Time for the club to speak to the fans

[Dawn Korus]

I'll wait until end of August before I panic, just hope we haven't lost too many points by then.

Barber did say he is looking to grow our fan base, surely investment in the playing squad and not venues for Christmas parties is the best way to do it?

 

[dingodan]

It's quite right that deals are not being done in the light of day, that is a good thing.

What is worrying is that we appear to have taken this too far and are now scouting players at night in the dark with no floodlights.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

We all know we are looking for players - what is there to say we do not already know.

 

[Pavilionaire]

For the last two seasons Bloom has been explicit that his expectation is Top 6 and a shot at promotion. Yet this season he's been silent. FFP is clearly top of the agenda. It's almost as if he's waiting for players to come on the market cheap as clubs panic that they won't make FFP.

 

[Icy Gull]

I'll continue to have a whinge to whoever will listen, scratch my head at how we can build such a wonderful stadium but seem to have lost sight of the fact that it's what happens on the pitch that is equally as important. I do not believe we are capable of rebuilding the squad with the required quality of players in the time left. Once we reach the closure of the window without signing the requited players to make us contenders, I'll probably carry on whinging to anyone who will listen and feel a bit cheated. However I will still be going to matches with substantially lower expectations than I had as we stumbled into the playoffs at the end of last season. Did I say I might whinge a bit?

 

[doogie004]

I can see the timeline now :

13/8/14 - Bloom "We are working hard to sign players and we will be competitive"
30/8/14 - @OfficialBHA "Paddy McCourt, Keith Andrews & Dean Hammond sign on 3 month loan"
1/9/14 - Barber "Agents are to blame because players want too much money and we couldn't get the paperwork through on time"
15/9/14 - Argus headline "Hyyppia quits citing lack of promised transfer funds"
17/9/14 - @OfficialBHA "Jones takes on caretaker role after first league win away to Ipswich with a 94th minute 1-0 penalty gives Albion win"
14/10/14 - @OfficialBHA "Obika signs on 3 months loan after CMS goes to Peterborough on loan with view to permanent move on January 1st"
31/12/14 - Bloom "We will do our most to support Nathan in the transfer market during this transfer window to stop this 17 game losing streak and to get us out of the bottom three"
31/1/15 - See 1/9/14

You know what's scary about this, you could c this happening this is Brighton after all

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

For the last two seasons Bloom has been explicit that his expectation is Top 6 and a shot at promotion. Yet this season he's been silent. FFP is clearly top of the agenda. It's almost as if he's waiting for players to come on the market cheap as clubs panic that they won't make FFP.

David Burke is quoted on the BBC blathering on about FFP. Forget about it. It makes the club look a bit pathetic.

We have taken a punt they are going to implement FFP. Other clubs appear to have taken a punt it will not matter to them. Time will tell.

 

[SAC]

It’s far too early to be panicking and screaming wont someone think of the children. However the Amex years have been a bit of a shambles at times and a glossy new stadium and training ground can only cover up so many cracks. Personally, I like supporting a club with highs and lows, even if the highs are few and far between, but I can understand the frustration of many when told about being PL ready, being charged PL prices and looking as if there is a one way door regarding transfers.

I recon that the players being targeted are probably on the fringe of playing for a PL club (or hope they are) and those players and their agents will leave it to the last moment before signing with a Championship club. It’s possible that these players would have signed if offered PL wages but by playing the waiting game (I suspect) it should be able to get them at a more affordable price. It’s a risky strategy as there may not be many points picked up before the end of the month and then you are playing catch-up.

 

[Da Man Clay]

I'd rather the club didn't waste time putting out a nonsense press release and concentrated on signing players.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

It’s far too early to be panicking and screaming wont someone think of the children. However the Amex years have been a bit of a shambles at times and a glossy new stadium and training ground can only cover up so many cracks. Personally, I like supporting a club with highs and lows, even if the highs are few and far between, but I can understand the frustration of many when told about being PL ready, being charged PL prices and looking as if there is a one way door regarding transfers.

I recon that the players being targeted are probably on the fringe of playing for a PL club (or hope they are) and those players and their agents will leave it to the last moment before signing with a Championship club. It’s possible that these players would have signed if offered PL wages but by playing the waiting game (I suspect) it should be able to get them at a more affordable price. It’s a risky strategy as there may not be many points picked up before the end of the month and then you are playing catch-up.

