[Albion] Uncharted territory for the Albion

Neville's Breakfast · Jul 27, 2018

The succession of exciting signings has got me thinking about how excited I am for the start of the new season. I feel something similar every year but that's more because I look forward to supporting the team regardless of prospects/quality/entertainment. Rather it's just a great day out and loyalty to the Albion has been a constant feature of life for over 40 years. Last year was no different as it was the same old Albion fighting rearguard battles against superior opposition. Towards the end of the season though something began to change.. we started to compete and the win over Man U confirmed the change. Now Chris has spent the Summer assembling a squad that actually looks like competing in the top division and I have never looked forward to a trip to Watford like I am now. I'm not getting carried away. I will be ecstatic if we finish 10th and have a cup run.
Am I right ? Is this season going to be different to a classic Albion one or do I have heatstroke ?

Simster · Jul 27, 2018

I'd like to agree with you and feel very bullish too. However, the reality is that we'll end up being one of around 12 clubs happy enough to finish outside the bottom 3. Personally I'd like to see the club go deep into a cup competition. For me, we are never going to finish in the top 4 so competitiveness in the cups is the real dividend for being a Premier league club.

Monkey Man · Jul 27, 2018

I'm impressed that Tony Bloom is showing signs of wanting to make a real impact on the Premier League rather than just scrape survival.

Of course we may yet end up in a relegation dogfight and in reality finishing 17th would still be a good achievement. But it looks like we want to go one better than we did last season and our recruitment has been imaginative and exciting.

Hopefully the new players will bed in quickly and the spirit that we seem to have had in the camp lives on, despite the departures of some old heads. If everything comes together this could be one of Brighton's most interesting and enjoyable seasons for years.

Neville's Breakfast · Jul 27, 2018

I just can't think of comparable season prospects in our history. Perhaps on this occasion the expecations held by Tony and Chris are actually higher than of the fans ? Or this is what it takes these days just to stay up and the likes of Huddersfield, Burnley and Leicester fail to re-enforce at their peril.

Brovion · Jul 27, 2018

Simster said:
I'd like to agree with you and feel very bullish too. However, the reality is that we'll end up being one of around 12 clubs happy enough to finish outside the bottom 3. Personally I'd like to see the club go deep into a cup competition. For me, we are never going to finish in the top 4 so competitiveness in the cups is the real dividend for being a Premier league club.

Neville's Breakfast said:
I just can't think of comparable season prospects in our history. Perhaps on this occasion the expecations held by Tony and Chris are actually higher than of the fans ? Or this is what it takes these days just to stay up and the likes of Huddersfield, Burnley and Leicester fail to re-enforce at their peril.

I agree with both these. Certainly the Prem is an 'arms race' and it'll be interesting to see if we've kept up with our rivals. Or maybe we have even exceeded them? And I've long bemoaned the fact that we don't take the Cups seriously and for most fans (and I'm guessing the club as well) league games have been the be-all and end-all. At least the old lower league, anti-Cup argument of "well we're never going to win it so why bother?" should now be noticeable by its absence!

Klaas · Jul 27, 2018

Simster said:
Personally I'd like to see the club go deep into a cup competition. For me, we are never going to finish in the top 4 so competitiveness in the cups is the real dividend for being a Premier league club.

Exactly what I hope for too. If we are playing in the top tier a cup win has to be a real possibility.

Neville's Breakfast · Jul 27, 2018

Simster said:
I'd like to agree with you and feel very bullish too. However, the reality is that we'll end up being one of around 12 clubs happy enough to finish outside the bottom 3. Personally I'd like to see the club go deep into a cup competition. For me, we are never going to finish in the top 4 so competitiveness in the cups is the real dividend for being a Premier league club.

Brovion said:
I agree with both these. Certainly the Prem is an 'arms race' and it'll be interesting to see if we've kept up with our rivals. Or maybe we have even exceeded them? And I've long bemoaned the fact that we don't take the Cups seriously and for most fans (and I'm guessing the club as well) league games have been the be-all and end-all. At least the old lower league, anti-Cup argument of "well we're never going to win it so why bother?" should now be noticeable by its absence!

