[Albion] "This is somewhat of a transition season..."

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

In answer to Chailey's most recent point, season tickets being in line with inflation rather than uneccessarily above them would be nice, and us not being in a situation where literally every single Albion fan in the ground will pay more than the £30 away fan price cap next season. Although no doubt Barber will be pushing to increase that too

 

[Justice]

So what do you think we should do to win things?

Go the route of buying established players?

Like Man U do?

Hmmm.....

Keep a squad together for a few seasons would help although that would be near impossible unfortunately.

 

[Talby]

So what do you think we should do to win things?

Go the route of buying established players?

Like Man U do?

Hmmm.....

Under Ferguson Man U won things with their youth progressing through to the first team. Since that time there’s just been an approach of buy experience and shuffle your pack in the hope it works.

The ideal model of our youth set up is to see players advancing up into our first team. Obviously we’re seeing some dividends in that investment but (like most clubs) we’ve bought from elsewhere.

seeing youth coming through is the ideal.

PBOBE states :
"We felt we really needed to replenish our stock a little bit, replenish our shelves”

That’s modern football. in a nutshell…stock.

 

[nickjhs]

You really think we are squad building for the future? Can almost guarantee Baleba will be gone in the summer, Georginio will also be a target along with a couple of others.
The club buys players for profit let’s not kid ourselves.
It’s almost impossible with the model to build any kind of consistency with a squad which would actually go on to win or achieve something special.

I think we are building a club for the future, and with it the ability to keep players. The model has done brilliantly, putting us in a position where we can spend 200m and not blow the budget. All the whining brigade see is that we are not doing as well as our first season with RDZ, for some reason they cannot see the incredibly strong foundations the club is building. If you cannot see how the plan is gradually making us a better club with regards not only our financial situation but also in regards to our league performance, then meh that's your problem.

Oh and I should add, for a club of our size being a regular finisher in the top ten in the Premier League is achieving something special. I would take that level of consistency over a cup win any day. Leicester and Wigan both relatively recently achieved something special, fat lot of good it did them.

 

[chaileyjem]

In answer to Chailey's most recent point, season tickets being in line with inflation rather than uneccessarily above them would be nice, and us not being in a situation where literally every single Albion fan in the ground will pay more than the £30 away fan price cap next season. Although no doubt Barber will be pushing to increase that too

Since we’ve been in the PL then they have been in line with inflation (some years above, some below, some frozen)

You say no doubt Barber will be doing this or that - he’s been here 13 years. When is this going to happen ?

PS will kids, concessions be paying more than £30 next season ?

 

[chaileyjem]

Jeez, do this many people buy into Valentines Day? Poor bastards.

Or it’s on tv, late at night, they are going away for half term, have just read their renewal notes and are more people are using the exchange. (Doubt it’s cos of a Paul barber interview)

 

[Questions]

This lot are are good transitions

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Under Ferguson Man U won things with their youth progressing through to the first team. Since that time there’s just been an approach of buy experience and shuffle your pack in the hope it works.

The ideal model of our youth set up is to see players advancing up into our first team. Obviously we’re seeing some dividends in that investment but (like most clubs) we’ve bought from elsewhere.

seeing youth coming through is the ideal.

PBOBE states :
"We felt we really needed to replenish our stock a little bit, replenish our shelves”

That’s modern football. in a nutshell…stock.

Fair enough...and yes, Man U used to 'grow' players properly under Fergy - a sharp contrast to their 'strategy' these days.

Albeit personally I don't find anything sinister in the choice of 'stock' by Barbs.
Back in the day players were seen as chattels, and were bought and sold without any discussion (with the player).
We and many (most) clubs look after their young players these days.

Indeed others regularly argue on NSC that football is held to ransom by players (and their agents) these days.

I know you have issues with the club and that's fair enough, but not everything about them is wrong,
and 'modern football' has more plus points than minus for me.
You are of course entitled to a different opinion

 

[Talby]

Fair enough...and yes, Man U used to 'grow' players properly under Fergy - a sharp contrast to their 'strategy' these days.

Albeit personally I don't find anything sinister in the choice of 'stock' by Barbs.
Back in the day players were seen as chattels, and were bought and sold without any discussion (with the player).
We and many (most) clubs look after their young players these days.

Indeed others regularly argue on NSC that football is held to ransom by players (and their agents) these days.

I know you have issues with the club and that's fair enough, but not everything about them is wrong,
and 'modern football' has more plus points than minus for me.
You are of course entitled to a different opinion

I’m afraid I have issues with capitalist authoritarian regimes and top end football is that. I don’t ignore the good stuff and I think we are a good role model for modern football in many ways but the customer is quite firmly put in its place by the Club from time to time and that just makes me rather despondent.

I do love my team though so that’s where my passion starts and ends.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

This lot are are good transitions

The next season of transition could be Brighton and Hove Albion-defining.

 

[jcdenton08]

The next season of transition could be Brighton and Hove Albion-defining.

I’ve got a feeling about this one

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I'll bite because you've shown that you're not entitled, but I just think you're wrong on this -- see the bolded bits above.
Pascal Gross not a key player for you? For me, he's been our most important player since we've been in the PL.
He started most games in CM last season, as did Billy Gilmour who isn't with us any more.

