Moving to the Amex

[kevo]

So our stunning new stadium isn't far off completion, and we're all understandably getting very excited about the prospect of going there...

But is anyone else having weird feelings about it all?

I started seeing Brighton at the dilapidated - but on its day atmospheric - Goldstone Ground, where the team had been playing since the early 1900s. It was very much part of the club's history - it really was 'home' for the Albion in every sense of the word and I suppose most of us, until the very final years, thought of it as pretty much permanent. And because it had been there so long before any of us, there was a real sense of the past. It was where the club's roots were, generations of supporters had passed through the turnstiles. To separate Brighton and Hove Albion and the Goldstone almost seemed unthinkable.

And then Gillingham. Horrible of course, despite the great sense of togetherness among the fans making that awful journey to a dismal town. We all knew this wasn't where we belonged and that, if the club was to survive, we would have to be moving on soon.

The move back to Brighton was fantastic, despite all of Withdean's shortcomings, but another temporary solution. Again, we knew that one day we would (hopefully) be leaving - and the last few years have seen us counting down the seasons. The state of the place has also made it difficult to form any kind of bond or attachment.

The Amex will of course be completely different to anywhere the club has previously played. There will be no ghosts like the Goldstone, and no transitional, temporary fixes.

And nothing to campaign for, nothing to complain about.

This is it. Our future. Our home for life. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I must say it all feels slightly strange.

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

i know what you mean...if we were moving directly from the goldstone to amex.......it woulda felt quite weird, and sad.

however, i done my grieving when we left the goldstone. too much has passed since then, so i feel nothing but a tremendous sense of excitement

 

[Easy 10]

I'm going to be in bits. Especially the first time I hear the opening chimes to 'Sussex By The Sea' booming over the tannoy, and the team comes out the tunnel onto the pitch, in the blue and white stripes, for the very first time.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to have a lump in your throat at that moment. It makes the hairs stand up just thinking about it.

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

I'm going to be in bits. Especially the first time I hear the opening chimes to 'Sussex By The Sea' booming over the tannoy, and the team comes out the tunnel onto the pitch, in the blue and white stripes, for the very first time.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to have a lump in your throat at that moment. It makes the hairs stand up just thinking about it.

i concur

 

[Giraffe]

I know exactly what you mean. It will be like supporting a different club for a while. Lots if new things to get used to, pretty much all good, but different none the same. I do very slightly feel that we will all become a little more like a plastic premiership club and fans to go with it.

 

[Notters]

The seagulls are coming in to land I took this photo last weekend but it seems quite appropriate.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

I know exactly what you mean. It will be like supporting a different club for a while. Lots if new things to get used to, pretty much all good, but different none the same. I do very slightly feel that we will all become a little more like a plastic premiership club and fans to go with it.

Don't ever diss the supporters, new or old... they will all be a part of our new future. And remember that a lot of those people you talk of will be returning fans from years gone by. And we need to increase our fan base to the extent that they actually want to come and watch games. We should be positively welcoming them, not scorning them.

 

[alan partridge]

I know what you mean about it feeling strange. I started supporting Brighton in 1994. One fairly normal season, Nogan on fire at the start, by the end he'd gone and a mid-ish table finish. Then we heard about the proposed move, and ever since then, it's all I've known with this club. It'll finally be over.

 

[Brovion]

On that newbie 'Johnny Boy' thread there's a picture taken from the North Stand. It's from an almost identical position where I used to stand at the Goldstone and once inside the ground I thought that it won't take TOO much imagination to think that it IS the Goldstone. Beautiful new West Stand on the right, refurbished East Terrace on the left (shame about the seats) and I'll be back watching home games from behind the north goal.

Yup, it'll be home. *sniff*.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

There must be some 110 year old in a nursing home somewhere in Sussex who remembers when the Goldstone was a spanking new stadium, so it's not exactly going to be a new experience for every Albion fan, just the more recent generations.

 

[Giraffe]

There must be some 110 year old in a nursing home somewhere in Sussex who remembers when the Goldstone was a spanking new stadium, so it's not exactly going to be a new experience for every Albion fan, just the more recent generations.

Wheel him out!!

 

[kevo]

There must be some 110 year old in a nursing home somewhere in Sussex who remembers when the Goldstone was a spanking new stadium, so it's not exactly going to be a new experience for every Albion fan, just the more recent generations.

If he was 110, to have witnessed the move to the Goldstone he would need to have been taken there as a one-year-old!

It's a shame 'Zach' March isn't still around.

 

[sir albion]

I'm going to be in bits. Especially the first time I hear the opening chimes to 'Sussex By The Sea' booming over the tannoy, and the team comes out the tunnel onto the pitch, in the blue and white stripes, for the very first time.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to have a lump in your throat at that moment. It makes the hairs stand up just thinking about it.

You big cry baby
Mind you i predict many people to be crying,might get a tissue stall outside the ground

 

[Brovion]

There must be some 110 year old in a nursing home somewhere in Sussex who remembers when the Goldstone was a spanking new stadium, so it's not exactly going to be a new experience for every Albion fan, just the more recent generations.

In fairness though the Goldstone had changed out of all recognition since it opened. Someone who went to the first game there wouldn't have recognised the place in it's 1997 incarnation.

 

[Stoo82]

I'm going to be in bits. Especially the first time I hear the opening chimes to 'Sussex By The Sea' booming over the tannoy, and the team comes out the tunnel onto the pitch, in the blue and white stripes, for the very first time.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to have a lump in your throat at that moment. It makes the hairs stand up just thinking about it.

I just hope those of us who can't be there can get it on TV or DVD or somthing.

 

[The Face]

It is going to be strange. My dad took me to a handful of games at the Goldstone but I was very young at the time so have few memories of the place. Only went to the Priestfield once (as a home fan). Withdean is all I really know and, shocking a ground as it may be, I'll miss it! Had some truly great moments there and it does have a unique charm to it, saying that I won't be missing those rainy afternoons in the South Stand!

Went for my presentation at the amex on Thursday and by the end of it I was actually welling up! So happy to have secured my seat in the North Stand.. exciting times!