[Albion] The Mike Bailey Principle

[BensGrandad]

I was only 10 - 14 years old during our Division 1 time, .. can't critique a journalist's output! Did he ever fan the flames of dissent against Mike Bailey';s tactics - that was the question HWT was asking..

I cannot remember to be honest but his usual ploy was at somd time to cover every scenario win lose or draw so Iwould think that it is highly likely that at some time he wrote should stay and at another time should be sacked.

 

[Weststander]

IF Chris Hughton manages to establish us in the premier league, then in the future we may well have a manager who plays some lovely flair stuff...


But the first part of that equation is a long way from being achieved. Walk before you can run.

Life’s too short. Sack him now and appoint a flair manager, to appease the moaning minnies.

 

[ewe2]

I think its really uplifting to see how the team and especially the defenders as one celebrate with such passion the Wolves victory. Such a close knit group !

 

[Weststander]

I cannot remember to be honest but his usual ploy was at somd time to cover every scenario win lose or draw so Iwould think that it ix highly likely that at some time he wrote should stay and at another time should be sacked.

Sounds like Merson.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Walk before you can run.

Or run and if you fall over get up and have another go.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I think its really uplifting to see how the team and especially the defenders as one celebrate with such passion the Wolves victory. Such a close knit group !

And that's what our attitude should be too. Until the team starts playing scintillating football, we should be cheering every tackle and header won and showing that we appreciate that brilliant, committed defending wins games as much as attacking does.

 

[darkwolf666]

Mike Bailey should have been given more time, which Chris will get. Winning games at this level is all that matters at the moment as far as I am concerned. Not paying well and winning is good thing.

Falling attendances while winning would be a worry ...

Lets enjoy the ride.

Personally great rear guards are a fantastic spectacle.

Forest away in 1979 springs to mind...

Oh yes, a great day not to be forgotten...

 

[Super Steve Earle]

back in 1982 it was just a very vocal minority of fans at a fans forum who started the myth of Bailey's football being boring and keeping the crowds away when it was a shite ground and facilities , crowd trouble and crap like that and we were in the middle of Thatcher's recession so people didn't have money to spend

Well that's just utter rubbish. I was certainly not part of any vocal minority and nor where any of my mates. It was no myth, Bailey's team was what might be described today as 'vanilla'. Organised to the point of utter tedium. Shite ground and facilities? Well it was my ground and I would never have stayed away for that reason. To blame Thatcher beggars belief - in Brighton we were more likely to blame Scargill if we were using such a fatuous argument for not going to a football match - which we weren't! There is no comparison with Hughton's style. He had three wingers starting against Wolves and freely admits that we have better levels to reach. But savour the roar of the crowd when the final whistle blew on Saturday - never heard during Bailey's reign.

 

[Weststander]

Or run and if you fall over get up and have another go.

With Tony having to £m subsidise Championship Albion should the flair experiment fails.

 

[Seasidesage]

Is there a point we could consider replacing Hughton? Yes of course there is. Nothing lasts forever. However, we are nowhere near that point currently. We are a work in progress and anyone who cannot see that is a prat. Second season up against clubs with bigger budgets. We cannot open up at this point, we don't have the players. I also suspect that had Gross been available Saturday we would have offered more in attack than we did but even then the new players need time to get up to speed and adjust to the PL. To progress, we need to be able to increase budgets, which can only come from clever recruitment and sales. We also need to be able to produce quality players through our youth system. If and its a big if, we can achieve those things we can start to play more expansive football and try to effect the top end of the table. At the moment we are looking at incremental gains and survival as the basis of our plan. If we had the players and still played negatively then the moaners might have an argument but until we get to that point, we need to play to a system that maximises our potential and gleans as many points as possible. That to my mind is exactly where we are right now.

I think the management team are preforming brilliantly and putting the building blocks in place for a bright future. I think we are a million miles from the Mike Bailey situation personally....

 

[LamieRobertson]

Well that's just utter rubbish. I was certainly not part of any vocal minority and nor where any of my mates. It was no myth, Bailey's team was what might be described today as 'vanilla'. Organised to the point of utter tedium. Shite ground and facilities? Well it was my ground and I would never have stayed away for that reason. To blame Thatcher beggars belief - in Brighton we were more likely to blame Scargill if we were using such a fatuous argument for not going to a football match - which we weren't! There is no comparison with Hughton's style. He had three wingers starting against Wolves and freely admits that we have better levels to reach. But savour the roar of the crowd when the final whistle blew on Saturday - never heard during Bailey's reign.

Ain't that just so!

