AmexRuislip
Retired Spy 🕵️♂️
Watching supersub, Eric Potts enter the fray v Sunderland in 1978 and score 2 goals.
Absolute mayhem at the final whistle.
Missed my train home
Absolute mayhem at the final whistle.
Missed my train home
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[Albion] 25yrs ago today since the Goldstone got knocked down
- Thread starter South west gull
- Start date
It does indeed. Ward 4 Mellor 3
portlock seagull
Well-known member
- Jul 28, 2003
- 17,777
Deanos free kick. Iconic and stuff of legends. Better than Beckhams against Greece and equally as important.
Icy Gull
Back on the rollercoaster
- Jul 5, 2003
- 72,015
A mate and I always hankered after an Argus headline if only Gerry Fell could have scored three and Ward a couple
Geriatric Ward 2
wolfie
Well-known member
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Well to Albion fans yes, not to most of the population of the country though!
dejavuatbtn
Well-known member
Brok
🦡
- Dec 26, 2011
- 4,373
I remember this game well, for a completely different reason...
It was going to this game, running a bit late, that I got done for speeding.
In 45 years of driving, this is still my ONLY speeding conviction.
Brok
🦡
- Dec 26, 2011
- 4,373
Fred Dibnah up near the top right hand side.
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Hmmm late 1950's is my guess? . . . early 60's at a pinch?
dejavuatbtn
Well-known member
It has a date on it. It was the div 4 championship game 26 April 1965.
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Ah l wasn't too far out then.
Mackenzie
Old Brightonian
It’s difficult to know for sure, we’d all be guessing. Tony Bloom would be on board now so maybe still at Falmer, the Goldstone needed a lot of modernisation and had expansion limitations due to where it was, but without the trips to Gillingham and 10 years at Withdean.
Who knows though.
Icy Gull
Back on the rollercoaster
- Jul 5, 2003
- 72,015
I think it might have been sold at some stage as long as planning permission could have been obtained elsewhere, which in itself would have been very problematic. At least it would have been money into Albion’s pockets. Personally I think it would have been redeveloped, due to brick wall in relocating in the area but with a much smaller capacity than the Amex and we would not be where we are now even with Bloom at the helm.
Falmer would never have happened…just imo
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
In an obtuse kind of way, without Archer and his cronies doing their best to try to destroy our club, they could of done us a favour, if we still owned the Goldstone then we almost certainly wouldn't have obtained planning position to play elsewhere, so yes, no Falmer.
No Falmer no Premier League, no Falmer would Tony Bloom have still been prepared to invest to heavily in the club? The answer to the latter question is yes probably, Tony is a massive Albion fan after all. All remaining questions will forever remain unanswered of course, no one can be sure.
Maybe we needed those war years to enable us to get to the promised land? Just a thought.
Seagull on the Hill
Well-known member
- Jan 22, 2022
- 750
If my memory is correct, the crowd was around 18,000, well below capacity.
Dunno. Never mind the actual construction expense we had a massive legal planning battle to get the Amex at Falmer built as it's on the outskirts of town and was seen by some as monstrous carbuncle that would blight the bucolic English countryside. The usual unholy alliance of NIMBYs, country Tories and environmentalists threw absolutely everything at us, and the planning battle is a story in it's own right. One of the reasons we won was that because we'd been made homeless, been exiled and were now playing at an unsuitable athletics stadium there was an enormous amount of sympathy and goodwill for us - not just from football fans, but from the wider community as well.
If we still had the Goldstone and then tried to get Falmer I don't think the support would have been nearly as strong. There would have been a large body of opinion that would have said "Well you've got a ground, your traditional home, why do you want a new one? And certainly why do you want one in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty? (ANOB)." Even some Brighton fans would have thought it as there were some who thought we'd never get Falmer and should concentrate on making Withdean a permanent home! Our pleas that the Goldstone was an unsuitable site for a modern stadium and that other clubs had relocated to the outskirts of their towns would, I fear, have fallen on deaf ears. Like I say I doubt all Brighton fans would have been in favour of the move.
So in my opinion, if we hadn't lost the Goldstone - we'd still be there. Sure it would have been done up, maybe even re-modelled and extended, but it wouldn't be as good as the Amex. Playing-wise I think there is no way we'd have been a club that could aim for, and achieve, a top-ten finish in the Premier League. We'd probably be a good Championship side, and NSC would be full of impassioned debates that if we wanted to take the 'next step' we'd need to relocate.
Just my 'what if' view. Others may (will!) disagree.
23rd of 24 judging by Gerrys eyes!