The Albion are going down the pan

[Albion Rob]

That is my opinion anyway. Now, I will admit straight away that I have not been to any board meetings and con only bring a few FACTS to the table but what I am about to write will surely make unpleasant reading (and not just the typos).

We've offloaded a player we got for free for 250k. Good move. However, from a footballing perpective he contrivuted to about half our goals this season. Without him we would be in 23rd positing, FACT.

But the thing that worries me the most is the we are due a 250k windfall in about a month. Are we really in a position where we cannot hold on for that? Is money really that tight that we have to cash in our chips on a player we know is decent and has vreated goals for us. I see there is a lot of talk about the Arsenal youngster - and an exciting proscppect he seems - but it foes concern me. Looking at it in the cold light of day, Grham Barrett was an excellent prospect when he came here. Highly regarded ny Arsenal and scored on his international debut. Sadly I hold him largely responsible for our relegation. Not because he didn't try but because he couldn't cut it. We have been gforced to offload a player who is good and may bring in one who may or may not be. This concernes me.

However, the main thrust is that we have got to be seriously in trouble financially. I have a friend at the club and I took great joy in speculating to him that the Spurs money should help us bring in a player for the season run-in who will be the difference between survival and relegation. He cut me dead by informing me that this cash should be just enough to keep the club running until the end of the seaso. Now, he doesn't go to board meetings either but I trust his information.

The inquiry is bleeding the club dry. Withdean is bleeding the club dry. The club have been forced to approach the fans with a begging bowl held out in a bid to secure its future for the short to mid term. How bad is that? We didn't see West Ham having to do that and we certainly didn't see it at Ipswich who quite clearly saw a player have a good game against them and thought they wouldn't mind beinging him in. Not as if it's blown their bidget. When was the last time we signed someone for £250k - and consider the transfer market was at its peak three years ago.

The club can not go on like this. I don't know what the answer is. Wealthy board member? Pray the inquiry goes our way? Stick with Withdean and reshape our aspirations to see mid tbale in League One as our zenith?

Whatever we do, I am left with a nagging feeling that come the 2006/7 season we may be cheering on AFC Brighton in the southern League.

I really hope that is not the case.

 

[Seagullible]

sorry but he may have set up a lot of goals but who is to say that had Hart or Jones played then things may have been different. They are better at defending so we may not have conceded some goals. It's all if and buts so you can't say what position we'd be in and say FACT

 

[CHAPPERS]

It's enough to make me want to cry.

 

[Icy Gull]

Are you a glass is half empty sort of person normally? My first reaction was much like yours, but on reflection it was a piece of business we couldn't turn down. We will know very shortly if things are as bad as you say. If we get two players in, I think we will have pulled of a masterstroke. No players coming in within a couple of weeks and I think I'll be in agreement with you.

 

[Albion Rob]

sorry but he may have set up a lot of goals but who is to say that had Hart or Jones played then things may have been different. They are better at defending so we may not have conceded some goals. It's all if and buts so you can't say what position we'd be in and say FACT

Ok, maybe not FACT but certainly a fair assumption. Hart and Jones didn't create much for us in Division Ywo, let alone the Championship and McGhee does get to see them all week in training and clearly thought Currie was a better player. I would go as far as to say Jones (an I really like him) is one of the worst crossers of the ball I have ever seen. I think the last goal we scored from one of his crosses was when Bobby smuggled the ball in at Bristol City a few years ago.

Having said what I said, I do concede that our best result of the season came when Currie didn't even play (much) against West Ham.

 

[El Presidente]

It just shows that the club cannot survive at Withdean. We would have had a number of five figure attendances for the likes of Leeds, West Ham, QPR etc if we had the room but we don't, the joy at returning from exile has evaporated as people are fed up paying top dollar to watch football in the rain, with no atmosphere, behind a running track.

The board are unable/unwilling to put any more money into the club until we have a green light on Falmer, they have already stuck in £4 million and we are still stuck in limbo.

If we avoid relegation this season it will be the highest position the club has achieved for 14 years, but without a positive on Falmer it will never be beaten.

 

[Albion Rob]

Are you a glass is half empty sort of person normally? My first reaction was much like yours, but on reflection it was a piece of business we couldn't turn down. We will know very shortly if things are as bad as you say. If we get two players in, I think we will have pulled of a masterstroke. No players coming in within a couple of weeks and I think I'll be in agreement with you.

I'm acutally a half glass full man, I always think we can win every game, even thought we could nick a win at Wigan when we were 1-0 down!

I just worry that the deeper reasons behind the transfer could be a real body blow but obviously hope I'm very wrong.

As has been said though, amazing bit of vusiness, a quarter of a mill for a bloke we got for nothing a few months ago.

 

[ManOnTheRun]

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the opportunity was too great for a player that has toiled in the lower leagues for most of his career.

This is a chance for him to play at probably the highest level, that he can, in a side that could be in the Premiership this time next year (not that I think either he or Ipswich are good enough)

If we had blocked the move (which IMHO would have been absolutely mental) who's to say he wouldn't have dropped his head and played like an absolute nobber for the rest of the season.

I share you concerns but this offer was too good to be true, if it had been Cullip or Knight however, it may have been a different story.

