So Stephen Ward was ours for the asking all summer...........

[Guy Fawkes]

Are we genuinely the worst at player negotiation in the whole football league?

Murray, Barnes, Ward, Grabban, sure there's plenty others where we've completely ****ed it up over the sake of £1k a week or so.

£1k a week or £52k a year or the equivilent of 115.6 Season tickets (based on a price of £450)

Doesn't sound an insignificant amount ot me (i'm sure others will disagree with that though)

 

[ditchy]

Ward was one part of a bigger picture - as has become apparent a good chunk of last season's success was down to strong leadership from players; both on the pitch and in the dressing room. By all accounts Ward, Upson and Andrews were a very good influence. We didn't lose one of those, which would be unfortunate, we didn't lose two of those which would have been problematic, we lost all three which has turned out to be calamitous. The end result is a real lack of leadership and professional nous on the pitch - it's this that means we can't concentrate for 90 minutes and concede sloppy goals - granted tactics have contributed too - but stronger players would have influenced Sami earlier.

So, while Bennet may be a good left back in the making, this one is more about personality & leadership.

This with bells on ! Both Andrews and Ward were good mates down here and i believe if we had offered Andrews a contract, Ward would have followed . Upson was unfortunate and will always happen , but we were so in control of the other two, its embarasing to have let slipped. If Andrews was available now i would have him in my team like a shot ! a leader.

 

[Bozza]

Oh for crying out loud Bozza. I see now a certain graphic from The Godfather. You know the one with strings.... Are you the new wartime consigliere?

We certainly do not need clickbait at the moment as plenty of people wish to express their opinion on here so I can think of no other explanation.

Tell me now, for the record, after which game number (i.e. 18 on Saturday, 19, 20...30..) will it all become unacceptable to you?

I've got no idea what you are talking about.

For clarity, again, *sigh*: I think Hyypia should have gone long ago - I'm amazed he is still in the job. I think serious questions have to be asked about our recruitment.

But that doesn't mean we could have just picked up Stephen Ward whenever we chose. It doesn't mean that it was David Burke's fault we didn't (Tony Bloom signs the cheques) and it doesn't mean we are penny-pinching with our players (Tony Bloom says we are paying higher salaries than ever).

 

[Napier's Knee]

Ok so we often hear that our wage budget is higher than ever before. But is that simply due to wage inflation - has ours gone up in percentage terms by more than any one else? Has it gone up in real terms? Put another way is Bloom/Barber pulling the wool over our eyes?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

This with bells on ! Both Andrews and Ward were good mates down here and i believe if we had offered Andrews a contract, Ward would have followed . Upson was unfortunate and will always happen , but we were so in control of the other two, its embarasing to have let slipped. If Andrews was available now i would have him in my team like a shot ! a leader.

How would Ward have followed when he was already on his way here. He was actually on the road for his medical, having agreed terms, when his agent told him that Burnley had gazumped us, so he turned round and went back.
It was so certain that he was on his way here, Andy Naylor & Bozza both revealed it, which is something that the club don't like, so that's how close it was.
I also recall a lot of posters moaning about Andrews last season.

 

[BensGrandad]

. If Andrews was available now i would have him in my team like a shot ! a leader.[/QUOTE]

You are not allowed to have that opinion because those on here who know everything and are experts on FM say he was crap. He will be available in 2 weeks as Watford have terminated his loan and I agree I would get him back asap?

 

[byf1]

So you're going to ignore the 'highest playing wage bill we have ever had' bit because it doesn't suit your line of debate?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30004150: "The cost of our squad this year, in terms of salaries, is higher than it has ever been in our history."

But that's not impressive or that much of a shock. Wages go up, quite simple really and we move with the times. The worrying state of that argument is the fact it makes us look even more pathetic by our awful recruitment policy. We're paying the highest salaries we've ever paid and we've assembled for me the worst collective set of players since we've been at the amex.

Time they stood and admitted they've totally and utterly ****ed things up over the past 12 months. Reason I say 12 months is that was the start of the mass exodus of quality players and the beginning of the dross we eventually brought in over two transfer windows.

