"The one thing I’ve got is a good group of lads that want to work hard"

[The Brighton Buzz]

The biggest under investment was last summer when we invested in a clueless Manager.

And I'm sorry but I just don't buy into the 'we have an increased playing budget' - so many players have been sold over the last 2 seasons (Ulloa, Bridcutt, Barnes, Buckley etc.) and replaced with far inferior players, or journeyman loanees who couldn't give a toss about the club.

We have gone so far backwards in the past two seasons it's unbelievable.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is IMO deluded.

I agree. If our playing budget has gone up that much and you measure the quality two years ago against the current squad, you have to say that someone accountable in the club is making an absolute balls of it all. Ok the players that were, and are still here will have had an increase but those that have been brought in this season should be on nothing like those that we sold. So to say that the budget has increased is absolute B****ks bearing in mind the money we spent on players this year. My gran could have scouted better players than those we have brought in this season with the exception of a few. I know that players in the development squad are nowhere near ready but with the players we brought in we might have well saved the money and developed the U21's they wouldn't have done much worse

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The real mystery to me this season is the suicidal mission Bloom set about in not only appointing Hyypia but then refusing to sack him after 3 wins in 23 matches and us firmly in the relegation zone. If he had stuck to his plans we would be playing league one football next season. This is a worry that he could not see what 30 000 other people saw around October last year. Any explanations ?

Can think of one or two. None I'd care to put in print tho.

 

[Hotchilidog]

The real mystery to me this season is the suicidal mission Bloom set about in not only appointing Hyypia but then refusing to sack him after 3 wins in 23 matches and us firmly in the relegation zone. If he had stuck to his plans we would be playing league one football next season. This is a worry that he could not see what 30 000 other people saw around October last year. Any explanations ?

Errr… he made a mistake. This happens in football. On the face of it the original appointment was fairly consistent with how Bloom had appointed Poyet and Garcia. A foreign coach with his own brand of football that appealed to TYony's sensibilities. As it turned out it was a bad appointment, but the initial decision to appoint him was not without merit.

As for why wasn't he sacked. A fair question, but I do not think the answer was that Bloom WANTED us to get relegated. I do not have the answer to that one, unless they felt he was going to walk, or had discussed a resignation with him to save a little money.

And you can bleat on about the spending all you like FFP has been a factor in our financial decisions and we have managed to comply whilst setting aside more money for wages than we have ever done. sadly this season that money has been wasted on what has been a poor bunch of players, that, if you had been paying attention over the last few decades, also happens from time to time.

With Poyet and Garcia we had a good run of making decisions that panned out. The appointment of Hyppia did not, the player recruitment decisions also didn't. Both those things have now been dealt with. We will not be in a position to do anything about it until the window opens again at the end of the season. It is kind of pointless banging on about how crap this particular set of players is at the moment as I'd like to think many of them will not be here next season.

Once we have failed to sign anyone of note (or sign Leon Best!) by the end of june then we can all start getting het up again.

To say that Bloom and or Barber are deliberately sabotaging the club is quite simply ridiculous.

 

[chaileyjem]

Give it a rest Pravda. Don't give a shit what the Albion are playing their players as a year-on-year increase on what they paid their players the year before. Its a meaningless figure. Say the Albion's wage limit increases 2% a year and the market rate increases 10% a year. It'll take a maximum two years before anyone other than journeymen with mortgage commitments come here. Meanwhile, all our decent players are being asset-stripped to the Premier League. Maybe Tony Bloom is going LARGE on a market downward correction, which will undoubtedly happen at some point. But it won't happen before the Albion are playing in League One.

Ok. You think the Albion should spend far more on wages and fees to attract better players and a better squad to guarantee promotion and presumably either a) your view... Tony Bloom is unaware this is the right strategy this because he wants to , well i'm not sure but has some plan up his sleeves that in your view will eventually involve us being relegated to L1. or b) my view.. he is aware of that as a strategy and thats the pretty much the one the club has been pursuing but this season has been a disappointment due to the decisions made by Burke (sacked) and Hyypia (resigned) . After all nothing is guaranteed. Ask Wigan who really will be relegated to L1 this season after last year in the play offs.

I then quote figures that are publicly available which in fact demonstrate to support b) that we spend more on players wages/fees than the majority of clubs in the Championship even those with parachute payments , that Albion like every club in the Championship bar a couple makes a profit on player sales to the Prem and that many clubs have spent far far less than the Albion in recent seasons but have got promoted nonetheless.

And yet its poor old me who gets compared to that well known Russian newspaper who prints wild stories unrelated to the evidence, truth or facts. SHOCKING.

 

[Don Quixote]

The players are lower midtable/relegation players. The number of points we have says it all. If we are to compete next season, and not repeat this disaster of a season, we must buy better players. It is going to end up costing us more I reckon than if we had just kept all the players that we sold.

 

[NooBHA]

True TH. The club appears to have absolutely zero desire to get promoted to the top flight which I find very disappointing after all the rhetoric spun out over the last 4 years

I don't think that is true. No one invests that amount of his own money for the sake of it.

