Columnist Ian Hart joins Brighton and Hove Albion reporter and fan Henry Bryant with Sussex World's Derren Howard.
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00:00 Welcome to another episode of Goldmouth Action Podcast where we'll take a look at all the latest
00:04 goings on at Brighton and Hove Albion. I'm Darren Howard and this week I'm joined by Brighton expert
00:10 and Sussex World columnist Ian Hart and Sussex World reporter and Albion fan Henry Bryant.
00:15 Brighton's search for a successor to Roberto Di Zerbi continues. We've been keeping up to speed
00:22 with all the latest developments and you can read all the stories we're talking about with videos
00:26 and pictures online at sussexworld.co.uk/sport and you can check out other great videos on
00:32 shotstv.com and freeview channel 276. You may also be interested in watching on latest tv
00:39 so thank you very much for tuning in. But we start today with the confirmation that came through
00:46 yesterday evening that Kieran McKenna and widely reported to be Brighton's number one target has
00:51 signed a new four-year contract at Portman Road. So where does that leave Brighton, Ian?
00:57 Well yeah I mean it's almost old news. Kieran McKenna was never coming. I'll put that in the
01:07 column. We met his uncle in 1901 East in Goldstone Restaurant for the Manchester United game.
01:14 He actually lived with, Kieran McKenna lived with his uncle when he was Manchester United coach.
01:21 He was flattered. So just to give viewers, just remind viewers of the timeline.
01:28 We'd known Dzerbi was going or we'd learned Dzerbi was going on the Saturday afternoon
01:34 and this was the Sunday afternoon and we obviously spoke to Kieran McKenna's uncle and he said Kieran
01:42 McKenna was extremely flattered by the Albion's attention but loyalty was a big part of his DNA.
01:50 Probably that and getting his money put up and probably the only job that he'd go for
01:56 would be the Manchester United job but his uncle felt that was too early now. Maybe he'd be the
02:03 appointment after 10.30. I put this in my column on the Monday. So you know I've almost, the thoughts
02:12 of Kieran McKenna coming to us were dead to me fairly early on and the bookies can make all these
02:22 silly odds. I mean I can't, they say you never see a bookie on a bicycle so they very rarely get it
02:28 wrong. Well they do get it wrong sometimes. They got it wrong in the FA Cup final. Who knows they
02:33 might get it wrong in the Champions League final tomorrow night. So whilst it can gauge some
02:41 opinion and give you a little bit of an idea, looking at the latest odds I'm expunging them.
02:49 You know I'm not really, I am disappointed and I see Henry nodding as well. I am disappointed
02:57 we're told about this succession planning model you know that everything is in place.
03:03 Do not get me wrong, they knew that Deserby was leaving long before that Saturday afternoon.
03:10 So if they've got a succession plan where is it? And I don't think and I put and you very kindly
03:17 put the column up as my Albion editor Derin. I don't think Potter's coming. I don't think that's
03:27 a bad thing because I think it would have. We've got a united support now, pardon the pun, after
03:34 the last home game but we've got a unified support. Europe you know we've had a few setbacks
03:40 with injuries and stuff like that but I've never known and I've lived through civil war at this
03:46 football club. I've never known the fans so unified as one getting behind the team. I think if you
03:54 bring Graham Potter back you drive a wagon and horses through that unity. I think they probably,
04:01 secretly, they would concede that they know that the feeling is that bad. I personally think
04:10 Potter, they've either turned Potter down or he's turned them down because if you look at the facts,
04:15 he's been unemployed since last April, he lives in Hove and they probably know more about him than
04:22 any other candidate. So surely nearly two weeks after Deserby was going, if he was coming he'd
04:29 have come. He would have been there by now. Yeah, no it does seem to be going on for quite a while
04:34 and I agree that, Henry, we touched on it a bit earlier in the week didn't we Henry, that a lot
04:40 of the comments that seemed to come up from the fans was the way that Graham did leave and then
04:46 some of the comments that he made at Chelsea where 'oh if I wanted an easy life you know I would have
04:51 stayed at Brighton' and that particular line in particular and the fact that Bruno went with him
04:56 as well, that's what really seemed to upset the fans. Do you think that should be a factor?
