Falling out of love with the Albion.

[cheshunt seagull]

Driving home from Milton Keynes after the defeat in the early Slade days. Hated the team and felt alienated by some of our fans that day and was seriously pondering how life would be better with no contact with either. Also 20 mins into many wet evenings/afternoons at Withdean but nothing as bad as the MK day.

 

[wadhurstseagull]

Fell out of love with Withdean and missed the last few seasons there.....but never with the Albion.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Never fallen out of love with the Albion but sometimes personal circumstances have gotten in the way.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

Driving home from Milton Keynes after the defeat in the early Slade days. Hated the team and felt alienated by some of our fans that day and was seriously pondering how life would be better with no contact with either. Also 20 mins into many wet evenings/afternoons at Withdean but nothing as bad as the MK day.

That MK game was a low point,came away 8 points adrift i think and it looked pretty desperate.

 

[Jack Daniels]

Fell out of love with Withdean and missed the last few seasons there.....but never with the Albion.

This.

It causes a great deal of agro going to football every week( with the wife to be). Not to mention the expense.

Having only missed two game whilst we were at gillingham and I was single. I missed a lot of the last three years at withdean. Simply because it was not worth the grief or expense.

Now it is. No matter what division we are in a cannot see myself relinquishing my ST. I can enjoy the experience enough to put up with constant hassle and berating of going to watch Albion. Although it remains to be seen how long I can get away with the away games aswell . All good at the moment, but time will tell

 

[Driver8]

This.

It causes a great deal of agro going to football every week( with the wife to be). Not to mention the expense.

Having only missed two game whilst we were at gillingham and I was single. I missed a lot of the last three years at withdean. Simply because it was not worth the grief or expense.

Now it is. No matter what division we are in a cannot see myself relinquishing my ST. I can enjoy the experience enough to put up with constant hassle and berating of going to watch Albion. Although it remains to be seen how long I can get away with the away games aswell . All good at the moment, but time will tell

Sounds to me like you need to trade your Mrs in.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

I think if we were bought out by some rich foreign owner I'd be pretty disappointed and would lose a bit of love for the club. As it is there's so much to be proud about when following the Albion.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Chances are there are many many on here that never went to Gillingham for whatever reason, or perhaps lost faith in the later Goldstone years.
Question is, have you ever fallen out with love with the Albion and how long did this last ?

I must admit I was dismayed in the Gillingham years and prob only attended half the games. The love was properly rekindled when we came home, although I find this being tested at the moment

Mods...reprimand this man for Blasphemy...

 

[Return of the Rev]

In over 40 years the only season that i never watched the albion was the first season in div 1 (premiership to our younger listeners) ODD BUT TRUE
season ticket for the gillingham years

 

[Mo Gosfield]

A few games into MA mark 2. Used to wonder why I bothered to go within 20 minutes. By the time he was sacked I'd pretty well stopped going. Nothing to do with the results either, I just felt that he was so clueless that I couldn't be arsed to watch as all I did was moan.

I remember the feeling of hopelessness as well. It was the worst display of management at the Albion I have ever seen. Seventh the season before under DW and things starting to look up. I couldn't come to terms with Dick Knight's decision to bring him back. All this bollocks about him being a legend ( he jumped ship to Leicester at the earliest opportunity )
I spent every game moaning and groaning as well and got very close to the end of my tether ( and it is a long tether! )

 

[Gullys Cats]

Love is not to be cast asside, love is love, no matter what

Perfect

 

[itszamora]

Supported Albion from the mid sixties until late seventies and then joined the Forces. On returning to the area we were at Gillingham and I just couldn't be arsed. The romance had gone, she'd been sullied by many other men and, to be honest, had had her best years. I trawled around West & South London watching the prettey ones .... Chelsea, Fulham, Palace, Charlton & even ventured up to Watford & Tottenham. My Son was 15, at the time, and started supporting Palace and I went to TWO Play Off Finals and supported them. It was dirty, it was wrong, it was evil but it gave me my football fix. I wasn't hooked but I came so close, closer than you lucky people will ever know.

