[Albion] Not just our club - a very clever club indeed.......A meeting with Tony Bloom and Paul Barber

[birthofanorange]

Can I be the first to point out that Chelsea are no longer owned by a Russian petro-oligarch who gained his riches off the back of the Russian people and the most awful, wealth-concentrating privatisation programme the world has seen. Chelsea are now owned by a US sports company also with far, far too much money. While they've come fishing around these parts, they've paid the required rate set by TB & PB for those they've pilfered. This is unlike Manchester City, for instance, who are owned by a petro-state, who unsettled one of our players but wouldn't pay the required rate. TB & PB are, in addition, well prepared for clubs with too much money taking our assets -- they call it succession planning. They won't stand on their way, provided the required rate is met.

I take it that you're happy with what's occurred, then?

 

[Cornwallboy]

Fair point, but more often than not, the journey is as equally important (if not more so), than the destination.

Yes fair point that, I would imagine though if when we were sitting in the cold and wet at Withdean playing Kidderminster and Torquay etc we would've taken been 7th in the PL with 8 players at the WC in 2022. Look at how tirelessly we campaigned for Falmer and how pivotal it was and has been for our future. Yes it was disappointing losing Potter et al, but that's football as unedifying as it maybe. Say RZB was still in a job and we took him from who he was managing would we feel guilty?

 

[Icy Gull]

I've never met John but know , as everyone knows and TB knows - given he said it to him at the Villa game , - none of us would be here if it wasn't for his and (others) effort back in the day.
How he or they might feel that you want to describe his chat over pies in the boardroom puts him or Bloom on the slippery slope to FIFA and Qatar as you put it - and makes him feel beholden to write "fluff pieces" just seems really unnecessary.

Lovely touch from the man who built the Albion to where we are now recognising what people like John Baine, The Henfield One and Harty did for the Albion in the dark days. Classy

 

[birthofanorange]

Yes fair point that, I would imagine though if when we were sitting in the cold and wet at Withdean playing Kidderminster and Torquay etc we would've taken been 7th in the PL with 8 players at the WC in 2022. Look at how tirelessly we campaigned for Falmer and how pivotal it was and has been for our future. Yes it was disappointing losing Potter et al, but that's football as unedifying as it maybe. Say RZB was still in a job and we took him from who he was managing would we feel guilty?

Of course we would have taken 7th in the PL, but having got that, there is a sense of the grass not always being greener, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I love how we are playing, and where we are, but I equally miss the days when we longed for it.
The Potter thing is most likely the first of many things that we won't like - pay the Devil his dues, and all that.

 

[Cornwallboy]

Of course we would have taken 7th in the PL, but having got that, there is a sense of the grass not always being greener, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I love how we are playing, and where we are, but I equally miss the days when we longed for it.
The Potter thing is most likely the first of many things that we won't like - pay the Devil his dues, and all that.

Life as a football fan...

 

[amexer]

The answer was that unlike other clubs the Albion season ticket is discounted against the individual entry price per match and that there is no reason the discounts should extend to casual attendees hence the levy. If it is indeed true that Albion season tickets have a greater discount or are cheaper than other PL teams I suppose that works as a business argument but it is still modern football bollocks as far as I am concerned: once you have bought a season ticket you should be able to lend it to anyone you trust if you can’t make a particular game.

Hope you gave a good response to that. All PL clubs I am sure discount STs. As far as cost is concerned I only have evidence through knowing people at Leicester,Southampton and Palace and there STs are not dearer than ours

 

[birthofanorange]

Life as a football fan...

Life in general, if truth be told.

 

[Eric the meek]

I’m still sick of modern football, the water, I still love the Albion, the goldfish.

We may be a goldfish, but we aren't a tiddler any more. We're more like this fella:

Kidderminster man catches giant goldfish

Andy Hackett from Kidderminster lands the "elusive" beast while on a trip to France.

www.bbc.co.uk

​

 

[Cornwallboy]

Life in general, if truth be told.

