The only *facts* we have about SC at the moment

[Wilts]

1. He has spoken to Reading, no contract has been offered in public, though we know what happens behind the scenes in this respect.

2. He said that it isn't linked to money, more to ambition. Reading offer him ambition, but the package will have to go hand in hand with that. Basically, if he wants to make a step back up to Division One, with the pressure of getting to - and staying in - the Premiership, then he would want reassurances from Madejski.

3. We will announce a manager tomorrow. Whether that is Reading and Coppell getting together a contract, or deciding that his demands for the pressure of the job are too high (and they may well be, I'm sure he would want to cover his back in such a job). There are other (cheaper) choices for us, and the board has gone all out to get someone more expensive. If they cannot justify that expense then there will not be a deal at all.

There are other options open to us (I imagine Adams has been told that we like him, but he is no.2 choice at the moment), so if the overall package is not right, then Reading fans will have no gripes with Coppell. It won't be a case of choosing between clubs, because Coppell has already had talks and has shown that he is interested in taking on the Reading job, but simply wanting the job doesn't make him leave. Everything has to be right.

4. Coppell doesn't need to leave Brighton. He is happy, and although the Reading job offers him a potentially happier job this season (again, with transfer funds and support from the board), it may be less happy if he doesn't get that support from the board throughout. Hence, he would feel more comfortable staying with Brighton as the risk of him losing out would be higher with Reading given the package. Sensible and professional, you'd have to say.

Money is not the issue, which is good to see. Its a matter of matching money to ambition, and whether we'll pay enough to match that ambition or not. Higher risk requires higher remuneration, and that risk/return tradeoff is where Coppell lies today, thinking about it.

Whatever you do SC, I'm sure the fans of at least one side (the Reading one anyway) will respect either decision. Whether all you Brighton fans feel the same, is up to you.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Maybe he's waiting for the forest manager to go to leeds or tottenham so that he can go to forest?





























Just thought I'd try and make it even more suspenseful/murky/confusing.

 

[Wilts]

To throw an additional spanner in the already spanner-filled works there GNLF,

The only thing that I presume will rile the BHA contingent is that he has decided that he would happily leave Brighton for Reading. A manager would not have talks with another club if he had no intention of going there! That's what happened with us and Pardew, and the fact that he even wanted to talk to them. Sort of makes you feel a bit let-down.

So even if Coppell stays now, would he be treated the same? He has shown a desire to leave! And if this is the first, then who (as you say GNLF) is next to want him?!? If he stays as the result of not getting the right deal, then it makes you wonder what it would be like from a club like Wigan (god forbid) who seem to offer plenty of ambition and a good managerial package, despite having about 7,000 fans!

 

[El Presidente]

I think the majority of Albion fans would be sad to see Steve go, but the fact that it is Reading makes it worse. There were sour grapes from Reading when we won the league in 2002, and also with the Sidwell, Steve Brown etc issues. We are jealous of your stadium (best I have been to in the country, and that included the likes of Old Trafford, Anfield, Huddersfield, Derby, Wigan and the Britannia in recent times) and the benefits that it brings to the club.

We are operating with one hand tied behind our backs, and it is distressing that every time something good happens to the club, they leave, nearly always due to the fact that we have no money, no stadium, no training facilities to call our own, no scouts etc etc. In fact it is a miracle that we made it to Division 1 and are now top of Division 2.

The hardship suffered under the Archer/Belotti regime has made us appreciate what we have far more than many other sets of fans. Reading are fortunate to have the wealth of Majedski behind them, but I suspect many of your fellow fans take it for granted.

Losing so many managers is like losing girlfriends to someone richer than you, it hurts, and though in the cold light of day you can understand why they did it, emotions overrule logic.

 

[Lady Bracknell]

Losing so many managers is like losing girlfriends to someone richer than you, it hurts, and though in the cold light of day you can understand why they did it, emotions overrule logic.

There's an added irony to the Coppell situation. The Palarse connection. A connection that could have made life very difficult for him if he hadn't been a bloody good manager and a bloke you could easily respect. When he arrived we needed a bloody good manager and we certainly got one! To see him in that light, rather than get obsessed about his past history with Palace, was something of a leap of faith and the way he has, personally, contributed to the positive feelings about him makes it all the worse.

I know you can't keep someone who wants to leave and nobody wants a manager whose heart isn't here in Brighton but I was interested in DK's comments in the Sports Anus yesterday. I don't know how realistic this could be, but a "close season" for management moves might put a stop to this seemingly endless need to replace our managers. Mainly because of decisions made much further up the chain - DK using West Ham as the catalyst for the current situation.

 

[Wilts]

The hardship suffered under the Archer/Belotti regime has made us appreciate what we have far more than many other sets of fans. Reading are fortunate to have the wealth of Majedski behind them, but I suspect many of your fellow fans take it for granted.

