[Albion] Will you be booing Potter and Chelsea on Saturday?

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

As long as we continue to be successful - we're not going to be left alone anytime soon.

This is very true. As someone 'on the spectrum' I ought to be feeling uncomfortable that the club is not being left alone to hover under the radar. And yet....I'm not. I saw another of our ex players, one who never made it, playing (well) in the champions' league the other night, and I'm not sure it got much of a mention on here - it would have been thread of the week ten years ago. Time change. Innit.

At the end of the day, there is no point complaining about the effects of being successful. Instead we need to focus now on winning things. If Swansea, Wigan, and the Twatts can win a cup, and Bumley can qualify for Europe via their league position, then.....eh? EH?

 

[Stat Brother]

and Pott

It was coming wasn't it. The shame of it really is that Boehly didn't get his shit together in time to make the decision in the summer. Instead even though he probably knew he wanted to change, he left it 6 or 7 games, while we have an absolute storming start to the season.

Boehly is also responsible for the wholesale raiding of Brighton's staff. No manager appointed to a Premier League side has the power to tell the owners who to hire in every position behind the scenes. It just doesn't happen. It's easy for us fans to vilify Potter for this, but no way a club builds an entire structure around a man they may sack within 6 months. It just stinks of a very American way of doing things 'that's working - I want all of that'.

and Potter signed on to be the international face of Boehly's soccer franchise.

Sure it's neither here nor there, but I was booing the entity that is Chelsea not any individual.

 

[METALMICKY]

I'm a football fan. Of course I have massive grudges. Some go back decades.

Absolutely healthy! On my Amex tour my lounge host was good old 'Charlie' Chivers and my God didn't we rant about David Elleray's incorrect corner decision that led to the first goal in the 91 play off final against Notts County.

 

[Dibdab]

And you know what is the absolute best thing about Potter going? It has showed our support that we are never ever beholden to one manager and that there are always numerous exciting managers around Europe that are on our watch list and would be eager to join such a well run club.

 

[Bold Seagull]

and Pott

and Potter signed on to be the international face of Boehly's soccer franchise.

Sure it's neither here nor there, but I was booing the entity that is Chelsea not any individual.

He did, and I agree, and I'd add I know a lot of booing was just about football in general - that success just opens you up to be pillaged.

None of it is very.....sporting.

 

[Easy 10]

Absolutely healthy! On my Amex tour my lounge host was good old 'Charlie' Chivers and my God didn't we rant about David Elleray's incorrect corner decision that led to the first goal in the 91 play off final against Notts County.

I have so many grudges like that it would take too long to list them. Potter / Chelsea are just the latest additions to add to the pile.

 

[Guinness Boy]

This has been my point the whole way through this sordid affair and make no bones about it that’s exactly what it’s been.

Boehly, I’ve heard, made a tentative approach to buy us which was naturally rebuffed by Bloom. It was a single phone call knocked back from what I know. I’m not going to get into the whys and where’s of that but here’s the thing or things -

Boehly didn’t wake up the morning after our demolition of Leicester and think “that’s my guy!”. He’d studied us, Potter, our structure, our ability to punch above our weight with less financial outlay and thought right, this team mirror partly my approach with my other franchises - see LA Dodgers for those willing to be interested enough - and if I can’t buy into it [he’d also sniffed around Villa when they were sold and I’m told Spurs but Lewis said no] then I’m going to replicate it.

Here’s the rub for me - John Terry’s thinly veiled tweet on August 23rd stating “Graham Potter, ticks all the boxes for me. What a manager” innocuous at the time but prescient in the extreme with the cold light of day. He knew because Boehly, or those close to him, had laid bare their plans and let’s face it JT has never been the sharpest tool in the box…

Those saying GP had a hand in the moves of the staff are of course correct and I cannot see that there wasn’t extensive behind the scenes contact between his reps and Chelsea signalling out their options and plans. I’ll leave it at that on this point for obvious reasons…

More generally I’ve seen elsewhere comments to the effect that the timing of the behind closed doors friendly, the arrival of Colwill, the wrapping up of the Cucurella deal and the apparent cheapness of the Gilmour deal also point to this all being a much more cohesive set of transactions.

Whatever the truth the fallout has been explosive and to my mind is akin to anything the Palace rivalry beginnings might have had in the 70’s such that I have an intense distaste and disgust for all things West London Albion [your new franchise name Mr Boehly for which I’ll accept the princely sum of £1m as a consultancy fee for].

Modern football sucks and I for one am just glad we have Tony Bloom at the helm to extract maximum value from these shady sheisters we have to deal with.

I agree with an awful lot of this. The bolded part is why people are right to be angry with Potter though. Quite clearly he knew he was first on the list when (and it was "when") Tommy Tickle got his cards. If anything the six game into the season delay gave him more time to line things up. Would it mean a move to London or a commute? Who would come with me in an ideal world? I used to see Bruno picking up Billy Reid on Hove seafront on their way to training every now and again. I'm pretty sure not every journey after Boehly took over Chelsea was spent purely discussing whether Lallana should play as a 10, a 6 or not at all next week.

