Graham Potter online poll reveals Brighton fans' true feelings on struggling head coach

Those who watch Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex would have seen the Seagulls take to the field at Falmer on 16 occasions, writes Scott McCarthy of WeAreBrighton.comPresuming that Graham Potter’s ropey home record remained the same with 30,000 fans packed in, they would have seen one solitary victory so far in the calendar year.

Brighton have just equalled their club record home winless run of 11 matches without victory, set by the class of 1997-98.

Tony Blair was in his honeymoon period as Prime Minister, Google was founded, The Spice Girls ruled the world and the Albion had the side largely considered to be their worst ever, picking up just 35 points to finish 91st of 92 teams in the Football League.

Only Doncaster Rovers’ incompetence in finishing on 20 points kept Brighton out of the Conference.

To match Steve Gritt’s hapless band of not-so-merry men is quite an achievement. Drawing 1-1 against Sheffield United was an incredibly apt way do it.

Here were opponents who came to Sussex having just set their own unwanted record of making the worst start to a top flight season in over 132 years of English football history.

That Brighton needed a Danny Welbeck equaliser in the 87th minute to scrape a point against the Blades – who had played for nearly an hour with 10 men for good measure – summed up the year the Albion have had at the Amex very nicely.

You can only begin to imagine the scenes on the terraces afterwards had supporters been present for the Sheffield United game.

There is no doubt that the Albion would have been booed off, as they were last time the Amex was full when Crystal Palace left with a 1-0 win in February.

The atmosphere might even have topped the toxicity that we saw when Millwall won 1-0 at the Amex in December 2014 to leave Brighton four points adrift of safety in the Championship relegation zone.

Fans came to blows with each other in the North Stand as frustrations boiled over, there was a banner demanding Sami Hyypia’s sacking and it was easily the bleakest experience since the stadium opened in 2011.

Hyypia tried to resign afterwards, Tony Bloom said no but within a week the Finn was gone having decided his position was untenable.

Graham Potter is a lucky man that the Amex has only been full for four of the 16 games in 2020. Frustration was already starting to build among fans judging by the reaction at the full time whistle against Palace.

Although there have been some incredibly tough games since the Palace game, failure to beat any of Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley, Southampton and now Sheffield United is not good enough to survive in the Premier League – let alone become a top 10 side, as Tony Bloom has very publicly stated is his aim over the coming seasons.

Pre-Palace, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Watford had all left the Amex with something to show for their efforts.

When you are sat at home, watching in the warm with a nice bottle of red as the Albion struggle to draw with 10 man Sheffield United, you naturally find yourself less critical.

It is when you make the effort and are spending the money required to go to the Amex, only to be rewarded with a single win in 2020 that fans are more inclined to turn against a manager.

The cost of a season ticket in the West Stand Upper for 2020-21 was £650, or £34.21 per match based on a 19 game Premier League season.

With one win from 16 matches, supporters have forked out £547.36 per victory in this calendar year.

Potter has directed thinly veiled criticism at fans in the past for having what he considered to be too high expectations, but by anyone’s standards that eyewatering figure points to the fact that Brighton have been nowhere near good enough at home this year.

You got the feeling among supporters online in the aftermath of the Sheffield United game that more and more are starting to lose faith in Potter.

A poll we ran on the WeAreBrighton.com Twitter account showed 57% were in favour of him keeping his job and 43% wanted him sacked, leaving us just a five percent swing away from a 52-48 result and being able to make a Brexit-based joke. Potter means Potter or something like that.

Brighton’s home form in 2020 is of a side who will be playing Championship football in 2021.

Fail to beat Arsenal post-Christmas – ironically, the only side who have left the Amex with nil points this year – and Potter will have officially overseen the worst run at home in Albion history.

The pressure is already building on the Brighton boss. It would be a lot, lot worse if fans had been in stadiums throughout 2020.

Potter is incredibly fortunate that hardly anybody has been there to witness his home horror show which, right now, looks to be leading Brighton into the bottom three. He needs to turn it around and fast.

WeAreBrighton.com