In previous seasons, we did have players breaking through that already had game time at PL level who were young and were obviously going to get better, eg Ali Mac, Caicedo.
Sure, Carlos fits that bill, but our signings this season have either been:
-- loaned out (c25%)
-- with no PL experience
-- those with experience have been injured for the most part (Ferdi, Wieffer and, to a lesser extent, MO'R)

I did consider some of these points before making my original post. I think the idea of it being transitional is closely tied to the level of performances this season and which side of the fence you sit on with regards to them.

So it's a little tricky to deal with it in isolation meaning there are a few points I'd like to cover concerning your post and mine. I'll try to do them coherently. It's quite a long post, so apologies for that!

1)Gross

I need to be careful how I say this so people don't get the wrong idea. I think he was a wonderful player for us, one of the very best in our history. Man utd have a 'holy trinity' statue of Best, Law and Charlton outside Old Trafford. If we had a premier league era one outside the Amex it'd be Gross, Dunk and March imo.

However, I don't think he was as structurally important to the team as say Baleba is to this current one, or Caicedo and Ally Mac were to RDZ's or Bissouma to Potter's. Without those players in those specific teams our team was/is noticeably worse.

He was an added bit of (super) quality on the pitch but the teams would still function well without him.

So, in that sense, no, I don't count him as significant a loss as the others.

I certainly don't think Gilmour was as big a loss either. He was a good player, great guy but not essential.

The fact that he played so many games last year in central midfield along with Gross backs up Barber's comments about the shelves needing replenishing and thus, to my mind, my point that...

2) What does this is a transition season mean?

If we entered the close season with bare shelves that needed restocking and we spend 200m on that restocking i)what previous level are we restocking to and ii) if having improved the squad by spending 200m(and yes, I know not all that 200m is for immediate short term benefit - but more on that later) is a transition season then what were the seasons when we were losing those players.

In those seasons when we were losing players we finished 6th and 11th. And the end of the 11th place season is the one where Barber is saying our shelves were bare. So why is this season more transitional than last? If it isn't then what's the point of describing this season as transitional?

I genuinely don't understand it. To me we're better equipped this season than last so how is the season where we're stronger on paper than the previous a transition season and the one where we were weaker isn't?

Which moves me on to:

3)The new signings

Kadioglu, Wieffer, Georginio, O'Riley and Minteh were, IMO all bought for immediate impact along with medium or long term potential. They don't have a lot of prem experience it's true but four of them are internationals with plenty of top level football experience along with having played in European competitons. The other has some prem experience plus a season in the championship.

Gruda I think was bought for a hopeful immediate impact but also for longer term development a la Ally Mac, Enciso, Buonanotte etc.

The fact that they've had quite a lot of injury issues doesn't negate that point. It's something to point to as to why we haven't been as coherent or as good as some would like but it's not a reason to say this season was always going to be transitional. That argument can only be made if whoever is making it is also saying that even if those players had been fit the performances/results would be no better than they have been.

I guess ultimately it comes down to how you define 'transitional'. For me, in the footballing sense, it's going form an up period to a down one where you're building back up to the up. And for the reasons I've given I just don't see how it can be considered transitional.

Sorry it's ended up such a long post.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Under Ferguson Man U won things with their youth progressing through to the first team. Since that time there’s just been an approach of buy experience and shuffle your pack in the hope it works.

The ideal model of our youth set up is to see players advancing up into our first team. Obviously we’re seeing some dividends in that investment but (like most clubs) we’ve bought from elsewhere.

seeing youth coming through is the ideal.

PBOBE states :
"We felt we really needed to replenish our stock a little bit, replenish our shelves”

That’s modern football. in a nutshell…stock.

Replenish our stock? What are we, a f*cking fish farm? How Far We've Come from when we used to do the occasional marquee signing over the summer to strengthen the core first eleven. Modern Football = Modern Toss

 

[Lenny Rider]

...and that's why it wouldn't be "Hurzeler out!" almost nomatter what...

Quite a lot of money spent for a transition season though........

 

[jcdenton08]

Quite a lot of money spent for a transition season though........

Money of the likes we won’t be spending for a number of seasons going forward, short of replacing outgoing stars. When we spend next to nothing in the summer, people need to remember we’ve already done our spend

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Quite a lot of money spent for a transition season though........

Good point. Can't believe no-one's mentioned that before

That's partly WHY it's a transition season!

 

[Bozza]

Money of the likes we won’t be spending for a number of seasons going forward, short of replacing outgoing stars. When we spend next to nothing in the summer, people need to remember we’ve already done our spend

I don't think we're going to be shy in the transfer market this summer either, although quite how not-shy will be influenced by which of the big name(s) depart.

 

[jcdenton08]

I don't think we're going to be shy in the transfer market this summer either, although quite how not-shy will be influenced by which of the big name(s) depart.

I think I’m talking net spend. We’ll be up by the time the window closes

 

[Hometownglory]

Or it’s on tv, late at night, they are going away for half term, have just read their renewal notes and are more people are using the exchange. (Doubt it’s cos of a Paul barber interview)

Possibly. Or fans mojos on the low side.

 

[Littlemo]

I dunno it’s less a transitional season and more a rip it up and start again season. Nearly everything is new, manager, coaches, players, medical staff even.

Still, I suppose it doesn’t change the eventual process which is give them all time to gel, bed in and see what happens. I do think it’s a bit of a shame it seems to take us the best part of a season to be getting up to speed though, because writing off whole seasons is kind of frustrating, even when it’s understandable.