Modern football - Hype, hype and yet more hype.

[JBizzle]

None of this bothers me at all. It goes straight through me, and doesn't exist as a problem within my albion experience.

I just have 5 problems with the albion at the moment, which I hope they'll mostly fix asap. That's simply the 5 signings we still need.

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[spanish flair]

Top post Gritt23 and by the number of thumbs up quickly gained your thoughts are shared by many on here.
In the response by Chailyjem he very kindly attaches the Directors report in which our great Chairman states the following :

Chairman's report

Section People Matter

"We recognise that our supporters -sponsors and fans- remain the lifeblood of our club. We have taken part in more face to face forums, live internet discussions and personal dialogue than ever before, allowing us to engage with larger number of supporters in different ways on a range of issues more directly than at any time in the clubs history.

We enjoy this work- it's great to spend time talking about the Albion with people who care as much for the club as we do- and it will always be a priority .

We will never be above criticism, and it is vital our fans voices are always heard by those of us at the club. We won't won't always agree - football is a game of opinions. But what we can do is listen , and when it's something which we believe will benefit the club, we will act."

I think from the amount of thumbs up Gritt 23 has accumulated in such a short time the club should recognise his and many others feelings towards the club and talk to people like Gritt23 and others who have endorsed his feelings.

The adverse effect is also being witnessed as feared by the Financial Directors in the report, quote as follows under the heading Principal Risk:

"The principal risk, as faced by all clubs , is the risk of relegation and the adverse effect it would have on revenue streams and the ability to retain and recruit talented staff."

The report states that the season being reported on our average gate was over 27k, last season it dropped by 2.5k As he predicted we lost talented players in the shape of Bridcutt, Buckley and Ulloa who were replaced by very inferior replacements.
If last seasons trend continues this season and another 2.5k crowd drop is lost then then the revenue streams he speaks of are in trouble.?

Which says to me the corporate speak that is upsetting many long term fans are not even achieving their goals anyway.

 

[JCL666]

Ignore the hype.

Don't get stressed by lack of signings or tactics.

Laugh at the shouts of "FORWARD"

Accept that getting to and from matches can at times involve a bit of a wait.

Just enjoy the ride.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I remember a conversation I had with Micky Adams the night we won our first promotion at Withdean (in the days when it was possible for fans to talk with the manager after a game) and he said "In the morning I have to tell half of these players that they are not good enough to play in the third division".

Can you imagine honesty like that these days?

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Set your own expectations, if you want to be optimistic be optimistic, if you feel we're under strength fine. What the club says has always been smoke and mirrors to certain degrees. If you look at the squad, the manager and everything else, you can make your own judgement. What anyone else says is just part of the circus.

This is my state of mind. Club messages tend to wash over me. I can smile at the email saying there are still Seville tickets remaining (I mean, really ?) but these things are not aimed at me. We have a stadium to fill and it isn't going to be filled by the faithful from the Priestfield and Withdean.

Ignore the bollocks.

 

[B.W.]

I used to think it was just Sky Sports with their incessant "Best League in the WORLD" crap, where they feel they have to just tell us that everything is so completely fantastic. But it has extended far beyond that in football these days, and in fact, while chatting to a mate today, I've realised it is the clubs approach of hype everything ALL THE TIME, is the driving force behind much of my growing frustration, and detachment from the club..

I spend all season fighting against giving myself false hope, “it’s the hope that kills you” and we all know it, so I was much more comfortable with the club openly saying “look we know this is a bit shite, and we’re so sorry that we can’t afford the players we’d like, but we can’t compete financially. Anyway, here’s a poncho, and if you could spare a fifty we’re having a whip-round to try and buy someone better.” Question for you good people to ponder, was last years team (“top 6 squad”, “most expensive EVER” and “Premiership Ready” don’t forget) any better than McGhees who we never made any bones about, were punching above their weight and 4th from bottom would be fantastic. Or indeed the squad Coppell put together, that would have stayed up if he’d been here to do it in August rather than after Hinshelwood.

If you think I pine for Withdean or wish that we weren’t at the Amex, that’s missing the point - like those who think a reaction to #together is anger, it's not, it's a great big sigh. I crave a return to a more HONEST assessment of where we are. Don’t treat me like a fool, I won’t buy into the nonsense, or be kidded into believing the overly positive outlook, but to make me feel like the grumpy, miserable one when I just try to return my expectations to something approaching realism is just not on. The club is doing the dreaming, and that should be MY thing. When the club told us we can’t afford anyone, I would convince myself that Cullip is a beast, and if the Coca-cola kid could only fulfil his potential, then with Leon Knight, we COULD do something here. I do that, ME, because I’m an optimistic fan, but these days, because the clubs picture is painted so much brighter than mine (and all reality), I end up feeling like the miserable, curmudgeon. And that’s not FUN! It also makes me feel like I’m being intentionally misled, I’m being sold something as gold, when it’s clearly not.

