kevo
Well-known member
- Mar 8, 2008
- 9,639
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.
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.