[Albion] Club PR and Expectations

Shooting Star · Dec 26, 2020

Since Sunday's disappointment I've been reflecting on why there's a growing divide between those who are increasingly frustrated by the way the season is panning out, and those who acknowledge this but argue "where do you expect a club like us to be?" (For the record on this theme I was talking to family members yesterday and we are of the "Potter in, but..." camp).

I wonder to what extent our expectations have been driven by ourselves and to what extent they've been manufactured by club PR? Since we reached the PL, and especially since Potter took over, we're frequently treated to interviews with football pundits and new signings praising the club's "top ten facilities" and "ambitions for the future". When Lallana joined, if I remember rightly, all the PR coming out of the club was that Adam could see past our recent league position and envisage a brighter future for the club.

Of course, the club didn't say these ambitions would happen overnight. And likewise, I understand that those are the club's ambitions and much of what they say about our facilities is true. Plus it'd be a difficult sell every year to dish out a load of pessimistic realism that we're in for another relegation fight because our finances aren't like those of the clubs around us. However, it can hardly come as a surprise to the club that fans are growing increasingly disgruntled when they are constantly telling us how wonderful our future could be, whilst the present realities show few signs of us travelling in that direction. Again, just for the record, I'd be more than content with a 14th place finish this year, indicating gradual improvement in the right direction of this so-called long-term aim.

We spend a lot of time blaming Potter, the board and the fans for either our current predicament or perspective on it. Yet I don't think the club's PR can be without fault here too. I, for one, may have had lower long-term expectations if not for everything the club has churned out the past couple of years.

Happy Boxing Day! :dunce:

Johnny RoastBeef · Dec 26, 2020

Definatley not the clubs fault that so many of our fans are becoming a tad entitled.

In this interview from October, Potter couldn't have made our situation any clearer.

“The biggest thing for me to understand is that we are in the Premier League, as I understand it we are Brighton, unless I have missed something, we haven’t been at this level for too long in our history,” he said.

“We are fighting every day to be here and we have no divine right to win a football game. So we can’t be putting ourselves under any pressure.

“Most of the supporters understand the history of the club and where we have come from. A few others expect us to win just because we are Brighton, I’d like them to explain that to me.

“Results-wise we are a little bit disappointed, but with a certain amount of perspective. Performance-wise we are three quarters of the way there, but we need to carry on improving.

“We need to understand that any game at this level we have to fight for everything. I am sure the players understand that.”

sparkie · Dec 26, 2020

Johnny RoastBeef said:
Definatley not the clubs fault that so many of our fans are becoming a tad entitled.

In this interview from October, Potter couldn't have made our situation any clearer.

“The biggest thing for me to understand is that we are in the Premier League, as I understand it we are Brighton, unless I have missed something, we haven’t been at this level for too long in our history,” he said.

“We are fighting every day to be here and we have no divine right to win a football game. So we can’t be putting ourselves under any pressure.

“Most of the supporters understand the history of the club and where we have come from. A few others expect us to win just because we are Brighton, I’d like them to explain that to me.

“Results-wise we are a little bit disappointed, but with a certain amount of perspective. Performance-wise we are three quarters of the way there, but we need to carry on improving.

“We need to understand that any game at this level we have to fight for everything. I am sure the players understand that.”

Yes, there is a more of a noticeable entitlememt creeping in. Mostly about the top 10 longer term target.

SweatyMexican · Dec 26, 2020

I wouldn’t really subscribe to any of these camps...our results have been poor but I wouldn’t say ‘what do you expect from a side like us’.

It’s just all part of the improvement process. I believe this management team can get the job done, they just need the players to do it.

Icy Gull · Dec 26, 2020

Johnny RoastBeef said:
Definatley not the clubs fault that so many of our fans are becoming a tad entitled.

In this interview from October, Potter couldn't have made our situation any clearer.

“The biggest thing for me to understand is that we are in the Premier League, as I understand it we are Brighton, unless I have missed something, we haven’t been at this level for too long in our history,” he said.

“We are fighting every day to be here and we have no divine right to win a football game. So we can’t be putting ourselves under any pressure.

“Most of the supporters understand the history of the club and where we have come from. A few others expect us to win just because we are Brighton, I’d like them to explain that to me.

“Results-wise we are a little bit disappointed, but with a certain amount of perspective. Performance-wise we are three quarters of the way there, but we need to carry on improving.