I was comfortable with the club being the voice of reason, while the fans delude themselves in blind optimism, seeing potential in everyone, waaay beyond what they will actually achieve. That’s how it should be. A friend of mine still laughs at me for once suggesting Codner could end up playing for England! But that’s what we do, we talk up our players to our friends, work colleagues, the Man Utd “fan” in the pub. I can take the player who once drove past Old Trafford and refer to him as ex-Man U, or the kid who scores 3 in 2 pre-season games as the new “goalscoring sensation”. But now it is the club that declares “Brighton sign Real Madrid striker!” NO! That is exactly what I may have said as a joke at work, but when it’s the club who do that, it’s just embarrassing.

As I say, everything is hype, hype, hype, and anyone who questions it is not really on the same side as the club. Whether it’s being told we increase the budget every year, or have the most expensive squad ever, or have a top 6 squad, or the thinly veiled fury at Poyet suggesting 4th was our ceiling, we just seem to have lost sight of reality OR we don’t want our customers to see the reality because they might stop buying. Go down THAT route and it’s a horrible realisation that perhaps we are at times being blatantly misled so that we empty our pockets over and over again.

Please can we sign someone to excite us before the season starts. Someone to REALLY excite us, a marquee feel good signing because at the moment it just feels grim. And if we can't afford it, let's just say so. No-one would blame Tony for saying "I have to slow down on the spending lads. Some clubs are spending crazy cash, and we can't live with that, we have to leave them to ruin themselves. We will NOT ruin this club by spending what we can't afford, and if that means we are not signing many, and leaning on the DS more, then I hope you all understand why, and get behind these kids, and the great opportunity this will give them".

I'd have no problem with that, I'd return to dreaming big, convincing myself that Rea, Tilley, Monakana and Harper will be our very own Class of 1992. But for some reason when it is the club setting unrealistic expectations, it just leaves me feeling deflated. Please can we stop the hype, stop the Corporate nonsense, and just get back to telling us how it is.

Great post.

My thoughts are the club need to 'put up, or shut up'... Hopefully, they will 'put up', then their hype might have some justification.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

There was a simple honesty to BHA when we were rubbish. We weren’t trying to market ourselves, or be something we weren’t. We were what we were. Crap ground, a crap team most of the time, take it or leave it. Now though, we’re so desperately falling over ourselves trying to convince fans (and potential fans) what an amazing club, a team that’s going to be challenging, we’re going places, a Premier League club in the making, come and join the ride, hype hype hype, blah blah blah. And the trouble with that is, when the team doesn’t live up to the hype, when it abjectly fails in the most important part - on the pitch - the club looks…well, a bit silly. All talk, no substance. Emperors clothes and all that.

But when we were rubbish there was criticism of Dick Knight for his being a marketing man. As I remember the Club were trying to market themselves as something that most of us could not see. They also had to fill the new seats at Withdean. I don't think that has changed. What has changed is they have more money and we are more wise to what is going on.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Didn't take long for Pravda to appear

Or those who are most critical of the club hierachy, and have been for the last 15 years.

 

[JBizzle]

Ignore the bollocks.

Is this the new marketing slogan for this season? #ignorethebollocks If it is, I like it.

 

[spanish flair]

Or those who are most critical of the club hierachy, and have been for the last 15 years.

Only 15 years. they all must be JCL's then

They don't remember Bellotti and Archer then.

 

[lost in london]

It's a difficult one though isn't it?

What else does the club do? I'd much rather they send out the emails full of hot air trying to wring a few more tickets out of armchair fans than either give an honest assessment of our likely performance this season or not engage in any marketing at all.

Yes, the emails piss off a number of fans who have already bought their season ticket, or will already be going to the Tuesday night early season league cup fixture, but we all want to see the team win, and to win in a crazy league like the Championship you need money, and a key source of money is the fans - some hyperbolic emails trying to drum up some interest is about the only card the club has to play. It must work otherwise why do they bother?

If you don't like the hype, don't read it and instead form your own opinions of the team's performance this season.

 

[Hotchilidog]

It's a difficult one though isn't it?

What else does the club do? I'd much rather they send out the emails full of hot air trying to wring a few more tickets out of armchair fans than either give an honest assessment of our likely performance this season or not engage in any marketing at all.

Yes, the emails piss off a number of fans who have already bought their season ticket, or will already be going to the Tuesday night early season league cup fixture, but we all want to see the team win, and to win in a crazy league like the Championship you need money, and a key source of money is the fans - some hyperbolic emails trying to drum up some interest is about the only card the club has to play. It must work otherwise why do they bother?

If you don't like the hype, don't read it and instead form your own opinions of the team's performance this season.

This. We can hate modern football as much as we like, but the club have to work within it if they are to survive. I don't understand why people are so upset by this stuff when you can just ignore it.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

If you don't like the hype, don't read it and instead form your own opinions of the team's performance this season.

