[Albion] Saudi regime buying Dan Ashworth: the undelying cause for our collapse in form?

[Perry Milkins]

What have you got against prunes?

Socks don't smell after one day's wear, unless you have cheap shoes (plimsoles, and the like).

Must try harder if you want a nod from me

HWT is such a magnet for beautiful women, he makes them faint with delight by just walking in a room.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I get that to some extent but it's not(at this level) much of an escape any more. Various murderous regimes taking over clubs, constant gambling adverts, venture capitalists and the like taking over clubs, tax dodging ,various criminal activities from players, racism, etc. Hoping for things to be run in a better way seems pretty straightforward and not really that political.

The only think that's new is an additional murderous regime in the owners' enclosure.

We have had constant gambling forever (especially on Sky - not on BBC.....so much....unless you wath the horse racing...)
Venture capitalists? Worse than Bill Archer? Peter Swales? 'Moneymen' have always been to the fore.
Tax dodging has always been a national past time.
Peter Swan and pals were criminalizing football in the 60s.
Back in the day every player acted in a racist way, even if they weren't racist, to wind up the opposition.
Etc.

Apart from the stupid amounts of money (which is generally welcomed when it arrives at one's club) and the creeping level of foreign ownership (which began 20 years ago) nothing much has changed.

And the changes that have happened have been incremental. Nothing happened overnight (with the exception of the day Sky bought football - something that is ironically not high in the list of complaints, when the 'we have never had it so bad' lists are compiled).

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

HWT is such a magnet for beautiful women, he makes them faint with delight by just walking in a room.

You're getting a bit weird now

 

[highflyer]

It's not political to wish that football clubs over here were run a little more like in Germany and not by characters like Abramovich and oppressive Middle Eastern nation states?

I actually think it is political.

See also P and O.

Politics, over time, drives the type of economy we have. And the economy we have created (through politics) is what allows football clubs, ferry companies, care homes, GP surgeries and housing stock to be sold and owned offshore, to be squeezed for profits, used as assets and (in the case of football) trophies in rich mens dick-swinging contests.

Changing this WILL require changing our politics.

 

[Perry Milkins]

You're getting a bit weird now

I'll take weird as opposed to taking myself seriously.

 

[smiler]

I just think we are too nice...

We need toughen up both on the pitch and off it... We are far too accommodating and friendly....

How about changing the away dressing room at the Amex back to the away portacabin at Withdean. That wouldn't so friendly

 

[Stat Brother]

Loving the idea that Abramovichgate will somehow reshape English football.
Billionaires are falling over themselves to buy Chelsea in order to perpetuate the status quo (rock on).


I'm reminded of the end of The Big Short.
They played out the fantasy of the post crash new world, before abruptly stopping.
Singling out the one man who went to jail.
Before noting absolutely nothing changed.

 

[Seasider78]

It amazes me in football how often off field or managerial stuff is where all the cause of slumps are directed when generally in football it is the quality and form of the players on the pitch that determines your results.

We have

Dunk - struggling to reach his pre injury form
Lallana - after a good run of games now breaking down regularly
Webster - more injuries
Lamptey - himself and club clearly holding him back as they build strength back into hamstrings
Biss and Tross - both subject to bids in Jan window both look unsettled like they are coasting to the summer window
Sanchez - now having weekly brain farts


The above combined with the sale of Burn which has reduced the quality of options at the back and limited the formations we can play have all added up to us having bottom 3 performances in the league.

I am sure some are sad that Ashworth left but the quality on the pitch and drop in form of our most important players is what’s behind this. Potter (whilst very talented) is not a magician and needs players to recapture form and be given better tools by the people above him.

 

[Stat Brother]

Why not having it at all? .

[MENTION=528]attila[/MENTION] has just posted a hypothesis, unless he, or you or I are at Lancing regularly and see all the dynamics that go on, then it's a fair enough point to make if looking for why we've suddenly turned the year looking so fragile. I don't think Ashworth was just effectively a scout if the only thing he did was recruitment. I suspect his role throughout the club was a lot more involved.

