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Yes, but comparing those historic teams (all 4 of which have won the highest prize in European football - the Champions League; and IIRC at least 2 of those clu

Yes, but comparing those historic teams (all 4 of which have won the highest prize in European football - the Champions League; and IIRC at least 2 of those clubs have been represented in every world cup final I can remember) to Brighton is silly - Brighton have punched so far beyond their weight it's scary. They aren't European heavyweights and still manage to recruit well enough that after selling their top players (who were relative unknowns or were not highly rated/valued) still continue to thrive. Reminds me a bit of Southampton when they first came up, and Leicester after their title winning season - both clubs seemed to get picked apart year after year by the biggest clubs, yet keep on improving by bringing in yet more unknown or undervalued talent on the cheap. This isn't moneyball, it's much more than that. It's moneyball if the spending power of the Yankees wasn't limited to just the Yankees, but 5-6 other teams and there was no salary cap or luxury tax - and the punishment for screwing up isn't a top draft pick but instead relegation...and the competition has an unlimited spending cheat code. To think Brighton is swimming in cash compared to Newcastle (owned by Saudi PIF), Chelsea (owned by a PE firm that also spends heavily on other sports teams), Liverpool (owned by a PE firm that also owns a baseball team and wants to buy an NBA team), Manchester City (owned by Abu Dhabi royal family) & United (owned by billionaires who own an NFL team, and part of the club is publicly traded), Arsenal (owned by a guy who has 5 other pro sports teams AND married into Wal-Mart family money), etc... is madness. Conquered is the right term, because otherwise teams wouldn't be bidding stupid money on talent that Brighton is showcasing.

smcl 4y ago
In comparing to these teams, I am saying that some of the largest names in world football spent as much buying players as Brighton and Hove did. Both Milan and Inter[0] are in the last 16 of the Champions League and it would not be a shock at all if either of them progressed into the final. Brighton appear thrifty because they didn't spunk upwards of 150 million on lower-table squad like Nottingham Forest have or because they can't commit untold billions in the coming decades like Newcastle United can. Brighton have certainly shown the rest of the Premier League how profligate many of them are but they're still spending on the same level as big-name continental Champions League contenders, none of whom are considered particularly tight-fisted in the transfer market. I'm also a little bit surprised at the English fascination with recruitment, it seems almost guaranteed to cause the situation I described (big-spending domestic league) with little to no success at the national level as a consequence. Far more interesting to me is player development, I'd love to see how smaller countries with smaller leagues like Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and (in particular) Croatia continue to produce world class players. > Reminds me a bit of Southampton I think I added this to my comment while you were typing yours out, but I also raised this as an example. Southampton had this brief stint of skill/luck/whatever in the transfer market and are now bottom. It sounds like we're both a bit sickened by the sheer quantities of money pouring into the English game. While it can lead to some funny things like Newcastle's Saudi away kit I agree that it is madness. [0] - let's exclude Bayern and Dortmund. As I said, they spent more

smcl 4y ago

In comparing to these teams, I am saying that some of the largest names in world football spent as much buying players as Brighton and Hove did. Both Milan and Inter[0] are in the last 16 of the Champions League and it would not be a shock at all if either of them progressed into the final. Brighton appear thrifty because they didn't spunk upwards of 150 million on lower-table squad like Nottingham Forest have or because they can't commit untold billions in the coming decades like Newcastle United can. Brighton have certainly shown the rest of the Premier League how profligate many of them are but they're still spending on the same level as big-name continental Champions League contenders, none of whom are considered particularly tight-fisted in the transfer market. I'm also a little bit surprised at the English fascination with recruitment, it seems almost guaranteed to cause the situation I described (big-spending domestic league) with little to no success at the national level as a consequence. Far more interesting to me is player development, I'd love to see how smaller countries with smaller leagues like Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and (in particular) Croatia continue to produce world class players. > Reminds me a bit of Southampton I think I added this to my comment while you were typing yours out, but I also raised this as an example. Southampton had this brief stint of skill/luck/whatever in the transfer market and are now bottom. It sounds like we're both a bit sickened by the sheer quantities of money pouring into the English game. While it can lead to some funny things like Newcastle's Saudi away kit I agree that it is madness. [0] - let's exclude Bayern and Dortmund. As I said, they spent more