05:04 Yeah, I think emotion will always be in football and the fans are at the heart of how a team can
05:13 perform on the pitch at times and I think in terms of Graham Potter, he really did leave in a way
05:20 that almost disrespected a lot of Albion supporters really and especially the things that he said
05:25 afterwards like you mentioned and also taking our backroom staff that we'd had for a while. I mean,
05:31 Bruno being one of the oldest players to be in the Premier League at that time when he was playing
05:36 in our first few seasons and he was not just a coach in the backroom staff area. There was a
05:43 lot of heritage that was taken from Brighton's coaching, not just because of Graham Potter
05:50 but also because of Bruno in that aspect. It was a shame to see what he was saying in these press
05:57 conferences as well because I think it belittled Brighton and I think the opportunity that we gave
06:02 him from when he came from Swansea, I thought it was a massive opportunity that he was given there
06:07 and it seemed a little bit... A little bit disrespectful, yeah. Yeah, a little bit snarchy.
06:14 Is he a better coach than when he left in September 22 when the Queen died on that very sad day?
06:23 Is Graham Potter, in your opinion, a better coach? You see, I don't think he is. I don't think so,
06:29 no. So, what's the point of going back? We need to go forward. I agree and this is one of the things
06:37 that me, Darren and also reporter Sam Morton were saying in a previous episode. We were saying,
06:42 in the situation, I think he seems like one of our better options, if I'm honest,
06:49 and that's coming from a Brighton fan that was sort of there and thought, "Oh, I'm not sure what
06:55 to do about this." But I do know what you mean. He's clearly not really done anything at Chelsea.
07:01 I'm not quite sure what's going to go on with him and I mean, even we've got new managers coming
07:08 into the sort of frontline as well because Steve Cooper has been sort of rumoured to be coming to
07:13 the Albion as well and there's some news coming out from the Daily Mail, One Football as well,
07:18 reporting that Brighton are targeting and leading the race for Steve Cooper. So,
07:22 there's a lot going on really. What about Brendan Rodgers? What do you think about Brendan Rodgers?
07:28 I would like Rodgers personally.
07:30 To be fair, up against Potter, we'd like Ginger Rodgers, wouldn't we?
07:34 Yeah, I saw that line in your comment.
07:38 That's one for the teenagers. I think Brendan Rodgers ticks a lot of boxes.
07:44 Yeah, I agree.
07:45 I think he'd be burning all these bridges at Celtic once and for all if he left them
07:53 for a second time. I'm obviously a lot older than you two. If you look at two of the most popular
08:01 ever Brighton managers, men that would be welcomed back to the ground, one of them works as an
08:07 ambassador, Alan Mullery and Mickey Adams, both came back, Mullery in '86 and Mickey Adams in 2008
08:18 and it failed miserably and they both sadly left under a cloud but we've welcomed them back.
08:26 I think Graham Potter is in a completely different sphere to that. I think as you say, Henry, what he
08:32 said in the press conferences and his arrogance and you see some things stick in their mind,
08:42 even of old people like me, when he told us we needed a history lesson. Do you remember that?
08:47 When everybody was shouting 'shoot' when we weren't shooting.
08:51 Was that a nil-nil draw against Leeds, isn't it? I think he was fuming. I remember that press
08:58 conference, he was fuming after that. He thought the Brighton players were...
09:01 Yeah, we needed a history lesson. With things like that, do not go away. You cannot expunge
09:07 things like that. Steve Cooper, alright, Forrest was a bit of a... because that was a... lots of
09:14 players coming in, lots of players coming out. If you look what Steve Cooper did with the England
09:19 youth set-up and what he does with good players and the Albion have got good players, that wouldn't
09:27 be something I would rule out. I think that would be a good appointment.
09:30 Yeah, we're looking through... just quickly on Graham Potter, this thing with Bruno as well,
09:37 that often gets mentioned as well, but it's not like he bundled him into a car and forced him
09:43 to go to Chelsea, is it? Bruno is a grown man, he made his own decision to leave, didn't he?
09:50 But they all went in 24 hours, Derek.
09:55 You can't really pin that on Potter though, can you?
09:57 I think Potter knew he was going to Chelsea before Tuchel got the sack. I can't prove that.
10:06 And this is an opinion video, so that is my opinion. But you don't... sadly, we had a big
10:15 Albion funeral that day and we said goodbye to a very dear Albion fan, Kevin Stoner, that day. So
10:22 we had his funeral in the morning. By the time we got back to Worthing Football Club for the week,
10:28 Potter was on his way and sadly the Queen was close to leaving us. Then within hours,
10:34 Potter's entire team, with the exception of Andrew Crofts, had gone. You don't negotiate those
10:41 things in a couple of hours. It was all done and done. And Bruno, to people of a certain age,
10:49 and I like Bruno, I've met him, he's a very personable fella.
