Why we will NEVER have a top club

[mona]

New people are forever moving into the area but they don't suddenly become Albion supporters. They still continue to support their Blackburns, Blackpools & Boltons and the only time they will visit Withdean is if their team is playing there.

It's been like this for years. I'm now 66 and have supported the Albion since my dad took me to my very first match at the age of 9. Of all my friends, I'm the only Brighton born - all the rest came from various places around Britain and even though some have lived here for 40 years, still support their home teams.

And of course there are thousands of Brighton/Sussex exiles all over Britain who still support the Albion. A considerable number of STH live outside Sussex.
Also, Brighton produces more pro-footballers than other comparable resort towns in England.
Less negativity please.

 

[Nottseagull]

get lost you boring bastard.....

Who in the hell do you think you're talking to?

 

[alofbrighton]

A lot of it comes down to 'Premiership' v 'the rest'. If you can somehow drag yourself out of the lower leagues big attendances follow in the premiership. In Brighton however this will mean lots of transient folk turning up for matches because it's fashionable and better quality footie.....they don't have the passion or a strong connection from birth with the city to watch Brighton in a lower league. Attendances used to be very good for Brighton in the 70's when we were in the old 3rd division....but the football was of a better quality. Creating the Premiership has ripped the guts out of the lower leagues meaning a lower standard of football and all the kids are watching Man U in their lounge. They watch Brighton once and think it's a different game! The ground situation doesn't help right now either with it's sterile, detached atmosphere.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

We will never have a top club here in Brighton - and the reason for that (and you'll probably disagree but that's what forums are for) is because our town is too nice!

We get the best weather in the entire mainland UK here and the town is thriving. Been to any other resorts recently? They've become run down, dismal and grey.

Everybody wants to live in Brighton & Hove - property prices reflect that.
And that's the problem. New people are forever moving into the area but they don't suddenly become Albion supporters. They still continue to support their Blackburns, Blackpools & Boltons and the only time they will visit Withdean is if their team is playing there.

It's been like this for years. I'm now 66 and have supported the Albion since my dad took me to my very first match at the age of 9. Of all my friends, I'm the only Brighton born - all the rest came from various places around Britain and even though some have lived here for 40 years, still support their home teams.

Without a large fan base there is simply not enough money coming into the club meaning that if they get the occasional good player, such as Gary Stevens or Bobby Zamora the club have to sell them to keep afloat. Without top players you can't get a top team.

Sorry, but you are seriously wrong on many of your points.

Been down London road recently? Run down, dismal and grey don't even BEGIN to cover it. Some might say that is the true Brighton, much like every other seaside resort round these parts, at least at this time of year.

Everybody wants to live here? Not the Poles, not now the credit crunch is starting to bite. There's more jobs elsewhere and a better quality of life. And if people move in from elsewhere, as most do, when OK, fair play if they continue to support the team from their place of origin, but their kids will hopefully feel the same way about THEIR home town i.e. Brighton.

Brighton & Hove Albion have a MASSIVE catchment area, and as the play-off final showed (and the JPT final will confirm, if we get that far) people will turn out in their tens of thousands for the big occasion. Or even on a regular basis, on the right terms. That'll never be at Withdean with all its obvious limitations, but give the people a smart new Falmer stadium, great clumps of inward investment and a sizeable playing budget and who knows where it might end. not that I'm holding up Reading as any kind of role model, y'understand, but they got to the point where Coppell was able to get sniffy about advancing in the FA Cup and having a serious go at the very real chance of qualifying for Europe (for which he should have been tarred and feathered and run out of town BTW), but as the old saying goes: BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME.

 

[The Grockle]

I don't care that much if we don't play top flight football for another 20 years as long as we have a decent side playing good football in the second tier of footballin front of a good croud .
We should get average crouds of about 13-14000 if we play at championship level but i fear in league one we might be lucky to get 9000.

