'Model' is probably the wrong word on my part. Brighton look for the best value in the market they can, including sell on value. So do we, so does everyone. They seem to get players from all over the place, which we perhaps do less of (although getting VG for free from Spanish football suggests we aren't averse to searching slightly further afield), but that doesn't mean they are operating in some special, advanced way we can't understand.

Go back to when we beat Brighton away under Roy in his last season (so less than two years ago). Thier fans were fuming, not only with the result but with 'Potterball', with the club's transfer policy, the lot. They'd watched what they considered s*** football with poor results for ages, and like us now, blamed the wider set up as much as the specific tactics and selections.

They are in a good period on the pitch now (without having achieved anything much that we haven't in recent years), and so all of a sudden their entire set up is somehow genius, and ours a shambles in comparison. That's bollocks. As soon as they struggle (which they will, because everybody does in the end), people will say they've got too many foreign mercenaries with no connection to the place. If we go on a decent run or have a good season then it'll probably be attributed to us signing lots of players from, or happy to put down roots in, London.

As soon as you get results your whole set up is suddenly spot on and an example to others. As soon as you have a down period everyone behind the scenes is a f***ing clown. Nonsense.

Complete and utter tosh. If, after 10 seasons and £1bn revenue the club can't find a replacement for the fellow they sold to Man Utd, having then to go back to the fellow he replaced, only to be replaced by another who used to play there a long time ago, inbetween signing a sick note who was a sick note when he signed, thinking that he may just get well enough to play in the position, well then that is what I'd call bad recruitment. And this is only the right back.
Whilst we are here, let's not forget the case of Max Meyer, reputed to be on £100K pw to warm his arse on the bench while his team mates ran around trying to get a result. A sure way to boost team morale.
In Freedman we trust.

Edited by southnorwoodhill (24 Mar 2023 11.15am)

Have to say I am inclined to agree.

There's often an abundance of excuses for not signing players, Parish has often used the same excuse in January which for me comes across as more convenient than anything else.

Also, I have often heard such things as 'the right deal was not there' etc. You then look at the likes of Jairo (though I do not hold it against him), Mandanda, Benteke, Wickham, Mateta, Ferguson, Meyer... in fact I'll stop there as the list is virtually endless and you think 'these were all the right players then were they?'.

You have to wonder who is in charge of firstly scouting but then signing all these players? I know Dougie will come up first but I can't think he is solely to blame plus you have to counterbalance this with all the good signings he has made.

It all comes across as an very bad attempt to constantly do things on the cheap for me. No, we do not have Saudi money or access to endless riches however that should be even more incentive to get things right. We've done well with loans (RLC, CG, TFM, Bats, ASL etc.) however that is always interim and again the cheaper option.

We have needed a RB for an eternity now, never quite got over the Benteke debacle so far as having a reliable forward, started this season with a near non-existent midfield and had Hennessey in goal for however long. We've struggled for a starting XI we can all have confidence in for some time now let alone a bench and squad with options.

For me, not having/spending money is very a different entity to 'bad recruitment' however when you combine the two you can see where fans' anger stems from.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I dot want to seam like I'm having a go, and I know you wont have it, but their set up IS genius and ours is a shambles.

I'll prove it another way. Referencing your point about its gone from bad to good or them. This is down in large to having a recruitment plan. And buying for long term game, and not short term.

Outside of Plange, Malcolm Ebiowei (and maybe a few of the other young Irish lads) we buy players for the first team. Yes we are trying to buy young and with sell on value, but we ultimately are buying players that can come in and make a difference straight away.

Let look at 3 key players for them this season.

Moisés Caicedo signed Feb 21 for £5m
Mac Allister signed Jan 19 for £7.5m
Kaoru Mitoma signed Aug 21 for £2.5m

All 3 immediately went out on loan, Mac Allister for a good couple of seasons. That outlay of under 20m is now valued at closer to 200m.

That is ability to spot future ability that is way way out of our league. And I suspect they will keep doing it, as they currently have 10 out on loan, all signed for around the 5-10m mark. All with a progression plan in place.

The more profit they are able to make on transfer fees, the more gems they are able to buy, or the more money they can spend on 1st team ready players.

So yeah they are operating in some special, advanced way we can't understand, or at least are miles away from replicating.

I cant help but do one more. Guaita. great player, and great transfer I wont deny it. But lets not pretend its great scouting, ex Valencia that as far as I'm aware was a bit part player for Getafe at the time and wasn't offered a new contract.

Where as Brighton's Spanish keeper, they got him for free from Levante's under 18 team and made his prem made his debut 7 years later.

They have a long term, joined up plan. Have constructed a very good prem team for something like 25/30m, have hundreds of million of future sell on potential and a bunch more kids being progressed through.

We are firefighters, basically Chelsea but with no money and no plan

I don't think you're having a go at all, and I'm certainly not, but you're right, I'm not having it!

Signing promising young players, loaning them out and hoping they develop into assets is exactly what everyone tries to do. What do you think palace are doing with Plange etc, as well as all the academy players?

Brighton haven't built a team for £20 - 30m. Their spending brushed up against ffp censure a couple of seasons ago, hence the asset stripping since. How many players did Brighton sign that didn't end up good enough? How many youngsters from the Brighton and Hove area has their path blocked by a lad from Africa, South America or Iran under their 'model'? We have four or five lads from (or at least raised) in south London in our team most weeks, including a big Palace fan making his debut in goal (albeit due to injury).

Does that make our model preferable to theirs? Probably not when we lose, but there will be no shortage of positive press when we win, and others will be saying they wished their club was more like ours when they get relegated with a room full of foreign players that can't wait to get away (as commonly happens). Again, the results make the very minor differences between models look far more important than they are, for better or worse.

Finally, I can't follow the argument that Palace have failed to sign for the future. That's exactly what the academy is, and exactly the point of going for Eze, Olise, Guehi, Doucoure, ahamada, ebouwei, Plange...

There isn't a million miles between what we do, Brighton do, and everyone else. It just feels like that when the team don't play too well. There is a big difference between a couple of signings having failed and the system that found them having done so.

Fair point but i was referring to the value of the club (someone claimed that we were valued at £26m and that is directly due to the bricks and mortar and where we are based)

Enjoying getting up later and not having someone who knows better than me (apart from the missus of course).