10:53 Albion legend gets thrown around, all right? It's a title that gets bandied around to many,
11:03 many people. There are only a few Albion legends and I'm not sure Bruno is one.
11:09 Not after that either.
11:12 No, no.
11:14 After that.
11:15 We're just going through the list, so let's have a look at... so next permanent manager on Brighton,
11:19 we've got Graham Potter at Evens, Steve Cooper 7-2, Russell Martin 7-1 and Henrik Rydstorm
11:25 at 8-1. Henry, who do you think, Henry? It's a pretty short list, isn't it?
11:34 It is a really short list. I think, as Harty was mentioning, with Steve Cooper,
11:41 I think that his ability to get the best out of young players, and maybe not seeing that at
11:46 Nottingham Forest, but in the youth set-up for England, is really remarkable to see.
11:52 His teams have been known to attack at every opportunity and they use a lot of space in the
11:57 wide sectors and the centre of the pitch as well. But I think with the likes of Odinga and Matoma as
12:02 well coming back for the Albion, if he was the manager, we'd really be able to utilise that
12:09 wing play a little bit more because the quality we have on those wings is remarkable.
12:15 We've got an AFCON winner, we've got Matoma that's been absolutely quality for us and it's
12:21 just been a shame that he's not been on the pitch for some of the more crucial parts of the season.
12:26 So I think Steve Cooper, although some may look at him as a fan that may not know the full extent
12:34 of his career and think, 'Hey, hold on a minute, he was relegated and things just didn't go well.'
12:41 I think that it could be good for Brighton, really could be good.
12:47 Yeah, well we're going to be discussing this a bit more so join us after the break and we'll
12:54 be looking at some of the other options that Brighton have and also the squad and how the
12:58 squad's shaping up for the new season. Okay, welcome back to the Seagulls' goalmouth action.
13:07 So we're just looking at lists of possible candidates. Ian, I just want to throw Thomas
13:12 Frank out there at you. Do you think there's any possibility of the Brentford manager,
13:17 do you think he'd have to leave Brentford first, be a free agent and then, if Brighton were looking
13:22 at him? I don't think that happens in the real world. What we have to remember is that the three
13:29 of us are all football fans, right? We're in a privileged position where we have our opinions
13:37 published on sometimes, at the moment it feels like a daily basis, but on a weekly basis. We
13:45 are lucky but we are football fans. It's in our DNA. We've been going since we were young, I've
13:51 been going for over 50 years. To all these football managers, it is a job, right? So it would not
13:58 surprise me for Thomas Frank just to leave Brentford and go to Brighton. He wouldn't have to
14:09 go through the facade of becoming a free agent. He would just tell Brentford, "Sorry, I'm going."
14:14 He could turn up at the Amex and that would be okay for me. I think he's a very good
14:27 manager, very good coach. Just going back to what Henry said before the break,
14:32 Cooper, yeah, is a great coach. He actually got sacked, so he didn't get relegated. He got sacked.
14:39 They had a lot of players and a friend of mine, a worthy lad, was chairman at Nottingham Forest
14:49 before he stood down last season. It is quite a complicated setup there. I know the Premiership
14:57 is a complicated place, but I think Forest is especially. Frank is good. I still think Russell
15:04 Martin is very, very underrated as a coach. This is our podcast now, so we can say what we want.
15:15 Brighton are the biggest club on the South Coast by a country mile. Yes, historically, Southampton
15:21 and Portsmouth are probably bigger because of titles, but football's not played in the history
15:28 books anymore. Football's played on a football pitch on a stadium. Brighton have the best stadium,
15:33 they have the best fan base, they have the best finances. They are the biggest club.
15:38 To be fair, Russell Martin did an excellent job getting a tune out of that squad at Southampton,
15:47 getting them to the playoff final and beating Leeds, which was a popular result, I think,
15:52 in the rest of the football. Russell Martin is good. Slobodan Drapic was mentioned, and at one
16:01 point was 5-1, but this is a bloke that has never managed outside the Middle East. I don't know
16:10 whether that was a crazy punt, because all these prices are only dictated by the amount of money
16:17 that's being bet on them. So if some silly rumour goes out, people start lumping on.
