Stayaway fans has probably been done to death however......

[Chesney Christ]

Its a tricky one. I love the Albion as much any other fan but didn't go at all last season and have only seen four games this season.

Everybody has different reasons, but for me - at the age of 26 - I would rather play football than watch football 99 times out of 100. It always amazes that people who claim to love football and the Albion, think that I'm less of a fan because I'd rather play it than watch it. Watching football will never match the thrill of playing it for me, and until I'm too fat, old and useless to play anymore I will continue to choose it most of the time ahead of sitting and watching. Personally, I've always found it very odd when I meet people who claim to love football, but who never play it.

 

[Hunting 784561]

Please clarify if scenario a or b:

a) The person in front of you said ticket for the South Stand please then kerching £23 or whatever and bought a ticket

b) I have come to collect ticket so and so and pay for it with cash

I am 99.99% certain it was A.

The guy asked for a ticket in the south stand wings, handed over his dosh, and got a ticket.

When I questioned it with the steward standing alongside, he said that yes, sometimes tickets do come back for general sale.

 

[Beach Hut]

I am 99.99% certain it was A.

The guy asked for a ticket in the south stand wings, handed over his dosh, and got a ticket.

When I questioned it with the steward standing alongside, he said that yes, sometimes tickets do come back for general sale.

Thanks and very interesting as I was unaware you could do this.

I suppose the club are not actually allowed to advertise this fact ?

 

[portlock seagull]

My biggest fear is, without any proper records, those of us who have stayed with the Albion week in week out during the last 10 years will be forgotten by the club and when a new rush of fans comes along to Falmer, we'll no longer get the preferential treatment we definately deserve.

 

[NMH]

My biggest fear is, without any proper records, those of us who have stayed with the Albion week in week out during the last 10 years will be forgotten by the club and when a new rush of fans comes along to Falmer, we'll no longer get the preferential treatment we definately deserve.

I heard there was already a 'first dibs' on seats for STH's.

I always keep my matchday tickets (I keep all tickets for gigs too), but I reckon it might help me collar a decent seat of my choice at Falmer. I might even buy 2 seats, so I can bring along my choice of friend to sit with me.

See, I is one of the SMART ones.

 

[Don't get me started]

Now then I hate to be a pompous git but.........

You can buy a 2 season season ticket in the South Stand for £785 this equals £17 per game. Pay for it on a credit card and transfer it to interest free credit, them hey presto you have time to pay it off (say 10 Months at £78 of which 4 months are football free.

Benefit --you don't have to worry for 2 years, you get cheaper tickets and you get first dibs on Falmer. Crikey we may even get into the Championship and you still wont pay more.

I know this wont help everyone but it may increase things a little and as Harty says the club needs people now.. Blimey I even give the kids my travel voucher on a saturday so I save and extra £3 or so.

All these crikeys and Blimeys I think I may be Boris Johnson.. cripes

 

[Zesh Rehman]

The truth is that they arent going to go again, the stadium being bad is just an excuse.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

The truth is that they arent going to go again, the stadium being bad is just an excuse.

What a load of crap.

 

[csider]

But at the end of the day, you're either a Brighton fan or you're not.

You dont have to go to every game to be a fan.

I do not to go to as many as I should, but I consider myself a fan.

 

[Norman Potting]

I'm a fan of rump steak. Can't afford to eat it every week though.

I think that about sums it up for me. In the good old days (Goldstone, pre wife and kids) I think I went to most home games between 1982 - 1992 although I never actually became a STH. 1992 - 1997 getting to games wasn't so easy as I did shift work and only got one Saturday in 6 entirely free. With the odd shift swap I could do a Saturday early, finish at 1330 and get to the ground with time to spare so managed some games during the final Goldstone years. This was of course in the days of "pay on the gate".

Only managed one visit to Gillingham - hats off to those who went week in week out. Managed a few more games during the early Withdean years, including many of the Zamora era and that great (Tuesday?) evening against Cheaterfield which saw us Champions.

With the arrival of family money is tight so have only been to a handful of games since, average probably one a season. This year however myself and a mate who actually got me to go to the Goldstone in the first place have managed the heady total of 2 games (Crewe and Cheltenham) and the latter game hasn't dimmed our desire to see more this season so Port Vale and possibly Swansea are likely.

