Good for you and hopefully a lot of your negatives have gone. The sharing scheme was a bug of your. Did you get satisfactory answers to thisThis is a piece for the newspaper I write for, published last weekend. Apologies for repetition of the bit I had already posted here, I wanted to put it up in its entirety for context.
It has insights into our strategy I think you'll find interesting. Cheers, Attila/John
I had a serious football meltdown a few weeks ago.
The obscenity of the amount of money sloshing around in the Premier League while millions of our fellow citizens are in desperate poverty had been gnawing at me for years. The imminent arrival of the World Cup, barging into our domestic season like a braying, banknote-waving Hooray Henry following its award to Qatar, a misogynistic, homophobic theocracy where it’s so hot in the summer that the competition had to be staged in November, was giving me further dark thoughts – especially since allegations of bribery and corruption were everywhere.
And then Brighton manager Graham Potter went to Chelsea, who’d already had our player of the season, taking with him our backroom staff and letting it be known that he’d be back for our head of recruitment (now gone) and probably more players as well. Not just taking all our fish, but the rod we catch them with. And the response from the corporate media: ‘It’s business. Chelsea are a ‘big club’, Brighton are a ‘small club’. That’s what happens. Know your place and move on’.
That was the last straw. I lost it big time. I know we’re an incredibly well-managed operation, with a forensic, well-researched and well-rehearsed set-up. I knew that there would already be a plan in place for all this. Nevertheless, the sheer temerity, the disgusting brazenness of money, brought my combative streak out.
I put my thoughts into words, posted them on my Facebook blog and sent them to Paul Barber, chief executive and deputy chairman of the club, and Paul Camillin, head of media. Both known to me for years – in the latter’s case over 25 of them, since he stood alongside us against the rogue chairman Archer when we fans were battling to save the club, and his elevation is well-merited.
‘We have had an incredible 25 year rise from the bottom of the 4th division with no ground to 7th in the Premier League. It has been a roller coaster of wonder. Now we have reached the glass ceiling, it’s nowhere near as interesting. The football is beautiful, but the game is sick.The Potter episode sometimes makes me think of walking away, if I am honest, and though I know I won’t, that is saying something, given my passion for the Albion. Brilliantly run club, great recruitment, unique manager, everything ripped away by the power of money. And not just any money but Chelsea money, stolen from the Russian people, leaving millions in misery. As I have said before, I feel like a goldfish owner who loves my pet as much as ever but utterly loathes the water it is swimming in now. Something fundamental has to change. If someone like me - who spent years of my life battling to save the club he loves - feels like this when we are 7th in the Premier League, there really is something wrong with the game.’
And I got an email back from CEO Paul Barber inviting me to be his guest in the boardroom against Villa last Saturday and talk about it all. ‘I know the corporate stuff isn’t really your thing, John, but…’
Of course I went. I had always known that we were still different as a club, but when Paul and chairman Tony Bloom said ‘If it wasn’t for you lot, we wouldn’t be standing here now’ I felt proud for us all. Before the game I had a good think about what the strategy might be: I asked if my analysis was correct and found I was on the right track.
Brighton is now the gateway to the Premier League for young, supremely talented players from all over the world – and, more importantly, for their money-hungry agents.
The message is out. Come to Brighton and your client will have world class training facilities and the chance to break quickly into a progressive, egalitarian team rather than being a bench warmer for years at a ‘big club’. If he is as good as you say he is and the bloated monsters come calling, we won’t stand in your way and every last penny will be extracted on your behalf by some very good negotiators so you get the huge commission which is your reason for living. Meanwhile, we’ll have developed his successor, ready to take his place.
And Tony Bloom is that rare thing among Premier League chairmen – a lifelong fan. So I posed the question. ‘You want to see us play in Europe as much as the rest of us do, Tony. Can we do it with a revolving door policy? Can we break the glass ceiling?’ He looked me in the eye and said ‘Yes, I think we can’.
There wasn’t a prawn sandwich in sight, but I had three (mini) Piglets Balti pies and trousered three bars of Albion branded chocolate, a gift from the CEOI met some old faces I hadn’t seen for years.
I’m still sick of modern football, the water, I still love the Albion, the goldfish. As for Europe, Tony, we’ll see.
But we sure are a well run club. Surfers on, rather than in, the sewage which is the Premier League.
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[Albion] Not just our club - a very clever club indeed.......A meeting with Tony Bloom and Paul Barber
- Thread starter attila
- Start date
Justice
Dangerous Idiot
We reach the pinnacle of the English football pyramid an amazing achievement and you would rather watch the Albion slosh around in the lower leagues?
