[Albion] Paul Barber: The Transfer Window

[Chinman3000]

We needed two, he signed none, Paul Barber talks out his bum
With a nick-nack paddy wack give a dog a bone, no fit striker for west brom at home.

 

[Justice]

Haven't signed a pacy striker since Baldock what planet is he on.

 

[rippleman]

Over the years I have made hmmm more than a few complaints to organisations & corporations regarding their service or product. Never have I had a response from the CEO spitting the dummy and accusing me of being "spiteful". Usually I get thanked for my feedback and sometimes I am compensated. That is how a CEO should react.

Instead of that tome with its shopping list of excuses, how much respect would Barber have got if he had instead written:-

"Due to a lack of experience and knowledge of the transfer market at PL level, I screwed up the transfer window. I am truly sorry and steps have been taken to rectify the numerous errors that were made".

 

[goldstone]

Good read. Very impressed that the CEO would communicate directly with NSC. A lot of the posters on here really don't deserve a response to their posts.

 

[Triggaaar]

The transfer window has, as ever, sparked a lot of debate on social media – some of it constructive and interesting; some of it, naïve and, in places, unjustifiably spiteful. Not surprisingly, and such is the way of the world these days, hardly any of the (largely anonymous) criticism directed at the club on social media has made its way to us directly in the form of emails or letters…

I think the club messed up in their attempt to sign one or more strikers. Some of it due to bad luck (Dwamena) and some due to mistakes by the club. My criticism isn't anonymous, but I see no benefit to the club in me contacting them directly to tell them what they already know.

We don’t publicise our transfer targets. We don’t comment on media speculation (unless we believe we have no choice but to do so). And only a very tiny group of people inside the club – usually no more than 4 - are aware of our specific priorities at any one time. Our approach is designed to minimise leaks, which can often compromise the club’s position, and give us the best possible chance of doing our business discreetly and professionally.

This doesn't match ChaileyJim's assertion that Naylor knows what's happening.

asking prices, and player and agent demands were very high.

Asking prices didn't appear to me to be far different to previous windows.

Like all clubs, we’ve been criticised for not signing players we didn’t bid for and were not even on our radar!

IMO Barber shouldn't feel the need to defend the club against a lot of the random nonsense posted (often not even seriously) on all social media. Most of us were simply critical of the fact that we didn't sign a striker, not which particular one we didn't get.

- most, if not all, clubs miss out on at least one target, sometimes many targets, in every transfer window. This one was no different. There will always be a multitude of reasons for such misses.

We've been looking for a striker to compete with Baldock for over 2 years. While all teams will miss out on several targets, to fail to sign any such striker is particularly bad.

- a “miss” doesn’t have to mean a flawed strategy, poor negotiation tactics, a failure to meet demands, or that someone is to blame; mostly, it’s just about “circumstances" – often out of the club’s control.

Are you saying it was your fault Paul? While I accept that it doesn't have to mean the team was to blame, and it could just be about circumstances, I think it's unlikely that no one made mistakes regarding signing a striker during this window.

- and, no, we didn’t miss out on a loan striker because we signed a loan GK; we took a conscious decision to take an excellent loan GK when the opportunity arose.

That may not be true. We did miss out on a striker. At the end of the last day we couldn't have signed a PL striker on loan. Had we have been able to, we could have made the offer and seen whether it was accepted.

- right now, we have an excellent group of very talented and committed players, backed by a great manager and staff; they will need and, I believe, they deserve the support of all our fans.

Of course.

 

[Knotty]

Don't know why PB bothers with this stuff. The majority of NSC either don't agree with him or, regardless of what he says, don't WANT to agree with him.

If he said 2 + 2 = 4, there are many who would be desperate to disagree with him.

In his position I'd have left well alone, taken the predictable flak from the expert armchair chairmen, CEOs and recruitment officers who know better, and looked forward, not back.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I've read Barber's comments and I take on board all that he has said, but I still maintain that as a Prem team with the money that goes with that there is no excuse for NOT bringing in a replacement striker for Akpom.

