Albion Fans Forum Round Up

Brighton and Hove Albion held a Fans Forum at the Amex on Thursday night in which supporters could questions to Tony Bloom, Paul Barber and Chris Hughton.

These events are always fantastic entertainment. They normally involve questions like, “Hi, I’m Simon, 54 from Shoreham, Albion supporter for 40 years. Can I have a bus from outside my house to the Amex?” or “Claire, season ticket holder for 33 seasons, have you considered playing Maty Ryan up front Chris?”

This years wasn’t a let down in that regard. Broadcast live on BBC Radio Sussex, here are some of the highlights from an evening of sometimes enlightening, often ridiculous questions.

Mike from North West Sussex Seagulls wanted to know the reasoning behind signing so many players for the under 23 team, when none have progressed to the first team so far
Good question from Mike as plenty of us have wondered this. With the signings the Albion made in January, our total spend on development squad players had passed the £6m mark without a single first team appearance. With another 73 players signed this summer, the cost will now be even more.

Tony Bloom highlighted that the club strengthen across the age groups, not just at under 23 level. He also talked up the under 23s success in winning promotion to the top flight of Premier League 2. With some players going out on loan and others leaving permanenlty, the squad needed boosting with new faces and Bloom is hopeful that some of those will make it to the first team at some point, although he concedes it is extremely difficult.

Nick from Brighton wondered if Chris Hughton had considered telling Jose Izquierdo to be less predictable by going down the line and crossing rather than cutting inside all the time?
We doubt that Hughton, with 20 years experience in management, two promotions and three Championship Manager of the Year awards on his CV, had thought of this so it was great to see Nick, a 43 year old bus driver from Coldean giving out tactical advice. It was a bit of a shock Hughton didn’t offer Nick a job on his coaching team there and then.

Paul from Brighton asked Hughton if leaving a player up front might help us concede less goals from corners?
Hughton admitted he changed his defensive shape a little bit “after one particular game halfway through the season”. We’re presuming he was referring to the clusterfuck away at West Bromwich Albion when the Baggies scored twice from corners to win a match for the first time in 20 attempts. That resulted in a much better record in the second half of the season. Hughton also said there are no stats to suggest that leaving a man up helps conceding.

Interestingly, he believed it wasn’t the set up at fault but individuals losing the men they were meant to be marking. A lot of work has gone into defending set pieces over the summer, so we’re looking forward to conceding three at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

Mick from Portslade thanked everyone for a great season. He then wanted to know if tickets would be available for away supporters for the under 23s game at Tottenham Hotspurs new Naming Rights Stadium?
Paul Barber revealed the club have asked if the Albion can have an allocation. If they agree, it will only be small and a “loyalty points situation”. This is potentially great news for those who want to try the bottles of liquor kept in a temperature controlled cellar, the on-site brewery, the artisan cheese counter and all the other absolute wank that Spurs have included to turn a football ground into a giant corporate bowl.

A gentleman who did not give his name asked what the club would do with 18 non home-grown players when you can only include 17 in your Premier League squad?
Martin Montoya’s signing from Valencia pushed the number of non home-grown players that the Albion have on their books to 18, meaning one will have to miss out on being named in the 25 man Premier League squad this season. Hughton simply said “everybody shall find out on Friday”. At the time of writing, the smart money was on Ezequiel Schelotto to not be named.

James from Worthing wondered how Paul Barber was looking to build the Albion’s fan base with the global appeal offered by being in the Premier League?
Barber said that the Albion were still trying to dominate Sussex and the South East of England, let alone the world. The clubs immediate priority is to capture kids hearts and minds on their doorstep, having lost a couple of generations of potential Seagulls supporters through the War Years and the Withdean Years.

He then talked about the home game with Everton which was moved to a Sunday kick off so it could be shown in a fan park in Bangalore, highlighting it as a great success with the clubs marketing and Albion in the Community team engaging with the Indian community. That no doubt comes as great comfort to those who had to miss that game because of the rearrangement. Intriguingly, Barber then added that if they could convince Hughton to take the team on a summer tour to the United States because of the links with American Express and Nike, they would. Sign us up.

Keith from Brighton thanked Barber for answering his emails. He then said it wasn’t fair that he couldn’t get tickets for away games ever because he doesn’t have enough points and asked if anything could be done?
Barber told Keith that Liverpool tickets are still on sale, Watford tickets made it into the third points bracket and no cup game has completely sold out. Essentially Keith, if you want to go to the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea away, you need to go to Watford, Burnley and Huddersfield first. Stop moaning, you twat.

John from Felpham asked why we hadn’t seen much of Jurgen Locadia and what his best position would be?
We can answer this one for you, John. His best position is not in the team and we haven’t seen much of him because he is useless.

Alex from Brighton has been following the women’s team for 10 years now (without picking up a restraining order). He wondered what the plans were over the next few years now that the Albion are in the Women’s Super League?
Bloom said that Hope Powell has been busy recruiting players over the summer and he was very excited about the season ahead, playing against established teams full on international players. There is also the chance that there could be a live television game involving the women coming up soon.

John raised concern about the Albion’s away record of only two wins all season, which were incidentally the only two away games he went to. He wanted to know how Hughton would improve this record?
Hughton suggested John come on the team coach to games with his 100% record. The manager then acknowledged that it is another challenge to overcome, similar to the set pieces conundrum. Outside of games at the top six, there were plenty of games that were close encounters and bridging that gap to turn defeats into draws and draws into wins will be the key to the improvement. Hughton added he knows it needs to improve, as you can’t always rely on having such an impressive home record.

Alan from Lancing thanked the Albion for supporting Pride last week. He then asked if the club could look at introducing multi use cups to reduce the amount of litter at the Amex?
And the award for most boring question ever asked goes to…. Dozed off at this one. Sorry.

Dan from Brighton asked what Brexit would mean for the Albion’s transfer policy?
Barber actually tried to answer this one and in doing so, it came across that he actually had more of a clue of what was going on than Theresa May, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson, Liam Fox or any of the other incompetent charlatans trying to run the show. Is it too late to parachute our Chief Executive in as Prime Minister?

David from East Grinstead asked whether the capacity of the Amex could be raised?
Barber said that the reason that Martin Perry was so grey was because he was trying to find room for extra seats. They could maybe fit 100 more in at a push at some point in the future, but even that would be pushing it.

Fiona from Hove congratulated Bloom on his recent Honorary Doctorate from the University of Brighton. She wanted to know where the Albion had considered capitalising on his mathematics ability to inspire kids who struggle with maths at school?
Bloom revealed that his charitable scheme was working with the University to fund special maths teachers to go into primary schools in Sussex and help struggling kids. What a man.

Tim from Haywards Heath wondered how Florin Andone is settling in?
Hughton said that Andone arrived with an injury and his now back in training. The start of the season has come a little too early for him, but he’ll back soon to add competition and variety to the forward line.