“We need to understand that any game at this level we have to fight for everything. I am sure the players understand that.”

He is 100% right and he did deliver that in quite a pissed off sounding interview.

It’s becoming clear that a decent proportion of NSC are now pretty dissatisfied with the job he’s doing here too. No idea on the wider fanbase but we have certainly become very PL in the “we should be beating teams like.....” stakes on NSC

I am not happy with the results, I am getting really frustrated with the results of the performances but I am 90% convinced that the problems in winning lie with the players, who have not been good enough to win games. The chances have been made and fecked up and imo the goalkeeping has not been good enough (I accept plenty disagree with that comment). He has MAYBE sorted the goal keeping problem, time will tell. We don’t look close to solving the striker problem though, confidence is shot and only Welbeck (who has also missed some sitters) has been able to put the ball in the net from open play.

The next couple of games followed by the January window will be very interesting. Perhaps we’ll win a game or two and decide not to do anything in January, but what happens if we lose the next few??

Never dull being an Albion fan :smile:

Acker79 · Dec 26, 2020

I think people can over-complicate things. It's simple; the closer you get to an entire calendar year with only one home win, the more people are going to turn. There are some who will get unhappy after a month, some a couple of months. Some people will continue to explain away 8 or 9 months. There will be some who accept a whole year with one home win, some may even find excuses all the way through to the end of the season should we go that long before our next home win.

But the longer the run goes on, the more fans will turn. That is the reason for the growing divide.

Shooting Star · Dec 26, 2020

Johnny RoastBeef said:
Definatley not the clubs fault that so many of our fans are becoming a tad entitled.

In this interview from October, Potter couldn't have made our situation any clearer.

“The biggest thing for me to understand is that we are in the Premier League, as I understand it we are Brighton, unless I have missed something, we haven’t been at this level for too long in our history,” he said.

“We are fighting every day to be here and we have no divine right to win a football game. So we can’t be putting ourselves under any pressure.

“Most of the supporters understand the history of the club and where we have come from. A few others expect us to win just because we are Brighton, I’d like them to explain that to me.

“Results-wise we are a little bit disappointed, but with a certain amount of perspective. Performance-wise we are three quarters of the way there, but we need to carry on improving.

“We need to understand that any game at this level we have to fight for everything. I am sure the players understand that.”

That’s my point entirely though: are fans increasingly feeling a sense of entitlement/expectation because the club PR department (not Potter) are fuelling it? Are they actually making his job harder by artificially increasing our expectations as fans?

Take this, in the same month as those comments from Potter, when Danny Welbeck signed, headline “I can help Albion reach top ten”: https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/1868917/i-can-help-albion-reach-the-top-ten-says-welbeck

Seasider78 · Dec 26, 2020

Icy Gull said:
He is 100% right and he did deliver that in quite a pissed off sounding interview.

It’s becoming clear that a decent proportion of NSC are now pretty dissatisfied with the job he’s doing here too. No idea on the wider fanbase but we have certainly become very PL in the “we should be beating teams like.....” stakes on NSC

I am not happy with the results, I am getting really frustrated with the results of the performances but I am 90% convinced that the problems in winning lie with the players, who have not been good enough to win games. The chances have been made and fecked up and imo the goalkeeping has not been good enough (I accept plenty disagree with that comment). He has MAYBE sorted the goal keeping problem, time will tell. We don’t look close to solving the striker problem though, confidence is shot and only Welbeck (who has also missed some sitters) has been able to put the ball in the net from open play.

The next couple of games followed by the January window will be very interesting. Perhaps we’ll win a game or two and decide not to do anything in January, but what happens if we lose the next few??

Never dull being an Albion fan

I think on the whole it is just frustration as we are making the same mistakes on the pitch and missing clear chances which as you say is largely down to the players.

I would guess most fans just want to see us moving forwards and the manager is getting the thick end of this as he talks about the group learning but then they turn up the next game and repeat the same problems.

The top 10 thing is thrown around but for me I would be happy with a mid table comfortable finish which would be progress on previous seasons. The noise is coming as we are starting to look more at risk of the drop than we did in our first season at this level and that is ringing bells to many as a sign we are going backwards not forwards.

Also praying we manage to pull a result out the bag against arsenal again as the 1 home win in 2020 will be a stick used to beat the manager with again and again.