 

[Weststander]

Well that's just utter rubbish. I was certainly not part of any vocal minority and nor where any of my mates. It was no myth, Bailey's team was what might be described today as 'vanilla'. Organised to the point of utter tedium. Shite ground and facilities? Well it was my ground and I would never have stayed away for that reason. To blame Thatcher beggars belief - in Brighton we were more likely to blame Scargill if we were using such a fatuous argument for not going to a football match - which we weren't! There is no comparison with Hughton's style. He had three wingers starting against Wolves and freely admits that we have better levels to reach. But savour the roar of the crowd when the final whistle blew on Saturday - never heard during Bailey's reign.

This.

Goldstone crowds dimished steadily post 79 promotion. The feelgood factor of countless home wins 1976 to 1979, with up to 33,500, was never the same with the First Division giving an awful lot of losses against simply better teams.

 

[drew]

Well that's just utter rubbish. I was certainly not part of any vocal minority and nor where any of my mates. It was no myth, Bailey's team was what might be described today as 'vanilla'. Organised to the point of utter tedium. Shite ground and facilities? Well it was my ground and I would never have stayed away for that reason. To blame Thatcher beggars belief - in Brighton we were more likely to blame Scargill if we were using such a fatuous argument for not going to a football match - which we weren't! There is no comparison with Hughton's style. He had three wingers starting against Wolves and freely admits that we have better levels to reach. But savour the roar of the crowd when the final whistle blew on Saturday - never heard during Bailey's reign.

Agree re comments about the Goldstone. It was the same ground that a couple of years earlier had been getting gates between 25k and 30k. I would suggest the only two factors that would reduce gates were the quality of the football and the increase in violence although neither actually stopped me going.

 

[Icy Gull]

The very big difference is that Hughton would walk into another top Championship, Lower Premier League job if he was sacked. Bailey never managed at a decent level again after he was sacked

 

[Ernest]

The very big difference is that Hughton would walk into another top Championship, Lower Premier League job if he was sacked. Bailey never managed at a decent level again after he was sacked

That doesn't mean anything now, Alan Pardew walks into another job after job as do the usual suspects. Then clubs were more likely to promote from lower leagues as we did with Mike Bailey

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

My memory, is that John Vinicombe, was firmly behind the Club, and certainly don't remember them stoking the fires on this topic. He mentioned the wishes of some fans to go back to Division 2 in his recount of our 1st season in Division 1 with some disdain and don't recall him getting on the back of MB. My opinion is that we have always had a fickle, wider fan-base. We are fighting relegation until such time we are not : how much better in the PL can we really expect to be, ever, let alone 10 games in of our 2nd season? We have to cut our cloth accordingly - defeats against Newcastle, West Ham and Wolves, however entertaining would leave us with 5 points.. Being hard to beat is a great place to be for the Club right now. I didn't see a great deal of difference about how we set up to play Man Utd than we did against Wolves - we didn't play as well on Saturday, and Wolves were a lot better than United on the day.

Thanks for that. Much as I would have thought.

People, eh? Still, when twerps pipe up sufficiently to cause real strife (as opposed to ignorable wittering), one would hope others will slap them down.

 

[drew]

My memory, is that John Vinicombe, was firmly behind the Club, and certainly don't remember them stoking the fires on this topic. He mentioned the wishes of some fans to go back to Division 2 in his recount of our 1st season in Division 1 with some disdain and don't recall him getting on the back of MB. My opinion is that we have always had a fickle, wider fan-base. We are fighting relegation until such time we are not : how much better in the PL can we really expect to be, ever, let alone 10 games in of our 2nd season? We have to cut our cloth accordingly - defeats against Newcastle, West Ham and Wolves, however entertaining would leave us with 5 points.. Being hard to beat is a great place to be for the Club right now. I didn't see a great deal of difference about how we set up to play Man Utd than we did against Wolves - we didn't play as well on Saturday, and Wolves were a lot better than United on the day.

Not sure you can call people who aspire to be entertained fickle. 351 days between away wins and having seem them all bar two in that time you could call me stupid for expecting anything more!!!!

 

[Pavilionaire]

The top flight now is a very different animal to that of the early 80s. No live matches and a lack of money in the game meant that gate receipts were vital, consequently relegation wasn't the be all and end it is now.

In addition, there is no expectation that we will trouble the top 6 places and a top ten finish is dreamland territory. The Prem is huge, it's global, the world is watching so it's all about staying up, the 6-pointers are cup finals and taking the scalp of one of the big boys is the icing on the cake.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

With Tony having to £m subsidise Championship Albion should the flair experiment fails.

But just think of watching a match for entertainment.

When we had Vicente for example i would have paid double the money.

I know a lot of premier fans will put up with negative football just for the win. I would agree with it if I was a player but as a spectator I like entertainment, even if it does mean we yo yo.

It's worth the gamble IMO.

 

[Eeyore]

9,845 v Birmingham 25/9/82.

Yes. One of my early games. Five years previously, in Division Three, we had 30,000.