For us to just batten down the hatches, not get rid of Burke or Hyppia who granted isn't solely to blame is quite shocking really.

If this is the stance the club have taken and no changes are made then we will go down.

 

[London Irish]

Like Pompey did?

That's the choice is it? Barber or Pompey?

No one's buying that, are they?

We can see clubs like B'muff pushing it with players like Grabban and Wilson and it paying off for them.

Joe Bennett has been decent - but not quite the consistency of Ward though.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Weren't you personally quite surprised that we missed out on Ward?

I wasn't – Championship vs Premier League football; higher wages; bigger cut for the agent. There was a lot of talk on here as Ward's team using us (much like there was for Grabban). I'm not saying that is the case, but it's interesting that this view isn't being shared so much on here anymore...

To a point, I'm not too fussed. Players come and go – especially loan players – as do managers. Yes, I get the point that it opens the debate about how deals are done, but we've only heard one side of the story. It might be the truth, it might not be. Ward's moved on, so have we

 

[London Irish]

If this is true then the Poyet factor was even more impressive than I thought. I am frankly astounded that the current wage bill is higher than it was with the much much better players we had in Poyet's last season. The club also had the added bonus of millions raked in in transfer fees as the squad was disassembled, Not much value in transfer fees in the current squad is there.

The fact that we are now paying more than ever for an inferior group of players, most with no sell on value as they are loans, suggests that the recruitment team have ****ed up big time. This being the age of FFP when most clubs are being more circumspect in their spending makes the signing of inferior players on higher wages by the Albion even worse.

No one is surprised we are paying the highest salaries in our history because we appear to have signed players on first team wages to compete for the development team's trophies. Nice one.

 

[Bwian]

This discussion is plain WIERD. People piling into the club for 'failing to agree terms' with Ward, or missing out due to 'not being prepared to pay what he wanted', when the club DID reach an agreement, that the player was happy to sign, and was ON HIS WAY to do so, when he got a call to say that he could double his money in the Prem.

What were the club supposed to have done when he had AGREED to accept what they had offered? Offer more, in case another offer came in before he got down the M6?

The reason, as @Bozza has alluded to, that Burnley came in late, is that the agent will have waited until the negotiations with us were complete, before making one final round of speculative calls, one of which hit the jackpot.

If we'd reached that agreement with Ward three weeks sooner, he still would have made those other calls.

That is very likely but the club's dilly dallying left them without the player they wanted and little time to sign a suitable replacement-which, as it turns out, they never found. That is the reality. Loanees don't count. As usual they faffed about and started with the 'judge our squad in September' nonsense. Unfortunately I believed them. Never again.

Your blind devotion to everything the club does and says is commendable by the way.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

I wasn't – Championship vs Premier League football; higher wages; bigger cut for the agent. There was a lot of talk on here as Ward's team using us (much like there was for Grabban). I'm not saying that is the case, but it's interesting that this view isn't being shared so much on here anymore...

To a point, I'm not too fussed. Players come and go – especially loan players – as do managers. Yes, I get the point that it opens the debate about how deals are done, but we've only heard one side of the story. It might be the truth, it might not be. Ward's moved on, so have we

My post was aimed specifically at Bozza, he'd made a few posts suggesting it was all pretty much a done deal and it was just a matter of time before the club announced it.

 

[Bozza]

Loanees don't count.

What does that mean?

Ward was a loanee. Bridge was a loanee. Upson was (initially) a loanee. Andrews was a loanee.

 

[Bozza]

My post was aimed specifically at Bozza, he'd made a few posts suggesting it was all pretty much a done deal and it was just a matter of time before the club announced it.

Everyone bar Ward's agent believed it was. If I recall correctly, Mrs Ward was enjoying the delights of a Brighton hotel whilst the formal stuff was to be played out. (That might have been someone else - my memory is poor)

I've learned the hard way to use phrases like "expected to sign" rather than "will sign".