Baldseagull · Dec 26, 2020

Frustrating results, mostly encouraging performances. Losing faith in the game more than our club though, losing to Harry Kane "winning" a penalty and other such shit that we hoped VAR would eradicate, but it has only served to tell us it's within the rules, whereas previously I had thought players were conning the ref and getting away with it.

Publius Ovidius · Dec 26, 2020

I think the sooner people remember that we are actually not good enough to put any teams away and realise that our results are a fair reflection of where we are. Yes we have been unlucky in games, manu comes to mind, but in games in our mini league we are woefully inadequate.

The mantra of “ we are a top ten club”, or “let’s push on up the league” is just nonsense. I look at teams like wolves who got in a Portuguese manager and transformed their fortunes by buying a load of Portuguese players, but very quickly established themselves as a top 10 side.

I think potter is no doubt a good coach. His record at the various clubs he has managed has shown that, but what really concerns me is his tinkering with the team. Yes, if injuries are causing players to be unavailable then fine, but curious cases like Alzate, who was a name on the team sheet every week, has a poor game and then he is not heard of again as a starter.....or MAcAlister who had a couple of decent games and then doesn’t feature. Yes we have got wellbeck and Lallana in, but let’s face it they are both at the wrong end of their careers and both suffered from bad injuries and we are on borrowed time with them.

If Bis and Lamptey are going to move, which speculation, as much as we like to dismiss it, is rife they are going to snapped up, that does rip away two bright sparks in our dismal year

I am old enough to remember the 83 season and I cannot get away from the thought that this is history repeating itself, when so many people thought that the team we had was the best side we had for a long time and we were just up against better sides...which is how I feel we are at the moment.

Motogull · Dec 26, 2020

Mustafa said:
Problem is that it's not just the fan's expectations you need to manage, it is that of any potential signings too.

We need to appear to be an ambitious club on the up. Fine margins like that will help us beat other clubs to top talent.

We've spent hardly anything on first teamers this summer, but more than £15m on youth players. It is quite obvious we do not expect to build Rome in a day.

I think the message to potential players is 'come here, play well, get noticed and we won't stop you going to advance your career'. Many will see us a stepping stone, so no problem there.

The longer we stay up, the more likely are to stay up (I hope). A bit like those wankpuffins up the road and Burnley. Get streetwise, grind out wins and become part of the furniture. Combine that with a proper plan and we could do better than just about staying up.

Terry Butcher Tribute Act · Dec 26, 2020

Agreed. The sheer volume of club PR management since Potter took over has been vomit inducing. There's only so many articles about how wondeful long term project/vision/philosophy/academy/Ashworth/highly rated coach/Swan ****ing Lake fans can read before you start to realise that 6 wins all year is a bit shit. How many times have the words 'record points tally' been printed - as if it's particularly relevant that we got 2 more points than we did 2 years previously!?

Almost everything written in the Athletic or The Argus appears to be written with the club in mind but recent results show than not everyone is blinded by relentless essays from Barber, Naylor or whatever. It's results that matter and they aren't good enough.

Frankly it's refreshing to hear Warren Aspinall these days, he seems to be the only person still connected with the club who isn't influenced into spinning everything as rosey when it's blatantly not.

By the way - wait until we finally win a game before the club eventually release the accounts they are sat on. 'Eye-watering' losses which will no doubt be used to spin the 'unbelievable' job Potter is doing on a shoe string budget (featuring 2 x ex England sicknotes on 50k a week).

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Cheshire Cat · Dec 26, 2020

Don't get relegated. That's all I ask.

Get rid of the "teamslikeBrighton" attitude which is negative, panders to stereotype, and holds us back.

If we get thrashed by the top six like everyone else, so be it. JUST STOP DICKING ABOUT the rest of the dross.

CaptainDaveUK · Dec 26, 2020

Publius Ovidius said:
If Bis and Lamptey are going to move, which speculation, as much as we like to dismiss it, is rife they are going to snapped up, that does rip away two bright sparks in our dismal year.

Leeds really wanted White and we didn’t sell for £30M. Not sure anyone is going to offer £40M for either Bissouma or Lamptey, who didn’t even play last time out. Yes they are great players with lots of potential but I don’t think we aren’t going to sell either of them anytime soon.

dazzer6666 · Dec 26, 2020

Icy Gull said:
He is 100% right and he did deliver that in quite a pissed off sounding interview.