Cost is a consideration, with Falmer and the ability to "turn up" who knows? Will definitely try to get the daughters interested, currently a bit young though.

Hats off and respect to all you guys out there who have stuck through thick and thin to get to games. The most dedicated one I know is a guy who did Hartlepool, winter midweek game, driving up and back same day although I am sure many of you out there have similar stories to tell.

 

[Alfie22]

Just how many are actually actively staying away and will come back when Falmer finally arrives, in your opinion? In my heart I would like to think that Falmer will be enough for locals to ensure it's economically sustainable and of course the team deliver. My head however is wracked by the doom-mongers on here sometimes who make me think it will be a beautiful stadium, appreciated by less than 10,000 a game.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

I heard there was already a 'first dibs' on seats for STH's.

I always keep my matchday tickets (I keep all tickets for gigs too), but I reckon it might help me collar a decent seat of my choice at Falmer. I might even buy 2 seats, so I can bring along my choice of friend to sit with me.

See, I is one of the SMART ones.

you're so smug

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Just how many are actually actively staying away and will come back when Falmer finally arrives, in your opinion? In my heart I would like to think that Falmer will be enough for locals to ensure it's economically sustainable and of course the team deliver. My head however is wracked by the doom-mongers on here sometimes who make me think it will be a beautiful stadium, appreciated by less than 10,000 a game.

that is the $64,000 question!

The trick is to keep the initial momentum where the crowds will obviously be huge.

 

[Seagull73]

that is the $64,000 question!

The trick is to keep the initial momentum where the crowds will obviously be huge.

And how will we do that? By winning games. It's not rocket science.

I was a season ticket holder for all the Withdean seasons until this season. Why? More than one reason, but partly because I got f**ked off with the utter shite we watched for the previous two seasons. There was also the cost factor because I would have to travel from Eastbourne, and while that might not seem much, when I have to commute 5 times a week to Brighton, spiralling petrol costs make we watch the tank a lot more.

I haven't seen Albion once this season, and if that makes me less of a 'fan', sobeit. But I love the Albion, and I couldn't bear to watch what was going on in front of my eyes week-in week-out as I had done for two years, and think that I was paying good money for it.

The 'Withdean Factor' does play a part I'm afraid for me too. I hate the place, and I will not pay good money to watch third-rate football in a fifth-rate stadium. And I understand things have clearly got better this season on the field, I just hope it's sustainable. For that matter, for the record, I will get a season ticket at Falmer, because I will watch third rate football, at a first-rate stadium. Fickle? I couldn't care less if you think it is.

But to class somebody more as a fan for this, that or the other is highly pompous, and thoroughly self-righteous. I understand what Harty is getting at, and I think more will return now we are slap-bang in the play-off hunt.
But don't be surprised to see crowds slip away again if we slip away from the play-off pciture. I sincerely hope that is not the case.

 

[Knotty]

And how will we do that? By winning games. It's not rocket science.

I was a season ticket holder for all the Withdean seasons until this season. Why? More than one reason, but partly because I got f**ked off with the utter shite we watched for the previous two seasons. There was also the cost factor because I would have to travel from Eastbourne, and while that might not seem much, when I have to commute 5 times a week to Brighton, spiralling petrol costs make we watch the tank a lot more.

I haven't seen Albion once this season, and if that makes me less of a 'fan', sobeit. But I love the Albion, and I couldn't bear to watch what was going on in front of my eyes week-in week-out as I had done for two years, and think that I was paying good money for it.

The 'Withdean Factor' does play a part I'm afraid for me too. I hate the place, and I will not pay good money to watch third-rate football in a fifth-rate stadium. And I understand things have clearly got better this season on the field, I just hope it's sustainable. For that matter, for the record, I will get a season ticket at Falmer, because I will watch third rate football, at a first-rate stadium. Fickle? I couldn't care less if you think it is.

But to class somebody more as a fan for this, that or the other is highly pompous, and thoroughly self-righteous. I understand what Harty is getting at, and I think more will return now we are slap-bang in the play-off hunt.
But don't be surprised to see crowds slip away again if we slip away from the play-off pciture. I sincerely hope that is not the case.