For all we know Ashworth and Potter worked really closely as sounding blocks, opinions, whatever. Perhaps Ashworth was a confidente to some of the players who could share with him what they might not do with the management. He might have regularly met GP and his coaching staff to review their plans for the week, tactical decisons, selections etc. I have no idea, BUT, 2 major things happened in January to coincide with our downturn; Burn and Ashworth went.

I don't disagree that hanging the entire downturn on Ashworth leaving is not likely, Burn was clearly a bigger impact, however to suggest it hasn't impacted and it will only be felt later - not sure you can know that.

Or for all we know this is how he spent his day

 

[NooBHA]

Nah - I don't think so

A lot of the points gained this season were the draws from goals near the end of matches. They have dried up and I think they have dried up because when going behind I don't think the team chases the match as aggressively as they did earlier in the season because they are pretty much safe from relegation

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Here we go, so really this is just another political rant via football ?

The German league is also a closed shop with one club winning pretty much every game and buying whoever they want for whatever price they want from the other clubs as no one else can really compete except Red Bull who are hated.
Just because they have the fan based rules doesnt mean it isnt corrupt either.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Or for all we know this is how he spent his day

View attachment 146132

George did get a job at the Yankees!!

 

[Wardy's twin]

Dan Burn loss has had a more immediate affect

 

[Wozza]

This is correct.

Whether the Dan Burn deal was a reasonable one has been done to death, and the two sides of that debate will never agree (though the people who now have him as some 8 foot Geordie Maldini are strangely quiet about him being at fault for the match deciding goals in both Newcastle’s games this week…)

What is undeniable though, is that the unfortunate timing of Webster’s latest injury and Dunk’s red, at the very time of Burn leaving, absolutely did leave us very short.

Just seen Everton's goal from last night. Hard to pin that entirely on him, but not great.

But, yes, losing him left us short at a very bad time. Has really restricted Potter's options at the back.

 

[Bodian]

Because I’m ‘not having’ his hypothesis.

Mine is that we have an average group of footballers (for this rarified level), who had been over performing, on the crest of a wave of confidence. That confidence looks currently shot, and they are slightly underperforming - which at this level means certain failure.

Potter, Billy, Bruno and the players themselves, need to regroup , eke out a respectable result and start to rebuild what they had (just a few short weeks ago)

A lot of the points gained this season were the draws from goals near the end of matches. They have dried up and I think they have dried up because when going behind I don't think the team chases the match as aggressively as they did earlier in the season because they are pretty much safe from relegation

I think this is the real key. We have lost confidence as a team, and our game is all about confidence in what we can do and in fighting back. This looks to have gone completely.

I mentioned on another thread a while back that I wondered if it was the impact of the bizarre five minutes at Man Utd, and I read another poster who said pretty much the same thing the other day. It happened before when we lost to the them with the post-match penalty - it took us a while to recover. With this Man U game, we went into it full of confidence, and I think many of us thought we'd come away with a point or more - and basically 'if there's any time we're going to beat them it's tonight'. And we were on top. Yet in a five minute spell you get this devastating realisation that whatever we do - we're just never going to be able to compete with the 'big boys' consistently. At which point, you think 'what's the point then', heads go down - and have stayed down.

When I used to play, you always knew when you were on the weaker side - and what you would do when you couldn't get the ball was defend for your lives and hold out for 0-0 as long as possible in the hope that you might nick something. Then, after 70 minutes of brave battling, you'd finally let a goal in - and you knew, you just knew 'that's it - game's over'. And there was nothing you could do to get the initial spirit back. Remember the Spurs game under CH when we held on for 85 minutes or something.

I think that's what's happened here. After / during the Man Utd game, we realised we weren't seriously going to be able to compete and stay near the top - and the deflation of that has turned into a lack of spirit and confidence - which has highlighted the weaknesses that were previously mitigated for.

 

[raymondo]

Why not having it at all? .

