Gary O’Neil
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Gary O’Neil admits he was unsure about Cherries’ Christmas training schedule #AFCB

December 24, 2022
GARY O’Neil refused to confirm whether Cherries’ squad would be training on Christmas Day this year, ahead of their trip to Chelsea next week. There will be no Boxing Day fixture for Cherries for the third year in succession, with O’Neil’s charges travelling to Stamford Bridge on December 27. Looking ahead to the festive period, O’Neil said: “I love Christmas. The family side of it, I obviously have kids so they love it. “But I also enjoyed the fixture schedule as a player, I really enjoyed it. “It always had a nice atmosphere at the games, a lot of fans are having time off work and having a good time with their families. “There’s always a nice atmosphere around the festive fixtures. When I was playing, I used to just train and go home, so it is slightly different now.” Asked if Cherries will train on Christmas Day, O’Neil added: “We haven’t decided officially yet. We will see where we are as a group, how much good work we can get done between now and then. “My only focus is making sure we’re ready for Chelsea. I’ll review it after we’ve done some more work and see how much the boys need.” He added: “It’s funny, because when you were a player, you were like ‘I don’t know why he doesn’t just do this’. “But then when you’re sat there you’re like ‘yeah, I’m definitely not doing that!’. It’s a big difference. “When you’re sat in the head coach’s seat, you just can’t see anything but making sure the group are ready come 5.30pm on the 27th. “Yes it’s Christmas, so will try and show some understanding and not be too much of a killjoy. “But hard to see past we need to be ready at 5.30pm, massive game, another opportunity to put points on the board.”
Graham Potter Brighton
Posted in2021-2022-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Graham Potter on Christmas fixtures as Managers meet to discuss player welfare #BHAFC

December 24, 2021
It is more than a decade now since former Albion boss Gus Poyet told The Argus he could not understand the Christmas schedule. "I love Boxing Day but why play on the 28th?" he asked in typically animated style at the club's former training base at the University of Sussex. The answer appears pretty simple. Everyone wants a home game over Christmas, including the clubs drawn to play away on December 26. So you almost create a second Boxing Day. As it turned out, Albion won that unwanted fixture 5-2 at Wycombe with Glenn Murray scoring four times. But the bigger picture is that concerns over playing too many games persist – and are increased in current circumstances. Premier League managers and head coaches discuss player welfare today. Albion boss Graham Potter said: “Traditionally, since I’ve played, we’ve played on the 26th and the 28th. “I don’t think we’re playing any more games than that this year but what we’ve got this year is a pandemic which means the squads and players are even more under pressure. “Already you’ve got an issue and then it’s compounded by a virus that is spreading through the population quite quickly. “Then you’ve got the issues of isolation and trying to be fit. GRAHAM POTTER'S VERDICT ON 8PM BOXING DAY KICK-OFF “There is more and more pressure on the players, so in an ideal world we probably haven’t got the balance right. “But we’re not in an ideal world.” Potter has accepted the fact Albion’s appeal for a postponement versus Wolves was unsuccessful. He said: “We put the request in because we had consecutive days of Covid issues, but we had to play and you have to get on with it and deal with it. “I think everyone is trying their best in very difficult circumstances. “The way it is, sometimes it’s like a refereeing decision, it goes your way or it doesn’t. “Everybody is doing their best. “I don’t think anyone is acting without integrity, put it that way.” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been clear in his criticism of the schedule. He said: "I think it would be better with one game, absolutely, but obviously what I say is not too important. “If there are two games then we will play two games. But it would be helpful if there was only one, true.”  
Brighton & Hove Albion
Posted in2021-2022-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Brighton’s chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber welcomes Premier League call to play on #BHAFC

December 22, 2021
Albion have welcomed a decision to play on over Christmas – and backed fans to play their part. Premier League clubs voted NOT to postpone any of the forthcoming fixtures, despite rising concerns over Covid and the workload being placed on players. Postponement and reduced capacities were both discussed when the 20 clubs meet via Zoom yesterday. But it remains business as usual for now – with the situation remaining under review. Albion chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber said player welfare was paramount as discussions took place. He said: “It’s a difficult balancing act. There are lots of Covid cases across the Premier League but, at the same time, we have fixture congestion already building up. “The danger of postponing games when we don’t need to is the fixture congestion goes later into the season, which could be even worsen. “In terms of player welfare, balancing what’s right at this moment with what could be right in the future was one of the difficult parts of the debate. “I’m happy we have decided the right thing, which is to carry on playing while we can, look after our players and staff as best we can and try to minimise the disruption to supporters as well.” A return to football behind closed doors was discussed – and has now happened in Wales. But Barber backed fans to protect themselves and others with their behaviour when at games and travelling to and from venues. He told TalkSPORT: “I think everyone was slightly fearful of that because cases are rising and we have seen what has happened in Wales. “I think the difference between this situation and what we were facing last time when we were behind closed doors is vaccinations have really taken hold. Lots of people have been vaccinated. PREMIUM: Why Albion know Dan looks like the man for Newcastle “People are much more aware of the virus. “They are careful when they are travelling to and from the games. “They are careful when they are in the stadiums. “It’s difficult to enforce mask-wearing in the stadium bowl but we are encouraging it. “Hopefully people will be respectful of each other and keep each other safe so we can keep stadiums full. “That’s really important. Lots of livelihoods depend on matches going ahead with fans in the stadium and that’s what players want as well.”
Sean Dyche Burnley
Posted in2021-2022-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Sean Dyche focused on Aston Villa but still awaits Hornets postponement answer #BURNLEYFC