#ignorethebollocks

(c) JBizzle

 

[Easy 10]

But when we were rubbish there was criticism of Dick Knight for his being a marketing man. As I remember the Club were trying to market themselves as something that most of us could not see. They also had to fill the new seats at Withdean. I don't think that has changed. What has changed is they have more money and we are more wise to what is going on.

I disagree. During DK's tenure, the focus was almost exclusively on getting Falmer, and so by the same token, that involved highlighting to everyone just what a dire and desperate state the club was in at that time. We really were "all in it together" (god I hate that phrase). The marketing of the club was coming from a completely different angle then - because it wasn't a constant fanfare about how FANTASTIC we were. It was about "look, we're trying to survive here".

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I disagree. During DK's tenure, the focus was almost exclusively on getting Falmer, and so by the same token, that involved highlighting to everyone just what a dire and desperate state the club was in at that time. We really were "all in it together" (god I hate that phrase). The marketing of the club was coming from a completely different angle then - because it wasn't a constant fanfare about how FANTASTIC we were. It was about "look, we're trying to survive here".

You might be right. There must have been some marketing going on to sell the additional seats after the first couple of seasons though.

I do know that it was tough selling the corporate hospitality.

 

[chaileyjem]

The report states that the season being reported on our average gate was over 27k, last season it dropped by 2.5k .

Lots of good points SF. PS the attendance didn't drop by 2.5K last year. It went to down to 25.7K from 27.1K so a 1.5K drop. but agreed both ST holders and attendance (last year at least) if they decline further will impact on revenue. I'm assuming this sharpens the mind in the boardroom.

The club have a pretty good record of talking to and engaging with fans young and old. Not every club does the forum for example with its CEO, Chairman in front of a live audience.
Ask Leeds, Forest, Blackburn, Cardiff fans for their recent experiences in feeding back legitimate and substantial concerns to the the club board for example. It would be good to acknowledge this.

But I'm perplexed the main objection of the OP was his wish that the Board could be more realistic and just tell the fans how it is which effectively is that Bloom is spending up to the limits, will make the odd big signing to strengthen the squad as best he can but that he can't compete with the top 6 and that promotion isn't guaranteed every season...

Please can we sign someone to excite us before the season starts. Someone to REALLY excite us, a marquee feel good signing because at the moment it just feels grim. And if we can't afford it, let's just say so. No-one would blame Tony for saying "I have to slow down on the spending lads. Some clubs are spending crazy cash, and we can't live with that, we have to leave them to ruin themselves. We will NOT ruin this club by spending what we can't afford, and if that means we are not signing many, and leaning on the DS more, then I hope you all understand why, and get behind these kids, and the great opportunity this will give them".

So when Bloom does and says exactly this

"We cannot simply open our cheque book and start spending without care or attention. We must continue to run this club as prudently as possible. Regardless of the FFP regulations.. we [still] support a system designed to ensure football clubs are run more sensibly.

we’re aware that other clubs have chosen alternative strategies…but we won’t deviate from our path…

…For all our teams to be playing at the highest level remains our ambition. To achieve this we have invested heavily in infrastructure and organisation to give us the best possible chance of success and to create the right environment. However we must accept that there is no guarantee of success. "

then what more do you want from Bloom then ? Can you say what you said in your annual report a few months ago ?

 

[Badger]

 

[spanish flair]

I have to admit the figure of over 2.5k drop was taken from here who stated our attendance to be 67th in Europe

http://stadiumdb.com/news/2015/07/10_ranking_2015_attendances_in_europe_part_2_the_clubs

 

[chaileyjem]

I have to admit the figure of over 2.5k drop was taken from here who stated our attendance to be 67th in Europe

http://stadiumdb.com/news/2015/07/10_ranking_2015_attendances_in_europe_part_2_the_clubs

No worries but i think they've erroneously added a +1K to their +/- changes.
see
http://www.soccerstats.com/attendance.asp?league=england2
http://www.football-league.co.uk/documents/average-attendance549-2006711.pdf

 

[leigull]

To be fair to the club, they HAVE to build things up and hype it as much as possible. It's the way of the world right now, and the club has a hell of a lot more casual fans to keep interested and coming back than it did at Withdean. In the Withdean days they could have put 11 Leon Best's on the pitch and the crowds would have stayed in the 6-8k mark, the club didn't have to try and gloss it as they knew they had a loyal fanbase that would near fill the capacity each week. Now the Amex is here that capacity is now 30k rather than 6-8k.

I fully agree with people losing touch with the club right now, but I also sympathise with them as they've got a hard job keeping the ground full and covering the increased expenses. If they fully admitted we're in for a season of struggle again, we'd be back below 10k crowds and going in a downward spiral of selling off best players and having a worsening team, whilst still having the high expenses of new infrastructure in place.