So very true mate.

 

[Machiavelli]

I take it that you're happy with what's occurred, then?

Happy with the way the club is run. Unsurprised by what's occurred. Don't think either of those positions are remotely controversial>

 

[figgis]

I am surprised you took the bait fella.

 

[Grassman]

This is a piece for the newspaper I write for, published last weekend. Apologies for repetition of the bit I had already posted here, I wanted to put it up in its entirety for context.
It has insights into our strategy I think you'll find interesting. Cheers, Attila/John

I had a serious football meltdown a few weeks ago.

The obscenity of the amount of money sloshing around in the Premier League while millions of our fellow citizens are in desperate poverty had been gnawing at me for years. The imminent arrival of the World Cup, barging into our domestic season like a braying, banknote-waving Hooray Henry following its award to Qatar, a misogynistic, homophobic theocracy where it’s so hot in the summer that the competition had to be staged in November, was giving me further dark thoughts – especially since allegations of bribery and corruption were everywhere.

And then Brighton manager Graham Potter went to Chelsea, who’d already had our player of the season, taking with him our backroom staff and letting it be known that he’d be back for our head of recruitment (now gone) and probably more players as well. Not just taking all our fish, but the rod we catch them with. And the response from the corporate media: ‘It’s business. Chelsea are a ‘big club’, Brighton are a ‘small club’. That’s what happens. Know your place and move on’.

That was the last straw. I lost it big time. I know we’re an incredibly well-managed operation, with a forensic, well-researched and well-rehearsed set-up. I knew that there would already be a plan in place for all this. Nevertheless, the sheer temerity, the disgusting brazenness of money, brought my combative streak out.

I put my thoughts into words, posted them on my Facebook blog and sent them to Paul Barber, chief executive and deputy chairman of the club, and Paul Camillin, head of media. Both known to me for years – in the latter’s case over 25 of them, since he stood alongside us against the rogue chairman Archer when we fans were battling to save the club, and his elevation is well-merited.

‘We have had an incredible 25 year rise from the bottom of the 4th division with no ground to 7th in the Premier League. It has been a roller coaster of wonder. Now we have reached the glass ceiling, it’s nowhere near as interesting. The football is beautiful, but the game is sick.The Potter episode sometimes makes me think of walking away, if I am honest, and though I know I won’t, that is saying something, given my passion for the Albion. Brilliantly run club, great recruitment, unique manager, everything ripped away by the power of money. And not just any money but Chelsea money, stolen from the Russian people, leaving millions in misery. As I have said before, I feel like a goldfish owner who loves my pet as much as ever but utterly loathes the water it is swimming in now. Something fundamental has to change. If someone like me - who spent years of my life battling to save the club he loves - feels like this when we are 7th in the Premier League, there really is something wrong with the game.’

And I got an email back from CEO Paul Barber inviting me to be his guest in the boardroom against Villa last Saturday and talk about it all. ‘I know the corporate stuff isn’t really your thing, John, but…’

Of course I went. I had always known that we were still different as a club, but when Paul and chairman Tony Bloom said ‘If it wasn’t for you lot, we wouldn’t be standing here now’ I felt proud for us all. Before the game I had a good think about what the strategy might be: I asked if my analysis was correct and found I was on the right track.

Brighton is now the gateway to the Premier League for young, supremely talented players from all over the world – and, more importantly, for their money-hungry agents.

The message is out. Come to Brighton and your client will have world class training facilities and the chance to break quickly into a progressive, egalitarian team rather than being a bench warmer for years at a ‘big club’. If he is as good as you say he is and the bloated monsters come calling, we won’t stand in your way and every last penny will be extracted on your behalf by some very good negotiators so you get the huge commission which is your reason for living. Meanwhile, we’ll have developed his successor, ready to take his place.

And Tony Bloom is that rare thing among Premier League chairmen – a lifelong fan. So I posed the question. ‘You want to see us play in Europe as much as the rest of us do, Tony. Can we do it with a revolving door policy? Can we break the glass ceiling?’ He looked me in the eye and said ‘Yes, I think we can’.

