[Albion] Paul Hayward Article in Telegraph

[drew]

I love our club but the Poyet sacking and now this seem to have been handled quite badly. I don't have so much pity for Poyet as he was a bit of a dick but Hughton absolutely deserved the dignity of 'leaving by mutual consent'. IMO the club would not be facing the autopsy they now are had it been done that way.

We don't know but he may have been offered that option but didn't want to go.

 

[heathgate]

It always seemed like all attacking players were selected for their defensive qualities and discipline (eg willingness to track back). And new players weren't trusted for ages...

...... and young players, no matter how effective, were given little or no opportunity... .. a theme that prevailed across the entirety of his tenure and in my view would have irked TB somewhat given the money thrown at the academy.

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[clapham_gull]

So because people say he is. That's all I hear. Have not seen any evidence of this from his role at Brighton.

Not sure how impressive that cv is pre Brighton either.

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[DavidinSouthampton]

If you think about Flozza, Jurgs and Ali J as being attacking players, who have spent months being made 'Hughton ready' by learning to track back, look to make a sidewaus pass, and largely forget about attacking, you might begin to get the sense they might look a bit shit and feel a bit shit. Apologies for aftertiming but I always felt these 3 were good, could be good and should be good....

Absolutely. They had been very successful elsewhere. We didn't buy them because we thought they were rubbish.

 

[trueblue]

The Sun report lines up with what Andy Naylor has in this morning’s Argus, though.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/17637277.tony-bloom-considered-sacking-chris-hughton-four-weeks-ago/

And the line about the senior player tallies with what I heard several weeks ago. Which undermines Paul Hayward's statement about the thoughts of some of the senior pros. I imagine they respect Chris greatly for the job he's done overall but might not be devastated to have fresh ideas and a change in tactics. Probably sums up how a lot of fans feel too.

 

[Nathan]

'At the same time a summer cull will need to take out players who pursued personal agendas and were not supportive of the manager when results began to crumble. Bloom needs to be as ruthless in the dressing room as he was in the dug-out.'

I think it was the wrong decision to get rid of CH, but that decision has been made and we need to move on. However, we can't think that getting a new manager in will make everything alright. We need to look at the players who let CH, TB and the fans down. Some of them just aren't good enough or couldn't be bothered, changes are needed with the squad and will be interesting to see who stays and who goes.

 

[Grombleton]

So because people say he is. That's all I hear. Have not seen any evidence of this from his role at Brighton.

Not sure how impressive that cv is pre Brighton either.

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What defines success in his role, for you?

 

[Weststander]

'At the same time a summer cull will need to take out players who pursued personal agendas and were not supportive of the manager when results began to crumble. Bloom needs to be as ruthless in the dressing room as he was in the dug-out.'

I think it was the wrong decision to get rid of CH, but that decision has been made and we need to move on. However, we can't think that getting a new manager in will make everything alright. We need to look at the players who let CH, TB and the fans down. Some of them just aren't good enough or couldn't be bothered, changes are needed with the squad and will be interesting to see who stays and who goes.

We'll never know, but I think they were all bothered and tried. Some are simply too slow, allied to a lack of (consistent) top flight ability, to cut it.

 

[B-right-on]

This, I think, is what it boils down to. Not necesarily Latin but certainly possession based attacking football. Imagine being Tony Bloom, investing £350m (or whatever it is now) of your own money in to a stadium, training ground, youth academy and playing squad, and then having your club derided throughout the football world in this country as the most boring, unambitious, defensive side to grace the Premier League in years. A side that loses 5-0 at home to Bournemouth, which should be a sackable offence just on it's own.

It has seemed to me Bloom has been aiming towards a club DNA of young players playing possession football ever since he took over. Hughton was a pragmatic choice after the disaster that was Hyypia but has been the only appointment (or even rumoured apppointment) that has been outside of that template. The appointment of Ashworth, investment in under 23 squad and training ground all point towards this being the way forward. I just hope that if Potter, or whoever else is next, fails Bloom will remember to stick with this philosophy and not go back to pragmatism.

Good post. Couldn't agree more.

 

[Hungry Joe]

There was a point when we were 2-1 down in the first half on Sunday when Knocky was looking to push up the pitch to give an outlet on the right and he looked over to Hughton for instruction and Hughton clearly gestured to him to 'get back'. We were 2-1 down....in a match that would decide the title one way or the other....in the first half. It was at that point that I lost what faith I had left in ever seeing us go for it under Hughton. I felt incredibly sad because Hughton is an absolute hero to me, but it just went against everything I believed footbal to be about. If that is how they were being drilled in training too it would be no wonder some of the players had lost faith.

 

[B-right-on]

The Sun report lines up with what Andy Naylor has in this morning’s Argus, though.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/17637277.tony-bloom-considered-sacking-chris-hughton-four-weeks-ago/

It was the Bmuff drubbing that got me. We made them look like Barca and CH did nothing to change it up. Cardiff was the cherry on the cake.

