Woeful season, but potentially invaluable lessons learned for the future?

[chaileyjem]

Are you an employee of BHAFC?

I'm ok being outed by [MENTION=205]Tom Hark, Preston Park[/MENTION] as having the skills of a inept Iraqi propagandist but being accused of beng a club employee is a really low blow.

PS: my job details are on my NSC About page ...

 

[Rookie]

Hopefully bloom has leant to listen to the football people rather than who ever he listened to over gus and Oscar.

 

[jay d]

Hang on, didn't Bloom say this season he thought we would be in and around the top 6 and be very competitive?

Thre was also talk of going for automatic spots.

 

[bobby baxter]

The budget isn't the same. Its bigger than 2013/4 and 2012/13. Tony Bloom has said that in public several times this season. And Paul Barber confirmed it last week. Fine if you don't want to believe it . Many fans don't .But the club have to publish their accounts so we'll see if that isn't the case... As for whether the recruitment team/managers spent that money wisely then i'd say the answer to that is pretty obvious.

Does this mean that a major factor in getting players like, Vicente, Bridge, Buckley, Ward and Ulloa was the opportunity to play for a team managed by Gus Poyet, rather than a high(er) salary?

 

[aolstudios]

Does this mean that a major factor in getting players like, Vicente, Bridge, Buckley, Ward and Ulloa was the opportunity to play for a team managed by Gus Poyet, rather than a high(er) salary?

undoubtedly

 

[chaileyjem]

Thre was also talk of going for automatic spots.

he actually said this to the Argus but also similar things in public forums, radio interviews at the time.

"As I say at the start of every season, we are trying to build a squad which has got the potential for getting promoted.
..that is our No.1 goal this season and I certainly think we have got the squad which could get there.”
via http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/11448038.Bloom__We_have_squad_to_go_up/

"Potential", "trying to build", "could get there"... See what he's done there ?. Given what happened then it was, with hindsight, wildly over - optimistic even with the caveats. Not much challenging for the top 6 was there ? And also what you'd expect from most chairman, but hardly a nailed on prediction or guarantee was it ?

 

[father_and_son]

I'm pretty sure the bit about TB flying back to Oz just before xmas and then having to fly almost straight back again is fairly easily verifiable. Much of the rest can be deduced from TB's travel schedule.

Agree. Where TB was can be confirmed, but what was said will always be secret.

 

[Knotty]

Hopefully bloom has leant to listen to the football people rather than who ever he listened to over gus and Oscar.

How do you know they weren't 'football people' too?

 

[marshy68]

The budget isn't the same. Its bigger than 2013/4 and 2012/13. Tony Bloom has said that in public several times this season. And Paul Barber confirmed it last week. Fine if you don't want to believe it . Many fans don't .But the club have to publish their accounts so we'll see if that isn't the case... As for whether the recruitment team/managers spent that money wisely then i'd say the answer to that is pretty obvious.

That is really shocking, I know it has been said, but it really does beggar beleif. I am afraid we really must have numptys running the club to spunk more money on the dross they bought in on permenant contracts and loaness this season is absolutely staggering. At least Burke paid the price for this. We need to sign players on permenant deals that want to play for the club and not run around like headless chickens with 5 or 6 loaness whos heart isnt in the club.

 

[Machiavelli]

The caveat to this is that one, possibly two HIGH CLASS season-long loan signings can often work. Here, we've had Tex, Bridge, Ward etc. Two other clubs have taken Bamford and done well.

But the loan thing is a direct consequence of penny pinching, missing out on key signings, and then patching them up with other team's cast-offs, and most of the teams who loan out their crap to us because they aren't deemed good enough have nowhere our season ticket holder base.

If those players are not good enough for the likes of 12,000 Blackburn fans to watch, how is it acceptable to put them in front of 23,000 Albion season holders?

This. We need to differentiate between getting in one or two, maximum three, season-long loans of up-and-coming players (Bamford, Tex as examples) or PL players who are languishing in the squad (Upson, Ward as examples) on the one hand, and the dire short-term loanees we've been subjected to this season. Short-term loans should only be used in emergencies, and being emergencies, they should happen rarely.

 

[marshy68]

biggest lesson for this year should be you can't build a winning team with 5 of the 11 on loan from other clubs its like putting a plaster on a stab wound.

clubs like bournemouth have shown its better to have team of good players they own who will fight for each other rather than players who know they can always walk away at the end of the season to their parent clubs

Very much this.

 

[London Irish]

Lets face it the season as a whole has been pretty horrendous, and we've been arguably pretty lucky to survive (assuming we get 0 points from our next two games).

However, hopefully the people associated with the club have learned some valuable lessons

Bloom

-Got lucky by all accounts that Hyypia resigned as I truly believe we would be all but relegated by now if he was still in charge. When there is a large amount of unrest amongst our fanbase as a whole (and not just a loud negative minority on here) I would say things need to be seriously looked into instead of keeping blind faith with a manager.

