[Albion] The Secret Behind the Premier League’s Smartest Team

[Bozza]

Nothing groundbreaking, but a good read regardless.

(Not paywalled for me, so hopefully not for you either)

Brighton’s model relies on moving on players at the right time, and for the right price, and continually reinvesting the money it receives in the squad. The club currently has one of the Premier League’s youngest squads, a multinational cast recruited both for their potential as Brighton players and their future value to someone else.​

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The pitch to pick Brighton over a bigger name is often a simple one: Join Brighton now, take advantage of the chance to show yourself in the Premier League, and then move on to the club of your dreams.​

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“I always say to players, ‘Yes, you’ve got Man City and Bayern there, but we will sell you to them anyway if you do well,’” said Sam Jewell, Brighton’s head of recruitment. Jewell has lived what he preaches: He was promoted to his current post after his boss left for Chelsea.​

The Secret Behind the Premier League’s Smartest Team

Brighton has risen into the top half of the league with smart signings, contingency plans and a spreadsheet that sees the future.

www.nytimes.com

 

[B-right-on]

Excellent read.

Feeling proud to be a BHAFC fan.

Barber and Mr Bloom are incredible for what they have done for us. There's not enough praise I can give and reading articles like this brings it all home to me

 

[jcdenton08]

Excellent read.

Feeling proud to be a BHAFC fan.

Barber and Mr Bloom are incredible for what they have done for us. There's not enough praise I can give and reading articles like this brings it all home to me

Really good article. Perfect education for non-fans too to help understand why little old Brighton are riding so high

 

[Norman Potting]

Fascinating read.

 

[Icy Gull]

Some of it is so simple. Have somebody in place before you sell over selling and then going to market where you’ll likely be fleeced as the sellers know you are probably desperate and have just banked a fortune. Pervis is the one player we had to buy in after a departure though, so I guess we did not expect Cucu to want out so quickly, so did not have a ready to go succession plan there.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Brilliant read. No surprise that there is just one man in the set-up who can’t leave.

 

[Nobby]

Just a fantastic read.
There doesn’t seem to be many flaws in the system at all. Uncle Tony makes the rest of the owners look like imbeciles.
The only issue that we may face I think, lies in the fact that being such a young squad, we could be at risk with a lot of injuries to key players.
Fatter clubs like the Top 6 will have a very expensive greater depth. But then potentially a less together squad.
Fingers crossed that our injury situation doesn’t get any worse - and I can still see us challenging for the top four.

 

[um bongo molongo]

Good article. Does make me think who the identified Caicedo replacement is though. Doesn’t feel like he’s on the books already. Maybe we have someone lined up for the summer.

 

[Weststander]

Thank you.

It underlines again, that it’s not the data, it’s how you use it. Setting us apart from the copying pack.

The Telegraph had a nice article on Friday, on how Boehly tried and failed to copy us.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ied-to-import-brightons-ip-but-has-it-failed/

 

[Hugo Rune]

Good article. Does make me think who the identified Caicedo replacement is though. Doesn’t feel like he’s on the books already. Maybe we have someone lined up for the summer.

If we want anyone anywhere near the level of Moises, we’ll have to grab a youngster. We’ll then need to bed him into the squad and system WITH Caicedo still at the club.

If we could keep Moises until he is Mac’s age, that would be outstanding. That said, if Leicester go down, could RDZ do anything with Ndidi or Tielemans if we grabbed them? They used to be top players.

 

[ac gull]

a past part of our strategy was Lallana and Welbeck

could be some other older players we take on for no fees in the future too

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Who is Ayari aligned to in terms of succession planning? Is he more like Mac Allister than Caicedo?

I assume Buonanotte is also more Ali Mac than Moises too.

 

[Javeaseagull]

a past part of our strategy was Lallana and Welbeck

could be some other older players we take on for no fees in the future too

IIRC didn’t we have to work hard to persuade them to come to the club? I doubt anyone would take much persuading now!

 

[peterward]

Really good article. Perfect education for non-fans too to help understand why little old Brighton are riding so high

We're all so proud because there really aren't many

#TeamsLikeBrighton

 

[rogersix]

If we want anyone anywhere near the level of Moises, we’ll have to grab a youngster. We’ll then need to bed him into the squad and system WITH Caicedo still at the club.

If we could keep Moises until he is Mac’s age, that would be outstanding. That said, if Leicester go down, could RDZ do anything with Ndidi or Tielemans if we grabbed them? They used to be top players.

tielemans' contract expires this season, great player, but he doesn't seem to play much, so i wonder if he's injured or sulking

 

[moggy]

tielemans' contract expires this season, great player, but he doesn't seem to play much, so i wonder if he's injured or sulking

Wasn’t Arsenal after tielemans in January?

 

[dazzer6666]

Who is Ayari aligned to in terms of succession planning? Is he more like Mac Allister than Caicedo?

I assume Buonanotte is also more Ali Mac than Moises too.

Lallana (Ali Mac in his more forward role) I would think…..?

 

[RexCathedra]

Left unstated: Functionally Infinite money[1] means all of those brains and all of that data, and all of that (carefully-spent) money have gone into stuffing other teams' benches.
Now that we're really good, all of those brains and all of that data, and all of that (carefully-spent) money will go instead into providing other teams sticks to beat us with.

[1] there are signs Liverpool have hit the wall financially, but I'll believe it when I see it...

Notwithstanding that, it was good to have an article to point to for my friends here in the States...