unnameable
New member
Dear Mr Neighbour,
Today, Andy Naylor writes what everyone knows: that "the anti-Falmer brigade is bleeding Brighton & Hove Albion towards a slow and painful death".
As you know, owing to its having to play at Withdean, the club is losing in excess of one million pounds a year. Thus is a club that has played at the highest level of English professional football (from 1979 to 1983), and in an FA Cup final (versus Manchester United, in 1983), threatened with extinction. Fifty thousand Albion supporters went to Wembley for the FA Cup final, in 1983. Thirty-five thousand Albion supporters (the whole of the club's allocation of tickets for the match) returned to Wembley, in 1991, for a play-off final for a place in the top flight. In 2004, thirty-three thousand Albion supporters (again, the full allocation) went to the Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff, for a play-off final.
Almost certainly, had the Falmer ruling not been challenged, Brighton & Hove Albion would still be playing at Championship level. Instead, the club is threatened with relegation in consecutive seasons. The necessity to sell player after player, and the inability to attract new players, has left the club struggling to compete even at League Two level. The team that played with such distinction at West Ham, in an FA Cup third round tie, on January 6th, consisted largely of last season's youth team. Such is the composition of the team every week now.
I do not expect you and your colleagues to get your handkerchiefs out and start weeping because of the club's desperate plight. I know that Brighton & Hove Albion means nothing to you. Let me remind you, though, that the club means a great deal to the people of Sussex, even to people who would not call themselves fans of the club.
Keep up your good work. You never know, you might have the death of a great Sussex sporting institution to reflect on in your dotage.
May I end my piece with a question? You have claimed that the club chose the cheap option in Falmer. At the last stage of the public enquiry, it was demonstrated that development of Village Way North would cost no less than would development of Sheepcote Valley. What, then, is the basis for your claim?
Yours sincerely,
Darren John Wilson
Today, Andy Naylor writes what everyone knows: that "the anti-Falmer brigade is bleeding Brighton & Hove Albion towards a slow and painful death".
As you know, owing to its having to play at Withdean, the club is losing in excess of one million pounds a year. Thus is a club that has played at the highest level of English professional football (from 1979 to 1983), and in an FA Cup final (versus Manchester United, in 1983), threatened with extinction. Fifty thousand Albion supporters went to Wembley for the FA Cup final, in 1983. Thirty-five thousand Albion supporters (the whole of the club's allocation of tickets for the match) returned to Wembley, in 1991, for a play-off final for a place in the top flight. In 2004, thirty-three thousand Albion supporters (again, the full allocation) went to the Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff, for a play-off final.
Almost certainly, had the Falmer ruling not been challenged, Brighton & Hove Albion would still be playing at Championship level. Instead, the club is threatened with relegation in consecutive seasons. The necessity to sell player after player, and the inability to attract new players, has left the club struggling to compete even at League Two level. The team that played with such distinction at West Ham, in an FA Cup third round tie, on January 6th, consisted largely of last season's youth team. Such is the composition of the team every week now.
I do not expect you and your colleagues to get your handkerchiefs out and start weeping because of the club's desperate plight. I know that Brighton & Hove Albion means nothing to you. Let me remind you, though, that the club means a great deal to the people of Sussex, even to people who would not call themselves fans of the club.
Keep up your good work. You never know, you might have the death of a great Sussex sporting institution to reflect on in your dotage.
May I end my piece with a question? You have claimed that the club chose the cheap option in Falmer. At the last stage of the public enquiry, it was demonstrated that development of Village Way North would cost no less than would development of Sheepcote Valley. What, then, is the basis for your claim?
Yours sincerely,
Darren John Wilson
