[Football] Has Graham Bitten Off More Than He Can Chew?

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Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,423
Oxton, Birkenhead
Its what Manchester United is doing, what Arsenal did and what Chelsea will need to be doing in order to be successful. Or they'll just have another players-vs-manager situation any time someone tell them to do something else than walk around believing they are Gods gift to mankind.
Agreed. At BHA we proudly speak about the structure as being all important. Even fans of failing clubs like Everton get that firing Lampard without fundamental changes in how the club is run is a waste of time. Chelsea signed Potter to make that change and build for the future. I reckon the American will follow through and pick sides …..with GP.
 


PILTDOWN MAN

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Sep 15, 2004
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Or do what has to be done - with the Andone and Connolly clones...... ???

Personally I don't think they are all unmanageable. Ziyesh has been a different player under Potter - almost humble. Mount, however - total dick today. They looked like they expected to lose. On the pitch that's down to them.

Potter has not publicly thrown the dicks under a bus, either. And the squad has not downed tools (like they did under Maureen II). There may be tools that need to be downed though, and I'm sure that will happen. Perhaps a mass clear out at the end of the season?

But there are a lot of expensive contracts there, and who would be queuing up to take them on, this minute. Fancy any of them at Brighton? None immediately spring to mind. That may change. We shall see.
I think it's interesting when a manager, any manager, but especially a "new" one takes on a big ego based club.

As I'm sure you'll agree when talking to a group of engaging people you can really feel rewarded and they can be excited about what they have been taught. Conversely when you get a load of wasters you feel completely knackered and drained. One expects Potter to be worn out at the moment.

He needs to get some players in who want to play for him. Probably rules out March and Alzate. Interested the mention often of Trossard on the radar, I wonder if he liked his many positions including WB
 




herecomesaregular

We're in the pipe, 5 by 5
Oct 27, 2008
4,269
Still in Brighton
At the end of the day, football is a pantomime. You don’t just support your club, you dislike the chosen villains at any given time too. There will normally be a couple of long term targets but also a lot of smaller targets that come and go.

When I first started going it was Chesterfield and Scott McGleish. Since then it’s been dozens of different players and clubs. Southampton, Nigel Adkins, Mike Dean, Reading, Joey Barton and a whole host more I can’t currently think of.

Graham Potter is just one the current Panto villains. He’s a punchline, an easy target mak, the butt of the joke. But that’s it. Nobody actually hates them. Nobody is going to run up and swing for him in the middle of Churchill Square. Nobody is going to see Cucurella in La Galleria and drag him out and launch him in the River Adur.

Anybody trying to diagnose people laughing at Potter as anything for more than football fans doing what they’ve done for generations sadly misses half the point of being a football fan which is pretty sad.

I’ve said it about Cucurella and I’ll say it about Potter too. You’d have to be a sick man to find their situation funny, and I’m in critical condition :jester:
Nail. Head. End of. Panto villains and stupid chants to the away fans (in the ground) is what makes it fun. Taking it too seriously outside the ground (and having aggro outside the ground) is daft imho.
 


Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
19,059
Born In Shoreham
At the end of the day, football is a pantomime. You don’t just support your club, you dislike the chosen villains at any given time too. There will normally be a couple of long term targets but also a lot of smaller targets that come and go.

When I first started going it was Chesterfield and Scott McGleish. Since then it’s been dozens of different players and clubs. Southampton, Nigel Adkins, Mike Dean, Reading, Joey Barton and a whole host more I can’t currently think of.

Graham Potter is just one the current Panto villains. He’s a punchline, an easy target, the butt of the joke. But that’s it. Nobody actually hates them. Nobody is going to run up and swing for him in the middle of Churchill Square. Nobody is going to see Cucurella in La Galleria and drag him out and launch him in the River Adur.

Anybody trying to diagnose people laughing at Potter as anything for more than football fans doing what they’ve done for generations sadly misses half the point of being a football fan which is pretty sad.

I’ve said it about Cucurella and I’ll say it about Potter too. You’d have to be a sick man to find their situation funny, and I’m in critical condition :jester:
Exactly this it’s funny seeing a few take it so seriously. On one hand the same people pretend they are staunch Bloom fans and then stand up for the bloke who let him down after all the support he gave him with a job security six year deal.
The Albion hierarchy are also playing their part saying how RDZ is a much better coach than Potter which I found amusing.
 


Whitechapel

Famous Last Words
Jul 19, 2014
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Nail. Head. End of. Panto villains and stupid chants to the away fans (in the ground) is what makes it fun. Taking it too seriously outside the ground (and having aggro outside the ground) is daft imho.

Exactly.

It’s the reason nobody looks at the Old Firm and thinks “I wish our rivalry was more like that”

Undoubtedly more passionate than any other rivalry game in the UK, it generates some of the best atmospheres you’ll ever see but it turns Panto Villains in to the actual devil and leads to players being sent bullets in the post and whatever else goes on up there.

In comparison we’re laughing at an ex-manager who isn’t doing very well.
 




dazzer6666

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Mar 27, 2013
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I hope he fails and gets the boot.

Why? Because for me, Potter was always the embodiment of the greed that festers in professional football.

It‘s impossible to conceive he left to join Chelsea for anything but the money and this was reflected by his cold, detached view of the Albion. Even when the club stood by him in the darker spells, he never looked particularly grateful, just miserable, nonchalant.

