So are Reading really a better project ?

[London Irish]

Rubbish, see my previous post.

What did you factually disprove about his posting? And be aware that you are going to have say something less risible and hilarious than all Gus's acheivements at the Albion are down to the guidance of Dennis Wise

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Agree with all of this except for the comment about us challenging clubs like Sunderland in terms of size/support.

Yes...Rokerite is being too pessimistic about his own club. BHA will never achieve the fanbase of a club like Sunderland. I do agree that we are potentially bigger than Reading.
1) Capacity...Mad Stad 24,000...Amex 30,750.
2) Saturdays attendance at Reading 20,546 ( 85% of capacity )..incl 2550 from Ipswich....Brand new season...new players...new manager..excitement in the air...will be one of their bigger crowds this season. Would we have got more than 26,140 ( 85% of Amex capacity ) had we been at home on saturday....Yes.
3) Reading fanbase far more fickle. Smaller catchment area. The town is close enough to London to allow local youngsters to get to Chelsea/Fulham/Arsenal/Tottenham. In the town you see Man Utd/Liverpool/Arsenal/Chelsea shirts everywhere.
4) In the Prem, they all turn out for the ' big ' games and pick and choose the rest. In the Championship, they will dip as low as 17,000 this season.
5) Parachute money is their big advantage. Hence the signing of Wayne Bridge on approx £40k per week ( just remember, they pinched him from under the nose of QPR and imagine what Harry was offering him! )
6) Reading overtook us when they built the Mad Stad and Coppell knew in the short term that they were the better bet. In his heart of hearts he knew Brighton had more potential but he couldn't wait that long.

 

[brightoon]

I also feel with the Reading offer, that it was obvious to anyone that Reading were going down. At that time we still had a chance of promotion. If Gus had committed to a new contract at Reading, got relegated and then Reading move the goalposts he would be stuck in a contract which would not have been easy to get out of. At the end of the day he gambled on our promotion, if we had gone up he could have walked away to a bigger club a hero, having achieved his and our goal. As has been mentioned several times before im affraind Gus's ego got the better of him. I dont take pleasure in this as I think BHA under Poyet were the best team to watch outside of the top 4 in the Prem League and on our day we were brilliant.

 

[Deleted member 18477]

Reading is a better short term project. Brighton is a better long term project and would look much better on a CV establishing Brighton in Prem rather than Reading.

 

[symyjym]

What did you factually disprove about his posting? And be aware that you are going to have say something less risible and hilarious than all Gus's acheivements at the Albion are down to the guidance of Dennis Wise

I disagree with Matt Richards saying;

"My personal reading of this is that Tony's reaction was one of hurt that Gus was jumping ship and was done to tarnish Gus' reputation in order to make any other interested clubs wary." and "Clearly he would never admit it but I suspect this is the biggest call of his chairmanship so far (in respect of the team) and maybe playing it as a poker player and not an experienced football chairman hasn't worked. It is pretty clear the way it has played out (and continues to do so) that Gus has lost and we have lost too."

 

[The Merry Prankster]

I take Gus to mean - whatever I thought I had in the bag didn't come off rending my telephone call asking to leave a bit premature, so when Reading showed an interest of course Tony Bloom was interested in getting shot of me and getting the compo. BUT it was "only Reading" and they were clearly going down which didn't work for me at all so I turned them down. Obviously I will now claim that was loyalty. Of course after Tony wouldn't let me go I behaved in a manner that allowed them to sack me for gross misconduct but that was unfair as I only behaved as any thwarted child would have.

 

[Icy Gull]

If you had to make a call right now about who will make the Premier League first, us or Poyet, what would you guess?

Poyet, without a doubt but I don't think that answers the question as to whether he gambled on something better coming along or whether, at the time, he decided that he was better off staying here because the chances of the Albion making the Premier League were better than the chances that Reading would stay there. If not he could hope to get a Premier League job off the back of what he had done here. Without all the subsequent shit I think he may well have got the Premier League job he wanted by now

Whatever the answer, the apparent manouevering by Gus leaves a bad taste to me. Without knowing the ins and outs my gut feeling is that Bloom decided he'd had enough, rightly or wrongly. There are no winners here.

 

[Matt Richards]

I disagree with Matt Richards saying;

"My personal reading of this is that Tony's reaction was one of hurt that Gus was jumping ship and was done to tarnish Gus' reputation in order to make any other interested clubs wary." and "Clearly he would never admit it but I suspect this is the biggest call of his chairmanship so far (in respect of the team) and maybe playing it as a poker player and not an experienced football chairman hasn't worked. It is pretty clear the way it has played out (and continues to do so) that Gus has lost and we have lost too."

