Why is Dick Knight letting the team go down the tube

[Giraffe]

Last season we had a young manager who was learning his trade. He was brining through some promising youngster, He built a team that in the first half of the season showed real promise, before contract negotiations with the club captain and others led to this team falling apart.

The same manager then rebuilt the team, during the season and somehow got the side up to 7th in the league, only just missing out on the play offs.

Whilst at times last season the football wasn't great at least you felt we were making progress. The loan players were kept to a minimum and the youngters coming through although inconsitent gave you a sense of things to come and it felt right that we as a club were supporting the young players, the future of the club.

Dick Knight (and apprarently the board) took the view that Dean Wilkins for was not the right man for the job and brought in Mickey Adams. I guess they blamed him for ther falling crowds and overlooked the general fact that people have had enough of paying a fortune for the Withdean experience.

So anyway having done that we now the position where Mickey favours loan players ahead of our own youth products. Where we would rather pay other clubs players wages and develope their talent instead of ours. Where an old hasbeen mate of his can come and play for a month to get match fitness. Where a youngster in Joel Lynch is not good enough to get into a bottom half League One team but can hold a place in a Championship side.

Jake Robinson, Dean Cox, Tommy Fraser have all shown signs this season in the short bursts they have had that they could do just as good a job as the loan signings yet they are constantly having to play second fiddle to youngsters from other teams.

I accept that the club can't go and spend a fortune on players, but I feel we now being extremely shortsighted if we the think the future is in loan players and not our current developing youth players.

DK really has lost the plot in my opinion, and whilst we owe him a great debt, that does not exclude him from criticism. The treatment of Dean Wilkins was shoddy, the way the club is going in its treatment of young players is no better.

 

[Juan Albion]

Wilkins was a good coach, not a good manager. Get over it.

 

[SirDouglasLoft]

Would things of been different if Wilkins would have taken up the coaching role?

 

[chez]

Although I am not at all happy with the way we are performing at present I am still 100% chuffed that we got rid of Wilkins.

 

[jcdenton08]

Although I am not at all happy with the way we are performing at present I am still 100% chuffed that we got rid of Wilkins.

Even though we finished 7th last season, and at least ATTEMPTED to get the ball down and pass?

 

[Hunting 784561]

DK really has lost the plot in my opinion, and whilst we owe him a great debt, that does not exclude him from criticism.

Dick Knight has become the consistent and ongoing problem, and has been now for a few years.

If the diggers wern't moving in soon at Falmer, it would be very difficult to justify his position.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Some Albion supporters just have not got the bottle to admit that DK f*cked up big time and SCR are Biased to as i texted in early tonight about the same situation as this thread and they blanked it totally W*nkers.

Ian Hart likes to think they have a full and frank exchange but it's only when it suits SCR.

Just a thought but is DK some sort of Maffia or what?

Ps. Well brought up Girrafe.

 

[chez]

Even though we finished 7th last season, and at least ATTEMPTED to get the ball down and pass?

I saw most of the home and some of the away games last season and can count on my thumbs the amount of games we were any good. Yeah, maybe we did ATTEMPT to get it down and pass but it didn't work did it.

 

[Giraffe]

Some Albion supporters just have not got the bottle to admit that DK f*cked up big time

They never have and never will. It astonishes me how many f*** ups there have been over the last three or four years and yet some poeple on here think that DK can walk on water.

We're all grateful to him for saving the club, but its time to realise that he is not on the ball anymore and that the club will only really go forward when some fresh blood comes in.

DK has done a great job in keeping the club going but time is up I am afraid

 

[jcdenton08]

Yeah, maybe we did ATTEMPT to get it down and pass but it didn't work did it.

Yes. It did. We finished 7th.

We are currently 17th, a third of the way through the season. How often did Wilkins play people out of position? How much did we look like conceding, home or away?

Not nearly as much as this season, our passing is atrocious in the games I have been to, and I don't think we passed as badly under Wilkins at any stage last season.

Hence we are 17th.

 

[chez]

They never have and never will. It astonishes me how many f*** ups there have been over the last three or four years and yet some poeple on here think that DK can walk on water.

We're all grateful to him for saving the club, but its time to realise that he is not on the ball anymore and that the club will only really go forward when some fresh blood comes in.

DK has done a great job in keeping the club going but time is up I am afraid

I don't think I'll ever be able to bring myself to say that DK should go BUT surely he must understand how some fans feel. After all, what the fans are saying about him is EXACTLY the same as what he done to Stevie Gritt - saved us from disaster but then was deemed not good enough later on.

