Is Falmer the answer to all our problems?

[Albion Dan]

you really cant compare 1991 with current support. If you look up and down the country teams have far better crowds than they did back then. I think the avg crowd for this division was only about 12,000, now it must be at least 5k more, and that is becasue the facillities are much better and the day out is vastly enhanced by a decent stadium than crumbling terraces and fences!

 

[Simster]

I give it about 4 weeks before Uncle Buck posts another message suggesting that we will never get decent - or even average - Championship gates. Which of course, is bollocks.

 

[Albion Dan]

At the end of the day its all relative to what is happening on the pitch.

If we are challenging for play offs to the premier youd be looking at 15,000 easy. If we were looking like going down then it'd probably be about 10k. We would also be attracting much larger numbers of away supporters. Norwich, Palace, Millwall, QPR, Leeds, Wolves, Stoke, Leicester, Ipswich, and poss Cardiff, Luton, and Sheff Weds would all bring 1.5-3k if the game is on a saturday.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I give it about 4 weeks before Uncle Buck posts another message suggesting that we will never get decent - or even average - Championship gates. Which of course, is bollocks.

What do you class as a decent Championship gate?
15k in my book is decent
10k is average

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Falmer,will not solve everything,but then was it ever meant to?If the club talks to the fans and sets a realistic pricing level there is no reason with footballs current popularity,why 15,000 cannot be reached.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I give it about 4 weeks before Uncle Buck posts another message suggesting that we will never get decent - or even average - Championship gates. Which of course, is bollocks.

Eh?

The point I was trying to make is that we are not as bigger team as some of the more excitable posters on here like to think we are. Withdean has eroded our support more and there is definetly a lost generation of support. All these things are going to make filling a 22,000 stadium hard work. Coupled with the fact if the football is like Monday night, floating supporters are hardly going to part with their cash.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Eh?

The point I was trying to make is that we are not as bigger team as some of the more excitable posters on here like to think we are. Withdean has eroded our support more and there is definetly a lost generation of support. All these things are going to make filling a 22,000 stadium hard work. Coupled with the fact if the football is like Monday night, floating supporters are hardly going to part with their cash.

18 bloody pounds that cost me!

 

[perseus]

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

Have you got a better alternative?

 

[Simster]

Eh?

The point I was trying to make is that we are not as bigger team as some of the more excitable posters on here like to think we are. Withdean has eroded our support more and there is definetly a lost generation of support. All these things are going to make filling a 22,000 stadium hard work. Coupled with the fact if the football is like Monday night, floating supporters are hardly going to part with their cash.

That is true - but quoting gates from 14 years ago is entirely irrelevent because it lacks a context. Our gates were indeed crap in those days, even when compared to gates at the time - but the whole set-up at Albion was totally village. I once worked with an Albion fan a few years back in the City, and he told me his mates rang up the club to find out if they could hire the pitch as a 40th birthday present. The woman in the club shop didn't know how much it would be, went to someone on the board and came back to the phone 5 minutes later to tell him the price would be 100 quid. HOW VILLAGE IS THAT? Yet that is what epitomised the club at the time.

We're never going to be Wolves, Forest, Derby or Leeds without a bigger ground than Falmer and a decade of sustained top flight success. We do have the catchment area to catch all of those teams but not the historical support or success.

The likes of Stoke, Plymouth, Reading, Palace, Cardiff or Watford are all EASILY within range as soon as Falmer gets built. Plus it is obvious that the club is well run behind the scenes, and the city sells itself to potential players. We should easily be able to compete with 70% of the clubs in the Championship when Falmer is built.

 

[Grendel]

Atmosphere at withdean will improve with the new away section. Away fans closer to the home singing section will create some good chanting banter. Still won't be great, but it will be better.

Agreed, but it would be nice if people somewhere other than J Block made some noise.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

That is true - but quoting gates from 14 years ago is entirely irrelevent because it lacks a context. Our gates were indeed crap in those days, even when compared to gates at the time - but the whole set-up at Albion was totally village. I once worked with an Albion fan a few years back in the City, and he told me his mates rang up the club to find out if they could hire the pitch as a 40th birthday present. The woman in the club shop didn't know how much it would be, went to someone on the board and came back to the phone 5 minutes later to tell him the price would be 100 quid. HOW VILLAGE IS THAT? Yet that is what epitomised the club at the time.

