Gus Poyet and Brighton – A messy divorce

Gus Poyet and Brighton and Hove Albion’s messy divorce is a great shame, and reflects well on neither party.

A little over four months ago, I began penning an article on Gus Poyet and Brighton and Hove Albion. It focussed on the results they were putting together, the attractive brand of football being played, the fabulous new stadium which, in its second season, was continuing to act as a form of cathartic healing for the miserable years many fans had spent exposed to the elements in the uncovered Withdean Stadium.

Most of all, however, it argued that Gus Poyet and Brighton were a brilliant match. Both the club, owned by millionaire property investor Tony Bloom, and its manager had energy and were set upon establishing themselves in the Premier League, and wanted to do it in a way which drew plaudits from both inside and outside the football club.

Then, Gus Poyet was offered the Reading job, and I stopped writing. Even after he turned down Anton Zingarevich’s advances, there was a sense that something had changed on the south coast. An incident which, at first glance, appeared little more than a puff of wind, grew to a sea fret by the end of the season, and the suspension of Poyet, his assistant Mauricio Taricco, and first team coach Charlie Oatway just hours after the playoff semi-final defeat to Crystal Palace signified the tsunami which was unleashed at the Amex Stadium.

A disciplinary hearing was scheduled for Poyet last Monday. After the Uruguayan did not show up, it was rearranged for Thursday, in order to ensure that Poyet’s PMA representative Richard Bevan could be present. The result of the hearing was announced last weekend while Poyet was appearing as a pundit for the BBC’s coverage of the Confederations Cup – Poyet had been sacked.

Taricco, meanwhile, left the club on Monday by mutual consent. Throughout all this, Tony Bloom was drawing up a shortlist for Poyet’s replacement, and, on Thursday, appointed former Barcelona B coach Oscar Garcia. Whether he has been titled ‘head coach’ as opposed to manager due to the complexities of employment law and Poyet’s forthcoming appeal against his sacking, or whether Bloom is planning to bring in a director of football is unclear.

What is clear though is that the AMEX is a disaster zone at the moment. Without a manager, or its two other highest-ranked backroom staff members over the past six weeks, Bloom himself has been in charge of dealing with players out of contract. This has left Brighton well behind other clubs in terms of recruitment for the new season, with limited progress made so far in the way of fresh additions to the squad. The most gaping hole in Brighton’s side is in defence, where they finished off last season with former England internationals Matthew Upson and Wayne Bridge on loan. Bridge has since signed for Reading, while Upson is in advanced talks with Leeds United. One cannot help but feel both would have been at the AMEX next season had Poyet still been at the club.

There is something rather troubling about the way Poyet has been treated. Having taken the side from the depths of League One in 2009 to promotion in 2011, and a play-off semi-final this season, Poyet has ensured the club’s improvements off the pitch have been matched by its development on the pitch.

Aside from his focus on an attacking, passing ethos, which has made Brighton one of the most attractive teams to watch in the Championship, Poyet has also been shown to have a dab hand in the transfer market, recruiting former Manchester United reserve-goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, pacy winger Will Buckley, and attacking midfielder Vicente to provide the flair. Meanwhile, former Chelsea trainee Liam Bridcutt was picked up on a free transfer and has blossomed into one of the best defensive playmakers in the Championship.

There is something even stranger about the way Charlie Oatway has been treated. Oatway is the recipient of a testimonial this year, and had pledged to give 50 per cent of his earnings to Brighton’s charitable arm ‘Albion in the Community’. His suspension has caused the testimonial game to be cancelled, however, which in turn appears to be one of the contributing factors behind the resignation of former Chairman Dick Knight from his position of head of Albion in the Community.

One cannot help but feel that the sticky situation the club are now in could have been avoided had Bloom and Managing Director Paul Barber dealt with the Poyet situation within the four walls of the club.To publicly suspend a manager and his backroom staff for the length of time they have is almost unheard of, and it would be scoffed at had it occurred at a Premier League club, which is, after all, what Brighton are determined to become.

Surely a frank and open discussion should have been had in the days immediately following the play-off defeat, with a swift decision made as to the future direction of manager and club. It’s possible that the situation became increasingly complicated with the arrival of Barber, who was behind the sacking of Juande Ramos and Gus Poyet’s coaching team at Tottenham in 2008. Yet while personal dislike can be disruptive, sometimes a measure of pragmatism has to be adopted for the good of both sides.

Poyet is far from blameless though. For all the good he has done Brighton, he has certainly not distanced himself from vacant positions in football over the last few years, and openly admitted he would consider a job offer to return to his beloved Leeds should it be forthcoming. Moreover, while he may have turned down Reading in March, there is strong feeling that this was purely because Poyet felt Reading were doomed to relegation, and not due to his attachment to Brighton, while the likelihood of Poyet being considered for the next spate of available Premier League jobs over the summer and during next season was strong.

Gus Poyet and Tony Bloom in happier times

Perhaps Tony Bloom began to grow weary of the speculation, and became increasingly sceptical about his manager’s long-term commitment to the club. Poyet also made a major error by publicly criticising Bloom following Brighton’s defeat against Palace. Bloom has invested nearly £100 million of his own cash into the club, and while he may have handled this episode badly, Poyet showed an alarming lack of understanding for the difficulties all Championship clubs will face under the new Financial Fair Play laws next season. No longer can a chairman such as Bloom simply write an open cheque for luxurious transfer targets, and the models exemplified by Norwich and Swansea in recent seasons have shown that the clubs which have embarked upon the Premier League with a firm financial footing have been the most successful in recent years anyway. Just ask QPR!

The background to Norwich’s success ought to have been studied more closely by both sides. Like Poyet, the man who masterminded Norwich’s rise to the Premier League, Paul Lambert, was intent on playing passing football and progressing to the top of the management tree; like Brighton, Norwich were, and still are, the beneficiary of a large catchment area, with a growing fanbase and a stadium which has potential to continue to develop its revenue streams. Norwich managed to keep hold of their man until they were established in the top tier. Brighton meanwhile have lost theirs. Yet for Norwich, both sides won. It may have been a messy divorce in the end, but Lambert got his ‘big’ job at Aston Villa, while Norwich received substantial compensation and appointed an excellent coach and manager in Chris Hughton, who has continued to develop the playing staff since.

Unfortunately for Brighton and Poyet, both sides appear to have lost. Poyet’s tirade against the club was a poor PR move, and has probably put him out of the running for an immediate move into top tier football, while Brighton have lost out on a talented manager who has overseen the most successful period in the club’s recent history. Meanwhile, in purely economic terms, they have lost out by having to compensate Poyet for his dismissal as opposed to receiving compensation for him themselves at some stage in the future.

Both Brighton and Gus Poyet have huge potential to become major players in the Premier League. It is a sad and somewhat regrettable fact that they will now have to take separate, and far more complicated paths in order to do so.