 

[Conkers]

How has Adams not learned that telling the players to hoof ball all the time is not going to work, considering we only seem to win about 10% of all the headers we go up for. Sake.

 

[Mr Burns]

As the years have passed by, Dick Knight has less and less control over the club than he once did.

It wasn't his choice to sack Wilkins, he basically was put in a position by the money men at the club, and this why it was a "board decision", not his.

So whilst you can all knock Dick, as I do, for the decision as he's the face of the board, remember it wasn't his choice. After why do you give a young manager a three year contract, then sack him half way through it when he and the team are heading in the right direction??

Unfortunately I think the poeple who call the shots, wear their hearts on their sleeves, hence the return of a Brighton legend in Micky Adams, abeit proven as not a very good manager!!

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I don't think I'll ever be able to bring myself to say that DK should go BUT surely he must understand how some fans feel. After all, what the fans are saying about him is EXACTLY the same as what he done to Stevie Gritt - saved us from disaster but then was deemed not good enough later on.

Your right but that was years ago he is at the top and the should not be excused of the chop when he F*cks up after all that is how he works and we can't have double standards can we?

 

[Deleted member 2719]

As the years have passed by, Dick Knight has less and less control over the club than he once did.

It wasn't his choice to sack Wilkins, he basically was put in a position by the money men at the club, and this why it was a "board decision", not his.

So whilst you can all knock Dick, as I do, for the decision as he's the face of the board, remember it wasn't his choice. After why do you give a young manager a three year contract, then sack him half way through it when he and the team are heading in the right direction??

Unfortunately I think the poeple who call the shots, wear their hearts on their sleeves, hence the return of a Brighton legend in Micky Adams, abeit proven as not a very good manager!!

I believe Dick said at the forum that HE and the board decided that a change was needed to take us forward.
If what you say is correct he should have stood down if he didn't agree with them.

 

[Seasider78]

They never have and never will. It astonishes me how many f*** ups there have been over the last three or four years and yet some poeple on here think that DK can walk on water.

We're all grateful to him for saving the club, but its time to realise that he is not on the ball anymore and that the club will only really go forward when some fresh blood comes in.

DK has done a great job in keeping the club going but time is up I am afraid

These sorts of posts really piss me off.

Why single out one member of the board when all decisions made would be as a collective? Perhaps you have some money to invest so you can make a better job of it or perhaps you can name one of the hundreds of potential investors DK is stopping taking over the club?

Yes the board are not perfect and I am sure have made some decisions they regret but hey they have done a lot more good than bad and calling for DK's head is simply pathetic

 

[Deleted member 2719]

These sorts of posts really piss me off.

Why single out one member of the board when all decisions made would be as a collective? Perhaps you have some money to invest so you can make a better job of it or perhaps you can name one of the hundreds of potential investors DK is stopping taking over the club?

Yes the board are not perfect and I am sure have made some decisions they regret but hey they have done a lot more good than bad and calling for DK's head is simply pathetic

So your saying Dick is immune from the sack then?


If your going to give it out you also have to take it on the chin is my view.

 

[Seasider78]

So your saying Dick is immune from the sack then?


If your going to give it out you also have to take it on the chin is my view.

No I am not if you read my post again I am saying the whole of the blame should not be laid on his doorstep when others have been involved in decisions.

I am also saying its one thing calling for Knights head but another finding someone willing to put money into our less than lucrative football club

 

[Dancin Ninja BHA]

Even though we finished 7th last season, and at least ATTEMPTED to get the ball down and pass?

Did we really? Apart from the Orient game away, which was attacking football at its best for long periods of the match and was an unbelievably good game at our level (Div2) i cannot think of too many other games when i thought; "yeah, we are playing really well"

Haven't had a decent, creative midfielder for YEARS and YEARS and all the time the ball got launched from back to front, and got very repeatitve and very dull to watch.....glad we got rid of Wilkins

 

[Hunting 784561]

No I am not if you read my post again I am saying the whole of the blame should not be laid on his doorstep when others have been involved in decisions.

I am also saying its one thing calling for Knights head but another finding someone willing to put money into our less than lucrative football club

Why is this football club "less than lucrative" ? We're just about to start work on a brand new 22,500 seater stadium, with all of the future earnings potential that goes with it.

I would suggest that we are absolutely RIPE for some inward investment.