 

[SNOOBS]

Dave the gaffer or Granny weatherwax or whatever comes from Huddersfield and whilst (I think) still supports Huddersfield also is a big Albion fan. I no someone else from up north who is a season ticket holder here now. Not everyone will only keep with their hometown club...

 

[SICKASAGULL]

Results over the past 2/3 years have resulted in many long term supporters of the Albion giving up attending matches,there is only so long you can put up with the string of defeats particularly at home and the lack of entertainment and excitement, so it would be most unlikely that anybody moving into the area would become a supporter,whereas of course if you happened to move close to Manchester,Liverpool or London it would be more than likely you would support one of the premiership teams.

 

[John Byrnes Mullet]

Go and watch Arsenal and then you can see a top club.

Albion's my team, that's if were doing well or doing bad I don't care.

 

[Gordon the Gopher]

It can work the other way. Due to my dad being in the services, I moved round the place supporting Arsenal. I moved here 23 years ago and this became my home. My allegience to the Albion was a slow process but now is engrained to the extent that I am proud to pass this on to my boys, both of whom have rejected the lure of the glory clubs their mates support at school. To say the Albion could never be a big club is wrong, if wigan can exist in the premiership then so can we!

 

[Brovion]

We will never have a top club here in Brighton - and the reason for that (and you'll probably disagree but that's what forums are for) is because our town is too nice!

We get the best weather in the entire mainland UK here and the town is thriving. Been to any other resorts recently? They've become run down, dismal and grey.

Everybody wants to live in Brighton & Hove - property prices reflect that.
And that's the problem. New people are forever moving into the area but they don't suddenly become Albion supporters. They still continue to support their Blackburns, Blackpools & Boltons and the only time they will visit Withdean is if their team is playing there.

It's been like this for years. I'm now 66 and have supported the Albion since my dad took me to my very first match at the age of 9. Of all my friends, I'm the only Brighton born - all the rest came from various places around Britain and even though some have lived here for 40 years, still support their home teams.

Without a large fan base there is simply not enough money coming into the club meaning that if they get the occasional good player, such as Gary Stevens or Bobby Zamora the club have to sell them to keep afloat. Without top players you can't get a top team.

Yes, I know we made it to the old 1st Division but every season was a struggle - not fighting relegation but getting the best out of the players we could afford. That works for a while but is impossible to sustain.

It's a catch 22 situation. The better a team is doing, the more people turn out to watch it - but they can't get better without those people going through those turnstiles - and without a good team no sugar daddy is going to fly over us in his helicopter and decide to buy us.

A thing worth remembering, and I'm sure it's been said here before, is when we were in the old 1st Division we didn't have one sell out for a league game - even against the mighty Man United or Arsenal. I seem to remember the only sell out was for a cup game against Liverpool.

If we couldn't fill the Goldstone against teams like that, what chance do we have against Yeovil or Hartlepool?

So we are just going to have to face up to facts. When I first started supporting the Albion 57 years ago they were in the old 3rd Division South - and we are STILL in the 3rd Division. Yes, it sounds great to be in "League 1" but we're kidding ourselves - it's really Division 3 - and that's where we will always be - it's our home, unfortunately.

There is obviously some truth in what you say. Demographics and geography are always going to count against us which means there will never be a time when people say that the biggest three teams in Europe are Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Brighton. To which the answer is of course - so what? As you say we're currently in our natural home of the third tier of English football, and whilst we may well hopefully end up more a second-tier team with Falmer I think any visit to the Premiership will only be temporary. Our lot is to be one of the smaller clubs to whom a cup final is a rare occurrence, and again, so what? I think most of us wouldn't have it any other way.