Lets say he has invested £100million.................If we go up then that investment trebles in value overnight, should he wish to sell.

 

[W.C.]

He's hardly going to say "they're a bunch of c*nts" is he.
The problem is that the players were on their holidays already at Rotherham.

Bit out of order making them work on their holidays then. Even if the match was nearby.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Ok. You think the Albion should spend far more on wages and fees to attract better players and a better squad to guarantee promotion and presumably either a) your view... Tony Bloom is unaware this is the right strategy this because he wants to , well i'm not sure but has some plan up his sleeves that in your view will eventually involve us being relegated to L1. or b) my view.. he is aware of that as a strategy and thats the pretty much the one the club has been pursuing but this season has been a disappointment due to the decisions made by Burke (sacked) and Hyypia (resigned) . After all nothing is guaranteed. Ask Wigan who really will be relegated to L1 this season after last year in the play offs.

I then quote figures that are publicly available which in fact demonstrate to support b) that we spend more on players wages/fees than the majority of clubs in the Championship even those with parachute payments , that Albion like every club in the Championship bar a couple makes a profit on player sales to the Prem and that many clubs have spent far far less than the Albion in recent seasons but have got promoted nonetheless.

And yet its poor old me who gets compared to that well known Russian newspaper who prints wild stories unrelated to the evidence, truth or facts. SHOCKING.

Said it before, say it again. Give it a rest Pravda. Used to be TLO, Now its you. There's ALWAYS one uber-apologist. Not even going to HINT at what I believe is the real reason for the running down of the squad this season, simply because I quite like retaining the roof over my head and the shirt on my back and bigger boys would bully me in court. Be happy to expound on my (conspiracy?) theory in the North on Friday tho

 

[MattBackHome]

Ok. You think the Albion should spend far more on wages and fees to attract better players and a better squad to guarantee promotion and presumably either a) your view... Tony Bloom is unaware this is the right strategy this because he wants to , well i'm not sure but has some plan up his sleeves that in your view will eventually involve us being relegated to L1. or b) my view.. he is aware of that as a strategy and thats the pretty much the one the club has been pursuing but this season has been a disappointment due to the decisions made by Burke (sacked) and Hyypia (resigned) . After all nothing is guaranteed. Ask Wigan who really will be relegated to L1 this season after last year in the play offs.

I then quote figures that are publicly available which in fact demonstrate to support b) that we spend more on players wages/fees than the majority of clubs in the Championship even those with parachute payments , that Albion like every club in the Championship bar a couple makes a profit on player sales to the Prem and that many clubs have spent far far less than the Albion in recent seasons but have got promoted nonetheless.

And yet its poor old me who gets compared to that well known Russian newspaper who prints wild stories unrelated to the evidence, truth or facts. SHOCKING.

I'm inclined to agree. Our terrible season isn't a result of under-investment, but bad recruitment team/decisions.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

True TH. The club appears to have absolutely zero desire to get promoted to the top flight which I find very disappointing after all the rhetoric spun out over the last 4 years

Zero desire? He's done everything he can. But he royally ****ed up this season.

- Didn't get Hyypia in quick enough
- Trusted Burke too much
- Treated recruitment and coaching like they were seperate entities
- Let Hyypia saga carry on waaaaaay too long just to save some cash

But I like to think he's learned more about running a football club in the last 12 months than ever before. And we'll be stronger for it.

The club haven't shown me that they've got no desire to go up. More that they've just said "**** it" and written off this season after making huge mistakes in the summer... which they'll rectify next year. I hope.

What makes you say we've got no desire to go up rather than we've just made bad decisions?

 

[essbee]

Bit out of order making them work on their holidays then. Even if the match was nearby.

And why would you go to Rotherham for your hols?

 

[chaileyjem]

True TH. The club appears to have absolutely zero desire to get promoted to the top flight which I find very disappointing after all the rhetoric spun out over the last 4 years

Not sure why you think thats the case but here's Tony Bloom's thoughts on the matter from a few months ago as published in the clubs accounts.

My investment in the club starts - and ends - with being a fan. I am proud to be able to contribute to the community in which i was raised, and in which my family still lives. As a supporter (and chairman) my burning ambition remains to see the Albion return to play at the highest level. Rest assured, and i know it won’t be easy. I do intend to realise this ambition.

Big ambitions are rarely realised overnight. In recent times we’ve become used to year on year success. Expectations are high. An appetite for significant progress every year is understandable but its not easy…success isn’t always delivered in a straight upward line.