Klaas said:
Exactly what I hope for too. If we are playing in the top tier a cup win has to be a real possibility.

I don't think the selection strategy in the cups will change much. We have a 25 man squad and the players not in the 1st team need game time. However a stronger squad means a stronger cup team so we may have a chance of a run to a final. Chris wasn't afraid to bring in Dunk and Duffy for the QF last year so that shows how single minded he can be when he thinks we have a chance.

The red pepper kid · Jul 27, 2018

Tony is rolling the dice again and with Chris in charge who knows what we can achieve this season and further on ----------------- god this is so much better than I ever could have imagined

el punal · Jul 27, 2018

Neville's Breakfast said:
The succession of exciting signings has got me thinking about how excited I am for the start of the new season. I feel something similar every year but that's more because I look forward to supporting the team regardless of prospects/quality/entertainment. Rather it's just a great day out and loyalty to the Albion has been a constant feature of life for over 40 years. Last year was no different as it was the same old Albion fighting rearguard battles against superior opposition. Towards the end of the season though something began to change.. we started to compete and the win over Man U confirmed the change. Now Chris has spent the Summer assembling a squad that actually looks like competing in the top division and I have never looked forward to a trip to Watford like I am now. I'm not getting carried away. I will be ecstatic if we finish 10th and have a cup run.
Am I right ? Is this season going to be different to a classic Albion one or do I have heatstroke ?

1. You’re right.

2. This season is going to be different.

3. You have heatstroke.

4. Carry on as normal.

Not Andy Naylor · Jul 27, 2018

Neville's Breakfast said:
I just can't think of comparable season prospects in our history. Perhaps on this occasion the expecations held by Tony and Chris are actually higher than of the fans ? Or this is what it takes these days just to stay up and the likes of Huddersfield, Burnley and Leicester fail to re-enforce at their peril.

After staying up at the end of our first season in the old First Division, we splashed out on Michael a Robinson and Gordon Smith, who was billed as the Scottish Trevor Brooking. Our players were more experienced, everything looked set fair for us to kick on. We avoided relegation on the last day.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Most other clubs are strengthening too, and none of our new outfield signings have played here before. We could still finish anywhere between 9th and 20th, but 15th again would be fantastic.

Barham's tash · Jul 27, 2018

Brovion said:
I agree with both these. Certainly the Prem is an 'arms race' and it'll be interesting to see if we've kept up with our rivals. Or maybe we have even exceeded them? And I've long bemoaned the fact that we don't take the Cups seriously and for most fans (and I'm guessing the club as well) league games have been the be-all and end-all. At least the old lower league, anti-Cup argument of "well we're never going to win it so why bother?" should now be noticeable by its absence!

Neville's Breakfast said:
I don't think the selection strategy in the cups will change much. We have a 25 man squad and the players not in the 1st team need game time. However a stronger squad means a stronger cup team so we may have a chance of a run to a final. Chris wasn't afraid to bring in Dunk and Duffy for the QF last year so that shows how single minded he can be when he thinks we have a chance.

I was thinking along exactly the same lines. Rather than having the reserve XI as players who see it as a chance to force their way into Premier League contention we’ll end up with a second XI who know/believe they’re good enough to play in the Premier League and will absolutely give CH something to think about.

Given that’s the case I’d like to see a min of 5 u23/development squad players involved in all cup squads regardless of age but based on ability.

Rusk should be providing CH a list of five players who’ve excelled/developed/are on form and deserve to be playing. Maybe even have internal policy that says 2 of the 5 to be in the starting XI to blood them?