 

[ditchy]

How would Ward have followed when he was already on his way here. He was actually on the road for his medical, having agreed terms, when his agent told him that Burnley had gazumped us, so he turned round and went back.
It was so certain that he was on his way here, Andy Naylor & Bozza both revealed it, which is something that the club don't like, so that's how close it was.
I also recall a lot of posters moaning about Andrews last season.

I was talking about at the beginning of Pre season ie just after the play-offs , not in the days just before season started . Both Ward and Andrews were keen to join . Agreed people did bemoan Andrews , but personally thought he was good for BHA .

 

[Bwian]

Which, tbf, we offered, he accepted terms, then he did a 180° turn on his way down for a medical when he got the call from Burnley at the last minute. There's a lot wrong behind the scenes, granted - but there's no telling whether the same would've happened whether we went for him on the first day he was out of contract or the last day before the window closed. I'd shine more of a light on the signings we have made rather than those we've missed - championship clubs will always be gazumped by premier league clubs. As Gus used to say, eez foohball.

Isn't it better to lose players to other clubs early in the transfer window, moving quickly on to the next target and start to negotiate early instead of sifting through what's left in panic mode during the last few days?

 

[Vegas Seagull]

but the club procrastinated to such an extent that Burnley stepped in with bigger fee, higher wages and longer contract. from Argus today as told by his agent. Club have no comment to make!!!!

I know this is what everyone thought but now confirmed. Instead we are left with Chicksen/Joe Bennett.

This was two weeks AFTER £8m for Leo ( just 3 MILLION more than expected) should have signed him up by lunch the next day and moved on

 

[Napier's Knee]

This is all about one of the players on the list below - no idea which one though

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dr-oliver-wendt-amp-tomas-zorn/beraterfirma/berater/997

 

[hans kraay fan club]

That is very likely but the club's dilly dallying left them without the player they wanted and little time to sign a suitable replacement-which, as it turns out, they never found. That is the reality. Loanees don't count. As usual they faffed about and started with the 'judge our squad in September' nonsense. Unfortunately I believed them. Never again.

Your blind devotion to everything the club does and says is commendable by the way.

I'm not interested in a drawn out row, but a. your suggestion that Bennett (as a loan) doesn't 'count' as a replacement for Ward (who was a loanee) is laughable, and b. your parting shot is well wide of the mark - I just tend to try to measure some of the more hysterical over-reactions with a little rational thinking. For the record (and none of this is new), my position on the current situation is as follows:

1. Sami Hyppia is a terrible football manager, who should have been sent packing at least a month ago. He has no tactical nous and seemingly no ability to motivate.

2. Nathan Jones is a completely unknown quantity. I'm neither going to laud him or deride him, because I've no idea what he does. But I shall agrue against others who also don't know what he does but chose to unfairly attack him.

3. David Burke is responsible for our recruitment. Our recent recruitment has been poor. What money has been available, has been spent poorly (in hindsight). Ergo Burke's performance must be under scrutiny.

4. Paul Barber seems to me to be performing well within his remit.

5. Jake Forster Caskey is a promising 20 year-old footballer, capable of performing a very solid job, within a limited skillset, who is very harshly measured on this board.

6. Gary Gardner is absolutely appalling, and cares not one tiny bit about the success or failure of Brighton and Hove Albion FC. He needs to leave as soon as possible.

7. Greg Halford is actually not as bad a player as I had him down as, but ONLY at centre back. Nowhere else please.

8. Inigo Calderon is a cast-iron Albion legend, who CARES about the club. Players who really CARE have been sorely missed in recent games. He needs to be playing now.

If there's anything else you'd like me to clarify, let me know. (Or just carry on assuming whatever you think my opinion to be).

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Offensively he's been good, but his primary job is a LB and he is woeful at defending. At least 4 goals he is culpable for and that is without any degree of analysis.

In Hyypias system I'd say that his primary job ISN'T as a left back and the emphasis is on his attacking play. Luckily he is quite good going forward. Defensively he isn't really there, mainly because he's usually in the attacking third (where he's being asked to be)