I think that Tony called it right during the season as getting someone new in then could have been disastrous for our season. However, at the end of the season we could easily have agreed a parting of ways behind closed doors and moved on. In relation to stciking to his principles of not allowing Gus to walk over over him and the club I agree with the route Tony has taken since the end of the season and I agree that the stubbornness of Gus has meant that neither side are going to back down. All I am saying is that most other chairmen would have reached an agreement and moved on and we MAY have been in a better position now had we done so. Gus certainly would be.

 

[the wanderbus]

The fact is we should have gone up last season,quite comfortably and worry we won't get such a good opportunity again for years.

Which proves that Poyet wasn't as good as some like to think, maybe we got into the play offs inspite of , not because of Gus.

 

[Matt Richards]

I take Gus to mean - whatever I thought I had in the bag didn't come off rending my telephone call asking to leave a bit premature, so when Reading showed an interest of course Tony Bloom was interested in getting shot of me and getting the compo. BUT it was "only Reading" and they were clearly going down which didn't work for me at all so I turned them down. Obviously I will now claim that was loyalty. Of course after Tony wouldn't let me go I behaved in a manner that allowed them to sack me for gross misconduct but that was unfair as I only behaved as any thwarted child would have.

Very well put.

 

[Icy Gull]

Anyone who genuinely thinks that is going to be a shock over the coming years. We have been spoiled with Gus, reality is going to hit some fans pretty hard I think.

If we have a manager who plays good football and doesn't tout himself and moan about budgets all the time I'll take the reality, even if it means staying in this division for a while. I think you may be wrong though. Has that ever crossed your mind? I don't think it has, has it?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Anyone who genuinely thinks that is going to be in for a shock over the coming years. We have been spoiled with Gus, reality is going to hit some fans pretty hard I think.

Not at all. Gus unfortunately hit his own 'ceiling'. 2 attempts at promotion from the championship with massive backing from Tony in all areas, and he couldn't manage it. Far more interested in Project Poyet.

If he'd spent less time sulking for the 2nd playoff leg, and more time motivating the team, then perhaps we would have reached Wembley.

 

[willyfantastic]

priceless. The players let Poyet down Poyet had a ridiculously strong team, credit to him for building it (and TB for funding it) but the problem was he didn't use it well enough. You can't be going away to near relegated Bristol City and playing 1 winger and 1 striker, not take a single shot all match and expect to be good enough to get promoted. Drab turgid football. Sometimes it was beautiful, but sometimes it was dross.

Poyet was very good at building a team and convincing players to join. he's SHITE at man-management though, keeping them happy was a completely different ball-game

 

[The Large One]

Not at all. Gus unfortunately hit his own 'ceiling'. 2 attempts at promotion from the championship with massive backing from Tony in all areas, and he couldn't manage it. Far more interested in Project Poyet..

Pure conjecture.

He did have 'massive backing' from Tony, but that's not the central issue. One, the massive backing guarantees nothing, no matter who the manager is. Two, as was proved by figures posted on here, the 'massive backing' didn't compare favourably with most of the division (i.e. 14th highest in the division).

 

[Icy Gull]

Pure conjecture.

He did have 'massive backing' from Tony, but that's not the central issue. One, the massive backing guarantees nothing, no matter who the manager is. Two, as was proved by figures posted on here, the 'massive backing' didn't compare favourably with most of the division (i.e. 14th highest in the division).

Who said we had the 14th biggest budget in the league? I know Poyet did but I don't recall hearing it from anyone else, except when it was quoted on here. Are you suggesting that because Poyet said it, it was correct or have I missed Bloom or Barber backing the statement up?

 

[The Large One]

Who said we had the 14th biggest budget in the league? I know Poyet did but I don't recall hearing it from anyone else, except when it was quoted on here. Are you suggesting that because Poyet said it, it was correct or have I missed Bloom or Barber backing the statement up?

No. I said the comparative figures were quoted on here.

Don't ask me to find them, because I don't know where they are.

 

[Icy Gull]

No. I said the figures were quoted on here.

Hardly proof is it? I have also seen the same, but I'm pretty sure it was just quoting Gus. I've also seen that we had the 4th biggest budget quoted on here

 

[The Large One]

Hardly proof is it?

I believe the figures were compiled by PriceWaterhouse Coopers. They were posted, I think, by El Presidente.

What other forms of proof would you like?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Indeed, which is why he is going to court to get it removed from his CV. You seem curiously relaxed about the club's dirty linen being washed in front of the nation's press, but fair enough

If it gets to court. I still suspect this won't go all the way. In the clubs defence they seemed to have followed a robust HR process, which they should actually be commended for, the only OG being when the news was allegedly broken to Gus.

Gus does have a tendency of 'shooting from the hip', I just wonder when he will come unstuck in the end....

 

[Icy Gull]

I believe the figures were compiled by PriceWaterhouse Coopers. They were posted, I think, by El Presidente.

What other forms of proof would you like?

I'm impressed that they had access to budgets and player spending from last season before the accounts have been published for last season. How do they manage that then?