managers is therefore utterly pointless. They're both gone and, if anybody really cares who's better, time will tell when they end up in their new jobs.

Like Tony, we stay and our focus, as always, is the next step for Brighton. We need a coach who can and wants to develop young players. Both RDZ and GP are the former, but not the latter.

 

[sparkie]

If potter was gonna come back he would be back by now. We are not going to keep him on the backburner in case someone better comes along, as he will definitely say no.

Likewise we won't wait until after the euros for potter to decide.

It's not going to happen.

We are not going to appoint Potter now only for him to sod off again in July if Southgate leaves the England job.

That would be an utter blunderf*ck.

 

[boik]

European football wasn’t meant to happen it was the dream the club could keep feeding fans with maybe one day. Now they have to manage expectations. A large percentage of the Amex crowd have only seen mostly success the kids that were there in the first season are now twenty somethings.
If they hire Potter and we go back to one home win in a year it will be a massive fail on the clubs part and the crowd will turn.
Of course it might work all depends if Potter has been working on his football philosophy and seen where he went wrong previously.
It would be a convenient almost lazy appointment the club don’t need to spend on players like Kudus as he will work with whoever he is given.
I can’t see how Potter would be driven to bring the club huge success it’s a wage until something better comes along.

You say hire Potter and go back to one home win as if that's what would happen. I think you must really know deep down that both Potter and us have improved since then. Hopefully nobody stays at one point in their lives without developing and learning.

This is the sort of stuff I was talking about - people using non-applicable facts to back up their entrenched position.

 

[Reddleman]

Some of our fans are just frankly o

“If I wanted an easy life, I’d have stayed at Brighton”

when did we become so precious? What he said was spot on. He was loved here, he had done an excellent job, his job was as safe as it could ever be. Going to Chelsea was going to bring huge risk and scrutiny. So of course relative to going to Chelsea staying with us was an ‘easy life’.

A few of our fans need to stop being so thin skinned and frankly grow up.

 

[Napper]

A few of our fans need to stop being so thin skinned and frankly grow up.

thats not how football works

 

[worthingweird]

Done deal, the club are lying low...

 

[Flounce]

Done deal, the club are lying low...

Or just tying up the contract now GP is back from holiday…

Not at all convinced though. I will be a little disappointed but OK with the steady pair of hands he’d bring, make it Gallardo though please.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

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.

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.

I know what I prefer obviously different to you.

 

[Han Solo]

What about beating Marseille at home? AEK away? Palace 4-1? Actually beating Potter's nemesis Sheffield United twice away, racking up 10 goals? Beating Champions League qualifiers Villa for the first time in the Premier League?

We can all pick stuff that aligns to an agenda.

Absolutely, those were some fine results, though not entirely unexpected from the team entering the competition as favorites-behind-Liverpool to win the entire thing. Beating Palace and Sheffield United was also good stuff.

But ultimately, taking 33 points from the 32 last games with our most expensive squad ever, probably our highest ever wages, while giving the manager several of his personally chosen "key players" like Fati and Dahoud... well, it's not going to be considered good enough. In 2018/19, Hughton only achieved two less points in the last 32, and was sacked... and this with a squad that cost around £150m (and some £50m of that was, unlike now, spent on players with very limited ability).

Some people blame injuries or the 4-5 extra games this season compared to 18/19 (CHs season of sacking). Or not signing enough world class players to beat Burnley.

Other people are more ambitious and not satisfied with the near-relegation-form displayed over 4/5ths of a season, with absolutely no sign of any turnaround. There was a lot of reasons we were never going to be as good this season, no matter the manager, as in 22/23, but to anyone with a bit of ambition - reaching similar lows as 6 years ago isn't really acceptable with the talent available (even with injuries).

 

[Stato]

Some of our fans are just frankly o

when did we become so precious? What he said was spot on. He was loved here, he had done an excellent job, his job was as safe as it could ever be. Going to Chelsea was going to bring huge risk and scrutiny. So of course relative to going to Chelsea staying with us was an ‘easy life’.

A few of our fans need to stop being so thin skinned and frankly grow up.