In particular, I was interest to read his comment "the recruitment team – scouts, analysts, coaches, our manager – looked at thousands of players in the past year or more; relatively few strikers are ever available and even fewer matched our specific brief".

Then maybe our brief was too specific? We have 3 strikers and of those Baldock has hardly played since March and has missed pre-season with an injury. We knew he was likely to miss the whole of pre-season when there was still 6 weeks of the window left. While the phrase "beggars can't be choosers" is a little too strong I think we should have brought in one striker for cover for Akpom at least until the January window.

That said, I take Barber's point that decent strikers are like gold-dust and a glance at the other relegation candidates shows that there are other clubs as exposed as we are in the striker department, notably West Ham and Palace:

Bournemouth: Defoe, King, Wilson, Afobe, Mousset
Burnley: Wood, Vokes, Walters, Barnes, Wells
Crystal Palace: Benteke, Wickham, Lapado
Huddersfield: Mounie, Depoitre, Kachunga, Quaner
Newcastle: Gayle, Mitrovic, Joselu, Perez
Swansea: Abraham, Bony, Ayew
Watford: Deeney, Gray, Okaka, Zarate, Sinclair
West Ham: Javier Hernandez, Carroll, Sakho

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The transfer window has, as ever, sparked a lot of debate on social media – some of it constructive and interesting; some of it, naïve and, in places, unjustifiably spiteful. Not surprisingly, and such is the way of the world these days, hardly any of the (largely anonymous) criticism directed at the club on social media has made its way to us directly in the form of emails or letters…

Nevertheless, our supporters do have every right to express their reasonable opinions. The game is full of opinions. It’s what makes our sport as popular as it is. But personal attacks on our people (least of all, our chairman), or attempts to scapegoat individuals through social media, are totally unnecessary and will never be acceptable to us, not least as we go out of our way to fully engage with our fans at all times.

Jesus wept. For sure there has been a lot of nonsense written on social media etc but he really needs to rise above it and ignore it unless it's say a serious threat or trolling or something.

 

[Commander]

Nevertheless, our supporters do have every right to express their reasonable opinions.

Er, no Paul, our supporters have every right to express whatever opinions they want, not just the ones that you think are reasonable.

But personal attacks on our people (least of all, our chairman), or attempts to scapegoat individuals through social media, are totally unnecessary and will never be acceptable to us

What personal attacks have there been on Tony Bloom? I can remember one thread saying he should sell up and go, and pretty much every response told the poster he was an idiot. And "will never be acceptable to us"- what are you going to do? Round up the culprits and feed them to the pigs? We're fans of a football club FFS, not your loyal subjects.

To be fair, most of what he's said is fair enough, and only really echoes what most reasonable people have said all along. But the club still failed to sign the most important player we needed, so they can't be immune to criticism, regardless of how difficult this transfer window was. Other clubs managed it, after all.

The moaning on NSC has clearly touched a nerve, you can almost hear him HAMMERING THE KEYS as he's typing it. Judging by most of the responses on here, it was a mistake to do it, and has only riled people further. It would have been better to just keep quiet and accept that there was going to be a lot of criticism, some of it unjust, and let things calm down a bit. People are still going to go to games, the club is still going to get their money.

All in all, he comes across like an extremely angry man who has taken some criticism very personally, for a job that he failed in. You'd think the CEO of a Premier League football club would have a thicker skin.

 

[Lower West Stander]

That's the bottom line. There is nothing anyone can do now to rectify the striker situation so all we can do is give the current squad the most support we can muster and make as much of a difference as we can.

I don't think anyone on this thread is saying we won't.

This is my club and I will support them on Saturday as passionately as I always have done.

