Golstone or Falmer

[Paxton Dazo]

Only been to the Goldstone, so that, I s'pose.

Interesting, to see if one of the 'lesser' names made this thread..how many more people would have picked up on the typo in the thread title!

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Also, you could get properly close to the side of the pitch (sometimes at the risk of a ball in the mush when the ball got kicked out for a throw-in). The modern all-seater stadium takes you too far from the action - for me one of the reasons to go to a game is to be part of it, not remote from it.

The Soldstone had so many quality vantage points where you really felt part of the game - right down the front of the North, the terracing right the way along the West, especially that slimmer bit running towards the North Stand (not the NW Terrace). In my Gallstone years I watched the game from pretty much everywhere except a seat in the West - as a nipper, coming over the top of the East and seeing the pitch was a magical thing, then progressing to the North....

So many fantastic memories.

 

[BLOCK F]

I used to love the Goldstone,especially in the middle of winter for some reason.There is no going back,but it was so convenient to get to by both train and car.I was lucky enough to have an excellent season ticket seat in the West Stand just about on the half way line and in my early days of supporting,as a boy, usually managed to stand just behind the home dugout containing Cyril Hodges et al!
Sat next to the same people year after year and we used to lend each other our tickets if we were unable to attend due to holidays etc.Great times and a great atmosphere.....cigar smoke,liniment from the dressing rooms,pies and ale!!
Can't turn the clock back and I'm sure Falmer will be an excellent home for many years to come.Times and regulations have changed,but I can't help feeling that,without knowing how it will work out,getting to and from Falmer may prove a hassle too far for a number of potential supporters.Perhaps I am just old fashioned and I hope my fears prove unfounded!!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

My only dislike (so far...) of Falmer Stadium is that it is miles away (relatively) from Brighton. Most/all will have to use alternative means of transport as opposed to wandering into Hove for the game. I am positive it is going to be an absolute arse to get away from the ground if/when we hit attendance levels above 12,000 or so, even less will be problematic, I'm sure.

Still. It will obliterate Withdean any day of the week and it was the 'only' viable site.

 

[ExmouthExile]

I used to love the Goldstone,especially in the middle of winter for some reason.

I know what you mean Block F, there was just something about freezing your nuts off on the North Stand in the middle of January that couldn't be beaten.

I'm one of the old nostalgic types who would go for a fully restored 38000 capacity Goldstone over Falmer. I know we have yet to see what Falmer's gonna be like, but I think it's the old grounds that give the club their character. So many new stadiums today, they're very nice, but they're all very much the same.

 

[kevtherev]

Imagine this.....Tony Bloom as chairman and still at goldstone,,,,West Stand redeveloped to extend he length of pitch, two tiers with boxes (capacity 11,000)....North Stand two tiers joined onto the west at the corners.(capacity 6,500 including corners).South Stand just the one tier unless Bloom could buy the premises behind(3,000)...Finally the chicken run, having no roof would be shit, although unique(old by law i belive for residents of Goldstone lane) from a mass bank of seats running down to the south east corner, with the away fans in the north east corner like the good days(8,000 i would imagine)..Total capacity 28.500...I take the Goldstone like that, anyway back in the real world, roll on Falmer!!

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

There's enough Goldstone Ground hand shandy material in some of these posts to keep me happy for months!!

 

[KneeOn]

I loved the shytehole that was The Goldstone as i will love Falmer no doubt and in its own way i will look back upon the years spent at withdean and probably learn in time to have loved that also,because without withdean with all its obvious negatives i honestly believe the club would have ceased to be

Yes! Why every one is so against Withdean Stadium is beyond me because its our saving grace, that without it, we wouldn't be talking now! I think Withers has served us well, and (IMHO) let us progress as a club from the end of the Goldstone days. We had a fair few old promotions, and three seasons in the chamionship, all from "the shite hole that is" Withdean stadium. Futher more, we became BRIGHTON & HOVE albion instead of GILLINGHAM AND BRIGHTON Albion. I love the Withdean because it lets me see my team, something that we wouldn't be doing without Withdean! Thats my take on Withdean.