 

[Paddy B]

Calm down Rob! The financial situation at the club is nothing new and it is entirley possible that Currie wont be the last to leave this season.

But I am confident the club will find a way to survive until Falmer IS given the go ahead, whether that is at the expense of our survival in this division remains to be seen but I believe it is a sacrifice worth making

 

[Brovion]

Typical NSC over-reaction.

 

[balloonboy]

Bloody hell. What does the club have to do? If anyone on here had been asked "How much do you think we could sell Currie for?", most (I believe) would have plumped for £50k at the most. He's a good player alright but £250k in today's market is too good to miss, even if you're NOT in the financial shits. Selling one player (who's on a very short term contract, by the way) is hardly a disaster. If the money from the Spurs game keeps us going till the end of the season, then Currie's money keeps us going for another 6 months. Let's face it, many clubs are only alive because they sell players. Think of Crewe. We have developped a great youth system over the past 5 years or so, which is now beginning to bear fruit. OK, so we may have to sell the likes of Harding and El Abd at some stage, but if that keeps the club alive, that's fine by me. I'd rather this wasn't the case, but in the circumstances it's not a disaster.

 

[Albion Rob]

To put my concerns another way, what the hell would we have done if we had drawn someone like Yeading at home in the cup and contrived to lose??

We'd be 250k down for a start....

God I've got to stop posting today, I'm depressing myself.

 

[Albion Rob]

Typical NSC over-reaction.

Maybe, maybe not, we'll see in due course.

 

[Albion Rob]

Bloody hell. What does the club have to do? If anyone on here had been asked "How much do you think we could sell Currie for?", most (I believe) would have plumped for £50k at the most. He's a good player alright but £250k in today's market is too good to miss, even if you're NOT in the financial shits. Selling one player (who's on a very short term contract, by the way) is hardly a disaster. If the money from the Spurs game keeps us going till the end of the season, then Currie's money keeps us going for another 6 months. Let's face it, many clubs are only alive because they sell players. Think of Crewe. We have developped a great youth system over the past 5 years or so, which is now beginning to bear fruit. OK, so we may have to sell the likes of Harding and El Abd at some stage, but if that keeps the club alive, that's fine by me. I'd rather this wasn't the case, but in the circumstances it's not a disaster.

But I don't want to be like Crewe. I don't want 12th in the Championship to be the pinnacle of the club's achievements. I want to dream that the Albion genuinely could get into the UEFA cup in 10 years and I want to believe that we could win the League Cup if fate conspired to help us. I'm not syaing let's pack up and go home now, I'm just sad that I have been brought up hearing about how the Albion caused plenty of ripples in the top glight and find it very hard to accept that I may never be able to recount similar experiences to my own children.

 

[Seagullible]

To put my concerns another way, what the hell would we have done if we had drawn someone like Yeading at home in the cup and contrived to lose??

We'd be 250k down for a start....

God I've got to stop posting today, I'm depressing myself.

but we didn't draw Yeading so there's no arguement. Lighten up - our beloved club will be fine, we've been through worse and I'm sure will have tough times ahead but we're not bottom, we CAN stay up this year and hopefully WILL get Falmer. there's a lot to look forward to aswell and the more positive we are the more chance we have of pulling together and getting the results WE DESERVE.

 

[Lokki 7]

This is precisely why god invented beer

 

[Ex Shelton Seagull]

As long as I can remember the Albion have been in financial trouble and having to sell players to survive. It's what we do. From Dean Saunders to Bobby Zamora, we always have to sell off our best to bigger lights in order to keep going.

Most clubs in the Football League have money trouble. There's a lot of teams that live just a few minutes from midnight. We are no bigger than Crewe, Gillingham and Rotherham at the moment and all those teams would have sold Currie for 250k.

We didn't want to sell him and if he had wanted to stay I don't think we would have. But he wants to play at the highest level possible so it was down to DK to get the most he could. What a success he made of it.

I think it's the shock that it's Currie that has left has made people feel miserable. No-one saw this coming. If we had announced a deal to sell Harding in January then I don't think we would have seen this sort of reaction.

Players come and go, but the club remains. If a couple of players have to leave to keep the Albion going then so be it. That's the way the world works. I don't like it but that's the reality of our situation and it's been like that since John Jackson started the whole show all those years ago.

BTW what happened to your spelling in that first post ROBERT? It was all over the shop! Have you been having a few drinks to console yourself?

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

I'm mostly with Rob here - yes, 250k is a lot of money, but what is it worth if we go down? I accept if he wanted to go, we had little choice, but I'm worried about where we go from here - who plays in the creative position? Even if Owusu-Abeiye does come, he's a striker. Most distressing ...

 

[Seagullible]

I'm mostly with Rob here - yes, 250k is a lot of money, but what is it worth if we go down? I accept if he wanted to go, we had little choice, but I'm worried about where we go from here - who plays in the creative position? Even if Owusu-Abeiye does come, he's a striker. Most distressing ...

Think you'll find he wants to play on the wing so not bad at all. CHEER UP EVERYONE

 

[Stinky Kat]

As may ace bud binary just said we may now get McGammon, but my bet is this 250k is going into the solictor pot. Pity McGammon wont be putting the ball into the box to himself so he can score.

Shame a player with real skill and potential had to go, oh well it was nice while it lasted. Good luck to you