Love Chris for what he's done for the club but another season of that dross would have made me consider not going. And the 5-6 others around me who have been there since Semi days all said the same thing.

 

[father_and_son]

Going by his laid back, happy in himself, media interviews over the last 21 months, he’ll take it in his stride. In describes every PL appearance as an unexpected bonus after a long career.

This... And CH in or CH out, he won't have expected to continue to be first choice next season. He has a season as our cup/sub/rest back-up striker but then I think his playing days are over.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

There was a point when we were 2-1 down in the first half on Sunday when Knocky was looking to push up the pitch to give an outlet on the right and he looked over to Hughton for instruction and Hughton clearly gestured to him to 'get back'. We were 2-1 down....in a match that would decide the title one way or the other....in the first half. It was at that point that I lost what faith I had left in ever seeing us go for it under Hughton. I felt incredibly sad because Hughton is an absolute hero to me, but it just went against everything I believed footbal to be about. If that is how they were being drilled in training too it would be no wonder some of the players had lost faith.

The fact that Cardiff, on their microscopic budget, had a good go at Chelsea at their place while we cowered on the 18-yard line at home to Huddersfield was when I began to lose faith. I know the real Andy Naylor always says that if we attacked top six teams we'd be torn apart, but others have shown different.

 

[BensGrandad]

I still believe the Newcastle 1St half had a big say in Tony Bloom's decision after such woeful performances against saints cherries and Cardiff getting a point at wolves without having a shot on goal and after players meeting etc. Etc. at home to the toon with a win virtually guarantee staying up and playing so poorly yet 2nd half playing as we can some attacking football meant that some players weren't bothering or certainly not playing for Hughton. We stank the premier league out half the season and that is not what Tony Bloom has invested in. He has provided large transfers compared to your saints cherries Burnley etc.and feels we should be better than we ended up

I disagree I believe that the possibility of sacking CH was raised as a result of the Southampton defeat and finally decided on after probably Bournemouth. The remainder of the season was left to take its course as far as CH future was concerned.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I was deeply uncomfortable with both the results and the performances in the series of 'winnable' home games that were supposed to safeguard our status. Barely mustering a shot on target in the Southampton, Bournemouth and Cardiff games was unforgiveable. We all know football, even teams at the bottom scrape wins against sides with less to play for in a relegation battle. Chris Hughton was saying the same thing after every defeat, along the lines of 'only we can turn it round', you kept expecting a reaction from the players, but it never came.

I think I said on a thread at least a week ago that I would have loved him to come out and say publicly, but also to Bloom, that he had learned some lessons from this season, if changes were needed they would be made to tactics or personnel, that he would be working tirelessly over the summer including on recruitment, that the 2019 form was not good enough and would not be repeated. If he had, I'd have let him have one more crack. Maybe Bloom wanted to hear that too.Instead it was more of the 'we have to expect to lose lots of games'. We do, but not this many with these players.

 

[Bold Seagull]

The fact that Cardiff, on their microscopic budget, had a good go at Chelsea at their place while we cowered on the 18-yard line at home to Huddersfield was when I began to lose faith. I know the real Andy Naylor always says that if we attacked top six teams we'd be torn apart, but others have shown different.

How many others did show different in the end? The top 6 lost 46 out of their 228 matches. I'm sure the lion's share of those defeats were to each other. How many teams did get points off them outside the top 6?

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Who is this Hayward muppet
Palarse fan

Or just a typical Journo looking for paper sales?

 

[Springal]

Who is this Hayward muppet
Palarse fan

Or just a typical Journo looking for paper sales?

Chief Sports Writer at the Telegraph.... and Brighton fan.

To be fair he is normally pretty good, but of course he has his opinion which is perfectly valid. Even if I disagree

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Chief Sports Writer at the Telegraph.... and Brighton fan.

To be fair he is normally pretty good, but of course he has his opinion which is perfectly valid. Even if I disagree

Seriously a Brighton fan

If this is true I think I would ban him from attending matches, how dare he put Hughton over Bloom, Bloom is a fan and the main investor and Hughton was just a short term employee.

He should be praising Bloom for his patience in what was an absolute nightmare of the second half of the season.

 

[Mellotron]

If you think about Flozza, Jurgs and Ali J as being attacking players, who have spent months being made 'Hughton ready' by learning to track back, look to make a sidewaus pass, and largely forget about attacking, you might begin to get the sense they might look a bit shit and feel a bit shit. Apologies for aftertiming but I always felt these 3 were good, could be good and should be good....

This all day long. Seems so obvious to me that I'm surprised a number of people on here - some of whom I would have as pretty decent at spotting a player - can't see it.

I guess we will get a decent chance to see whether this is correct next season.