Although Goldstone was (apparantly) emense, and aweinspiring and i don't for a second doubt that, Falmer will give us something the Goldstone hadn't done for quite a while, which is it'll an attraction for stay-home fans. More fans = Better atmosphere! People won't go to the Goldstone given the choice because they deem it worth nothing. And my generation in particular. I list Albion as my one and only team. Not many do that. its all about the Big Four... Falmer might sway this a bit, the Goldstone i don't think will...

 

[1234andcounting]

I never shared the enthusiasm for the Goldstone as a ground - never felt it compared particularly favourably with other grounds from a similar era, ie just about all before the new ground building frenzy got going in the 1990s. However, something special will need to be done to ensure that Falmer doesn't become just another antiseptic new stadium. No-one seems to have quite got the balance right; the old grounds were death traps with third world facilities. The new grounds are soulless. As for Withdean, it has not been bad as a temporary home. Had we spent say only four or five seasons there it would have been ok - 11 though.

 

[Arthur]

It's kind of silly thred this isn't it?

Firstly no one has been to the new ground yet.

Secondly one was built predominantly in the early part of the last century and the other is a state of the art stadium built in the 21st century. If Falmer isn't better than something has gone wrong!!

Shall we just wait and see.

*sigh*

Funnily enough I don't think the Goldstone will all of a sudden magically re-appear.

I guess its not so much the two respective stadiums that Arthur is comparing, more the "matchday experience" at the two.

Easy, if you worked at McDonalds you'd have all 5 stars! Spot on!

In which case, playing 9 holes in the morning, followed by a few jars at The Stadium pub along Old Shoreham Road, followed by a match at the Goldstone, followed by a few jars in Hove Park Tavern, followed by a night at Corals betting on the dogs, followed by a kebab at Eddies...

Now Falmers going to have its work cut out beating THAT for a Saturday...

Happy days!

 

[Brovion]

Even in it's heyday the Goldstone was not a good football ground, and towards the end of its life it was a decaying carcass, a shadow of it's former self. When the end came it was more of a mercy killing, and looking back on it fondly is a bit like sitting in your three-bed semi and reminicisng about your great childhood in the East End slums.

However it DID have terracing and you could walk, drive, or get a bus or train there .... and pay on the gate! Those factors may well still trump Falmer as the 'best' ground.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

There is so much wrong about Withdean - but one thing that we'll miss will be the gatherings on the running track in the South Stand area. That's an experience that is unavailable at every other ground I've ever been to.

 

[Simster]

Even in it's heyday the Goldstone was not a good football ground, and towards the end of its life it was a decaying carcass, a shadow of it's former self. When the end came it was more of a mercy killing

Granted, it wasn't the best. But even as recently as the early 90s. it was a lot better than Elm Park, The Dell, The Manor Ground, Plough Lane, The (old) Den, Kenilworth Road, Burnden Park (with a supermarket blocking the view), Molyneaux (one nice stand, one wonky terrace and two derelict burnt out buildings) and a whole bunch of other grounds. It wasn't all that shit! It was only when we got left behind while the rest of the soccerball world was booming that suddenly the Goldstone began to look shabby.

 

[Screaming J]

Imagine this.....Tony Bloom as chairman and still at goldstone,,,,West Stand redeveloped to extend he length of pitch, two tiers with boxes (capacity 11,000)....North Stand two tiers joined onto the west at the corners.(capacity 6,500 including corners).South Stand just the one tier unless Bloom could buy the premises behind(3,000)...Finally the chicken run, having no roof would be shit, although unique(old by law i belive for residents of Goldstone lane) from a mass bank of seats running down to the south east corner, with the away fans in the north east corner like the good days(8,000 i would imagine)..Total capacity 28.500...I take the Goldstone like that, anyway back in the real world, roll on Falmer!!

I'm sure I read somewhere that the covenant (or whatever) preventing raising the height of the chicken run was eventually removed but by then we couldn't afford to do anything about it.

The ideal thing would have been to turn the ground 90 degrees with the goals at the north end of the chicken run and extending across the top end of Newtown Road.

 

[k2bluesky]

Terraces, terraces, terraces so Goldstone everytime but Falmer could be Ok if we educate the stewards as Leeds, Man Utd, West Ham etc do into accepting standing behind the goal, still not the same atmosphere though and never will be again.:dance:

 

[Danny-Boy]

Following on from the New Wembley thread.....

I personally don't like the new Wembley, going to the old Wembley was special to me, everything about the day out got me excited.