16:25 Thomas Frank, I think the relationship between the Brentford chairman and the Brighton chairman
16:33 isn't brilliant anyway, so he wouldn't be treading on anyone's toes. So yeah, I think he's a candidate
16:40 that I'd welcome. I just want it sorted. I just want it, and this is where I feel very disappointed
16:53 that we're this shining beacon for succession planning. And yes, they do run the club very
17:02 well. Tony Blink does a great job. Paul Barber does a good job, and we have record profits. But
17:08 how many people said on that Saturday afternoon, to you two, because they said it enough to me,
17:16 and I heard it on the radio, and it was on match of the day, "Oh, Brighton will know who they're
17:21 going for now." Brighton have always got a success. Brighton always know they're like a chess
17:27 grandmaster. They're a couple of moves ahead of everybody. And two weeks down the line, we still
17:34 don't know. So that does disappoint me. I'm hoping that we'll know. Because the other thing is,
17:41 if you get someone in, once that transfer window opens, we can start then attracting players.
17:49 Well, that was going to be my next question.
17:52 Let's not skate around it. Last season was brilliant. We went to Europe. We had some
17:56 great times. I did some podcasts from airports talking to you. We had a really great time.
18:05 We were blighted by injuries. We had some pretty poor performances on the Sundays after the
18:11 European games. But we lost Alexis McAllister and Moses Casado at the start of the season.
18:19 Arguably, two of the greatest players, not the greatest, two of the greatest players to ever put
18:24 on a Brighton and Albion shirt. If you don't replace them, it's not rocket science. You know
18:30 what's going to happen. The squad wasn't strong enough. It wasn't big enough. But every day is
18:38 a school day. So hopefully, we've learned from that. So we need to get a manager in now, or a
18:45 head coach, whatever they call it. We need to get a manager. And one thing I'd like, and I'd like to
18:51 draw you to on this, I'd like a manager with more input on recruitment than perhaps we've had
18:57 before. So a manager is actually getting the players that he wants, rather than players that
19:05 the recruiter is asking him to.
19:07 That's going to be a problem, isn't it? That's Brighton's model, though, isn't it? That's their
19:11 way of doing it.
19:12 But it was Aston Villa's model, but they've just changed it.
19:15 Yeah, if they get the right man in.
19:17 If you get the right man in, we finished above Aston Villa last year, and now they're going back
19:25 into the Champions League, a competition they won 42 years ago. And they're going to beat
19:32 Liverpool off with a stick, with a dirty stick, I think that's the word I can use,
19:38 when they're after Watkins. Because why would Watkins want to go to Liverpool
19:42 when he can play in the second largest city in the country, playing in the Champions League?
19:46 In the Champions League, yeah.
19:48 Emery has been a real shot in the arm, and I bet Arsenal, although they're all right with Arteta,
19:54 but I think, I bet there's some Arsenal fans and probably some Arsenal board members that think,
19:59 "Oh dear, we pulled the trigger too early." Because he really is. Don't think Villa are
20:07 going in there making up the numbers.
20:08 No, no. They look a very strong team.
20:12 So I really want a manager now who works with the recruitment, probably more than previous
20:22 managers. I remember when, going back a few years, Henry, so you might not remember, when Oscar
20:28 Garcia went, there was all talk of Oscar Garcia had been told that he had this player, this player
20:35 and that player, and he didn't want them. So you need to have a recruitment, and we've done very
20:44 well with our...
20:45 Yeah, I think to be fair, Brighton have done very well. And probably the two players that
20:49 Di Serbi did bring in, Ansu Fati and Mo Dahoud, were two of probably the worst sign-ins of last
20:55 season, weren't they?
20:57 Yeah, but he also pulled Gael Pedro, who is arguably, and I say this in hushed tones, he's
21:07 going to usurp Mark Lawrenson as the greatest player to pull on a Brighton O'Valvain shirt.
21:12 Well, hopefully if he stays there.
21:15 Ansu Fati was a Marion Hayes repentant ledger. But it's just one of those mistakes. He's a
21:22 Jason Peake for older viewers. He's just one of those...
21:28 Just on... Yeah, sorry.
21:30 We just can't park that. It's a very expensive mistake. Very expensive mistake. Dahoud, again,
21:39 that didn't work out, but that's been... Not every signing works out.
21:44 No.
21:44 Just to go back without sounding like a crack record, we need a manager in there now who can
21:50 then now go out and start recruiting. Because we probably need three or four quality signings.
21:59 You need a few, yeah.
21:59 Midfield and defence.