Common sense prevailed and I finished my awful affair, I finally saw her for the whore she was. I came back to the old lady I'd always loved, although she'd become a bit tired, lost some of her sparkle and the years hadn't helped her looks, she was mine. She lived in a dirty flat, it lacked charm and was bloody freezing but there was a magic, an unexplainable spark had been ignited.

After ten years of romance all was well, we'd fallen out, we had our ups and downs but I was comfortable, content even. We had a great weekend in South Wales and a couple of other great nights at Withdean but now she'd put the effort in. She shed some of the baggage years of neglect had forced upon her and set about shaping herself up.

She moved to a different part of town, tried out a new look and, I have to say, gained many new admirers. I knew then that the last ten years had been worth it and we were now set to grow old together.

Binfest commence .... as only NSC can

Sorry, run that past me again. You went to football matches and SUPPORTED PALACE at them? And your OWN SON now supports Palace? You should be more than ashamed.

 

[shabba]

Falling out of love with Football

It is now a souless game, players out of contract playing one team off against the other, then saying they always wanted to join the team for football reasons, when we all know it was really about money! Players saying they will only sign a new contract if the club matches their ambition, when we all know it is about money! It is nothign more than a bunch of mercenaries show varying degrees of professional pride with no real love for the club and espouting media double speak to mask the fact that they are all using the club as a stepping stone.
Also, do we really want to go the premier legaue and if so who do we want to be like; Bolton, relegated and £100m in debt, Astonvilla, a few points off reglegation and £100m in debt, Wigan always bottom half and £75m in debt, no thanks! Excitement threshold for this season 0!

 

[ifuhatepalacestandup]

JCB - I like that. I wonder what proportion of the fans often accused on here of being JCLs are actually JCBs? The majority I'd have thought. We are now getting back to the attendance levels we had in the late 70s (and will probably exceed that once the stadium is expanded to its full capacity). A lot of those people who drifted away (at least those who are still with us!) are coming back, and good for them.

most me included

 

[Surrey_Albion]

Never fallen out of love with the Albion, and these times are great BUT I was always THE Brighton fan where I grew up,when Brighton were drawn in the cup agaianst the likes of Liverpool or had a (very rare back in the dark days) game on SKY I was the person people would come upto and say "I see Brighton did/have..." the only player anyone had ever really heard of was Zamora or Fozzie, and the older generation would always say "your a Brighton fan? I remember when they were in the top flight and a good team" I am sure you know the kind of thing, now though I regulary see Brighton car sticker,shirts,coats around Redhill and Horley which is great but there is that something inside me that used to say "this is my small little club and proud of them,Proud to be BHA even if those "Cheslski" Manure fans take the piss" Now they dont take the piss and Im not the minority,strange feeling BHA are not exclusivly mine anymore,dont love them less just feel I have to share them more which isnt qiute the same

 

[Napper]

Just had a look and made this post after a 4 - 2 loss at home to MK

Sullivan , Whing , Elphick , Hawkins , Richards , Thomson , El Abd , Johnson , Cox , Forster , Murray

1 point out of the previous 18

5th bottom in league

crowd : 5,900

 

[Southwick_Seagull]

Driving home from Milton Keynes after the defeat in the early Slade days. Hated the team and felt alienated by some of our fans that day and was seriously pondering how life would be better with no contact with either. Also 20 mins into many wet evenings/afternoons at Withdean but nothing as bad as the MK day.

That was a weird day. Brilliant weather, we took loads up there and I left the ground relieved in a "well we don't have to worry anymore, let's start looking at what League 2 grounds we're going to". The hero worship of Andy Whing and the pretty horrendous abuse of Craig Davies showed the supporters were at the end of their tether with that team.

That game was the turning point though, the Tuesday after we went to Hereford, couldn't have been many more than 200 Albion there and Tommy Fraser scored an overhead kick and I think we only lost once after that the rest of the season.

