[Albion] Anyone else nearly done?

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

My first full season was 77/78 so I was luck enough to see the original top tier promotion team and those years in the First Division.

Getting back to the top flight seemed so far off during the 90's and early 2000's so I have always looked at the last few years with the nagging feeling that it could all fall apart for no other reason that I've been on that rollercoaster before.

However, we are not just watching us play top flight football now. People should really appreciate what we are watching now as the quality of our play is ridiculously good and the plaudits that RDZ and the team are getting so regularly are fully deserved.

 

[Van Cleef]

My voice is nearly done. I sound like a cross between Morgan Freeman and Finchy from The Office today.

 

[Was not Was]

Good topic, @Dick Swiveller

I moved away from Sussex for 30 years, travelling to see 10 or 20 games per season, and, weirdly, the Gory Years made me more committed to the Albion. But at the time of the protests and Gillingham, etc, I figured that once the club got a proper new home, I'd slide away gracefully as they "wouldn't need me" any more, especially if they became quite good. A bit like how, as a teenager, I'd like a band for their first couple of albums but when they get popular, they have lots of fans so why bother. LOL, what an idiot. I love it now and have never felt more attached to going.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

I was thinking this when we qualified in Athens and I think last night makes it closer. I expect some howls of protest but hear me out. I think a cup win would see me as completed as a Brighton fan. Not in an "I'm leaving" way but I think a cup win would see me content if that is as good as it gets. Yes Champions League and winning the Premier League. But given the last 44 years, what we have now is more than I could have dreamt of.

It started with a next door neighbour's birthday party at a 0-0 at home to Saints in 1979. I was hooked but reliant on my dad taking me so only saw a few games in Division 1. Been a regular since I convinced him to get a season ticket in the mid 80s and later could then go under my own steam. So I have mostly seen the team on the slide.

There was the trip to Filbert Street loaded with Peperamis ready for the Salami chant but sitting down eating them at half time as we were abject. There was the stuffing at Fulham in the Autoglass trophy with about 60 of us there. There was Canvey Island, Kingstonian and Sudbury. There was Orient as rivals for a while. There was that game at Selhurst. There was Gillingham. Long journeys back from Scunthorpe, Halifax, Wrexham and God knows who else after losing.

But there was coming back from 2-0 at Anfield in the cup. There was the Nelson and Bremner season. There was 90/91 which was great fun, if ultimately shattering losing to Colin. There was Doncaster and Hereford.

Then there was Withdean - mostly great if surreal. I actually feel sorry for the fans of the "big" clubs who have never known these lows. When losing a home game and only finishing 10th is a disaster, how can the wins be as sweet?

Then came the Amex and, one season excluded, we were competing at the second tier. Then came the "promised land". Speculation about how long it would take to score against a Big 6 club. Grinding out results. Now, a point away to City is the only thing we have left to do against the big clubs. We have hit some of them for 4.

Europe was a pipe dream but here we are. Not stinking the place out was all I was hoping for given our draw. Then we qualified. And then, we beat former European Champions without them having a shot on target and are in the last 16 of a major European competition. The fact it was a late winner makes is so much better.

I know the Bloom masterplan is still going and we are becoming one of the "big" clubs. But I feel to wish for anything more would seem greedy after where we have been. I think the desire for a cup win is probably it for me and that may be just because of the 2 recent semis and the fact I wasn't there in 1983. As I say, this isn't a "I don't want more success" rant but more of an "I could die happy" post.

I can’t claim your (and many others) dedication to the cause, but my first match at the Goldstone was just after Christmas 1967 v QPR, have lived “away” in many of the intervening years, but took on a season ticket 10 years ago for my 60th birthday, courtesy of my 2 daughters. But no other football team has ever mattered.

but last night about 5 minutes before kick-off it really hit me what was going on. And then thinking about it as well on the long and late drive home.
- It was helped by the fact that Man Utd and Newcastle are both out out of Europe. My Schadenfreude is working overtime.
- last night we were going to stay in Europe whatever the result.
- we won a group which was universally recognised as being “tough”.
- in doing so we have beaten two former European Champions - one of them twice.
- we have done this while having serious injury problems, and after losing a couple of our best players over the Summer
- we have a head coach/manager who is the envy and target of many others, but he seems very happy here.
- he is passionate, but sensible and measured when necessary
- the players love him and he loves the players - he looks after them magnificently. Just thinking how players like Igor, Adingra, Baleba are fitting in, wee Billy Gilmour being magnificent and lots of young players coming in to the reckoning To add to what was already there.
- and we have Tony Bloom, without which none of the above.

The Cup win would be the icing on the cake, but I’m fairly happy anyway, as is the OP. The possibility that our first proper trophy could be a European one is just, well, unbelievable!
-

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Just to clarify, I don't mean done as in stop going. Just means we have reached a point where if it all goes downhill from here, I won't feel I have missed out. I won't have a meltdown if we get relegated. If this is peak Albion then so be it. Nothing to do with lack of ambition or disenfranchisement - we have massively exceeded what we could have dreamed of 25 years ago. Anything better is a wonderful bonus for me.

 

[Jeremiah]

Nowadays I'm always really upset when we exit the Cups (FA semi last year ) as I believe we have a real possibility of winning one. To be realistic we can't win the League we are in but a Cup would be amazing.

 

[worthingweird]

Never...