Yes, the likes of Klopp, Pep etc also earn monstrous pay packets but they do actually seem to care about their respective clubs, their history, their fanbase.

Potter never seemed more than a narcissist, waving frantically from the shop window - I‘M A TACTICAL GOD, COME AND GET ME….
Yep, all the great stuff he did for us was significantly negated for me the minute he f***ed off with very, very indecent haste to the first big cheque waved in his direction, taking not just ’his’ boys but ‘ours’ in the process. I am going to enjoy every minute of Chelsea crashing and burning this season (yes I know they’ll come out of their current slump and probably finish above us, but in the meantime **** ‘em, and if he’s still there next time we play them I’ll be giving him dog’s abuse)
 


Neville's Breakfast

Well-known member
May 1, 2016
13,423
Oxton, Birkenhead
Exactly this it’s funny seeing a few take it so seriously. On one hand the same people pretend they are staunch Bloom fans and then stand up for the bloke who let him down after all the support he gave him with a job security six year deal.
It’s not as black and white as that. I was very critical of Potter whilst he was at BHA. I was also very supportive at other times. I just call it as I see it at any given time and prefer not to be in the in or out camp. In all those Icy polls I think I voted out just the once, no vote (fence) a few times but mostly ‘in,’ albeit sometimes a little lukewarmly. No change and the only vote that counted was Tony’s anyway. Mine are just comments about the state of Chelsea and they are not influenced by a view of Potter but by the American’s stated backing of his Potter project. It would make no sense to ditch that so quickly.
 






GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,980
Gloucester
They’re in a similar position to where Man Utd were with Moyes, it would have come good in the end (Moyes is too good a manager) but they opted for the sack option and have only just started to recover.
Very good analogy.
 


Horses Arse

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Jun 25, 2004
4,571
here and there
I think it was more Maupay missing when it seemed easier to score that annoyed supporters that evening. Anyhow when you pay your money you are entitled to an opinion it may be the wrong opinion in some people’s eyes but there you go footballs always been that way.
Or bringing the DJ on, or perhaps just the frustration of seeing decent performances not getting the results they deserve. Plus frustration that there was not the urgency/pace in our attacks. All legitimate.

His response was unwise, snarky, childish and emotionally unintelligent
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
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Oct 8, 2003
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I think it's interesting when a manager, any manager, but especially a "new" one takes on a big ego based club.

As I'm sure you'll agree when talking to a group of engaging people you can really feel rewarded and they can be excited about what they have been taught. Conversely when you get a load of wasters you feel completely knackered and drained. One expects Potter to be worn out at the moment.

He needs to get some players in who want to play for him. Probably rules out March and Alzate. Interested the mention often of Trossard on the radar, I wonder if he liked his many positions including WB
Yes, you're right. My final year BSc classes are keen and attentive. On the other hand I long ago refused to do 'year one' medicine tutorials because the students are a bunch of entitled twats, openly yawning (till I bollock them or chuck them out, whence they shit themselves). Perhaps there's a lesson there.....
 




jimhigham

Je Suis Rhino
Apr 25, 2009
7,820
Woking
Quite a few comments here about our team's response to Potter after the Chelsea match. Can anybody muster up any footage demonstrating this? I wasn't there and I don't remember seeing any of it at the time.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall of Potter's brain right now. It would be fascinating to know how he's feeling about his current predicament, if he even spares a moment to consider the little club he left behind or whether that chapter has been shut down entirely.
 


upthealbion1970

bring on the trumpets....
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Jan 22, 2009
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F5376E40-45F3-4BB4-A43C-F5FF69F80306.jpeg
 


dazzer6666

Well-known member
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Mar 27, 2013
52,888
Burgess Hill
Yes, you're right. My final year BSc classes are keen and attentive. On the other hand I long ago refused to do 'year one' medicine tutorials because the students are a bunch of entitled twats, openly yawning (till I bollock them or chuck them out, whence they shit themselves). Perhaps there's a lesson there.....
9 grand a year well spent 🙄😂
 


Swansman

Pro-peace
May 13, 2019
22,320
Sweden
Quite a few comments here about our team's response to Potter after the Chelsea match. Can anybody muster up any footage demonstrating this? I wasn't there and I don't remember seeing any of it at the time.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall of Potter's brain right now. It would be fascinating to know how he's feeling about his current predicament, if he even spares a moment to consider the little club he left behind or whether that chapter has been shut down entirely.
They just shook hands, not much to see.
 






Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
11,000
Crawley
Genuinely, was it?

a) No respect for the manner of the departure …. speaking to Boehly asap, then taking the kitchen sink with him mid-season?

b) He’s non touchy-feely, not one of life’s charismatic huggers?
He did go back to the training ground to clear out his desk etc.
My guess is, he waltzed in there half expecting all the players to congratulate him on his new job, all full of smiles, and they all felt as let down as we did and didn't like the fact that he was seemingly unapologetic about leaving them, and taking every coach they had worked with for the last 3 years.
The down side to his "caring" about the person style of management, when you drop all those people you cared about like a hot potato, they get a bit hurt. I am sure its a great way to manage if it is genuine.
Just a guess though, you never know, he might be the first name on all the players Xmas card list.
 


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