Ashley Barnes playing in the Premier League

Gwylan · Aug 19, 2014

I've had 45 years watching the Albion and I think the sale of Barnes was the most upsetting I've experienced. Yes, we lost good players but the likes of Ward, Lawrenson, Small, Zamora etc were always going on to better things but we could have kept Ashley ... and should have kept him. I can think of very few players over the years who could match him for drive and commitment. Really pleased that he's had his chance in the PL.

I remember last January when Bridcutt and Barnes were halfway out the door. The former spent the month sulking like Achilles, while the latter played against Reading and gave 100%. And yet Bridcutt is an Albion legend and Barnes' name is mud for a large proportion of fans - funny old world

El Turi · Aug 19, 2014

He looked even more out of his depth than Murray did last year playing for Palace in the Prem.

ali jenkins · Aug 19, 2014

I think he will do well this season. One of his best games for us towards the end was the Arsenal FA cup game. Would love him back if he isn't doing the business for Burnley though.

Rugrat · Aug 19, 2014

Good on him, and pleased he'll be getting a look in.

Commander · Aug 19, 2014

Plooks said:
Some quick and simple ways of telling if a Brighton fan is a empty headed buffoon:

They think Barnes is/was crap.
They think Hammond is anonymous and crap.

We must have some of the thickest fans around, or do they all just congregate on here?

They wanted Poyet sacked because of the 'boring' football we played.

somerset · Aug 19, 2014

Commander said:
They wanted Poyet sacked because of the 'boring' football we played.

You obviously dreamt that one up..... I don't recall any of those calls until after he shat on us.

Commander · Aug 19, 2014

somerset said:
You obviously dreamt that one up..... I don't recall any of those calls until after he shat on us.

Er, no I didn't.

You must feel a bit silly with Ashley Barnes strutting his stuff in the Premier League eh? I assume you still think he isn't good enough for us?

Rookie · Aug 19, 2014

Chuffed for him, will never understand the abuse he got from some on here.

Gwylan · Aug 19, 2014

somerset said:
You obviously dreamt that one up..... I don't recall any of those calls until after he shat on us.

Eh? Don't you recall that Poyet threatened to quit because of the negative reaction of the fans to the football that was being played. There were plenty of people on here moaning about him at the time. We also had many threads about his insistence on playing two defensive midfielders and what a negative mindset he had.

I also had endure two seasons of someone a few rows back shouting "hoof it forward" every time a defender passed the ball - thankfully, he seems to have given up his ticket now.

Over the past few weeks we've seen plenty of rewriting of history with people pining on her for the good old days of Gus, totally ignoring the fact that a significant, but vocal, minority whinged constantly about the negative football

crabface · Aug 19, 2014

First thing i looked for when i read the write up this morning was to see if Barnes played.

Fair play to him, was always brilliant for us and gave everything. Wish we had kept him.

aolstudios · Aug 19, 2014

Gwylan said:
I've had 45 years watching the Albion and I think the sale of Barnes was the most upsetting I've experienced. Yes, we lost good players but the likes of Ward, Lawrenson, Small, Zamora etc were always going on to better things but we could have kept Ashley ... and should have kept him. I can think of very few players over the years who could match him for drive and commitment. Really pleased that he's had his chance in the PL.

I remember last January when Bridcutt and Barnes were halfway out the door. The former spent the month sulking like Achilles, while the latter played against Reading and gave 100%. And yet Bridcutt is an Albion legend and Barnes' name is mud for a large proportion of fans - funny old world

Nail on head. The dumb short-termism of that sale had me doubting the direction we were going for the first time in Tony's tenure. It's been downhill since that day

Bozza · Aug 19, 2014

aolstudios said:
Nail on head. The dumb short-termism of that sale had me doubting the direction we were going for the first time in Tony's tenure. It's been downhill since that day

Barnes had made it clear he would not sign a new contract when his deal ran out that Summer, leaving the Albion with two choices:

1. Keep him at the club until the Summer and watch him walk away.
2. Cash in during January if a decent enough offer came in.

Burnley offered a sum that the club believed was acceptable so he departed in January. I'm not sure Barnes would have made the difference between 6th and 2nd place, so I think it was probably the right thing to do. Barber squeezes everything out of these sales, so I imagine Burnley's promotion would have been worth a few quid to us too.

jackanada · Aug 19, 2014

If I buy a massive "Congratulations Ashley" card does anyone else want to sign it?

chaileyjem · Aug 19, 2014

aolstudios said:
It's been downhill since that day

We won the day after he was transferred at home to Birmingham and then proceeded to lose only 5 more games that season out of 23 eventually making the play-offs and 6th in the division; our 2nd highest finish in 31 years. The last 2 minutes at Nottm Forest and Ulloa's goal provided, most would admit, one of the best moments in watching Albion the last 10 years. But apart from that...

(Good luck Ashley)

aolstudios · Aug 19, 2014

Aware of all that but believe we were a better & stronger team with Barnes. Several of our players performed better with him working his socks off around them - particularly Leo, who was nowhere near match fit at the time & then found himself leading the line alone. We might not have made 2nd but I feel we would've made the layoffs more comfortably and been a team far less likely to capitulate in the playoffs. We haven't exactly made the most of any cash from that decent enough offer either, have we?

aolstudios · Aug 19, 2014

*edit* that was an answer to Bozza's post, btw...

Simster · Aug 19, 2014

somerset said:
You obviously dreamt that one up..... I don't recall any of those calls until after he shat on us.

Either way, you were always clueless when it came to Barnes. He was always MILES better than what you ever gave him credit for. And it seems various highly competent managers also disagree with you.

He'd absolutely walk into our team now, that's for sure. He's better than CMS and COG combined.

aolstudios · Aug 19, 2014

Simster said:
Either way, you were always clueless when it came to Barnes. He was always MILES better than what you ever gave him credit for. And it seems various highly competent managers also disagree with you.

He'd absolutely walk into our team now, that's for sure. He's better than CMS and COG combined.

Yep, clueless and frankly obsessed

chaileyjem · Aug 19, 2014

aolstudios said:
we would've made the layoffs more comfortably and been a team far less likely to capitulate in the playoffs.

Its all what ifs and buts but surely our defence (Upson, Greer, Bruno) capitulated in the play-offs rather than up front. Perhaps we shouldn't have given away that penalty in the first match for instance..
As for making the play offs comfortably , well maybe, but our form when Barnes left in the second half of the season , perhaps thanks to a fit Ulloa, Lingard, and a back four on song was not far off the imperious post Christmas run in the 12/13 and was far more comfortable that the first part of the Barnes bit of the season.

chaileyjem · Aug 19, 2014

Simster said:
Either way, you were always clueless when it came to Barnes. He was always MILES better than what you ever gave him credit for. And it seems various highly competent managers also disagree with you.

He'd absolutely walk into our team now, that's for sure. He's better than CMS and COG combined.

Given that our front line currently consists of one dev squad striker who's barely played Championship football, another who's just come back from a career threatening injury and another who's played a handful of competitive matches then yes. He probably would make the team.
Next week he might not.

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