I disagree with you on the question of alliegances. As you say there are lots of incomers to this area - I'm one myself. I did not start life as a Brighton fan, but I can assure you I have no alliegance to my original hometown team (Palace) other than slight feelings of nostalgia when people talk about the Bert Head era.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

A lot of it comes down to 'Premiership' v 'the rest'. If you can somehow drag yourself out of the lower leagues big attendances follow in the premiership. In Brighton however this will mean lots of transient folk turning up for matches because it's fashionable and better quality footie.....they don't have the passion or a strong connection from birth with the city to watch Brighton in a lower league. Attendances used to be very good for Brighton in the 70's when we were in the old 3rd division....but the football was of a better quality. Creating the Premiership has ripped the guts out of the lower leagues meaning a lower standard of football and all the kids are watching Man U in their lounge. They watch Brighton once and think it's a different game! The ground situation doesn't help right now either with it's sterile, detached atmosphere.

Good first (?) post

 

[Jamie]

We will never have a top club here in Brighton - and the reason for that (and you'll probably disagree but that's what forums are for) is because our town is too nice!

We get the best weather in the entire mainland UK here and the town is thriving. Been to any other resorts recently? They've become run down, dismal and grey.

Everybody wants to live in Brighton & Hove - property prices reflect that.
And that's the problem. New people are forever moving into the area but they don't suddenly become Albion supporters. They still continue to support their Blackburns, Blackpools & Boltons and the only time they will visit Withdean is if their team is playing there.

It's been like this for years. I'm now 66 and have supported the Albion since my dad took me to my very first match at the age of 9. Of all my friends, I'm the only Brighton born - all the rest came from various places around Britain and even though some have lived here for 40 years, still support their home teams.

Without a large fan base there is simply not enough money coming into the club meaning that if they get the occasional good player, such as Gary Stevens or Bobby Zamora the club have to sell them to keep afloat. Without top players you can't get a top team.

Yes, I know we made it to the old 1st Division but every season was a struggle - not fighting relegation but getting the best out of the players we could afford. That works for a while but is impossible to sustain.

It's a catch 22 situation. The better a team is doing, the more people turn out to watch it - but they can't get better without those people going through those turnstiles - and without a good team no sugar daddy is going to fly over us in his helicopter and decide to buy us.

A thing worth remembering, and I'm sure it's been said here before, is when we were in the old 1st Division we didn't have one sell out for a league game - even against the mighty Man United or Arsenal. I seem to remember the only sell out was for a cup game against Liverpool.

If we couldn't fill the Goldstone against teams like that, what chance do we have against Yeovil or Hartlepool?

So we are just going to have to face up to facts. When I first started supporting the Albion 57 years ago they were in the old 3rd Division South - and we are STILL in the 3rd Division. Yes, it sounds great to be in "League 1" but we're kidding ourselves - it's really Division 3 - and that's where we will always be - it's our home, unfortunately.

Are you in the press, with that nnsense you could be Alan Green, I give you

Whitehawk, Scoumbe, Hangleton, Coldean, "Port Slade", Newhaven docks port, Hastings, Shoreham docks, plenty of football areas in sussex. Its like saying Leeds will nver have a top team as the countryside is nice in Harrogate and leeds now has lots of uppies, both are true but its also still got Harehills

 

[Dave the OAP]

Welcome Slarti, any lover of the other Mr Adams is alright by me.

absolutely........fabulous fiords BTW

 

[Dave the OAP]

Dave the gaffer or Granny weatherwax or whatever comes from Huddersfield and whilst (I think) still supports Huddersfield also is a big Albion fan. I no someone else from up north who is a season ticket holder here now. Not everyone will only keep with their hometown club...

I have supported Brighton for nigh on 30 years and have seen many many games over the years home and away, some good. some brillant, some absolutely sublime times ( man city this year, liverpool away FACup 83, palace away 4penalties game, swindon playoff, Coventry city ( 3-3) 0-3 down with a gordon smith hattrick, charlton away one evening 3-1) I hav also seen some absoloute dross, Canvey Island away, sudbury, crewe, fulham ( so many times)

These last few years have really tested my belief in this club after the years of archer and Stanley.......yet funnily enough and I left when I was 6, but I have found myself looking for Huddersfield results before ours. I really dont know why, however I do undrestand those people who have moved on from the club. I didnt miss Friday night. I thought I would but I didnt. withdean has become a pain and I sometimes stuggle to get the enthusiasm to go.

