A Brighton confession: My name is Ian and I was a ‘Graham Potter out’ supporter

At unprecedented times like this, there comes a point where bullet biting is required, so here goes...

My name is Ian and I was part of the ‘Potter Out’ faction. It was nothing personal, which has always been the case for every other of the 26 managers at the club since I started supporting the Albion in 1973.

The football on offer had been described as effectively academy standard, great possession and passing stats but ultimately a poor end product, ie: goals.

At whatever level, football is ultimately a results business. The Albion went through 2020 winning only one league game at home, and in this campaign hadn’t recorded an Amex home league win in the first half of the season.

We can only speculate what a 30,000 crowd reaction would have been to the home performances against West Brom, Burnley, Sheff United, Fulham and the first half against Wolves?

Having lived through seven Albion relegations, albeit I was only eight years old for the first one. This had the all the hallmarks of the eighth, an erstwhile fanzine colleague commented about a Sky TV camera shot of Graham Potter during the Sheffield United game where he said he looked totally shell-shocked and bereft of ideas.

In a fit of pique, with this being the strongest squad ever assembled, I speculated that Potter might possibly be the worst manager in the club’s history, this, however, crossed the line and was uncalled for and for that I unreservedly apologise.

But the Albion have now appeared to have turned the corner. 10 points out of 12, wins against Leeds, Spurs and Liverpool, Graham Potter has clearly changed something.

The supposed tinkering has stopped, a more settled side, subject to injuries and suspensions, a disciplined back line, the best goalkeeper at the club selected, all resulting with the eradication of the consistent conceding of goals from set pieces, coupled with a bit of lady luck up front and the results have changed.

39 years after the last win at Liverpool, the Albion’s season has appeared to have turned on its head.

History tells us that back in 1982, then manager Mike Bailey took the club to its highest ever final league position of 13th in the old First Division, although he was sacked 6 months later because the football was, according to then chairman Mike Bamber, boring and the crowds had dipped below 15,000. Football has always been a cruel mistress.

So onwards and upwards, if the Albion continue in the same vein, Bailey’s 13th place could yet be surpassed perhaps even with a record points total of around 45?

But what of the fractured support? In the time since the final whistle at Anfield, social media has been awash with vitriol and venom from both sides of the Potter debate. Anyone who previously questioned the manager's ability is apparently a ‘bedwetter’.

For a club whose fans fought and saved whilst it languished at the very bottom of the Football League, it is, to quote Charles Dickens, both the best of times and the worst of times.

Every fan follows the Albion because they love the club. Football is indeed and always will be a game of opinions, both sides need to agree to differ and move forward with the same common goal, Brighton and Hove Albion.