 

[Gritt23]

Chances are there are many many on here that never went to Gillingham for whatever reason, or perhaps lost faith in the later Goldstone years.
Question is, have you ever fallen out with love with the Albion and how long did this last ?

I must admit I was dismayed in the Gillingham years and prob only attended half the games. The love was properly rekindled when we came home, although I find this being tested at the moment

Yes, happened to me, and tbh I feared it was the extension of the "falling out of love" with football in general that has been a gradual process over the last 10 years. But fortunately, the Albion part was relatively short lived.

I know it wasn't generally felt, but I was really enjoying the Wilkins years, as I felt we were inevitably in a holding pattern until we could get a new stadium, so League One with the very odd, one-off year in The Championship seemed about right. So, if we were going to see a few years consolidating in the same division, or building slowly, I was delighted that we were timing that with bringing through home grown youngsters. I had all the patience in the World seeing them develop, and enjoyed seeing that process. For me, Wilkins was bringing them on nicely, I never looked over my shoulder at relegation, and therefore the only way was up.

Then out of nowhere, the bolt from the blue of his sacking to bring back Adams, and I hated the move, felt it was a bad way to treat Wilkins, and unnecessary way to be lauding Adams as some messiah, seeing as he'd done precious little since leaving us. The brand of football, the casting aside of our youngsters for pretty talentless oafs, and the succession of loans players who were worse than the players he'd cast aside. I can trace my "out of love" period back to that very moment of Wilkins sacking / Adams appointment.

It picked up a bit with Slade in charge, but I had wounds to heal, and then Gus came to town. All was well again, my club seemed to be back, and I was well and truly back with my club. Our love has never been stronger.

 

[MACROBLUE]

Firstly - I am very impressed by bumping a thread from 2008. When there are many on this forum who won't even check the 1st page of posts before starting a new thread that is a worthwhile statement of intent.
Secondly, and in reply to the OP. I have to confess to being a JCB (Johnny come back). I first went to the Goldstone courtesy of some free tickets through school in the early 80's, and continued to go to just a few matches a season up to the beginning of our exile. This coincided with my own moving away from brighton, and for many of the gillingham and then withdean years I would make a few away trips each season that worked out in terms of my location and that of some of my friends. I couldn't really call myself a fan with that level of attendance but when the subject was raised I had always given Brighton as my club, and found the thought of their demise upsetting. Signing petitions, letter writing and making the odd contribution to the club I was always well behind.
Eventually light began to appear at the end of the tunnel (for the long term survival of the club, not just those joyous moments of monumental overachievement at the withdean)and also I had moved back to Brighton. I would went to more games at the theatre of trees and then the news came through that we would once again have a real home.(I'm shortening the story for dramatic effect, there were too many false dawns to recount in their entirety) I had not realised how much I wanted this until it happened. I danced a jig and realised that the stars had aligned in my favour: We would have a stadium, I was living locally and I was financially stable (for me quite rare), If a burning bush had formed the words "season ticket" it could not have been clearer. I admit freely I had neglected the club, certainly compared to those glorious few who braved Gillingham and signed on for the full quota of Withdean, but riding their coat-tails I beat the bush telegraph until I found a long term STH and with their assistance secured my small part of our future.

I have rambled, so looking back at the OP and his question, have I ever fallen out of love with the albion the answer is this: No I have not, but I did not realise until it was almost too late that I did love her (is a club like a ship? and always a she?) and will always be grateful that she was saved, for that would be a terrible, terrible regret to be burdened with.

Thankyou to all those that kept the faith and kept fighting, thank you to Dick Knight for all his work keeping the club alive, and thank you to Tony Bloom for finally giving us a home.

I'm welling up.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Sorry, run that past me again. You went to football matches and SUPPORTED PALACE at them? And your OWN SON now supports Palace? You should be more than ashamed.

T'is true ... normally wear a Gary Glitter mask around town to hide my shame and to lessen the aggression towards me.