Whilst we do want to play at the highest level, we cannot simply open our cheque book and start spending without care or attention. We must continue to run this football club as prudently as possible..

via http://www.seagulls.co.uk/documents/doc150115-15012015133454229-2206891.pdf

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Not sure why you think thats the case but here's Tony Bloom's thoughts on the matter from a few months ago as published in the clubs accounts.


via http://www.seagulls.co.uk/documents/doc150115-15012015133454229-2206891.pdf

Why do I think it ? Because in the last year we have sold EVERY player of any value to more ambitious clubs, we have replaced them with vastly inferior players and we are reliant on loanee's who do not give a toss about the club, Leon Best. It says to me we have zero desire and ambition to get to the premiership as we are a selling club now and a stepping stone club for players and managers. You can be sure if we get a decent offer for Ince, Dunk, March and Lua Lua in the summer they will all be off as that is the way it has been, coming on for 2 years now starting with Noone. Bloom is bound to say what he did as they need to keep the crowds up. It is not the end of the World as I have accepted we will for the long haul be a championship club now which is not so bad

 

[Hampster Gull]

Media platitudes from a manager who is doing everything he can to sound positive after a woeful performance.

What concerns me more, is his repeated insistence that we are a team 'always looking to improve', 'developing' and 'hoping to get better'.

Eight players who either started or came off the bench on Saturday is 28 or older. How much more 'development' will they need?

Rather than looking to improve our collective lot, CH may have to concede he's already seen the best of this team and some players are simply not up to Championship standard.

I agree probably media platitudes BUT he should refrain from this. It gives the impression he thinks what is going on in terms of effort is good enough. The more I think about it the more angry I get. Need a drink

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Errr… he made a mistake. This happens in football. On the face of it the original appointment was fairly consistent with how Bloom had appointed Poyet and Garcia. A foreign coach with his own brand of football that appealed to TYony's sensibilities. As it turned out it was a bad appointment, but the initial decision to appoint him was not without merit.

As for why wasn't he sacked. A fair question, but I do not think the answer was that Bloom WANTED us to get relegated. I do not have the answer to that one, unless they felt he was going to walk, or had discussed a resignation with him to save a little money.

And you can bleat on about the spending all you like FFP has been a factor in our financial decisions and we have managed to comply whilst setting aside more money for wages than we have ever done. sadly this season that money has been wasted on what has been a poor bunch of players, that, if you had been paying attention over the last few decades, also happens from time to time.

With Poyet and Garcia we had a good run of making decisions that panned out. The appointment of Hyppia did not, the player recruitment decisions also didn't. Both those things have now been dealt with. We will not be in a position to do anything about it until the window opens again at the end of the season. It is kind of pointless banging on about how crap this particular set of players is at the moment as I'd like to think many of them will not be here next season.

Once we have failed to sign anyone of note (or sign Leon Best!) by the end of june then we can all start getting het up again.

To say that Bloom and or Barber are deliberately sabotaging the club is quite simply ridiculous.

I haven't even mentioned Barber, you did

 

[Hotchilidog]

I haven't even mentioned Barber, you did

I apologise US, just used to Barber being caught up in the constant slagging off of the club. My point still stands though to say Bloom is deliberately sabotaging the club is patently ridiculous.

 

[Questions]

I think this is a poor squad and we all know why but CH will get a chance this summer unlike last end of seasons debacle. I'd be amazed if he can put a promotion squad together though. Not in one year, not from this starting point.
The Bloom bashing is just unreal though.
A good friend of mine is a Forest fan..........now if you want to hear someone griping.

 

[AZ Gull]

And yet its poor old me who gets compared to that well known Russian newspaper who prints wild stories unrelated to the evidence, truth or facts. SHOCKING.

Don't worry, [MENTION=24867]chaileyjem[/MENTION]; when [MENTION=205]Tom Hark, Preston Park[/MENTION] gets a bee in his bonnet it is no good trying to use rational argument. Here are his "thoughts" about the prospect of the Reading game taking place on Boxing Day, as posted last June:-

Boxing Day game guaranteed to be moved. Anybody believe the club when they say it won't be?

There's no trains on Boxing Day. Never is. The game won't/can't happen for that reason. SOMEBODY will move it. Nothing surer.

Game won't happen tho.

It won't take place.

There's no trains.

Most fans won't be able to get there by public transport. Ditto stewards, shop wallahs and all the rest. The students who would normally man the catering outlets will all have gone home for Xmas.

There's no way on earth that game will take place.

It's just a matter of when they announce that it won't take place.

Pathetic really.

You know that ENREST. I know that. Everybody with an IQ higher than their shoe size should know that. But for some strange reason many have blind faith in the club to make a home Boxing Day match happen without the slighest idea of how that could be made to happen. Meh

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Thread title is a meaningless soundbite along the lines of "the hardworking people watching this at home deserve better"...

The open training session today was not particularly impressive on any level. A stupid "golden ticket" raffle that involved buying a bag of worthless tat for £10, and the PA being inaudible throughout, matched the quality of the players' desultory efforts on the pitch. Dunk wasting time taking pot-shots with Joe Bennett in goal summed up the professionalism on show.

 

[Hampster Gull]

I think this is a poor squad and we all know why but CH will get a chance this summer unlike last end of seasons debacle. I'd be amazed if he can put a promotion squad together though. Not in one year, not from this starting point.
The Bloom bashing is just unreal though.
A good friend of mine is a Forest fan..........now if you want to hear someone griping.

This. With one of those Swiss mountain bells