Yeah but remember when we beat them to get promoted? Good memories to keep us warm next season as we scrap around competing with Stoke for 14th place. Orns! #watfordfc
Yes and irrespective managers, I doubt either were highly motivated about another season in the champ..
To be fair they're very decent players instead of the garbage Pozzo decides to bring in on loan from Mogi PLC.
Hmm £30m is about right, considering the situation we're in. Such a waste though. Probably the most naturally gifted player with the highest ceiling I've seen at the club in 20 years. We've let him down by not providing him with a stable environment that allows him to flourish. Gliding past 4 players to look up and see Keinan Davis hiding behind a defender, then seeing Ekong give away a penalty must be pretty demoralising. Will be both heartening and depressing to see him reach his potential and prove himself at the level he belongs at. I hope people don't allow a handful of games in a poisonous team that has thrown in the towel to to colour their perception of JP as a player here.
Good luck JP you came as a unknown 17 year old unable to speak the language, through hard work and being a model professional amongst all the turmoil at our crazy club you leave as a 21 year old held in high esteem by us and many clubs in the PL. We look forward to seeing your progress for many years to come!
Some sort of sell-on % clause would be nice....though we may not be in a position to demand it unless there was other competitive interest.
A neat, tidy player with a great touch, some skill and vision and I expect he will flourish at a team like Brighton who will play to his strengths and continue his development. Stuck here it's like having a personalised number plate on a 1993 Ford Escort. In a poor team he's too often lost, not on the same wavelength as most of the other players, and falls into the trap of trying to do too much. Perfectly understandable but incredibly frustrating to watch and none of our multiple head coaches have managed to convince him to play to the team's strengths rather than his own.
Our team doesnt have any strengths which makes that quite tricky. Joao is just about the only player in the last few years who has actually come here and left as a better player. Speaks volumes about his ability and character. He will be at Brighton 2-3 years and then off to even better things. 5 years or so ago us and Brighton were at a similar level. Now they are poaching our best players and we are powerless to stop it and hoping we can loan some of their better reserves. Do wonder what is going through the heads of all those burying their heads over that time saying "at least he doesnt wear a helmet" or "dont be ungrateful he built a new stand".
BHA and Brentford have done incredibly well over the last few seasons. They are the model clubs for all teams in the champ and top half of League one, showing what can be done with the right leadership and plan/model, with the whole club motivated and pulling in the same direction.
Seems and unusual move, in terms of timing. It appears Newcastle and Milan were interested, so perhaps there was a behind the scenes auction and Brighton won out, or Ben Manga has an eye on some Brighton prospects that he thinks we can benefit from and add value to and they form part of the deal.
As much as Brighton and Brentford can be held up as model clubs they both have owners far wealthier than Pozzo and that is not defence of him, I want him out. Depressing state of affairs we are in but if we are selling players at least we know going to a well run club.
This is an excellent move for Joao, I'm very pleased for him - technically superb and seems like a decent guy as well. Good luck to him.
I agree with what you say but under " helmet " we certainly wouldn't have had 6 years out of 7 in the PL, been graced with Abdi, Vydra Forestieri, Capoue, Deulofeu, Pereyra and a few more, Deeney would have been sold as soon as another club offered a couple of million and our recent history would have been very different. I know we also signed some duds, but whilst I don't sing from the rooftops about our current owners at the same time I don't slate them either, at the moment it appears they have made some poor decisions which they will have to trade out of, whilst we may well have a large debt remember its not our money its theirs!
True - would be interesting to see what profit/loss those 2 clubs have made over the last few years and what level of owner investment, either as shares or loan, have been made. Gut feels says they've not exactly bought success.....
Yes, though "the helmet" is a very low baseline to compare any owners performance against. They were great for us for many years, but have now been largely poor/disappointing since 2019.
Brighton's biggest boost was their new stadium. Their homelessness was a monkey on their back for 20-30 years. Bloom very much funded that: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/may/19/brighton-cash-injection-tony-bloom Obviously after that there's been a lot of forward-thinking football work behind the scenes but that would have all been for nought if they were still bumming around the Withdean.
Hope he does well, a shame to see someone so talented leave but I'm sure Kayembe or Kalu will slot in nicely and replace those goals.
Given that it has the potential to have very serious real-world implications for us as a club if it goes sideways/Gino decides he's not that bothered anymore in a particular way, this is a bit of a meaningless and while-Rome-burns sentiment to express.
Let’s hope it continues for them as we have seen many clubs be like this then fall apart after one bad season .
Its not like they have spent heavily to get where they are though. They spent intelligently on quality over quantity and reinvested their profits to ensure the squad kept getting better. Its also not like Pozzo didnt spend. He just pissed enormous amounts up the wall on Sarr, Gray, Penarada, Sinclair, Success, Okoye, Suarez etc, offering truly insane deals to the likes of Deeney, Gray, Clevereley etc and siphoning significant sums of our money to a criminal.
For the millionth time - Success and Penaranda were bought for little by the Pozzos - afterwards was just paper shuffling a la Kamara,
From Granada.... The Pozzos only bought Success for £350k when he joined Udinese from a Nigerian club.