But I'm paying sizeable chunk of money every year to the club too. If they have cocked up I'm entitled to say so.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I can imagine Andy Naylor right now.... Seagulls CEO hits back at disgruntled supporters

Nope, Naylor will spin it as

Paul Barber hits back at ungrateful supporters

 

[Machiavelli]

It's disappointing and unfortunate, but not in my opinion unacceptable. The transfer market, particularly at our level is ridiculously competitive and we were not the only team to miss out. It's not simply a matter of sauntering up to a club and player with a huge bag of cash and getting on with it. Barcelona couldn't get Coutinho despite having the cash and the player wanting to drive himself away from merseyside, are they failures?

it is what it is. The club imo did try exceptionally hard to land a striker and for a whole variety of reasons failed to get one. I accept this leaves us in a difficult situation but not an impossible one. Afterall Sunderland managed to get a good season out of Jermain Defoe (a proven talent at this level) and they were down by easter.

We shall have to look for goal-scoring contributions from the across the team. I still think Murray, Baldock, and Hemed can get 25+ between them, Knockaert, March, Stephens, Brown, Dunk, Duffy, Gross, Propper and Izquierdo can also chip in with their share. Last season 40 or so goals and 35 points would have kept you up. I do not think either of those targets are beyond the squad that we have.

This real football not FIFA. can't wait to get back to the Amex on saturday and actually show my support for this team.

I agree with your broad thrust, but:
-- I remain of the view that certain personnel (PB, primarily) did screw up in terms of not signing a striker
-- I am of the view that Hemed, Murray and Baldock will struggle to get to 20 goals between them, and will probably get far fewer than that, which is not to say that we won't get to 40, which is a realistic target to aim for in terms of surviving in the PL.

 

[Weststander]

Many of us disagreed with the club's spring/summer strategy on acquiring strikers, which ultimately failed.

But with the sums so huge and the recruitment so vital, this was a Board decision every step of the way, so TB was behind it. In addition the striker process was very scientific, structured and too clever by half with a misguided perception that it would all click into place at the very end of August. A high risk strategy when your only striker with pace, as much as we love Baldock, is always injured. I'm not going to single out PB. TB gambled and for once, it didn't come off.

Once the PR operation is over, everyone will get behind the club and team.

 

[Notters]

Indeed. People moan but the vast majority always support their team on match day. Let's hope the team respond by at least putting 100% effort in.

Nah, there's always loads of people constantly moaning throughout the game at the Amex, wherever I've sat. I imagine once a moaner always a moaner?

 

[Machiavelli]

You'd think the CEO of a Premier League football club would have a thicker skin.

Like a/the lizard?

 

[Jimmehh]

I thought this was a new movie title

'The story of how one club failed so badly to sign the key position they required after having a month and a half longer than Huddersfield'

I reckon it would be a box office success

 

[Rogero]

Paul Barber is a bellend.

We are lucky to have him.

 

[WonderingSoton]

The whole Brighton associated world and their dog knew the main priority for this summer, was the striker department. Even without promotion that would have been the case, but with it that need just increased 10 fold.

Through being now a Premier League club, Brighton pretty much overnight become one of the top 40 odd wealthiest clubs in the entirety of world football.

There is no excuse for the striker situation CH has been left with, and I'm probably not the only one who finds Barber's comments condescending, not to mention 'buck passing' in nature. Take some responsibility man!

 

[Insel affe]

We are lucky to have him.

I tend to agree, there are far worse out there, be careful what you wish for.

 

[perseus]

Well, I voted 8/11 for our transfer activity over the summer.

It might have been 10/11 if we got T Delaney and F Andone.

And 7/11 if we got Janssen instead.

I thought we needed three quality players (midfielder, pacy striker, striker) and replacement left back and keeper and I guessed it would cost a near £60 million. I said so at the beginning. I also thought we would not be able to achieve our targets, thinking that we might have to wait for January for the striker.

In the end we got more players than I expected. Pity about not getting a striker, but no striker is better than one that doesn't score goals.

We are just going to have to play more sophisticated football and not just hoiking the ball up to a target man.