This season with 15,000 new fans

[Dick Knights Mumm]

And then there's my daughter, who is now eight years old. Each time we drove past the building site over the last 2 years I told her that when it was finished I'd take her to a match there which I did. I expected it to be a one-off novelty but to my surprise (and even more to the wife's surprise) she has become a huge fan (although critical of gus's failure to play forster caskey on a regular basis) and wants to go to every match. So now we have something special - going to the football together, loving the atmosphere and, for the first time in either of our lives, feeling like we are supporting a local team, not some distant premier league giant.

Sounds like your daughter has her head screwed on. Welcome to the Good Ship Albion.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

How has the Amex changed these fans ability to go to games ? Was Withdean sold out most of the time? Or is the truth of the matter that a nice stadium and a promotion has given them "more of a chance" to go to games ?

Tickets more available and the Amex is a lot more appealing to go to than the Withdean.

 

[u'vebeenamexed]

Well now the season is coming to an end, there was a core support of approx 5000 at withdean and 1700 away on a good day, how do find these either returned or new supporters , questions -

Are they here for success only and prem football,
Do they know the songs ( when was last time you heard "lads and lasses walking up the the shoreham road"

Do they follow away ,

Maybe they spend all the time txt ing ,

Do they know the depth and feeling of sitting in the rain soaked to watch us and going to a porta cabin loo to dry out,

We have no loyalty points for doing any of that,

Well like your response ,


Seagulls seagulls ,

I would much rather sit next to a new fan who is enthusiastic about the Club and is enjoying the Albion experience than an "old hand" who spends all their time moaning at the players and their own fans.

We all have to begin our Albion experience sometime.

 

[Clive Walker]

Because it would be just smashing to have a 30,000 capacity stadium with only 6,000 fans in it each week.

 

[Clive Walker]

Well now the season is coming to an end, there was a core support of approx 5000 at withdean and 1700 away on a good day, how do find these either returned or new supporters , questions -

Are they here for success only and prem football,
Do they know the songs ( when was last time you heard "lads and lasses walking up the the shoreham road"

Do they follow away ,

Maybe they spend all the time txt ing ,

Do they know the depth and feeling of sitting in the rain soaked to watch us and going to a porta cabin loo to dry out,

We have no loyalty points for doing any of that,

Well like your response ,


Seagulls seagulls ,

Idiot

 

[grubbyhands]

I live in Surrey. Fulham or Chelsea are my nearest top flight club, Aldershot geographically closest but.... Watched Albion since 1973 ( paper round money permitting) as at that point I lived in Billingshurst. I don't think we have 15000 "new" fans ,more like a collection of "old" fans who, since the demise of the Goldstone are now in a position to follow the club that they love. I did go to Gillingham a few times and would happily have gone to Withdean,even got a season ticket but tickets "on the day" were in relatively short supply and I was never close enough to the top of the list for a season ticket. Those of us that are maybe categorised as "new" are in fact just bloody exstatic at getting to see our team again and delirious at the chance of doing just that EVERY week and simply loyal "old" fans showing their support. I'm sure the OP didn't mean to imply it but it kinda sounds like we are being labelled with the jolly old JCL brush..... NOT the case!! 7500 or whatever the capacity of the rec' just didnt allow a lot of us to attend....BHA all the way and BLOODY PROUD.( By the way saw a few games at Withdean but mostly away games over the past 6 or 7 seasons on a POTG basis)

 

[Perkino]

I do like the humour of the fans who would label themselves as diehards who didn't make it to Withdean due to some sort of protest, but once we have a lovely new stadium they of course are season ticket holders. I find it hard to see how someone can be a super fan if they were prepared to desert the club when the club was in most need of support. I am not a superfan, I had a season ticket for a few years at Withden but then had to work weekends so stopped going to withdean until 3 years ago and only get to a handful of away games each year.

All fans are welcome to come and join us supporting the albion but we have to be your only team/first team if yu want to be a valued fan. Don't come as a STH but wear a Man City shirt when your at home, if you do this then you are not a Brighton fan but a football fan and you are not as important as the rest of us.

In my opinion brighton fans are all important but a special mention should go to those who dug deep and supported the club through thick and thin throughout the previous 15 years to the Amex

 

[Glawstergull]

JCL since 1978.

 

[Beach Hut]

I think it has been fantastic and galvanised my younger son Mini to now want to go to away games as well.

He has been to Leicester, Ipswich, Southampton, Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Liverpool, Doncaster, Blackpool, Forest, Burnley, West Ham and will go to Barnsley.

There is no way he would bother but for football at home now being a far better experience with a proper stadium as opposed to Withdean.

Oh he does say the only good news about going to crap Northern towns is you do get to go home to the beautiful South !

