[Albion] The Premier League’s Big Six tore apart Southampton, now they are doing the same to Brighton

[Nobby Cybergoat]

To me the model we use is likely to end in a Southampton like outcome in the coming years. I can’t think of a club ever who’s consistently sold players for £100+m profit per year and continued to unearth and integrate teenagers of the same quality over a large number of seasons. Every club I can think of with a remotely comparable model has ended up finding the talent has dried up.

The club that I think we should be looking at is Leicester. They sold a lot of good players after winning the league and in the following seasons, but crucially they drew a line and declined big offers on a number players they considered integral to their success. Yeh, they’ve dropped now, but they had 3 or 4 seasons of Europa League, getting to cup finals and being in the mix for the top 4, which I guess is where we see our next step being.

 

[Jeremiah]

To me the model we use is likely to end in a Southampton like outcome in the coming years. I can’t think of a club ever who’s consistently sold players for £100+m profit per year and continued to unearth and integrate teenagers of the same quality over a large number of seasons. Every club I can think of with a remotely comparable model has ended up finding the talent has dried up.

The club that I think we should be looking at is Leicester. They sold a lot of good players after winning the league and in the following seasons, but crucially they drew a line and declined big offers on a number players they considered integral to their success. Yeh, they’ve dropped now, but they had 3 or 4 seasons of Europa League, getting to cup finals and being in the mix for the top 4, which I guess is where we see our next step being.

I agree with this.

We cannot continue to let our younger best players be cherry picked by the "Big Six" otherwise as sure as night follows day we will eventually fall out of this league. If Bloom can somehow hold onto the squad we have at the moment and improve it then , with a bit of good fortune, I think we may win a cup or and/or get into Europe.

It will probably only last a few seasons but it will be fun.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Latest Sam Cunningham exclusive......

'Man in cave discovers fire'

Yep, and the same bloke would piss on it to put it out, and moan about the cold.

 

[Weststander]

Another speculative story/view to file in the bin.

Stating the obvious that we’ll sell our rising stars players. That’s been the way of football since I fell in love with the game. Le Tissier a very rare exception.

The huge positive being the club, unlike 1981 to 1983, is in a great place to extract unimaginable sums from competing clubs. Some with more borrowed money than sense.

The future. I turn this on its head, genuinely excited to see what TB/PB have hidden up their sleeves for our club and squad.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the actual football.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Southampton have always had the reputation of being a club good at unearthing and nurturing young talent, and this pre-dates Liebherr. You only need to think back to Rod and Danny Wallace, Wayne Bridge, Alan Shearer and Gareth Bale.

The fact is it takes time to produce Prem-ready players. This year we've introduced Mitoma and Ferguson, the year before was Lamptey and Caicedo. Next year it could be Adingra and Sarmiento. Producing 2 young players every season of top quality is a real achievement, but if they are getting bought up at the rate of 3-4 per season - as happened with Southampton - then a tumble down the table is inevitable.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

To me the model we use is likely to end in a Southampton like outcome in the coming years. I can’t think of a club ever who’s consistently sold players for £100+m profit per year and continued to unearth and integrate teenagers of the same quality over a large number of seasons. Every club I can think of with a remotely comparable model has ended up finding the talent has dried up.

Southampton didn't have Bloom as Chairman.

 

[brighton_tom]

Brighton and Southampton both sold a few players for big money. That is the only similarity, they have been run completely differently as clubs. And obviously we are going to go up and down and we're currently on an up.

Lazy 'journalism'

Yep I would file this under lazy journalism. The fact we’ve sold players for big money is where the similarities stop.

 

[Baldseagull]

No, I don't think we'll ever keep hold of our 'very best players'. Hardly any club does after all, Man U couldn't keep Ronaldo first time round and sold him to Madrid, for example.

But what we will do is keep more and more of the other players. No one right now is worried about losing Dunk, or March, or Gross, or plenty of others. But if we were much lower down the league we would be worried about losing them, they would probably be the very best players at the club.

Rising up the league will do that. The very best will always move on, but the 'quality' of the very best improves. It may be that in 5 years a Caicedo would just be an average player at Brighton, thought of in the way we think of Pascal Gross now.

I just wanted to say I don't think of Pascal Gross as an average player, but otherwise I get the point.

 

[KZNSeagull]

But the question, which no doubt comes into the clubs thinking, is "will we miss them when we sell them?". At the moment the answer is a resounding "no" - every player we have sold so far has been replaced by someone better. Until that changes this whole scenario is somewhat moot.

 

[Silverhatch]

Southampton have always had the reputation of being a club good at unearthing and nurturing young talent, and this pre-dates Liebherr. You only need to think back to Rod and Danny Wallace, Wayne Bridge, Alan Shearer and Gareth Bale.

The fact is it takes time to produce Prem-ready players. This year we've introduced Mitoma and Ferguson, the year before was Lamptey and Caicedo. Next year it could be Adingra and Sarmiento. Producing 2 young players every season of top quality is a real achievement, but if they are getting bought up at the rate of 3-4 per season - as happened with Southampton - then a tumble down the table is inevitable.

All true. But Tony & his exec team has been clear and consistent in saying that they’ll only sell when it’s (1) right for the club and (2) their valuation is met. No amount of Fab “Here we go” or Karveh & Dharmesh (endless) fill changes that. 24hr (social) media needs content and 95% of that is circuitous speculation involving the top 6.

 

[5Ways Gull]

Is there a chance we could start to use some of the funds we are getting for these sales to pump into the wage structure so the differential in wages with the rich clubs is less noticeable. We would still have to sell some players to sustain the model, but we could keep really important players like Caicedo.

Apologies if I am over simplifying it and it's a stupid idea.

