Is Falmer the answer to all our problems?

[Brighton Breezy]

I know everyone is getting excited and I know that without a new ground we will surely slip down the leagues

BUT

Will it really solve everything?

At the moment poor performances and rubbish signings are put down to Falmer. "We dont have any money." "How can we get good players with no ground?" etc etc

When we get the new ground this will not be an issue so where will the excuses come from then if we do not do well?

Also, I cannot see us selling more then 15k for a long time because it will take time and substantial investment to build a team that people will want to come and watch and with this there will also be a rise in ticket prices? This could deter new fans once the excitement of the new stadium dies down.

Look at Sheffield Wednesday. A BIGGER club then Brighton with a nice stadium but get just over 20k each week. Leeds are a HUGE club and are getting by on gates in the low 20ks each game despite challenging at the top of the table with a good team.

I cannot see us getting more then 10k very often.

Also, our players are spurred on by playing in bigger grounds, getting good away support and having developed the 'us against the world' mentality.

A decent ground will mean teams are less bothered about coming to Withdean, we will get less away fans because many will simply opt to return to home games regularly and playing in the big grounds will not be such a novelty.

Many albion fans seem to think that Falmer is like a magic wand and as soon as it is built we will get crowds of 20,000 on a Tuesday for a game with Crewe and that suddenly we will be challenging for the play offs with a brilliant team.

Obviously I want the new ground for the long term future of the club but I do not think that it is the quick fix many seem to think...
I think a lot of Brighton fans expect

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Your supposed to be happy on your birthday morris you goon....

 

[Barrel of Fun]

With a bigger stadium we will be able to offer better ticket options. Student discounts etc, family tickets. Kid a quid. Hopefully and we should be able to get more than 10,000 people. This will have knock on effects, such as increased advertising revenue, greater merchandise sales etc.

The be frank, we will see an increase in revenue and I suspect our youth centre of excellence will expand due to better facilties.

You only have to look at a team like Reading or Hull or Swansea to see that bigger and better stadiums have benefited them. Ignoring teams with smaller fan bases such as Huddersfield/Walsall/Darlington etc.

 

[Seagullible]

Bloody hell Morris! talk about looking on the bright side of life. I can see us easily pulling in 15-20k a week + away fans are likely to be higher for the first couple of seasons as you get all those fans who want to go to every ground. Everyone hates Withdean and we still sell out most games

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Stop drawing attention to your cake, Richie









*Happy birthday, btw*

 

[Wardy]

I take it you didn't get what you wanted for your birthday?

 

[ditchy]

nobody said that will be the case .. but as u well know we are on the edge of a cliff without it .. what falmer gives us is the ability to build a strong foundation...its a bit like you on piss poor wages paying rent ..once u buy a gaff you can move on up to bigger and better things

 

[lost in london]

A bizarrely reasonable post Richie. I've got some of the same worries. It's always a nice excuse to have that we've got a crap ground, no resources, no proper training facilities etc, what will happen when we do have a ground and the capacity for bigger crowds?

But the point is that the club is dying at the minute, without Falmer we are finished. Falmer won't bring about a miraculous recovery, but it will enable this club to survive and over time grow. But fans aren't going to come flocking back immediately, it's going to take years to rebuild a fan base that has been dessimated over the last ten years. It's there though ready and waiting and just needs some clever work by the club to make it happen.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Falmer isn't the answer to all our problems, but having a fit-for-purpose stadium puts us on a level playing field, as it were, with other clubs. And then it's down to the board, the manager, the players, the marketing people and the fans to give it their best shot at making the club fulfil its potential. Which is all you can ask for really.

 

[Albion Dan]

Without Falmer we wil never be able to compete, with it we have a chance. I dont think there are many people under the illusion Falmer will solve everything as you suggest, Ive certainly not come across them.

It will at least mean that we will be able to keep the Steve Sidwells of this world by having attractive facillities and therefore give us a foundation on which to build.