There wasn’t a prawn sandwich in sight, but I had three (mini) Piglets Balti pies and trousered three bars of Albion branded chocolate, a gift from the CEO I met some old faces I hadn’t seen for years.

I’m still sick of modern football, the water, I still love the Albion, the goldfish. As for Europe, Tony, we’ll see.

But we sure are a well run club. Surfers on, rather than in, the sewage which is the Premier League.

Me and Wadhurst Seagull saw you walking in to the posh entrance on Sunday. Shirley some mistake we thought, now we know why.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Great article John. Good to see you still trousers chocolate bars! Don’t they get all sticky ? Agree with you but I would add one extra angle. If we aren’t at the top table we cannot change the way the system is run. Our operational template is surely now being copied by clubs all over the country? If, as we think, it is good and righteous, I think it will work. Therefore, eventually, I hope, the system will improve for the better.
But then I always have been an optimist. In the meantime let’s enjoy having Tony, Paul and the team running our great club and let’s dream of Europe! Why not?

TNBA

TTF

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

This is a piece for the newspaper I write for, published last weekend. Apologies for repetition of the bit I had already posted here, I wanted to put it up in its entirety for context.
It has insights into our strategy I think you'll find interesting. Cheers, Attila/John

I had a serious football meltdown a few weeks ago.

The obscenity of the amount of money sloshing around in the Premier League while millions of our fellow citizens are in desperate poverty had been gnawing at me for years. The imminent arrival of the World Cup, barging into our domestic season like a braying, banknote-waving Hooray Henry following its award to Qatar, a misogynistic, homophobic theocracy where it’s so hot in the summer that the competition had to be staged in November, was giving me further dark thoughts – especially since allegations of bribery and corruption were everywhere.

And then Brighton manager Graham Potter went to Chelsea, who’d already had our player of the season, taking with him our backroom staff and letting it be known that he’d be back for our head of recruitment (now gone) and probably more players as well. Not just taking all our fish, but the rod we catch them with. And the response from the corporate media: ‘It’s business. Chelsea are a ‘big club’, Brighton are a ‘small club’. That’s what happens. Know your place and move on’.

That was the last straw. I lost it big time. I know we’re an incredibly well-managed operation, with a forensic, well-researched and well-rehearsed set-up. I knew that there would already be a plan in place for all this. Nevertheless, the sheer temerity, the disgusting brazenness of money, brought my combative streak out.

I put my thoughts into words, posted them on my Facebook blog and sent them to Paul Barber, chief executive and deputy chairman of the club, and Paul Camillin, head of media. Both known to me for years – in the latter’s case over 25 of them, since he stood alongside us against the rogue chairman Archer when we fans were battling to save the club, and his elevation is well-merited.

‘We have had an incredible 25 year rise from the bottom of the 4th division with no ground to 7th in the Premier League. It has been a roller coaster of wonder. Now we have reached the glass ceiling, it’s nowhere near as interesting. The football is beautiful, but the game is sick.The Potter episode sometimes makes me think of walking away, if I am honest, and though I know I won’t, that is saying something, given my passion for the Albion. Brilliantly run club, great recruitment, unique manager, everything ripped away by the power of money. And not just any money but Chelsea money, stolen from the Russian people, leaving millions in misery. As I have said before, I feel like a goldfish owner who loves my pet as much as ever but utterly loathes the water it is swimming in now. Something fundamental has to change. If someone like me - who spent years of my life battling to save the club he loves - feels like this when we are 7th in the Premier League, there really is something wrong with the game.’

And I got an email back from CEO Paul Barber inviting me to be his guest in the boardroom against Villa last Saturday and talk about it all. ‘I know the corporate stuff isn’t really your thing, John, but…’

Of course I went. I had always known that we were still different as a club, but when Paul and chairman Tony Bloom said ‘If it wasn’t for you lot, we wouldn’t be standing here now’ I felt proud for us all. Before the game I had a good think about what the strategy might be: I asked if my analysis was correct and found I was on the right track.