Now going to Wembley is just like going to any old ground that could be anywhere in the world.

Yes the old Wembley was a shit hole that had shit views, toilets that over flowed and ruddy great queues for said over flowing toilets but it had character and history.

A bit like the Goldstone did. So my question is obviously completely hypothetical but given the choice would you rather being playing back at old Goldstone with it's history, memories and crumbling terraces or at the all singing and dancing Falmer with it's all seater shiny goodness, out of town location and horrible plastic grub outlets?

Aimed at the older posters, so all you under 25s bugger off and go and swap stickers or something we know what your answer is going to be.

Well as someoine who watched the Albion play from all four sides of the Goldstone over a number of years, the facilities wrre appalling but it had "atmos". It's a bit hard to generatye that from a ground which hasn't been built yet, let alone seen a game.

I hated old Wembley with its manky views, and all the rest. Oh and I never saw Palace (or Brentford, come to that) win there...

 

[Acker79]

Many of us have memories and history with the goldstone. Some further back than others, myself I started watching late 80s, I was a ball boy and have memories of warming up with john byrne, john Robinson, John crumplin, John Dean Wilkins, John Keely and skying the ball over the crossbar into the north stand. I remember going there in the off season to pick up my free kit and have my photo taken for the programme, I remember going there with my school to watch a cup game against wimbledon, I remember sitting behind George Parris as he waited by the goal for the keeper to role the ball out. I remember running on the pitch at the end of season (I remember last game prematch request that "under no circumstances are fans to enter the pitch... in the event of a fire we request you make your way immediately onto the pitch"). I remember the promotion chasing years when we made it to wembley, I remember paul dickov's debut and the way he ran with his arms out like a plane when he tried to break the offside trap, I remeber the riots and struggles of Belotti and Archer, I remember the unity of Fans United. I remember Chris Eubank showing off his newly won title belt.

The goldstone is like a home we lived in for many years.

I have no memories of falmer. Nothing about the place stirs emotions of times gone by. We're about to move into a new home, it's going to take a while before it feels like "our home". We need to create new memories, new emotional attachments to the place before it is ours.

The same for new wembley.

 

[Barrow Boy]

Seems to be a lot of people with rose tinted glasses on here today, yes you can look back on the great atmosphere generated at The Goldstone, but the ground always was a dump right from when I went to my first match back in 1962 up to the last game played there.
And remember, this great atmosphere wasn't present at every game, the moaners were still out in force when we were climbing through the divisions. And I remember plenty of games during my life when we were in either the third or fourth division standing in the pouring rain on the East Terrace with only six or seven thousand people in the ground to watch us lose, not too much atmosphere during those games I can assure you.
The facilities were virtually non-existent and it was an absolute nightmare when there was a 32000 crowd (trying to get into the ground, trying to get a place on the terraces etc.). Obviously anyone who was lucky enough to have a seat in the West or East stands probably has a different view to mine with regard to the facilities.
So let's not get too sentimental about The Goldstone, yes it was our spiritual home, yes we had some great times there, but it's gone, move on and accept that we are getting a fantastic state of the art stadium at Falmer.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

Seems to be a lot of people with rose tinted glasses on here today, yes you can look back on the great atmosphere generated at The Goldstone, but the ground always was a dump right from when I went to my first match back in 1962 up to the last game played there.
And remember, this great atmosphere wasn't present at every game, the moaners were still out in force when we were climbing through the divisions. And I remember plenty of games during my life when we were in either the third or fourth division standing in the pouring rain on the East Terrace with only six or seven thousand people in the ground to watch us lose, not too much atmosphere during those games I can assure you.
The facilities were virtually non-existent and it was an absolute nightmare when there was a 32000 crowd (trying to get into the ground, trying to get a place on the terraces etc.). Obviously anyone who was lucky enough to have a seat in the West or East stands probably has a different view to mine with regard to the facilities.

Yes, of course it was a dump....but what a fantastic dump!
If we can get an atmosphere at Falmer anything like the ones that the Goldstone used to emit we will be blessed.
The facilities were shite because it was an old stadium......and dont worry, the facilities in the West were similarily shocking .
Roll on Falmer but Goldstone - I will always love you
Anyway what's wrong with a bit of nostalgia?