I would love the future to be Falmer, however I am alarmed at the idea of not paying on the gate, not being able to sit where you want, the current level of aggrovation from stewards ( and its not just at home), and the fact that football is no longer the common mans game....its the corporate mans game. Even Falmer will have a "naming " of a corporate company...sponsors are the people who are the new "fans". We are really people whp come through the gates, but that is all.

I do love Brighton and Hove Albion, but I will be perfectly honest, I only really go now for the social side....to see ed, gareth, tony, people like that.

Maybe its because I am not a brightonian by birth.....maybe that is it.

 

[dougdeep]

I have supported Brighton for nigh on 30 years and have seen many many games over the years home and away, some good. some brillant, some absolutely sublime times ( man city this year, liverpool away FACup 83, palace away 4penalties game, swindon playoff, Coventry city ( 3-3) 0-3 down with a gordon smith hattrick, charlton away one evening 3-1) I hav also seen some absoloute dross, Canvey Island away, sudbury, crewe, fulham ( so many times)

These last few years have really tested my belief in this club after the years of archer and Stanley.......yet funnily enough and I left when I was 6, but I have found myself looking for Huddersfield results before ours. I really dont know why, however I do undrestand those people who have moved on from the club. I didnt miss Friday night. I thought I would but I didnt. withdean has become a pain and I sometimes stuggle to get the enthusiasm to go.

I would love the future to be Falmer, however I am alarmed at the idea of not paying on the gate, not being able to sit where you want, the current level of aggrovation from stewards ( and its not just at home), and the fact that football is no longer the common mans game....its the corporate mans game. Even Falmer will have a "naming " of a corporate company...sponsors are the people who are the new "fans". We are really people whp come through the gates, but that is all.

I do love Brighton and Hove Albion, but I will be perfectly honest, I only really go now for the social side....to see ed, gareth, tony, people like that.

Maybe its because I am not a brightonian by birth.....maybe that is it.

Great post Dave, there's a lot of truth in there.

 

[blue and white army]

We will never have a top club here in Brighton - and the reason for that (and you'll probably disagree but that's what forums are for) is because our town is too nice!

We get the best weather in the entire mainland UK here and the town is thriving. Been to any other resorts recently? They've become run down, dismal and grey.

Everybody wants to live in Brighton & Hove - property prices reflect that.
And that's the problem. New people are forever moving into the area but they don't suddenly become Albion supporters. They still continue to support their Blackburns, Blackpools & Boltons and the only time they will visit Withdean is if their team is playing there.

It's been like this for years. I'm now 66 and have supported the Albion since my dad took me to my very first match at the age of 9. Of all my friends, I'm the only Brighton born - all the rest came from various places around Britain and even though some have lived here for 40 years, still support their home teams.

Without a large fan base there is simply not enough money coming into the club meaning that if they get the occasional good player, such as Gary Stevens or Bobby Zamora the club have to sell them to keep afloat. Without top players you can't get a top team.

Yes, I know we made it to the old 1st Division but every season was a struggle - not fighting relegation but getting the best out of the players we could afford. That works for a while but is impossible to sustain.

It's a catch 22 situation. The better a team is doing, the more people turn out to watch it - but they can't get better without those people going through those turnstiles - and without a good team no sugar daddy is going to fly over us in his helicopter and decide to buy us.

A thing worth remembering, and I'm sure it's been said here before, is when we were in the old 1st Division we didn't have one sell out for a league game - even against the mighty Man United or Arsenal. I seem to remember the only sell out was for a cup game against Liverpool.

If we couldn't fill the Goldstone against teams like that, what chance do we have against Yeovil or Hartlepool?

So we are just going to have to face up to facts. When I first started supporting the Albion 57 years ago they were in the old 3rd Division South - and we are STILL in the 3rd Division. Yes, it sounds great to be in "League 1" but we're kidding ourselves - it's really Division 3 - and that's where we will always be - it's our home, unfortunately.

We certainly won't be a top club with Adams in charge