We're never going to be Wolves, Forest, Derby or Leeds without a bigger ground than Falmer and a decade of sustained top flight success. We do have the catchment area to catch all of those teams but not the historical support or success.

The likes of Stoke, Plymouth, Reading, Palace, Cardiff or Watford are all EASILY within range as soon as Falmer gets built. Plus it is obvious that the club is well run behind the scenes, and the city sells itself to potential players. We should easily be able to compete with 70% of the clubs in the Championship when Falmer is built.

I agree about the players and this city, that is half the reason young players come here i think.

 

[Pavilionaire]

There is no firm evidence for a lost generation of support - taking 28,000 to the Millennium Stadium is testament to that.

With higher petrol and rail prices and exorbitant ticket prices anyone wanting to see live football played at a decent level in decent facilities will consider Falmer. It is also impossible to get a ticket to see Spurs, Chelsea or Arsenal on a Saturday.

 

[Albion Dan]

The standard of football on Monday was no worse and proabably slightly better than at least 5 games Ive seen in each season for the last 15 years. We were averaging about 7000 in the last 2 Goldstone seasons and it was trade descriptions to even call that football.

If the pricing structure is sensible then the 12,000 breakeven number for attendance is more than acheivable.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

There is no firm evidence for a lost generation of support - taking 28,000 to the Millennium Stadium is testament to that.

With higher petrol and rail prices and exorbitant ticket prices anyone wanting to see live football played at a decent level in decent facilities will consider Falmer. It is also impossible to get a ticket to see Spurs, Chelsea or Arsenal on a Saturday.

Yes but how many of those people that went were Chelsea, Spurs, Utd etc on a day out?

 

[Albion Dan]

Yes but how many of those people that went were Chelsea, Spurs, Utd etc on a day out?

Yes but whos saying that if we had a decent, comfortable, stadium with a half decent team that many of those armchair fans wouldnt come and watch us for a more regular day out?

 

[Pavilionaire]

Who knows, maybe 2 or 3,000? I think that the whole ground situation and the Falmer campaign, Fans United etc have got people interested in the Albion who wouldn't normally give a hoot.

I don't think there's the same attachment to the London clubs like there used to be because of ££££ and the standard of football in this division is reasonably good.

All in all I think the club is well-placed to get people into the new ground.

 

[Simster]

Yes but how many of those people that went were Chelsea, Spurs, Utd etc on a day out?

Quite a few. And as things stand, those kids get one day out a year, tops. Spurs away, the Cardiff final, maybe a trip somewhere nice this year?

When Falmer is built, more of those local kids will end up going to Brighton if they want their parents to take them to see football week in week out. And consequently, a large number of them will end up becoming Brighton fans.

When you're a grown up, you too will be wondering why it took you so long. To be fair, you'll always be able to use the "couldn't get a ticket" excuse when you tell your grandkids why you weren't a proper Brighton fans in the good old days.

 

[perseus]

These are the figures. I agree because of the asinine behaviour of Archer and Bellotti we have lost a generation of young supporters. But Reading never had this support in the first place. So, if the ticket arrangements are not too awkward, we should be able to match Reading.

The figures for Reading show a gradual build-up rather than a immediate panacea.

Of course, the size of the mortgage is important. This could be like a great iron weight about our neck. The cost of the repayments have to be taken off the income. So we will not be competing on even playing field with clubs with stadia that have been paid for.

I would have not done it the Falmer way myself. I would have gone for the ancillary devlopment alternative where the initial cost would have been greater and it could have been even more difficult (Cardiff are having a lot of trouble with their new plans).

 

[Uncle Buck]

There is no firm evidence for a lost generation of support - taking 28,000 to the Millennium Stadium is testament to that.

But then how many of those 21,000 that did not go to Withdean, now go out of their way to get tickets? None or very few and testament to that is the fact that Withdean is not selling out.

A large number of those that went that day were not Brighton fans, but football fans from Brighton, who fancied the big game.

 

[Simster]

But then how many of those 21,000 that did not go to Withdean, now go out of their way to get tickets? None or very few and testament to that is the fact that Withdean is not selling out.

A large number of those that went that day were not Brighton fans, but football fans from Brighton, who fancied the big game.

The fact that we don't sell out at Withdean is that we have no walk up trade (tickets cannot be bought on the day), tickets are a rip off, the facilities are crap, there is no atmosphere etc etc.

Nothing to do with a lack of support.