You'll find that the newer fans will take it for granted, and that they even heap some unnecessary expectation upon the club. After Madejski took over the club from the shackles of bankruptcy, we all loved him for it, and worshipped the ground he walked on. He has gone on to state that the ambition of the club is to follow the footsteps of the likes of Blackburn, Middlesbrough, etc, who have spent a great deal of money to get where they are. He has restated this by emphasising that the Charlton model is more in line with our business nowadays. It seems that the move for Coppell harks back to the original Blackburn/Middlesbrough model.

Many Reading fans forget (or are too young to remember) the dark days of the late 70s when finances stopped, with few potential investors in the region, and then through the Maxwell saga of the early 80s when we were only a couple of hours (similar to you) from becoming extinct forever. Being only 22, I can only read and admire the work of Roger Smee in making sure that the club continued to exist, but with no money to do anything bar keep it afloat, we remained in a modern-day BHA situation until about 1992 when Madejski came along.

He is - in a way - a victim of his own ambition. By continually stating that he wants RFC to be a Premiership club for the next 20 years and into the future, working towards a sustainable football club running itself off partnering businesses in addition to gate receipts, he ends up passing on that expectation to the fans, who expect him to get us there soon. If we don't fork out enough wages for a player, a lot of fans question whether we are in the Blackburn model or the Charlton one. I don't really think there is a halfway-house and it becomes confusing where the ambition lies. One side is getting us there quickly and continuing to buy... hence Pompey this season. The other is to develop slowly but profitably, taking on far less risk but simply being patient.

Losing so many managers is like losing girlfriends to someone richer than you, it hurts, and though in the cold light of day you can understand why they did it, emotions overrule logic.

I think that is the most spot-on analogy of the entire situation I've seen on here. All the talk of the "bullies" and the "middleweights taking the sweets off the smaller kid who will grow to be bigger" is just hypothetical bollocks. If SC decided to go to Reading, I can understand exactly how BHA feel. It really shouldn't happen in an ideal world, but there are matters external to you and I making Reading a richer club and Brighton a club on the poverty line. It really shouldn't come into it, but it frustratingly does.

I don't sense that any proper rivalry will come of this (in either staying/going scenario), plainly as most Reading fans do not feel any objections to BHA at all. All we had was the single event of you winning the title, and then a few events after that proceeded to sour the mood even further. I remember comments on here (after Pardew left) to say that most BHA fans felt sorry for us. How the times change in a matter of weeks. Having moved on, its all back in the limelight.

Aren't Cardiff and Stoke the same too? Stealing each other's assets and losing out to each other on some occasions?

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

At the End of the Day,SC is an ambitious Manager,and you cant blame him for talking to a club that has the potential to go all the way.

If it was any of us in his boots we would be the same,
Its just because we are Brighton fans for life we see it from our perspective.

We are fans for life,all SC is doing is a job he is getting paid for,he feels no sense of belonging like we do,and that isnt his fault.
It just happens that it is Reading that want him,and with the Sidwell situation etc it makes it twice as hard to take.

There wasnt any uproar like this when MA left was there,so what is the difference?

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

To throw an additional spanner in the already spanner-filled works there GNLF,

The only thing that I presume will rile the BHA contingent is that he has decided that he would happily leave Brighton for Reading. A manager would not have talks with another club if he had no intention of going there! That's what happened with us and Pardew, and the fact that he even wanted to talk to them. Sort of makes you feel a bit let-down.

So even if Coppell stays now, would he be treated the same? He has shown a desire to leave! And if this is the first, then who (as you say GNLF) is next to want him?!? If he stays as the result of not getting the right deal, then it makes you wonder what it would be like from a club like Wigan (god forbid) who seem to offer plenty of ambition and a good managerial package, despite having about 7,000 fans!

For point one, el pres hits the nail on the head. It is particularly galling that after all the hoo-ha(is that the first use of the word 'hoo-ha' in NSC history?) of the title winning season, the 'stealing' of brown and sidwell, it is a little galling that it is now reading who are stepping in to take our manager. Particularly after the fuss madjeski made about Pardew the leaving. I know good arguments have been made as to how its different, but on this side of the fence it looks like hypocrisy.

For point two, I think that most of us are aware that we are a 'stepping-stone' club, as are most, if not all, clubs outside the premier league(and some in the premier aswell). Its something we have to accept, if we want success, we need good players/managers and if we get success then teams higher up the ladder will look at what makes us succesful and have a go at taking it off us. Thats life. So in relation to coppell seemingly wanting to leave, thats something that we've got to expect. If he wants to manage at the highest level he's going to have to move on sometime- unless he's willing to stay with us indefinitely. So, no, I dont think it will affect the way we see him, just so long as, if he does turn you down, he continues the excellent job he's doing with us.

If he walked out to join wigan, then i think the world would have gone mad. But he does seem to stress that money isnt overly important...

 

[Wilts]

Bear in mind also that Reading are a "stepping-stone" club for many managers! Usually ones with no experience... Pardew, McGhee, Porterfield, Branfoot etc. We've had our fair share of managers leaving too... and I think you're all right in saying that its bloody hard to get over straight away. Just ask our team (4 losses and 2 draws in the last 6). We were 2nd before that...

 

[berkshire seagull]

Nice big crowd yesterday wilts