I don't think any of us has a right to class anyone else as a bad fan. Everyone makes their choice and, as a paying customer, whatever reason you choose not to go, that is your right.

I may not understand or agree with your reasons but, in the end, it is none of my business.

I have been a fan for 50 years and have been going to matches for 40. For most of that I have seen football as bad as, if not worse, than the last two years and, standing on the crumbling East Terrace at the Goldstone, endured conditions no better than the South Stand at Withdean. The standard of football and the stadium conditions are completely irrelevant to me - I just want to support the Albion.

That's MY choice. If it's not yours that doesn't make you a worse fan than me. There are many who go to every away game. I see one or two a season, but that doesn't make me worse than them.

My concern is that, after returning to Brighton, we had a run of success that was unprecedented in the history of the club (with the possible exception of the late seventies) and, for the younger supporters, that became the norm and what they expected, so anything less was a turn-off.

"If we're not winning, I'm not going." That is a nightmare scenario for any club.

 

[The Wookiee]

I'm hacked off with meeting people in and around the County who say "Oh yes I am an Albion fan, have been for years, but I'll wait until they get Falmer before I go back and watch them."

It a bit like saying "I love my wife but I won't take her out until she has surgery to look like Louise Redknapp!"

We need these 'fans' now, not in two or three years!!!!

Will they actually go to Falmer though ?

My bet is yes they will for a season or two then get bored of it and make up some other excuse !

 

[Simster]

Really, it's not the responsibility of the average punter to explain why he's not turning up, and the reality is that everybody has their own underlying reasons.

Treating season ticket holders better than with contempt would be a start, but far be it from me to start a thread about how all these away day superfans got tix for West Ham/Spurs at the expense of some season ticket holding mugs who actually help keep the club afloat. It didn't affect me, but I'd imagine little things like that stay in the mind a long time.

 

[keaton]

Yes Darren I know you live in Somerset and cannot get to all of the games for obvious reasons, and that doesn't make you any less a fan.

This thread is based on people we have all met who live locally, ie Brighton, Worthing etc, who purport to support the club but will only return actively when Falmer is up and running.

But going by your incredibly black and white thought process, if he was a true fan he'd live in Brighton so he could go to every game surely?

 

[Papa Lazarou]

But going by your incredibly black and white thought process, if he was a true fan he'd live in Brighton so he could go to every game surely?

Well, he used to live in Worthing, but decided to move to Somerset - so clearly a bad fan

 

[Publius Ovidius]

And how will we do that? By winning games. It's not rocket science.

I was a season ticket holder for all the Withdean seasons until this season. Why? More than one reason, but partly because I got f**ked off with the utter shite we watched for the previous two seasons. There was also the cost factor because I would have to travel from Eastbourne, and while that might not seem much, when I have to commute 5 times a week to Brighton, spiralling petrol costs make we watch the tank a lot more.

I haven't seen Albion once this season, and if that makes me less of a 'fan', sobeit. But I love the Albion, and I couldn't bear to watch what was going on in front of my eyes week-in week-out as I had done for two years, and think that I was paying good money for it.

The 'Withdean Factor' does play a part I'm afraid for me too. I hate the place, and I will not pay good money to watch third-rate football in a fifth-rate stadium. And I understand things have clearly got better this season on the field, I just hope it's sustainable. For that matter, for the record, I will get a season ticket at Falmer, because I will watch third rate football, at a first-rate stadium. Fickle? I couldn't care less if you think it is.

But to class somebody more as a fan for this, that or the other is highly pompous, and thoroughly self-righteous. I understand what Harty is getting at, and I think more will return now we are slap-bang in the play-off hunt.
But don't be surprised to see crowds slip away again if we slip away from the play-off pciture. I sincerely hope that is not the case.

I totally agree with you.

Whereas football was something that you did out of habit, the last few years of playing at Withdean and everything that goes with it ( and Yes the last couple of seasons footy) have certainly put a lot of people off....the trick is getting them back. Winning games of football may not be it! I know people who have gone for good.

Even when we are winning and challenging for a playoff place, the Saturday gate was just so odd!!