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Easy 10 · Jul 27, 2018

We've spent about £55m this summer, which is mindboggling and completely unprecedented. With that comes an element of expectation - I'm already expecting us NOT to be relegated, and am cautiously optimistic of beating last seasons 15th. Nothings guaranteed of course, but that is an ENORMOUS investment by TB in the squad and I'm sure he'll be expecting further progress. We'll still be bottom half, but I'd bloody love us to finish 12th. Then we'll have just had the greatest season in our entire history.

hoveboyslim · Jul 27, 2018

On paper we are better equipped than last season, but I'm not getting carried away as there is no certainty that these players will adapt to the Premier League and we were relatively lucky with so few injuries throughout the season. For me avoiding relegation is still the goal and anything else is a bonus.

Goldstone1976 · Jul 27, 2018

Our squad looks like it’s going to be much stronger than last season (GK aside). It’s tough to say how much better the first XI will be until the new guys have settled into the club/PL, but on paper it’s massively exciting. What I think is undeniable is that we have much greater cover in depth for injuries (GK and CB aside); this is important as we were so kin lucky with injuries last time out.

I’m much more confident that we’ll stay up than I was this time last year, but 15th again would be an excellent result. Top 10 is not impossible (it pretty much was last season), but unlikely. I’m going for 14/15th.

Prior to each of the last two seasons I set the subtitle under my avatar to a two-place range before the season kicked off, and got it right. Here’s to a hat trick!

bWize · Jul 27, 2018

Certainly feel more confident in staying up and progressing in the PL this season. Getting slightly moist at the thought of seeing what this new look squad is capable of! :albion2:

Bodian · Jul 27, 2018

Easy 10 said:
We've spent about £55m this summer, which is mindboggling and completely unprecedented. With that comes an element of expectation - I'm already expecting us NOT to be relegated, and am cautiously optimistic of beating last seasons 15th. Nothings guaranteed of course, but that is an ENORMOUS investment by TB in the squad and I'm sure he'll be expecting further progress. We'll still be bottom half, but I'd bloody love us to finish 12th. Then we'll have just had the greatest season in our entire history.

The thing is though, it's not TB investing anymore, in as much as he's not now (presumably) having to dig in his own pockets for this? We're presumably spending the PL money we are earning? Although football finances remain a little hazy to me.

mejonaNO12 aka riskit · Jul 27, 2018

I think the recruitment team and Chris have played an absolute blinder so far. The second season transfer window is, in my mind, FAR more tricky to work in than the debut Prem one.

1 - You have to be realistic that you are still ,very much, relegation candidates.
2 - You want to do your best to improve the squad without exposing yourself to financial commitments which are crippling in the Championship, even with parachute payments.

The free transfers appear to be really shrewd bits of business and the big money signings look young, hungry and full of potential. You are not left lumbered with 32 year olds on mega money (Stoke, West Brom) if you go down and either have a young player who will stay or an easily sellable asset (almost certainly with clauses).

Neville's Breakfast · Jul 27, 2018

Not Andy Naylor said:
After staying up at the end of our first season in the old First Division, we splashed out on Michael a Robinson and Gordon Smith, who was billed as the Scottish Trevor Brooking. Our players were more experienced, everything looked set fair for us to kick on. We avoided relegation on the last day.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Most other clubs are strengthening too, and none of our new outfield signings have played here before. We could still finish anywhere between 9th and 20th, but 15th again would be fantastic.

The comparison with 1980 is really interesting. I think though that the scale of the strengthening this year exceeds that time. Mike Bamber shaped this club every bit as much as Dick Knight and Tony but I feel Tony is showing a greater commitment to keeping our regained status. I do take your point about others strengthening, an' arms race' as @Brovian put it. This arms race may be required just to keep the status quo.

Behind Enemy Lines · Jul 27, 2018

Bodian said:
The thing is though, it's not TB investing anymore, in as much as he's not now (presumably) having to dig in his own pockets for this? We're presumably spending the PL money we are earning? Although football finances remain a little hazy to me.

Albion made more than £100 million last season from tv and prize money so that pays for the transfers and wages.

Munkfish · Jul 27, 2018

The biggest thing for me is if we replace muzzas goals, generally all very important point winning goals and I worry that we dont have a striker with 15 goals in them, saying that the rest of the team will hopefully contribute a little more this season, we are certainly going to need it.

UTA.

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