[Albion] 20 years ago. How crowds have changed !!

[Lindfield by the Pond]

I was definitely there, and I think that this was the night that Alan Green royally p!ssed me off by laughing on air at the 1000 fans that had bothered to travel to Priestfield rather than stay in and watch ManUre on the TV in the European Cup.

I remember that driving home after the game. I thought it was Richard Littlejohn, but it was a while ago, but he said something like "Join us on 606. If you were one of the 60k odd thousand at Man Utd vs XYZ (Insert European Superteam name), give us a call and tell us about the game. If you were one of the 1026 at the Brighton Barnet game, give us a call and tell us why?" I remember thinking what a w***er.

 

[portlock seagull]

[MENTION=12796]Lindfield by the Pond[/MENTION] and I were there. On the way home, Richard Spurs Supporting Littlejohn on the 5 live phone in that night - because England played at Wembley - asked, “...And if you were one of the 1,025 Brighton fans at tonight’s game, give us a call and tell us....why?”

Was utterly dejected and I think we felt lower than the opening game against Macclesfield which just felt weird. But that night, after the result and seeing the tiny smattering of fans who’d gone, I truly did stare into the abyss and think that as a club we were gone.

Anyway fast forward 20 years and can I get a ticket for Old Trafford?!!! Can I f uck!!! Where were you when you were shit, the opponents cry? At Gillingham I reply! And proudly so. Because there are many more liars today than the 1,025 souls who did make that journey on 05.11.97. It’s a badge of honour really.

Probably worth remembering this thread when Rashford or whoever gets a hatrick and this board’s full of knee jerks!

 

[portlock seagull]

Ha ha, seems some dispute over what the bigger game on that night was. Oh well, might have been Utd in Champs League. But it definitely was Richard Littlejohn on the radio! I won’t concede on that!! Never forgiven him for mocking us.

 

[Timbo]

I was definitely there, went to every game we played there. I think we played Notts County the week before or after and there was only just a few more.

 

[Sirnormangall]

I was there - took my wife. Not sure she's forgiven me!

 

[Lindfield by the Pond]

[MENTION=12796]Lindfield by the Pond[/MENTION] and I were there. On the way home, Richard Spurs Supporting Littlejohn on the 5 live phone in that night - because England played at Wembley - asked, “...And if you were one of the 1,025 Brighton fans at tonight’s game, give us a call and tell us....why?”

Was utterly dejected and I think we felt lower than the opening game against Macclesfield which just felt weird. But that night, after the result and seeing the tiny smattering of fans who’d gone, I truly did stare into the abyss and think that as a club we were gone.

Anyway fast forward 20 years and can I get a ticket for Old Trafford?!!! Can I f uck!!! Where were you when you were shit, the opponents cry? At Gillingham I reply! And proudly so. Because there are many more liars today than the 1,025 souls who did make that journey on 05.11.97. It’s a badge of honour really.

Probably worth remembering this thread when Rashford or whoever gets a hatrick and this board’s full of knee jerks!

Keep up at the back.............just told the story. Remember both of us shouting at the Radio

And I have enough points for Old Trafford - and I also have the tickets

 

[portlock seagull]

Keep up at the back.............just told the story. Remember both of us shouting at the Radio

And I have enough points for Old Trafford - and I also have the tickets

Git! But I do hope it’s on the sports channel in my hotel...in Mauritius...

 

[studio150]

Yes I was there, one of the (far too many) depressing visits to Priestfield. But on a positive note getting away from the ground and back onto the motorway was quick given the small attendance

 

[topbanana36]

I was there and now I can't get an away ticket for love nor f**king money because I'm not loyal enough. The closet I'll get to an away game this season is bringing my used car back to the dealer which is two minutes walk to the Liberty stadium on Saturday for a spare key. How times changes Kidderminster, Hartlepool, Barnet. How crowds have indeed changed.

 

[Blue3]

I was there only missed one game at Gillingham and that was against Millwall in the league cup if my memorary serves me

 

[Bob!]

I seem to remember there being about 12 Barnet fans there, with one being shirtless?

 

[Bucephalus]

I was there - just dug out the programme - complete with the poster of John Westcott! Can't remember much of the match but that may just be a function of my age...