It also makes us attractive to INVESTORS, which at this point in time are giving us a very wide berth!

Of course a clubs fortunes as with any business are reliant on the management so on the pitch anything could happen, look at Forest, but one thing is for sure, I'd rather be in their position with the City ground than ours at Withdean.

 

[Superseagull]

Like Withdean isn't a problem!

 

[Uncle Buck]

Bloody hell Morris! talk about looking on the bright side of life. I can see us easily pulling in 15-20k a week + away fans are likely to be higher for the first couple of seasons as you get all those fans who want to go to every ground. Everyone hates Withdean and we still sell out most games

Where are we going to get these 15k fans from? That is essentially doubling our current attendance of home fans from. When we got to the play off final in 1991 are average attendance was only 9000 and we played some reasonable attacking football back then.

Post the Goldstone, we have lost a generation of support and we have to win these back. To think that by opening a shiny arena on the edge of the city will be enough of a USP for people to come and watch us is commercial suicide.

For the first couple of games there will be large attendances, but if we serve up the pish we played on Monday that will drop to the 8-10k mark very quickly. A new ground has not helped Darlington in the slightest and it took Reading a long time to build on the 7000 support they used to get at Elm Park, when they moved.

 

[Napper]

Where are we going to get these 15k fans from? That is essentially doubling our current attendance of home fans from. When we got to the play off final in 1991 are average attendance was only 9000 and we played some reasonable attacking football back then.

Post the Goldstone, we have lost a generation of support and we have to win these back. To think that by opening a shiny arena on the edge of the city will be enough of a USP for people to come and watch us is commercial suicide.

For the first couple of games there will be large attendances, but if we serve up the pish we played on Monday that will drop to the 8-10k mark very quickly. A new ground has not helped Darlington in the slightest and it took Reading a long time to build on the 7000 support they used to get at Elm Park, when they moved.

I agree with this , of course there are games we will get 17k but I think we will be doing well to get double figures each week.

Anyway it's slightly irrelavant as if we get the yes isn't the ground being built in stages

Oxford anyone ?

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Hopefully the club will try and attract new fans by keeping prices low, giving freebies to schools for crap games etc.

Lets hope that the club have not been relying on 6,000 fans blind devotion long for so long they have forgotten how to actually market the club to new supporters.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

I agree that with a new stadium there is no guranteee that we'll get increased attendances if we are not playing that well. Howeevrer if we play well and go up the leagues we'll then have the potential to have bigger crowds. secondly we won't have to pay rent anymore. Thirdly building a new ground is a statement of intent that motivated players. Renting a ground is not.

Finally what about executive boxes, special schemes, improved training facilities, more sponsorship etc..... all fo these are beyond us now but a new ground opens up new vistas.

 

[Stinky Kat]

I think we will need to market the product very well - cheap seats for kids and oldies, bars under the stands showing sky games etc, decent affordable food. A shop, some pre match entertainment - Brighton Belles Belly Dancers?

If we just say £30 to get in a burger for £3.00 and £2.50 for a bottle of warm beer after the 1st few games the novelty will wear off for those not addicted to BHAFC and it will be the usual 6-7000 and a few more away supporters.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

...and lets hope they DONT do this by getting cheerleaders, mascots and stupid music each time we score.

 

[Dave the OAP]

. Ignoring teams with smaller fan bases such as Huddersfield/Walsall/Darlington etc.

That would be the team sitting second in the First Division on goal diffrerence.

Also when the ground was first built, Town went through the divisions and at one point at Xmas were 12 points clear of the pack with promotion to the premiership a certainty....Town missed by 1 point getting into the playoffs that year.

Hudds and district authority has a population of 357,000, Brighton and Hove 285,000.

Please check facts before making assumptions about fan base.

thankyou

dave the pedant

 

[Dave the OAP]

...and lets hope they DONT do this by getting cheerleaders,

I am going to tell BAG you said that and she is going to slap you about BIG TIME.

 

[Grendel]

some pre match entertainment

I think this is called "the pub".