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Coppell's comments about Brighton being a bigger club than Reading



Tesco in Disguise

Where do we go from here?
Jul 5, 2003
3,928
Wienerville
does anyone know where i can find an article that details this claim? there's a reading fan at work who says that coppell never said it, and i need to prove him wrong. national/berkshire press would be best.

thanks in advance.

TiD.
 




The Grockle

Formally Croydon Seagull
Sep 26, 2008
5,739
Dorset
If you go on the bbc website it has a recording of what he said.
 




Cheeky Monkey

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
23,617
You don't have to come up with any proof when the statement is fact. It's like you telling him that 'Gus Poyet is our manager' or 'BHA play in blue and white stripes' and him asking for an article to prove it. Absurd.
 


Tesco in Disguise

Where do we go from here?
Jul 5, 2003
3,928
Wienerville
You don't have to come up with any proof when the statement is fact. It's like you telling him that 'Gus Poyet is our manager' or 'BHA play in blue and white stripes' and him asking for an article to prove it. Absurd.

are you mental? pluto and the teapot spring to mind.
 






On the Left Wing

KIT NAPIER
Oct 9, 2003
7,094
Wolverhampton
thanks, but i really need print.



there's nothing here with that quote, just his support. :(

I think TID is referring to an interview Coppell did about 5 years ago when he said Brighton had the poential to be bigger than Reading ... not the new stuff he spouted this week!
 






On the Left Wing

KIT NAPIER
Oct 9, 2003
7,094
Wolverhampton
He repeated it when he sent his support for Falmer to Prescott in I think 2004 or 2005?
Can find the reference on Google though ...
 


On the Left Wing

KIT NAPIER
Oct 9, 2003
7,094
Wolverhampton
Argus 2007:

This refers back. Also see his Prescott appeal on the club site: Nove 2004

ALBION are far removed at the moment from where Reading are, holding their own against the big guns in the Premiership.

That could all change now that planning permission for Falmer has been re-confirmed.

In fact, the Seagulls are potentially bigger than Reading according to Steve Coppell.
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Nobody is better placed to assess the relative merits of both clubs than the former England international.

Coppell was in charge of Albion for a dramatic year during which he nearly kept them in the Championship from a hopeless position before switching to the Madejski Stadium in October 2003.

Reading had moved there from the humble surroundings of Elm Park five years earlier and now, after finishing a remarkable eighth under Coppell in their debut season in the top flight, they have been given planning permission to expand the capacity of their smart home from just over 24,000 to 38,000.

They will be welcoming Manchester United and Chelsea again this season, while Albion are still playing host to the likes of Hartlepool and Huddersfield at Withdean, but Coppell believes there are parallels between the last two clubs he has managed.

He said: "It was the vision of one man at Reading (chairman John Madejski). He is not a huge football fan but he realised the community needed something more than Elm Park.

"That was very similar to Brighton's situation in many ways. It was limiting, it could only do so much. No matter how much you spent on it, it could only give you so much of a return.

"Going to a new stadium and starting again really did regenerate the club. It wasn't an overnight success, don't get me wrong, but the growth potential was there and the club has been revitalised.

"If anything the growth potential at Brighton is greater, because there has been a history of it.

"We fill out the Madejski every week now but a lot of them are away fans! The growth potential at Brighton is larger without doubt.

"Put it this way, if Brighton had the Madejski Stadium then there would be a massive transformation of the club overnight."

Coppell still looks back with great affection at his brief time with Albion. He also marvels from a distance at how they have managed to survive and even thrive by regaining Championship status for two seasons under his immediate successor Mark McGhee.

He said: "For them to have survived the way they have done with the times they've had is a great compliment to the people who have been looking after it.

"By that I mean the Board and the players who've had the responsibility of carrying the team through. To be competing in the Championship as they were, against all the odds, was incredible.

"I still look back upon my time at Brighton as being one of my happiest times in management.

"I was just left to get on with things and I just felt there was a spirit within the club that I was comfortable with. It's like an inner campaign from everybody within to revive, rebuild, regenerate.

"Because it was different I thought Withdean was a help to us. I know a lot of clubs didn't like coming down there. They didn't like the dressing rooms, the unfamiliar stadium set-up.

"I quite enjoyed training on the pitch on a Friday and some Friday mornings it was almost idyllic, very peaceful.

"But I was also very much aware that it was like a short-term gimmick. Now the gimmick has worn off.

"It doesn't affect other teams now. They know what they are getting, they've been there before. If anything it is a disincentive to Brighton."

His time with Albion may have been short but there has been no greater advocate of Falmer than Coppell.

He threw his weight behind the stadium campaign while he was at the club and continues to be the staunchest of allies.

He said: "It is the way out, the only way out. I remember taking teams to the Goldstone and the great atmosphere that used to be there, a hostile atmosphere.

"The crowds, reaching Wembley in the FA Cup final - it is a club with a future if it has got a home.

"Without a home, and by that I mean Withdean, then it is like a Bonsai tree. It can only grow so big, because the roots can't flourish.

"If they have a new stadium the whole club can flourish. It can grow amazingly quickly.

"I know it is going to be years before it is built but even getting the permission means all of a sudden the club has got direction."
 


Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,277
Brighton
You don't have to come up with any proof when the statement is fact. It's like you telling him that 'Gus Poyet is our manager' or 'BHA play in blue and white stripes' and him asking for an article to prove it. Absurd.

The onus of evidence lies on the one making the statement. If you say something, you should have proof of it. It shouldn't be true unless disproved, it should ne untrue until proved.

Although lets not start talking religion!!
 




jayjaybhafc

New member
Jul 24, 2010
60
does anyone know where i can find an article that details this claim? there's a reading fan at work who says that coppell never said it, and i need to prove him wrong. national/berkshire press would be best.

thanks in advance.

TiD.

... "YA GOT A BULLET IN YA MOTHERFUCKINN HEAD"punk:
 


sir albion

New member
Jan 6, 2007
13,055
SWINDON
How on earth can we have the potential to be bigger than reading when we're already a bigger club than reading historically???

Christ some people:facepalm:
 


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