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I was definitely there, and I think that this was the night that Alan Green royally p!ssed me off by laughing on air at the 1000 fans that had bothered to travel to Priestfield rather than stay in and watch ManUre on the TV in the European Cup.

To be fair... oh bollocks, only a supporter would understand. He's a journalist (of sorts). Hard to get too upset about the comment.....

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I can't remember if I was there, I didn't miss many. Always sat in the gold section opposite the dug outs, only ever paid standard though, proper naughty me.

 

[Raphael Meade]

Good camaraderie but some truly awful, awful football. Nice looking back to be one of the few, but i'm getting PTSD just thinking about eating another petrol station sandwich for dinner from that Shell garage on the A229 southbound on the way home.

 

[Brovion]

I was there, didn't Mike Bamber refer to us as 4500 wonderful people just for turning up?

Don't remember that personally, but it may well be true. And I've just looked it up (as I couldn't remember if it was against Stockport or Southport) and the crowd was actually 6,500 not 4,500. Still poor though, even for that era.

I DO remember Bamber saying something like "The Sussex public don't want to watch 1st division football" when attendances fell off a cliff during our first season in the top division.

 

[Hamilton]

To be fair... oh bollocks, only a supporter would understand. He's a journalist (of sorts). Hard to get too upset about the comment.....

To be fair, you’re right, but I was so bloody angry. And guess I still am.


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[Dave the OAP]

Yep, I was one of the 800+ who were there.

I used to sit in the main stand and was sat next to a couple of the player's wifes. Both of them were chatting about how awful it was and how their husbands were counting the days until they could leave.

Interesting these days that some fans dismiss the people who trekked up the motorway every home game to that shithole as " uber fans" I even heard conversations suggesting that we only did it to show us as better fans than the ones now attending Amex...in fact I was chatting to a " lifelong" albion fan who didn't even know what I was talking about when discussing gillingham..I was actually accused of being a gillingham fan until,someone put him right!

I actually look back with affection of those days of our troubles at the goldstone, priestfield and withdean. It certainly was not the sanitised experienced we have now, but time has moved on and memories will fade as they should. It is very difficult to explain our trials and tribulations to new found fans and to get ove just what it felt like knowing the club could disappear at any moment.

 

[blue'n'white]

I had season tickets for when we were at Gillingham and the only game that I missed was the Boxing Day 4-4 draw with Colchester as I simply couldn't get there. They were not good years in a town that was still stuck in the 70s. Used to see Dean Wilkins taking his charges into McDonalds in the high street there just as we were setting off to walk up to the ground.

 

[Hamilton]

Yep, I was one of the 800+ who were there.

I used to sit in the main stand and was sat next to a couple of the player's wifes. Both of them were chatting about how awful it was and how their husbands were counting the days until they could leave.

Interesting these days that some fans dismiss the people who trekked up the motorway every home game to that shithole as " uber fans" I even heard conversations suggesting that we only did it to show us as better fans than the ones now attending Amex...in fact I was chatting to a " lifelong" albion fan who didn't even know what I was talking about when discussing gillingham..I was actually accused of being a gillingham fan until,someone put him right!

I actually look back with affection of those days of our troubles at the goldstone, priestfield and withdean. It certainly was not the sanitised experienced we have now, but time has moved on and memories will fade as they should. It is very difficult to explain our trials and tribulations to new found fans and to get ove just what it felt like knowing the club could disappear at any moment.

I was lucky enough to be a season ticket holder at Priestfield. I say lucky, because I could afford the time to attend and I was actually alive to experience it. Many of our staunch fans today will have just been young kids, with no family prepared to take them on that journey.

I consider those seasons as the most important seasons to be a season ticket holder. In all honesty, I never thought the club would survive, so I probably saw it as the last chance to see the Albion. But equally, I felt that this was the time to buy the tickets and the merchandise. It was the time the club needed moral and financial support.

When the club returned to Withdean I somehow knew it would all be ok in the end. What that ‘end’ looked like, I had no idea. I certainly didn’t envisage what we have now, and that is down to DK, Martin Perry, Tony Bloom and the many more committed fans who are far more ‘uber’ than me who put in the legwork and the campaigning.

Being at Priestfield didn’t make any of us uber-fans as you say. It just meant we were there.


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