I think you are misunderstanding. It's not about disrepect, it's about ambition. After Potter, RDZ came in and changed the ambition levels. What people are saying is that the next manager needs to be someone who is at no risk of seeing the job as an easy life and are pointing to the comment as evidence that Potter would be a risk in these terms. The worry is that now we've tried walking on stilts, we don't want to go back to comfy slippers. In reality, Potter will be having the same thoughts. What looks like a backwards step for us, also appears to be a backwards step for him: failed at the big club - gone back to his level is not the optic that will be attracting interest from the big clubs that he no doubt thinks himself capable of managing.

 

[sparkie]

There are no other* players who have been regular members of our first-team squad this season who are out of contract this summer.
*By which I mean, those that were - Lallana, Milner and Welbeck - have already been handled.

As for the rest of the professional squad (and scholars) - the club never even published the released/retained list last season, so who knows if they will bother this time around.

What is happening with Alzate or has he already left ?

 

[Guinness Boy]

I think you are misunderstanding. It's not about disrepect, it's about ambition. After Potter, RDZ came in and changed the ambition levels. What people are saying is that the next manager needs to be someone who is at no risk of seeing the job as an easy life and are pointing to the comment as evidence that Potter would be a risk in these terms. The worry is that now we've tried walking on stilts, we don't want to go back to comfy slippers. In reality, Potter will be having the same thoughts. What looks like a backwards step for us, also appears to be a backwards step for him: failed at the big club - gone back to his level is not the optic that will be attracting interest from the big clubs that he no doubt thinks himself capable of managing.

Exactly. 15th and 16th in his first two seasons with a terrible home record, but the leadership were happy with player development and stats and allowed him to keep his job, giving him an absolutely superb midfield and strong defence and allowing him the time to turn it round, which he did.

He will never get that at a 'big club' and indeed the only stat Chelsea saw was his win %.

Unfortunately, for him, in the meantime we've finished 6th and 11th and topped a Europa League group.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Through his endless talk about our lack of ambitions? Or through repeatedly telling everyone in press conferences how small we are "as a club, as a team"? Or what exactly removed this inferiority complex and after dozens and dozens of posts made by the former managers insecure groupies about our IMPENDING DOOM and "what we look like" if we sign this or that manager... is the inferiority complex really gone?

The attitude of Roberto De Zerbi and his groupies - that Roberto is great and that the club isn't - has done f*** all to remove any inferiority complex - it has only removed reasonable perspectives and replaced them with the idea that the accomplishments of this club are down to the manager, working against his own plucky little shit club and the owner that refuses demolish the entire club model to please him.

Feck me, you talk a lot of nonsense.

PBOBE - Roberto pushes us to be better each day
RdZ - On qualifying for the conference - I want the Europa league

We were ahead of schedule in terms of establishing ourselves, largely thanks to the European qualifying season, that is the problem.

The next appointment is massive and hopefully we get it right.

I’m sorry, but I’m beginning to find your posts wearing. Like before, there are some really interesting points, interspersed with rubbish…. Probably like mine to others as well. Time to ‘ignore’ for a bit, until the manager is appointed, be it Gallardo, Rosenoir or heaven forbid Potter…..

 

[A1X]

Some of our fans are just frankly o

when did we become so precious? What he said was spot on. He was loved here, he had done an excellent job, his job was as safe as it could ever be. Going to Chelsea was going to bring huge risk and scrutiny. So of course relative to going to Chelsea staying with us was an ‘easy life’.

A few of our fans need to stop being so thin skinned and frankly grow up.

Just because you're prepared to overlook a manager bad-mouthing us as fans and the club after he left don't assume all of us are. You're not a better fan than anyone else because you're prepared to do so.

 

[GT49er]

What is happening with Alzate or has he already left ?

After years of being on the fringes, and mostly out on loan - and then a potentially very good loan to the Championship in England being right royally cocked up - I expect he'll take himself out of the door as fast as he can when his contract expires. This summer, I think?
His level is probably high end Championship/bottom third of the PL. Hope he finds a good home at last!

 

[sparkie]

“If I wanted an easy life, I’d have stayed at Brighton”

This is the ONE thing I don't forgive Potter for.

It is an "interview failer" in one quote.

I do not want any manager who is coming here with an "easy life" mindset. Oh well, it is what it is, not fussed, easy life.

I want dreams, and daring to dream them.