[MENTION=528]attila[/MENTION] has just posted a hypothesis, unless he, or you or I are at Lancing regularly and see all the dynamics that go on, then it's a fair enough point to make if looking for why we've suddenly turned the year looking so fragile. I don't think Ashworth was just effectively a scout if the only thing he did was recruitment. I suspect his role throughout the club was a lot more involved.

For all we know Ashworth and Potter worked really closely as sounding blocks, opinions, whatever. Perhaps Ashworth was a confidente to some of the players who could share with him what they might not do with the management. He might have regularly met GP and his coaching staff to review their plans for the week, tactical decisons, selections etc. I have no idea, BUT, 2 major things happened in January to coincide with our downturn; Burn and Ashworth went.

I don't disagree that hanging the entire downturn on Ashworth leaving is not likely, Burn was clearly a bigger impact, however to suggest it hasn't impacted and it will only be felt later - not sure you can know that.

I'm with [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION]. Ashworth undoubtedly one of the pillars of how the club was building...quite possibly a confidante of some of the players, and a key sounding board of the coaching. Monday: 'be patient lads, we're really building something special for the long term here, keep believing in our new DNA, our way of playing'. Tuesday: "way hey... I'm off to Newcy with a bumper pay packet...see ya".
It would cause major wobbles IMO, players and coaches are human.
So, yeah, partly Ashworth's departure, partly defence injuries/instability.

 

[keaton]

The only think that's new is an additional murderous regime in the owners' enclosure.

We have had constant gambling forever (especially on Sky - not on BBC.....so much....unless you wath the horse racing...)
Venture capitalists? Worse than Bill Archer? Peter Swales? 'Moneymen' have always been to the fore.
Tax dodging has always been a national past time.
Peter Swan and pals were criminalizing football in the 60s.
Back in the day every player acted in a racist way, even if they weren't racist, to wind up the opposition.
Etc.

Apart from the stupid amounts of money (which is generally welcomed when it arrives at one's club) and the creeping level of foreign ownership (which began 20 years ago) nothing much has changed.

And the changes that have happened have been incremental. Nothing happened overnight (with the exception of the day Sky bought football - something that is ironically not high in the list of complaints, when the 'we have never had it so bad' lists are compiled).

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with Sky showing more games of football which is why I didn't mention. All of those things have got far worse in my opinion, if you think it's not an issue that fine but then I'm not sure your point about it being an escape makes much sense unless you've just decided to shut it all out

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

I honestly do not get the same feeling of excitement and anticipation going to watch the Albion anymore at the Amex.
Every time I now set foot, and bum on seat, in the stadium after parting with hard earned cash, I feel my love dying for the club.
I wonder do I still go out of a sense of loyalty to the club and this wonderful area of the country, my heart that was once so passionate about it's survival, beats now to the rhythm of frustration.

The crowd in anticipation of defeat, wait with baited breath, and seem to hold that breath a full 85 minutes before rushing off to catch the bus or the train that never comes, occasionally a burst of ALBION or SEAGULLS, breaks the monotony of a weak performance both on and off the field.

Oh for the good Ol'days...

Yeah, but no, Archer, Priestfield, Withdean, even The Goldstone, the violence, Ashley Neal....
They had there flaws, and I have no wish to recreate the emptiness, anguish some of those years inflicted.

I am sadly conflicted with love for the club and seemingly Cashless & soulless machine it seems to have become.

 

[kevo]

Selling Dan Burn to Saudi FC is the main reason for our collapse in form.

I'm convinced we would have picked up some points in the last few games with him in our team. Has there been a worse outgoing transfer decision in recent times?

Tony Bloom wants us to become a top 10 club. Just when we have a chance of finishing in the top half, he sells our most in-form defender (to a club who will probably now finish above us).

We will also lose most if not all of the money we got from the transfer by finishing lower in the table. What a balls up. A disappointing end to what has been a great season.

 

[amexer]

Ashworth going has nothing to do with our poor results. However end of season decisions could be a problem. Assume Ashworth would have made decision of what loans are good enough to come back to first team squad and which ones should be released. Who is there now that Bloom has faith in to make such decisions