This happens in business of course. In a lot of industries you get good teams of people who follow each other from company to company because they trust each other. But, as a football fan I was bloody fuming. But, now, it really is time to say "Graham who?" and get behind RDZ. He's potentially far better anyway.

and Pott

and Potter signed on to be the international face of Boehly's soccer franchise.

Sure it's neither here nor there, but I was booing the entity that is Chelsea not any individual.

Mostly the same, but be damn sure I was directly booing Cucurella to put him off. Worked a treat too.

 

[chaileyjem]

Quite clearly he knew he was first on the list when (and it was "when") Tommy Tickle got his cards.

I just don't buy this. None of the quite extensive reporting about how the move came about gave any sense of it. It also gives some (another) excuse , not needed really, to place another layer of betrayal at Potter's doors. (ie: Negotiating behind our back).

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Yep, still booing Chelsea this Saturday, as I always have done, and always will.

One thing's for sure, he needs a good showing v Arsenal sunday lunchtime else it's not Brighton fans booing him he'll need to worry about. No pressure then...

Game's on BT Sport btw

 

[Guinness Boy]

I just don't buy this. None of the quite extensive reporting about how the move came about gave any sense of it. It also gives some (another) excuse , not needed really, to place another layer of betrayal at Potter's doors. (ie: Negotiating behind our back).

Did the timeline just pass you by or something? The "want to speak to" to "Potter will be the next boss of" was one of the quickest I've seen and the departure was with all his staff. Money put aside for the compo.

Were I to be offered a new job by someone in a different location to where I work currently it would take me more than 48 hours to square it with the Mrs even if lots more money was involved, let alone work out who from my current company I could legally ask to come with me.

And that's without the John Terry tweet mentioned in the post I quoted.

I'm not directly accusing Chelsea of tapping up by the way but I am saying that Boehly always wanted rid of TT, that GP was his number one target and that, should they have wanted to, Chelsea could have found a way to tell Potter's agent that without breaking a single letter of the law.

 

[ozzygull]

This has been my point the whole way through this sordid affair and make no bones about it that’s exactly what it’s been.

Boehly, I’ve heard, made a tentative approach to buy us which was naturally rebuffed by Bloom. It was a single phone call knocked back from what I know.

Thank *uck for that. There is no way I would want our club to be an American's play thing. The fact we are fan owned (all be it a very rich fan) gives me a massive sense of pride and comfort, it is much more important then where we are in the league and what division we are in.

 

[ozzygull]

Did the timeline just pass you by or something? The "want to speak to" to "Potter will be the next boss of" was one of the quickest I've seen and the departure was with all his staff. Money put aside for the compo.

Were I to be offered a new job by someone in a different location to where I work currently it would take me more than 48 hours to square it with the Mrs even if lots more money was involved, let alone work out who from my current company I could legally ask to come with me.

And that's without the John Terry tweet mentioned in the post I quoted.

I'm not directly accusing Chelsea of tapping up by the way but I am saying that Boehly always wanted rid of TT, that GP was his number one target and that, should they have wanted to, Chelsea could have found a way to tell Potter's agent that without breaking a single letter of the law.

Yep it took us longer to employ a manager that was out of work. There is no way that was done in 48 hours.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Thank *uck for that. There is no way I would want our club to be an American's play thing. The fact we are fan owned (all be it a very rich fan) gives me a massive sense of pride and comfort, it is much more important then where we are in the league and what division we are in.

I know.

I hope the conversation (if it indeed happened) went something like this:

Boehly: Hi Tony, Todd Boehly here. Would you be interested in selling to me Brighton and Hove Al....
Uncle Tone: NO! Good day!

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I agree with an awful lot of this. The bolded part is why people are right to be angry with Potter though. Quite clearly he knew he was first on the list when (and it was "when") Tommy Tickle got his cards. If anything the six game into the season delay gave him more time to line things up. Would it mean a move to London or a commute? Who would come with me in an ideal world? I used to see Bruno picking up Billy Reid on Hove seafront on their way to training every now and again. I'm pretty sure not every journey after Boehly took over Chelsea was spent purely discussing whether Lallana should play as a 10, a 6 or not at all next week.

This happens in business of course. In a lot of industries you get good teams of people who follow each other from company to company because they trust each other. But, as a football fan I was bloody fuming. But, now, it really is time to say "Graham who?" and get behind RDZ. He's potentially far better anyway.




Mostly the same, but be damn sure I was directly booing Cucurella to put him off. Worked a treat too.

I would argue the time for that was the moment he walked out of the door up to Cobham. Nothing was going to change because people – manager, coaches, scouts players, agents, whoever – move around all over the place in football.

But you watch – the same will happen when RDZ moves onwards and upwards, if successful here. You only have to look at the welcomes some returning players and managers get when visiting their former clubs – and that's without 'asset stripping, or gutting' their former employers.