December 18, 2021
Burnley are awaiting an explanation from the Premier League for why their clash with Watford was postponed at late notice on Wednesday. The match at Turf Moor was called off less than three hours before it was due to start because of coronavirus cases in the Watford camp, with Burnley not receiving any indication that it might happen until an hour prior to the decision being announced. It was the second late postponement the club has had in less than three weeks after the meeting with Tottenham last month was called off due to heavy snowfall. Boss Sean Dyche said: “We didn’t find out until 4.40pm. We hadn’t heard anything from Watford Football Club about the possible situation. And then it came to light that they had Covid cases and the game had to be cancelled. It was very late that’s for sure.” Burnley will now turn their attention to a scheduled clash with Aston Villa tomorrow – although the midlanders have also had cases in their camp. Dyche said: “It’s not a big drama, it’s happened, it’s dealt with, the next one comes around very quickly. I’m sure the Premier League will report to us about why it was called off because we haven’t got any of the detail yet but we move forward, it’s as simple as that. What’s done is done. “It’s about getting an awareness of what is going to make a game called off and what’s not going to make a game be called off.” Burnley have several current Covid cases themselves, although Dyche revealed only one is a player and they are confident he was isolated quickly enough not to have an impact on the rest of the squad. This will be Dyche’s first experience of taking on a team managed by Steven Gerrard, and Villa are in good form, with four wins from their last six games. The Burnley boss said of Gerrard’s impact: “Seemingly they’ve had a change of shape with what they called many years ago the Christmas tree. “He’s brought energy. You know what it’s like, a new manager goes in, whoever that manager is, and it has an effect of some description. He’s certainly had that. “I don’t know him so I wouldn’t know what his beliefs in the game are, the way he’s thinking about the game. He obviously had a thirst for it, went through some of the situations with the younger teams at Liverpool and then he’s gone up to Rangers and done a good job there. “He knows the Premier League, that’s another obvious thing, and it’s how he adapts to the challenge of managing in the Premier League. “He’s not naive, he knows it’s more than a good start in management, you need a longer period to prove yourself, but he’s started very well. I don’t think anyone’s that surprised by that. The challenge of football is how long you can keep doing it for at what level.” Burnley remain in the bottom three but have lost only one of their last six games, although four of those have been draws. They are likely to again be without forwards Maxwel Cornet and Ashley Barnes, midfielder Dale Stephens and defender Connor Roberts.
Old Trafford Manchester
Posted in2021-2022-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Brighton issues refund statement for fans after Manchester United match postponement #MUFC #BHAFC

December 17, 2021
ALBION's match against Manchester United has been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak at the club. Manchester United were forced to postpone their match against Brentford on Tuesday due to the outbreak. Since then it has been that the situation at the club has worsened as more positive cases have been found at the club. Albion said on their website: "Those supporters who had purchased tickets will be automatically refunded. Refunds will take up to five working days to process. "Once the match is rescheduled, and new ticket details confirmed, all those who purchased tickets for the original date will get a priority booking window. "  Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick Albion are also managing Covid-19 cases at the club as Graham Potter confirmed there were "three or four" cases in the squad. This saw a depleted Albion squad take on Wolves in a 1-0 defeat in the Premier League last night. Potter did confirm that there was a request to have that match postponed but it was rejected by the Premier League. The Premier League says it intends to “continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible” despite announcing that postponing the  Manchester United and Albion match.
Graham Potter Brighton
Posted in2021-2022-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Brighton boss questions possible inconsistencies over Covid-19 postponements #BHAFC

December 16, 2021
ALBION boss Graham Potter believes it will be difficult for the Premier League to continue with the current trend of only some games being deemed worthy of postponement due to coronavirus infections among players. Potter revealed Albion were unsuccessful in their request for Wednesday evening’s clash with Wolves – a 1-0 loss – to be rearranged following a Covid-19 and injury crisis at the club. The depleted Seagulls were without a host of influential players for the game, with top scorer Neal Maupay and Pascal Gross the latest men to join the growing list of absentees. Brighton’s scheduled meeting with Tottenham on Sunday was postponed due to a Covid outbreak at the north London club, while Brentford versus Manchester United and Watford’s trip to Burnley were called off in similar circumstances on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Alexis Mac Allister “We asked the question because of our situation,” he said of a possible postponement. “You haven’t really got time to be disappointed (with being turned down). It was about preparing the team, preparing for the game.” Speaking of the apparent lack of consistency in decision-making, he continued: “You obviously have to think everyone is doing things in the best intentions. “There will be frustration with that. “It would be better if it was more transparent but at the same time you’re talking about medical information so I don’t know how transparent that can be. “I think the path we’re on, I’m not sure how long we can stay on it for. “We all want football to continue, want life to continue as best as we can but clearly health is the most important thing. “We’ve got some issues ourselves and this week has been a little bit disturbing in terms of how quickly we’ve been affected. “If that carries on then we’ll have to have some serious thought (about action being suspended).” Albion's winless run in the top flight stretched to a club-record 11 games after Romain Saiss’ first-half volley earned the visitors a deserved victory.