Wise words. Also the Club expected managerial stability - which allows a team to be built season on season. We have had to start again with a new manager, again.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

meaning staying quiet on targets etc is crucial but open dialogue with fans about ambitions is equally as important to fans

Isn't that what they've done? As you pointed out, the fans forum was *just* last week.

I must be different from a lot of people on here. I love the Albion, I love taking the junior Bobkins to the football, but it isn't my life, and I won't let my mood be dictated by what's going on at the club, or whatever result we get on the pitch. Yes, I'd like to see some new faces in the side by the end of the transfer window, but I'm not on the verge of tearing up my season ticket (metaphorically) or apoplectic with rage at Messers Barber, Bloom and Burke and the perceived lack of activity.

Players move on, and given that we've got into the play-offs for the past two seasons, they are bound to attract attention from Premier League clubs. I'm not surprised that the majority of the team that Poyet built has gone (with many of them about to embark on life in the PL). That's the rub of where we finished the past two seasons, and I'm expecting this season to not be contenders – I actually thought it might happen last season, but we obviously scraped through to the play-offs, which was the stated aim.

Managers move on too, and I don't expect Hyppia to be around until the end of his contract (for whatever reason). Again, that is part of football. Seemed a perfectly nice guy when I bumped into him yesterday, and I'd quite like him to stay and build, but football managers are as ambitious as players, so we'll see what happens...

Am I desperate for the club to get into the Premier League? No, not really. Given the uproar over the cost of food, travel, tickets, and everything else associated with the club, can you imagine the meltdown on here, if we WERE in the top tier? Not to mention even fewer Saturday 3pm kick-offs.

Bottom line is, people are always going to moan (like the woman behind me last night – it was relentless), but I'm not one of them. I'm not getting at people that are like that, I just think there is more to life than getting completely worked up about it.


Anyway, apologies for going off on a tangent, but I couldn't be doing with starting yet another thread.

Up the Albion

 

[Billy the Fish]

Assuming that on September 1st we haven't signed anyone and the transfer window has been a disaster, what are people actually going to do about it?

This reminds me of the Hans Blix scene in team America
"Tony and David, we are very very angry with you, and we're going to write on NSC telling you how angry we are"

[yt]jh2e-JgbIG0[/yt]

 

[jamie the seagull]

Buckley's transfer confirmed by TV and Radio and not by the club.
Still not on the Club website.
But their is a fan gallery from last nights match.
Enough said about communication....
At this rate Blackpool will have more players than us...

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I have been a fan since 1972 and have never felt more remote from the people running the club.

Being a fan does not mean being slavishly loyal. We are not sheep.

It also doesn't mean you cut and run at the first sign of percieved incompetance, which in all probability doesn't exist. Try supporting the club.

 

[spring hall convert]

I have been a fan since 1972 and have never felt more remote from the people running the club.

Bill Archer?

 

[marshy68]

I am close to cancelling my season-ticket. Doubtless, I am not alone in resenting what appears to be a conspiracy of silence from the club and a drip-feed of misinformation from The Argus. Why will the club not comment on the relentless selling of any player of ours that makes us competitive at Championship level and gives us a chance of being promoted? We fans no do not have a right to know the minutiae of the club’s operations, but, surely, we deserve an explanation for the squad’s rapid, and continuing, diminution in size and quality.

Seriously? I support the the football club, regardless of who is in charge. Having lived through the stanley archer and belloti years. I would never give up my season ticket unless my financial predicament forced me to do so. Man up and support your football team.

 

[Acker79]

Buckley's transfer confirmed by TV and Radio and not by the club.
Still not on the Club website.
But their is a fan gallery from last nights match.
Enough said about communication....
At this rate Blackpool will have more players than us...

All I've seen confirmed is that the clubs have agreed a deal. There's still more to go (medical, personal terms, then actually signing the contract) before the deal is officially done. Which is why Sunderland haven't confirmed it either.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Come back, Archer, Stanley and Bellotti. All is forgiven.











(Only joking! I do rather hope we can keep our Amex stadium).

 

[Mattywerewolf]

I have been a fan since 1972 and have never felt more remote from the people running the club.

Being a fan does not mean being slavishly loyal. We are not sheep.

Yeah, Archer used to send me a daily email.....or was that spam?

 

[el punal]

Jesus! Five days into the season and it's already wrist slitting time. Just be thankful we're not fans of Blackpool or Leeds or any other car-crash run club, then we really would have something to moan about.