We do exactly the same to clubs further down the food chain take their best players so don’t really get the Chelsea raid aspect.
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,674
Bit insulting to even bring FIFA and Qatar into the conversation and then suggest that @attila of all people would write a "positive fluff piece" - it wasn't that anyway - on the strength of a few mini piglets pies and some nice words from Bloom.Great post by OP
Minor concern tho: that's the kind of thing that oils the wheels of football and ultimately leads to Qatar being awarded the World Cup. Hey FIFA reps and journalists! Come and see Qatar for yourselves! Come and enjoy our fabled hospitality! Subsequently write a positive fluff piece!
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,681
STRAIGHT in there again! Just can't help yourself can you? You must have my posts on speed-dial in defence of the realm
- May 8, 2018
- 10,817
Can’t keep up with all these fan experiences, The Dug Out , The Tunnel Club, Mini Pies on the fly
Thanks for that John. You express so well the thoughts of many. Our journey as Albion supporters has been incredible but I do feel we have lost something along the way due to the environment we now find ourselves in. All this money in the game coming from various dubious sources makes me feel uncomfortable when our world is in such a mess.
The world seemed a kinder place when we sat in the rain at Withdean dreaming of top flight status and John played the music..
The world seemed a kinder place when we sat in the rain at Withdean dreaming of top flight status and John played the music..
Our dream has come true and we are less happy? Perhaps we shouldn’t dream, and where/what would we be without our dreams.
I have very fond memories of the war years, our struggle to survive, the fight, being the underdogs, raising and donating cash, etc, etc and am glad I was part of it. Would I want that now? NO, with bells on!!
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,674
I've never met John but know , as everyone knows and TB knows - given he said it to him at the Villa game , - none of us would be here if it wasn't for his and (others) effort back in the day.STRAIGHT in there again! Just can't help yourself can you? You must have my posts on speed-dial in defence of the realm
How he or they might feel that you want to describe his chat over pies in the boardroom puts him or Bloom on the slippery slope to FIFA and Qatar as you put it - and makes him feel beholden to write "fluff pieces" just seems really unnecessary.
attila
1997 Club
- Thread starter
- #30
The answer was that unlike other clubs the Albion season ticket is discounted against the individual entry price per match and that there is no reason the discounts should extend to casual attendees hence the levy. If it is indeed true that Albion season tickets have a greater discount or are cheaper than other PL teams I suppose that works as a business argument but it is still modern football bollocks as far as I am concerned: once you have bought a season ticket you should be able to lend it to anyone you trust if you can’t make a particular game.
thedonkeycentrehalf
Moved back to wear the gloves (again)
- Jul 7, 2003
- 9,412
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6th job in 6 years……
Greg Bobkin
Silver Seagull
- May 22, 2012
- 16,293
Apparently he had a few offers but, at the interview, he said to them: "You're the one that I want."
- May 8, 2018
- 10,817
Don’t tell Souness, livid!
After a shit day, (well, several months, actually) of banging my head against a seemingly immovable body - think DVLA and you won't be far wrong - reading this has given me a little more strength to continue the fight.
What a great read, that was. Thank you.
What a great read, that was. Thank you.
….tell me more
attila
1997 Club
- Thread starter
- #37
Long chat about Dick’s Bar too. PB not happy with size or location but gave his word it would stay - I pushed! That question linked to location/accessibility/opening times (or not) of museum, which really needs to be more accessible - our history is important.
All for tonight, gig at the Lexington in London. Thanks for positive feedback. Fluff piece Cheers THPP!
All for tonight, gig at the Lexington in London. Thanks for positive feedback. Fluff piece
Cheers THPP!Cornwallboy
Well-known member
- Oct 13, 2022
- 531
And dreaming of playing in a purpose built stadium......
Fair point, but more often than not, the journey is as equally important (if not more so), than the destination.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
Can I be the first to point out that Chelsea are no longer owned by a Russian petro-oligarch who gained his riches off the back of the Russian people and the most awful, wealth-concentrating privatisation programme the world has seen. Chelsea are now owned by a US sports company also with far, far too much money. While they've come fishing around these parts, they've paid the required rate set by TB & PB for those they've pilfered. This is unlike Manchester City, for instance, who are owned by a petro-state, who unsettled one of our players but wouldn't pay the required rate. TB & PB are, in addition, well prepared for clubs with too much money taking our assets -- they call it succession planning. They won't stand on their way, provided the required rate is met.