'Look forward, not back' is clearly a mantra some people struggle with...

 

[dazzer6666]

Stuffing them and giving him and the frizzy-haired crybaby in particular panto abuse on Saturday provided a high degree of closure on the whole thing for me…..as well as being just a fantastic retaliation, it was also very cathartic. I didn’t like Chelsea or their entitled bunch of burberry-wearing chavs before all this, and I’ll go back to more normal levels of dislike now but still hoping the wheels fall off ‘Project Chelsea and Hove Albion’ at some point.

From our side, Tony seems to have snared an absolute gem of a manager (and team of associated mentalists) who seems to have at least Potter’s technical and tactical nouse (and he’s arrived here with a stronger/higher level CV than Potter did) but a much more human (rather than ‘studied’ and calculated) emotional side - so we move on, arguably strengthened by all this in some respects (togetherness, resolve and a teeny bit of remaining anger at the ‘system’).

 

[Guinness Boy]

I would argue the time for that was the moment he walked out of the door up to Cobham. Nothing was going to change because people – manager, coaches, scouts players, agents, whoever – move around all over the place in football.

But you watch – the same will happen when RDZ moves onwards and upwards, if successful here. You only have to look at the welcomes some returning players and managers get when visiting their former clubs – and that's without 'asset stripping, or gutting' their former employers.

'Look forward, not back' is clearly a mantra some people struggle with...

I think it would have been had it just been Potter and his original crew. But Bruno and Roberts leaving really hurt a lot of our fans and the Winstanley thing rumbles on. People have a right to bear a grudge on that. As @Easy 10 said, some of mine also go back decades. I've never really properly forgiven Spurs and Southampton for 1978.

 

[Stat Brother]

I agree with an awful lot of this. The bolded part is why people are right to be angry with Potter though. Quite clearly he knew he was first on the list when (and it was "when") Tommy Tickle got his cards. If anything the six game into the season delay gave him more time to line things up. Would it mean a move to London or a commute? Who would come with me in an ideal world? I used to see Bruno picking up Billy Reid on Hove seafront on their way to training every now and again. I'm pretty sure not every journey after Boehly took over Chelsea was spent purely discussing whether Lallana should play as a 10, a 6 or not at all next week.

This happens in business of course. In a lot of industries you get good teams of people who follow each other from company to company because they trust each other. But, as a football fan I was bloody fuming. But, now, it really is time to say "Graham who?" and get behind RDZ. He's potentially far better anyway.




Mostly the same, but be damn sure I was directly booing Cucurella to put him off. Worked a treat too.

Oh absolutely.

Were I a peasant in France I'd have been saying:-
'yeah but Shirley they don't all need the guillotine?'.

Then once the mob kicked off I wouldn't have been able to get my knitting out fast enough.

Id have applauded then ignored Cucu were his transfer in isolation.
I like to think I'd have ignored Potter and his henchmen.
Bruno and Roberts ramped it up again.

But as said before what buried the lot of them was coming for Winstanley just before kick off.

Boehly threw all his new staff under a bus.
Jon Ronson has written a book all about that specific move!!!

 

[Icy Gull]

Did the timeline just pass you by or something? The "want to speak to" to "Potter will be the next boss of" was one of the quickest I've seen and the departure was with all his staff. Money put aside for the compo.

Were I to be offered a new job by someone in a different location to where I work currently it would take me more than 48 hours to square it with the Mrs even if lots more money was involved, let alone work out who from my current company I could legally ask to come with me.

And that's without the John Terry tweet mentioned in the post I quoted.

I'm not directly accusing Chelsea of tapping up by the way but I am saying that Boehly always wanted rid of TT, that GP was his number one target and that, should they have wanted to, Chelsea could have found a way to tell Potter's agent that without breaking a single letter of the law.

Exactly, and why is Winstanley leaving taking so long. Maybe because it wasn’t already in place when they decided (Potter) that they also needed him. I refuse to believe the first team coaching pillage went from”can we talk to your manager” to everybody buggering off being arranged in 24 hours.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I think it would have been had it just been Potter and his original crew. But Bruno and Roberts leaving really hurt a lot of our fans and the Winstanley thing rumbles on. People have a right to bear a grudge on that. As @Easy 10 said, some of mine also go back decades. I've never really properly forgiven Spurs and Southampton for 1978.

Maybe, but looking at the bigger picture, I find it all a bit bizarre. Are we saying that – as good as Roberts and Bruno were/are at their jobs (and as much of a legend that Bruno was/is) – the additional 'hurt' of two additional employees leaving a business made *that* much difference that a whole load of fans turned against Potter specifically?

More like Potter is the target for the abuse, even if the decisions weren't actually his. Which is, IMO, mental. But there we are.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Here's a question for the haters – if GPott and co (including those who have seemingly triggered a section of the fanbase) facked off to St George's Park instead of Cobham, would you still support him/England?