What would have happened if we stayed at The Goldstone?

[Nottseagull]

I would have preferred an upgraded Goldstone Ground however good Falmer might be.

There was nothing to match the Goldstone atmosphere and the walk across Hove Park before the match.

I can still remember walking across the park with my dad to watch the first ever floodlit game (a friendly against, I believe, Frem of Denmark) and seeing the brand new floodlights shining in the distance.

1961? That must have been a fantastic sight!

 

[Icy Gull]

, yet you are suggesting the club should have received over £20m just for the ground without it being redeveloped!
.

I thought that the £20+m was the amount received for the 2nd sale of the ground after demolition but BEFORE the redevelopment? So yes, I am suggesting that we could and probably should have got close to £20m. I accept this could be wrong but this from a site about ground sales and redevelopments would suggest not

Brighton and Hove Albion will not receive any profits from the property developers, Chartwell Lane, following the company's pounds 24m resale of the Sussex club's former home, the Goldstone Ground. The Hove MP, Ivor Caplin, had led calls for Chartwell to donate pounds 1m from their profits to help Albion move back to the south coast from their temporary home at Gillingham. But Chartwell, who bought the Goldstone for pounds 7.4m and have since sold it on to Abbey Life Assurance, have said they "will not be making a financial contribution" to the Seagulls

 

[Kev_England]

I would have preferred an upgraded Goldstone Ground however good Falmer might be.

There was nothing to match the Goldstone atmosphere and the walk across Hove Park before the match.

I can still remember walking across the park with my dad to watch the first ever floodlit game (a friendly against, I believe, Frem of Denmark) and seeing the brand new floodlights shining in the distance.

I completely understand. My dad never took me. Well, he did once but left me there!
Anyway, several of us neighbourhood kids local to the Goldstone would get together and bunk in behind the South stand area. But, being in the North stand was golden (of course). Especially during the late 70's early 80's -- we'd have to pay to get in but it would be worth it to watch the agro errupt whereupon the SPG units would steam in with battons flying!
Arrgggh where have all those days gone?

 

[ROSM]

The journalist Simon Inglis who has written many books on football stadia suggested that the Goldstone site as it was (with the ancient lights covenant) would have been able to hold a maximum of a 12,000 seater stadia. If the industrail buildings to south of the ground had been obtained as well (and the pitch turned round which was an option) then it would have been 16,000.

It could have looked a bit like the redeveloped parts of the Priestfield now - whether the additional off the field funding would have been present to support this is another question.

 

[drew]

The journalist Simon Inglis who has written many books on football stadia suggested that the Goldstone site as it was (with the ancient lights covenant) would have been able to hold a maximum of a 12,000 seater stadia. If the industrail buildings to south of the ground had been obtained as well (and the pitch turned round which was an option) then it would have been 16,000.

It could have looked a bit like the redeveloped parts of the Priestfield now - whether the additional off the field funding would have been present to support this is another question.

So, in other words, inadequate if you have any ambition.

 

[ROSM]

So, in other words, inadequate if you have any ambition.

 

[Brovion]

So, in other words, inadequate if you have any ambition.

Yes. Almost as long as I've been a Brighton fan it was said that the Goldstone site was too small, too restrictive and in the wrong place. As has been mentioned even back in the 1970s long before Archer et al got involved the club wanted to move. The problem became particularly acute when we reached the 1st division and it was obvious that the Goldstone was and would be totally inadequate.

I wonder if we'd have got permission for Falmer if we'd still been at the Goldstone? Maybe in a roundabout way Archer did us a favour!

 

[Nottseagull]

Yes. Almost as long as I've been a Brighton fan it was said that the Goldstone site was too small, too restrictive and in the wrong place. As has been mentioned even back in the 1970s long before Archer et al got involved the club wanted to move. The problem became particularly acute when we reached the 1st division and it was obvious that the Goldstone was and would be totally inadequate.

Average attendances were actually lower in the First Division than in the previous three (promotion-chasing) seasons. The fact is that a winning team will inevitably attract more support than a struggling team in a higher division.

 

[Storer68]

But we might have got it quicker if we had not had to deal with all the shit he left behind..............

Huddersfield Town:
granted planning permission for new stadium 12 Aug 1992
First game in new stadium 20 Aug 1994

TWO YEARS (and a week) .....from start to (not quite) Finished but usable

 

[Storer68]

Average attendances were actually lower in the First Division than in the previous three (promotion-chasing) seasons. The fact is that a winning team will inevitably attract more support than a struggling team in a higher division.

We were also THE MOST EXPENSIVE club to watch in Division 1

 

[Nottseagull]

But we might have got it quicker if we had not had to deal with all the shit he left behind..............

Huddersfield Town:
granted planning permission for new stadium 12 Aug 1992
First game in new stadium 20 Aug 1994

TWO YEARS (and a week) .....from start to (not quite) Finished but usable

I think they opened the stadium when both ends were still under construction.
But even this achievement pales into insignificance compared with Meadow Lane's main phase of redevelopment - One side and both ends completely demolished and rebuilt in, from memory, 17 weeks flat!