22:00 And we need to hold on to everybody else. We need three or four quality signings. And then I think
22:07 we're ready to rock and roll with it. I think the euphoria, again, going back historically,
22:19 the euphoria of the European run probably papered over a lot of cracks, as did the FA Cup run in 1983,
22:29 which was a team getting relegated at the same time. I think the European run papered over a
22:34 lot of cracks. Had we not been in Europe and not replaced McAllister or Cossedo, I'm not sure
22:44 whether the results would have been that much different because the squad wasn't strong enough
22:49 and it wasn't big enough.
22:50 Yeah, no, that's true, Ian. Just quickly, Henry, I just want to get your view on the Dennis
22:55 Undaff situation. He's openly said he wants to leave, he wants to remain at Stuttgart
23:02 for next season, who had just qualified for the Champions League now as well.
23:06 He's going to go, isn't he? It's going to be very difficult for him now to come back. He
23:14 had a great loan, didn't he, in the Bundesliga, top scoring German in the Bundesliga last season.
23:19 He was a player that Brighton could have really used, but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen.
23:24 Yeah, it was strange because he did get a couple of goals near the end of the season at the Albion
23:31 and I was thinking to myself, great, we've got a player like him who's still relatively young,
23:36 that deserves to be able to put his influence on, give him that attacking edge and we'll have
23:42 another striker that we haven't had to sign for loads of money. It's going to be another Brighton
23:48 situation where we've got a player that's up and coming and been able to turn him into a quality
23:54 Premier League player. I think they pulled the trigger too early on Undaff. I'm not sure whether
23:59 that was because of maybe the player wanting to move to Germany or prefer that German football.
24:06 We know that it's a different league, obviously, and maybe he wouldn't have performed quite as well
24:13 if he was still in the Premier League. But I mean, the amount of goals he scored and the goal
24:17 contributions that he had for a side like that. It's ridiculous and it's a big blow for Brighton
24:27 fans, not only to see that he was able to do that that season, but also to see that he's openly come
24:32 out now and said that he's not going to be wanting to come back to the South Coast. And I think that
24:39 is a shame. It'd be really difficult for him to come back after that because I think that Brighton
24:44 are a team that are very focused on the morale of the team and also having the right player in the
24:52 squad. It seems like a very positive team in that aspect. They won't have any issues in the changer
24:57 and they wouldn't want that to muddle up with their play, their performances. And I think that
25:04 it now leaves them in a really difficult position because I believe... Was it a buy option that they
25:13 had? There is. Yeah. Yeah. So he went on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
25:18 But his transfer, I don't know what the details of that option are, but his transfer value now,
25:24 Ian, is pretty high. They bought him for seven million, I think, in 2022. But what's your take
25:31 on that situation? I think it's a no-brainer. I think why should he come back? He's managed to
25:39 get into the... Is he in the final German? Yeah. So he's going to the Euros as well.
25:45 He's going for the Euros. All right. I know he originally hailed from Turkey, but
25:49 he's in his adopted homeland. He's doing what he does best, scoring goals. He's qualified for the
25:59 Champions League. I love Brighton Over Albion and I love Brighton Over Albion too, my darling,
26:06 but I don't blame him, given the choices. It's just not going to happen. And this is probably
26:16 one that has slipped through the net. But look, good luck to him because I've met him a couple of
26:24 times and he was a genuinely nice bloke. Yeah. He comes across as a good guy, doesn't he?
26:30 Nice things happen to nice people. So I really wish him well. I hope he scores against Scotland.
26:36 Sorry, Benny Gilmore. Oh yeah, it's the opening day, isn't it? Germany, Scotland. Yeah.
26:42 But I hope he doesn't knock out England in the knockout stages. Then he won't be welcome back
26:48 in Brighton. It is what it is. But again, we're going back to the lowest common denominator now.
26:58 We have to look at him going now. So we need to get a manager in there so we can start recruiting
27:04 again. Because there's lots of, you know, this is the time where you need to start picking up
27:11 players. Yeah, it's going to be tough, isn't it? Because players are going to look at that and
27:16 they think, well, I'm not going to go there just yet because we're not sure who the manager will
27:19 be. But hopefully it will get sorted out soon. But thank you very much for joining us, Ian. Always
27:25 great to have you on. And Henry, as always, as well. Thanks. Thanks so much. You can catch up
27:30 with all the latest sports news covering everything we've talked about today at sussexworld.co.uk
27:34 and you can watch more excellent videos on shots tv.com and 3vue channel
27:40 276. But for now, thanks. Thanks, guys. Cheers.