It’s becoming clear that a decent proportion of NSC are now pretty dissatisfied with the job he’s doing here too. No idea on the wider fanbase but we have certainly become very PL in the “we should be beating teams like.....” stakes on NSC

I am not happy with the results, I am getting really frustrated with the results of the performances but I am 90% convinced that the problems in winning lie with the players, who have not been good enough to win games. The chances have been made and fecked up and imo the goalkeeping has not been good enough (I accept plenty disagree with that comment). He has MAYBE sorted the goal keeping problem, time will tell. We don’t look close to solving the striker problem though, confidence is shot and only Welbeck (who has also missed some sitters) has been able to put the ball in the net from open play.

The next couple of games followed by the January window will be very interesting. Perhaps we’ll win a game or two and decide not to do anything in January, but what happens if we lose the next few??

Never dull being an Albion fan

The entitled thick-as-mincers on facebook and twitter are even worse.................raging keyboard warriors as soon as we concede a goal or don't win a game with extreme views on Potter, individual payers etc. The reality for me is that we're a few points shy of what we deserve, have had some mediocre performances and confidence is quite low. Fine margins at the moment - a couple of wins and by Tuesday night we'll be in great shape, two defeats and there will be a fan meltdown...............I can't work out why people have to have an extreme view on players, Potter and performances time after time. Nothing has been 'shocking' or disgraceful' in the last few games. Below par ? Certainly, but not worthy of the hyperbole some attach to it.

Barham's tash · Dec 26, 2020

Icy Gull said:
He is 100% right and he did deliver that in quite a pissed off sounding interview.

It’s becoming clear that a decent proportion of NSC are now pretty dissatisfied with the job he’s doing here too. No idea on the wider fanbase but we have certainly become very PL in the “we should be beating teams like.....” stakes on NSC

I am not happy with the results, I am getting really frustrated with the results of the performances but I am 90% convinced that the problems in winning lie with the players, who have not been good enough to win games. The chances have been made and fecked up and imo the goalkeeping has not been good enough (I accept plenty disagree with that comment). He has MAYBE sorted the goal keeping problem, time will tell. We don’t look close to solving the striker problem though, confidence is shot and only Welbeck (who has also missed some sitters) has been able to put the ball in the net from open play.

The next couple of games followed by the January window will be very interesting. Perhaps we’ll win a game or two and decide not to do anything in January, but what happens if we lose the next few??

Never dull being an Albion fan

Feel like both Potter’s October quote and your summary is exactly where I am.

I’m 100% Potter in for the length of his contract and the buck stops with TB in terms of how he measures that/any success.

If we go down and his style needs more time then I’m all for it.

It won’t diminish my desire to remain a supporter, even though I can’t currently commit to attending anymore, and I’ll support the efforts to achieve sustainability over profligate spending for the sake of our premier league status.

This is a long term project and any ‘fans’ not onboard with it should pretty much get off the bandwagon or stop wasting their breath getting so frustrated and demanding change because I firmly believe TB won’t be sacking/changing things anytime soon no matter what happens.

doogie004 · Dec 26, 2020

Not the fans fault one home win in a year
Not the fans fault the chairman said top ten ambitions
Not the fans fault only Burnley spent less last transfer window
Not the fans fault wellbeck only decent striker at club

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Icy Gull · Dec 26, 2020

doogie004 said:
Not the fans fault one home win in a year
Not the fans fault the chairman said top ten ambitions
Not the fans fault only Burnley spent less last transfer window
Not the fans fault wellbeck only decent striker at club

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Since when do fans, not even in the stadium, have any influence at all? You sound paranoid :shrug:

Who is BLAMING the fans?

CaptainDaveUK · Dec 26, 2020

My hope / expectation is that we stay up. If we can get a few more good results, which our performances deserve then we could still yet finish on our highest points tally. Statistically we are playing ok, second fewest shots conceded, we were unlucky against Fulham, could easily have won against Sheffield United despite a poor performance. We were the better team against Palace and Man United. We recently drew against Liverpool and beat Villa. The lack of home wins this season is a concern but overall our squad is still improving. UTA.

Coldeanseagull · Dec 26, 2020

I'm sorry, the run of bad results was my fault. I smashed my lucky Brighton mug just before we kicked off against west brom. The play has been not quite what we all were hoping for therefore I will take full responsibility.
However, said lucky mug has been replaced by daughter no.2 as an offering in the form of a gift, so hopefully the luckiness we all crave will have sufficiently charged this new artefact in time for the wet sham game

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