Brighton is now the gateway to the Premier League for young, supremely talented players from all over the world – and, more importantly, for their money-hungry agents.

The message is out. Come to Brighton and your client will have world class training facilities and the chance to break quickly into a progressive, egalitarian team rather than being a bench warmer for years at a ‘big club’. If he is as good as you say he is and the bloated monsters come calling, we won’t stand in your way and every last penny will be extracted on your behalf by some very good negotiators so you get the huge commission which is your reason for living. Meanwhile, we’ll have developed his successor, ready to take his place.

And Tony Bloom is that rare thing among Premier League chairmen – a lifelong fan. So I posed the question. ‘You want to see us play in Europe as much as the rest of us do, Tony. Can we do it with a revolving door policy? Can we break the glass ceiling?’ He looked me in the eye and said ‘Yes, I think we can’.

There wasn’t a prawn sandwich in sight, but I had three (mini) Piglets Balti pies and trousered three bars of Albion branded chocolate, a gift from the CEO I met some old faces I hadn’t seen for years.

I’m still sick of modern football, the water, I still love the Albion, the goldfish. As for Europe, Tony, we’ll see.

But we sure are a well run club. Surfers on, rather than in, the sewage which is the Premier League.

So in a nutshell, your support and faith was wavering, you had started to question your love of where we are, and if your comfortable with the Premier league and all that entails…

A freebie ticket, a couple of pies and a few chocolate bars later….

Nothing like sticking it to your principles…

 

[Iron Butterfly]

I love being where we are, and particularly the way we got here. But for raw feelings, I still relive the night at Rochdale with their fans right behind us in the home end, and the trip to Mellor after the Wigan game. Hard to believe its (very tenuously) the same game.

 

[studio150]

So the OP gets to talk with the top men at the club and engages in sensible football discussion rather than raising the important matters such as flasks bottom tops and Id checks. Seems to have been blinkered by the pies and chocolate.

On a more serious note good to see that the club still listen and are as open as possible.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Can I be the first to point out that Chelsea are no longer owned by a Russian petro-oligarch who gained his riches off the back of the Russian people and the most awful, wealth-concentrating privatisation programme the world has seen. Chelsea are now owned by a US sports company also with far, far too much money. While they've come fishing around these parts, they've paid the required rate set by TB & PB for those they've pilfered. This is unlike Manchester City, for instance, who are owned by a petro-state, who unsettled one of our players but wouldn't pay the required rate. TB & PB are, in addition, well prepared for clubs with too much money taking our assets -- they call it succession planning. They won't stand on their way, provided the required rate is met.

I would see the Citeh think slightly differently in expressing an interest in Cucurella, realising he would cost more than they wanted to pay and then showing some respect by going elsewhere. It was Chelsea who then charged in and paid way over the top.

But it was a thoroughly encouraging article and great to read aboutTB and PB in conversation. To validate their approach, I felt devastated when GP left, felt encouraged when we were soon purposefully seeking a replacement and being linked to interesting sounding people, and then confident when seeing TB say he never wanted anyone else but RdZ.

And I know it’s still early days, but RdZ seems to fit in every way.

 

[el punal]

Can’t keep up with all these fan experiences, The Dug Out , The Tunnel Club, Mini Pies on the fly

Please do keep up! The Dug Out and the Tunnel Club is aimed at the 80 minute exiteers. The theme from ‘The Great Escape’ is played on a loop through the dedicated P.A.system.

The mini pies must be very small indeed if they can be placed on a fly.

 

[goldstone]

Great piece. And thanks for the feedback from your meeting.

 

[goldstone]

Lovely touch from the man who built the Albion to where we are now recognising what people like John Baine, The Henfield One and Harty did for the Albion in the dark days. Classy

Don't forget Ed. RIP.