-Investment, you simply cannot get away with selling some of your prized assets and trying to get replacements on the cheap, we've gone from having a top Championship striker in Ulloa to lower league players who will all have to be moved on at the end of the season, however despite the lower budget our recruitment team was obviously doing an awful job and it was a smart move to get rid of Burke

-Although he's relatively new to becoming a football chairman, I hope this seasons developments have prompted him to have a closer understanding of what's actually going on at the club, instead of trusting that the suits will do a good job and taking an apparent back seat role.

Barber

-Seems to have relented recently with the constant price hikes, hopefully he's beginning to realize the fans are no mugs and will vote with their feet (and wallet) if we're getting the piss taken out of us.

When Sami was sacked, it was a big belief among Albion fans that he was the main problem rather than the poor recruitment/players.

I think now with Hughton's experience, we can see that it's the players that should carry the can for this season. We need a big overhaul if we are not to have a repeat next season.

 

[Knotty]

I'm pretty sure the bit about TB flying back to Oz just before xmas and then having to fly almost straight back again is fairly easily verifiable. Much of the rest can be deduced from TB's travel schedule.

Do we really need a forensic examination of the Chairman's travel arrangements to prove what was said and done?

You can try to 'deduce' as much as you like, you'll never know all the facts and does it really matter any more?

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

I imagine IF the budget is higher it is due to the transfer fees for Baldock, Stockdale,O'Grady and Kayal. But lets be honest that doesn't scratch the surface of the profit we made from selling Ulloa, Bridcutt and Buckley. If you sell three of your top players and the club keep spouting the 'Premier league ready' stuff you would expect almost all of that money to be reinvested on top quality replacements. Instead it seems the club realized all too late that the squad wasn't strong enough and we started scrabbling around for loans who could fill in the gaping holes in our squad left by their departures.

No need to imagine anything here, it's all in the annual accounts (page 6) and they are posted on the club website.
The costs of player trading, including amortisation of player contracts, is a separate item from football costs.

 

[GT49er]

biggest lesson for this year should be you can't build a winning team with 5 of the 11 on loan.

I know it's not possible for various reasons, but if we were to start next season with Upson, Bridge, Tex and Darren Bent )or Patrick Bamford) as the spine of the team, all on loan, I would be delighted, and would be quite happy to suggest to those who keep moaning that loanees are the worst thing ever that they should go and do one!
Borrowing players is a useful way of getting players in the team that you could never afford to buy, or pay their full wages. Four season long loans as good as the four I mentioned above - that'd be a great bit of business!

 

[father_and_son]

The budget isn't the same. Its bigger than 2013/4 and 2012/13. Tony Bloom has said that in public several times this season. And Paul Barber confirmed it last week. Fine if you don't want to believe it . Many fans don't .But the club have to publish their accounts so we'll see if that isn't the case... As for whether the recruitment team/managers spent that money wisely then i'd say the answer to that is pretty obvious.

Just to play devil's advocate here... The "budget" is bigger. I budget for lots of expenses and sometimes I don't spend the money!

The apparent disconnect between what the recruitment team were "budgeted" to have and what happened on the pitch could mean that they just didn't spend what they were allowed to.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Do we really need a forensic examination of the Chairman's travel arrangements to prove what was said and done?

You can try to 'deduce' as much as you like, you'll never know all the facts and does it really matter any more?

I think we can sum it up with the phrase "Does it really matter now ?"

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Personally I'm still very very nervous about next season, mainly because I'm not sure that Hughton IS the man to take us up.

For me, the best bit of the end of the season video was Nathan Jones, in the rain at Fulham, showing the passion that's lacking in Hyypia, Hughton AND the team when they play under them. I wish he was Assistant Manager or even Joint Manager.

I tend to agree.

Passion is not all that is needed - but we do need the spirit where players make the run, give it and go, at pace. Whatever Bournemouth have - that is what we need.

Can Hughton inspire that ...........................

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Hopefully bloom has leant to listen to the football people rather than who ever he listened to over gus and Oscar.

Quite.

Hopefully TB now realises that its not as simple as 'build it and they will come'. They might also drift away, especially if they're taken for granted as happy-clappy fanzone muppets

 

[father_and_son]

I know it's not possible for various reasons, but if we were to start next season with Upson, Bridge, Tex and Darren Bent as the spine of the team, all on loan, I would be delighted, and would be quite happy to suggest to those who keep moaning that loanees are the worst thing ever that they should go and do one!
Borrowing players is a useful way of getting players in the team that you could never afford to buy, or pay their full wages. Four season long loans as good as the four I mentioned above - that'd be a great bit of business!

Agree. Loans are now an important part of the game... the big clubs buy players so the opposition can't have them... they have inflated squads of players that need the exercise every week, so some get loaned out. Lower level teams who are no threat to the host borrow the excess players and loan out lesser talented ones of their own, and so on down the food chain.
They are here to stay and for as long as we are one of the poorer clubs (relative to the others in the top two divisions), we will bring in lots and push lots of our own out as well. The old days of owning your whole squad are long since gone whether we like it or not.