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

[Pavilionaire]

I like what Hughton says - it's about time we saw a reaction from the players and the Bournemouth match is the perfect opportunity to put some things right.

What happened to the football we played against Birmingham City? We need to get the lad Teixeira on the ball as much as we can because if we're going to get anything out of the game he'll be the key.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

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.

This

 

[jamie the seagull]

Good set of players who have become bored with the style of play put on them by both our managers this season.
Not only does our style of play bore them but neither SH or CH can motivate them either.
Loan players come to the club thinking they are wanted but are not used enough and lose interest wondering why they bothered.

 

[portslade seagull]

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.

Agree with this ... we lost some high earners last pre season and I just can't believe the tosh that was brought in amounted to half of that, if they did Burke, Hyppia and the rest were had big time

 

[chaileyjem]

Agree with this ... we lost some high earners last pre season and I just can't believe the tosh that was brought in amounted to half of that, if they did Burke, Hyppia and the rest were had big time

Tosh it might have been but it was expensive Tosh or Tex or Toko. The accounts and all reports show that TB funded a more expensive squad in fees/wages this year than 13/14 which was itself more than 12/13. Etc etc.

 

[um bongo molongo]

Tosh it might have been but it was expensive Tosh or Tex or Toko. The accounts and all reports show that TB funded a more expensive squad in fees/wages this year than 13/14 which was itself more than 12/13. Etc etc.

The bit I can't work out is who the hell is earning all the money? At least some of that squad must have agents who've taken us to the cleaners...

 

[crookie]

Tosh it might have been but it was expensive Tosh or Tex or Toko. The accounts and all reports show that TB funded a more expensive squad in fees/wages this year than 13/14 which was itself more than 12/13. Etc etc.

Shocking wage inflation if that is the case. Can't genuinely think of any of our best XI now that are better than 2 years ago. Kayal perhaps, and yet we are paying out the same amount in wages. Whoever is in charge of negotiating contracts must be an idiot

 

[chaileyjem]

The bit I can't work out is who the hell is earning all the money? At least some of that squad must have agents who've taken us to the cleaners...

What we do know is JFC , KLL, March, Rea, and Walton have all recently signed improved /extended contracts. And we no longer have any players on L1 contracts as we did in the early Amex years... But don't look in the accounts for proof, head over to Lancing and look in the players car park.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Shocking wage inflation if that is the case. Can't genuinely think of any of our best XI now that are better than 2 years ago. Kayal perhaps, and yet we are paying out the same amount in wages. Whoever is in charge of negotiating contracts must be an idiot

Maybe now it's clearer why Burke got the sack.

 

[chaileyjem]

Shocking wage inflation if that is the case. Can't genuinely think of any of our best XI now that are better than 2 years ago. Kayal perhaps, and yet we are paying out the same amount in wages. Whoever is in charge of negotiating contracts must be an idiot

Well the two men who signed 11 of the squad additions in the summer are of course no longer here , as are many of those players. And only Stephens remains from jan 2014 window.

That said were not the first club to make a string of poor expensive signings. Clubs do so all the time.

 

[Brovion]

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.

Agreed. No one, and I mean NO ONE would deny that we've sold/released our best players and replaced them with inferior ones. To rub salt into the wounds we're apparently also paying them more than the good ones who left! Everyone is pissed off with that (and some also get additionally irritated by the relentless panglossian spin that gets put on everything) and the pressure on the club to put it all right in the summer is immense. (Personally I think it's too big an ask for them to turn it round completely in one transfer window but that's another story). But yeah, saying TB is unambitious or worse, saying or implying that he is deliberately trying to sabotage the club is disrespectful, hurtful, and possibly faintly libellous. And wrong.

 

[El Presidente]

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

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.

(a) He has invested over £200 million
(b) It won't treble overnight..

 

[El Presidente]

The biggest problem we will have in the summer is offloading some of the duffers signed last summer.

O'Grady is on £15,000 a week, so no one will pay him that. Our only hope is for Mrs COG to persuade him to return back up north. He's not a terrible player but we're not getting VFM.

The Albion have spent money, but not spent it well. Burke has paid the price for that.

 

[El Presidente]

. Not even going to HINT at what I believe is the real reason for the running down of the squad:

Is it linked to DK and the Cup Final money in '83?

 

[Ernest]

Is it linked to DK and the Cup Final money in '83?

Sports Dreams has had several people SKULKING around inside, but don't LET on we KNOW

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

The biggest problem we will have in the summer is offloading some of the duffers signed last summer.

O'Grady is on £15,000 a week, so no one will pay him that. Our only hope is for Mrs COG to persuade him to return back up north. He's not a terrible player but we're not getting VFM.

The Albion have spent money, but not spent it well. Burke has paid the price for that.

Please tell me we are NOT paying 15k a week for COG. That's hilarious and sad in equal measure.

 

[rippleman]

It would be extremely silly to suggest that TB is deliberately running the club down.

TB's success (and money) is in buildings...bricks & mortar. He has demonstrated his skillset in building a great stadium, a swanky training ground, and soon a new hotel.

Maybe he knows and understands where his skills lie and recognised that maybe he didn't know enough to run a football club on a daily basis. So he took somebody on to manage and run it for him. Yes, maybe TB should have seen that Barber isn't up to the job and got rid....but we saw how long it took for the penny to drop that Burke was clueless on the player recruitment side.

We all make mistakes. Maybe TB made a couple of bad calls but lets not doubt that the appointments were made in good faith and with the best of intentions. He couldn't have known just how badly he would be let down.

Still, on a positive note, we are 50% of the way to sorting the problem.

 

[NooBHA]

(a) He has invested over £200 million
(b) It won't treble overnight..

Quite a sweeping dismissive statement...................The value of Newcastle doubled when they went up and the TV money is astronomical compared to the year that they went up; however, my figures were not really meant to be 100% accurate, they were merely responding to a statement made on this thread that Tony Bloom was not serious about being promoted with Brighton.

My response was merely to clarify that I could not see why he wouldn't want to take Brighton into the Premiership, especially since by doing so then his investment would increase in value by being a Premiership club should he wish to sell in the future.

 

[El Presidente]

Quite a sweeping dismissive statement...................The value of Newcastle doubled when they went up and the TV money is astronomical compared to the year that they went up; however, my figures were not really meant to be 100% accurate, they were merely responding to a statement made on this thread that Tony Bloom was not serious about being promoted with Brighton.

My response was merely to clarify that I could not see why he wouldn't want to take Brighton into the Premiership, especially since by doing so then his investment would increase in value by being a Premiership club should he wish to sell in the future.

Dismissive because the figures you quoted were totally inaccurate.

TB wants the Albion to go up, but not for financial reasons, but for the same reasons as many fans do.

Promotion would reduce his losses, but he wouldn't make a profit on the sale.