 

[sir albion]

I went to gillingham and the goldstone,but only went to the withdean once as it was a shitehole,enjoyed many away games though,im sure thousands are similar to me

 

[sir albion]

I live in Surrey. Fulham or Chelsea are my nearest top flight club, Aldershot geographically closest but.... Watched Albion since 1973 ( paper round money permitting) as at that point I lived in Billingshurst. I don't think we have 15000 "new" fans ,more like a collection of "old" fans who, since the demise of the Goldstone are now in a position to follow the club that they love. I did go to Gillingham a few times and would happily have gone to Withdean,even got a season ticket but tickets "on the day" were in relatively short supply and I was never close enough to the top of the list for a season ticket. Those of us that are maybe categorised as "new" are in fact just bloody exstatic at getting to see our team again and delirious at the chance of doing just that EVERY week and simply loyal "old" fans showing their support. I'm sure the OP didn't mean to imply it but it kinda sounds like we are being labelled with the jolly old JCL brush..... NOT the case!! 7500 or whatever the capacity of the rec' just didnt allow a lot of us to attend....BHA all the way and BLOODY PROUD.( By the way saw a few games at Withdean but mostly away games over the past 6 or 7 seasons on a POTG basis)

Spot on,it's just part time fans going full time.
Getting bored with ll this new fan tripe

 

[Southstandfaithful]

love these threads....... went to Goldstone as a kid with my Grandad..... season ticket holder at Withdean so sat in rain lots of time( still have withdean condom) and now 1901 so classed as JCL.... or one of the new 1500 new season ticket holders.

 

[User removed 4]

Tickets more available and the Amex is a lot more appealing to go to than the Withdean.

Tickets are more available? so there were 15,000 fans fighting over spare tickets were there ? Why not just admit, you've gained 15,000 fair weather supporters, because thats exactly whats happened.

 

[Mattstrugnell]

Tickets more available and the Amex is a lot more appealing to go to than the Withdean.

And an extra 14,000 added capacity might have something to do with it.

 

[User removed 4]

It's given them more of a reason to go to games. Cant see anything wrong with that, personally.

No doubt it has, but that wasnt what he put, he said the amex has changed things for people who " hadnt had much of a chance to go to games" , which is patently untrue.

 

[Mattstrugnell]

It's actually f***ing incredible that anyone grumbles about decent attendances. Yeah lets have a half full stadium next year, then get into financial shit and watch another 15 year fiasco unfold. Just to keep the "real fans" happy. I suppose there is always Crawley if the Amex is getting a bit too comfortable for some.

 

[MACROBLUE]

Well now the season is coming to an end, there was a core support of approx 5000 at withdean and 1700 away on a good day, how do find these either returned or new supporters , questions -

Are they here for success only and prem football,
Do they know the songs ( when was last time you heard "lads and lasses walking up the the shoreham road"

Do they follow away ,

Maybe they spend all the time txt ing ,

Do they know the depth and feeling of sitting in the rain soaked to watch us and going to a porta cabin loo to dry out,

We have no loyalty points for doing any of that,

Well like your response ,


Seagulls seagulls ,

What do you exactly want to happen? New supporters to stay away and only the hard core Withdean and Gillingham supporters to inhabit The Amex.Sounds like you've got a real chip on your shoulder. I know, perhaps we could all wear labels and then you could snipe at fans that don't come up to your expectations.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

No doubt it has, but that wasnt what he put, he said the amex has changed things for people who " hadnt had much of a chance to go to games" , which is patently untrue.

Your previous statement is also patently untrue. There is no chance on earth that we now have 15000 new fairweather fans. I would imagine that there were thousands who went to some games at Withdean and some who went mostly away before. I know from experience, as I lived 300 miles from Brighton I only went to occasional home games but went away to considerably more.

 

[clapham_gull]

I said this on another thread last night but it seems relevant here. I would love us to have 30,000 'new fans' if it means The Amex is full every week with a great atmosphere. You have to accept that at ANY public event there will be fanatics and casual observers. I occasionally go to the theatre or to watch live music or to the cinema. I'm not really that keen on any of them, but I don't expect to be made to feel like a second-class guest at any. There are probably people who love those things who laugh at my ignorance when I'm there. But so what? A full venue with people of varying degrees of passion is SO much better than a half-empty one. If some people want to give football a try in a fun and exciting atmosphere at a wonderful stadium then what's the problem?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The 'reward' for all of us who put up with ten years of Withdean, Gillingham etc is that The Amex means something and is really special. To somebody who has turned up for the first time this season I imagine it's just another football ground. That's good enough for me.

Yes exactly and I've posted on here before the amount of time my brother had put in attracting new supporters to the club.

Luckily his lot are brilliant and it fantastic having a few beers with some lads who are now Albion through and through.

However, sitting above the prawn sandwich brigade I encourage the club to possible take their sandwiches to their seats - because they don't half rush off quick before the half time whistle.

 

[osgood]

i returned ,on a regular basis when gus took over, was goldstone regular and away games 1967- 1985, didnt much like /hated the mainly dire football played in the interim ,so dipped my toe in occassionally, sure theres plenty others like me,so how are we defined?