 

[Lever]

Interesting comment.... thank you Mr Potter and Mr Boehly

 

[Screaming J]

The article is a bit over-hysterical but there is, imho, a germ of truth in it. The ownership IS different which helps. But it also depends on what your expectations are. I remember when we first got to the Prem I thought 'right I'm just got going to try and relax and enjoy the ride' (not easy for anyone who knows my mental state when following the Albion!). To a certain extent I still keep that point of view. That's why I think the staying up tracker is A Good Thing. Keeps us grounded. No reason why we shouldn't aspire to European football; but......

 

[Pavilionaire]

All true. But Tony & his exec team has been clear and consistent in saying that they’ll only sell when it’s (1) right for the club and (2) their valuation is met. No amount of Fab “Here we go” or Karveh & Dharmesh (endless) fill changes that. 24hr (social) media needs content and 95% of that is circuitous speculation involving the top 6.

Point 2) is a given but Point 1) When it is right for the club - this is not in our control. When a players head is turned and they down tools you HAVE to get rid. A transfer that was undesirable then becomes "right for the club" because of the toxicity of prolonging the situation.

The other thing is the whole circus that is the Premier League with The Big 6 (and now Newcastle). There is an expectation that players WILL move on and forces from all sides that make it inevitable. This how agents, the media ALL make their money - churning players, speculation, gossip, the rise and fall within the Big 6.

The only way around it is for Tony to smash our wage structure and match the wages on offer at the Big 6 in order to keep our stars to then try and get us into the European places and be able to fight off aggressive approaches for our players.

 

[Baldseagull]

Interesting comment.... thank you Mr Potter and Mr Boehly

Uefa Fair play rules have just been updated to include transfer fees not to be amortised over more than 5 seasons. Chelsea have been issuing 8 year contracts to reduce the annual cost for FFP purposes, so this might slow them down a bit.

Uefa to change rules in response to Chelsea deals

Uefa is to change its Financial Fair Play rules in response to Chelsea's recent trend of signing players on long-term deals.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Southampton didn't have Bloom as Chairman.

He’s the best football chairman in world football in my view.

But there are still football laws of physics which can’t be denied indefinitely. If we continue to sell our best players, inevitably the recruitment team will run out of rabbits to pull out of hats. They’ve done an incredible job thus far, but recruiting is a very random and unpredictable process and we have to accept that their success can’t continue for ever.

 

[Trevor]

Isn't the issue for Southampton that the quality coming in (Bought in plus developed in-house) is not as good as it was?

Provided the players going out are not being undersold and it's planned for then that's not so much of an issue.

I say we can't predict the future but we should enjoy the ride.

 

[Eric the meek]

Another speculative story/view to file in the bin.

Stating the obvious that we’ll sell our rising stars players. That’s been the way of football since I fell in love with the game. Le Tissier a very rare exception.

The huge positive being the club, unlike 1981 to 1983, is in a great place to extract unimaginable sums from competing clubs. Some with more borrowed money than sense.

The future. I turn this on its head, genuinely excited to see what TB/PB have hidden up their sleeves for our club and squad.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy the actual football.

Absolutely right.

I'm not even sure that, given we are able to sell players at premium prices, and don't need to sell them in a fire sale, TB/PB don't view the whole thing quite differently to the fans. The sales pipeline provides an additional income stream straight to the bottom line.

When you take stock of what we have currently that sets us apart (a chairman-owned unique global data/scouting organisation, a feeder/nursery club, and a pathway for South American wonderkids to play in the PL), then you begin to realise that Bloom has increased his footprint. He is buying not just players, but assets. In business terms, he has expanded his enterprise both vertically and horizontally. Like you, I do wonder just what on earth is coming next.

My guess would be a focus on global branding.

 

[Acker79]

My instinctive view is that a lot of the dismissive response to the article/idea behind the article feels a bit like people are, I'm not sure how to put this... 'scared and in denial'?

It is unlikely that we will contantly be finding the next replacement. It almost certainly will result in a bad season or two at some point. Especially as it becomes more common. Bissouma and Trossard seeing out contracts was a result of timing. If they came along now, we'd get a year and they'd be gone. But we were still establishing ourselves, and now we're seeing results, and the vultures are circling to pick off the best players before anyone else moves in.

Our models requires giving young players time to bed in and finds their groove. We're going to end up rushing new players to the starting line up.

I hope that doesn't result in us getting relegated, but there will be some bad years (and lets be honest, we're not exactly established in the top 10 yet, so it wouldn't take much).

Given that it seems so obvious an issue, that so many people are quick to dismiss it as a possibility is likely because they recognise it as a possibility and it scares them so they just deny it.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

My instinctive view is that a lot of the dismissive response to the article/idea behind the article feels a bit like people are, I'm not sure how to put this... 'scared and in denial'?

It is unlikely that we will contantly be finding the next replacement. It almost certainly will result in a bad season or two at some point. Especially as it becomes more common. Bissouma and Trossard seeing out contracts was a result of timing. If they came along now, we'd get a year and they'd be gone. But we were still establishing ourselves, and now we're seeing results, and the vultures are circling to pick off the best players before anyone else moves in.

Our models requires giving young players time to bed in and finds their groove. We're going to end up rushing new players to the starting line up.

I hope that doesn't result in us getting relegated, but there will be some bad years (and lets be honest, we're not exactly established in the top 10 yet, so it wouldn't take much).

Given that it seems so obvious an issue, that so many people are quick to dismiss it as a possibility is likely because they recognise it as a possibility and it scares them so they just deny it.

I think this is where I am.

I hope we move into a stage where we make a few more Estupinan style signings when we sell off our big talents. That’s why I’m really hoping we have got a direct Trossard replacement lined up to compete with March and Mitouma whilst Sarmiento and Enciso can continue to be blooded in a bit more gently.