[Albion] Fans Forum

[chaileyjem]

The Palace jibe about Brighton fans having second teams has some truth in it, but these people's children are proper Albion fans, and the vast majority of them are not going to jump ship and go somewhere else if a few players move on.

Also there's now a whole generation /bulge (our Amex baby boomers) of Amex kids/fans who have grown up with Championship or PL football in an amazing stadium. 24/25 is Season 13. My lad who was holding my hand and drinking hot chocolate when he first went in August 2011 is now downing pints of Cruzcampo at half time and just as committed at the age of 23.

 

[Gazwag]

Putting on a fans forum is vergy good PR for club which fair enough is PBs aim. We know Pervis is out until Oct/Nov. Would have been good to hear if March and Mitoma are on track to start season.
Good question about P&R but sounds little likely that it will get better. Was suprised Seagull Travel was costing the family £48 which is a heck of an additional expense to find every game.

A zero stop 16 mile trip on a seagulls travel coach from Polegate to the Amex and back again is £22.35 per person, through in a few cup matches that's £500 a year.

I know a coach season ticket is probably a bit cheaper, but as you say that is one heck of an additional expense

 

[pigmanovich]

Putting on a fans forum is vergy good PR for club which fair enough is PBs aim. We know Pervis is out until Oct/Nov. Would have been good to hear if March and Mitoma are on track to start season.
Good question about P&R but sounds little likely that it will get better. Was suprised Seagull Travel was costing the family £48 which is a heck of an additional expense to find every game.

Cheaper for me and a mate to take the train down from London for home games!

 

[ozzygull]

Also there's now a whole generation /bulge (our Amex baby boomers) of Amex kids/fans who have grown up with Championship or PL football in an amazing stadium. 24/25 is Season 13. My lad who was holding my hand and drinking hot chocolate when he first went in August 2011 is now downing pints of Cruzcampo at half time and just as committed at the age of 23.

Agree my daughter was nine when the Amex opened and she became a season ticket holder. She will be 22 this year and after fours years at Uni, will be a season ticket holder again next year. She has zero interest in any other team and only has eyes for Brighton.

She visited the Principality Stadium yesterday as part of her university study wearing a Brighton hoodie. She was chuffed when she saw this and sent me a picture.

She would have been 2 years old at that point. Good old Leon Knight.

 

[Seagull58]

yep. the crowd did a pretty raucous spontaneous chant of "Roberto Di Zerbi" when left 5 mins early. (He left 5 minutes early at the FF in September - why is that ? What is it at 8pm that he has to nip off to ...watch the Champions League SF ? Does he not like being there at the end - cos he'll get caught up doing selfies / fan chat etc ?

He had to race home to take the pasta off the hob, having been informed that his chef was sick.

 

[Weststander]

A zero stop 16 mile trip on a seagulls travel coach from Polegate to the Amex and back again is £22.35 per person, through in a few cup matches that's £500 a year.

I know a coach season ticket is probably a bit cheaper, but as you say that is one heck of an additional expense

Is that a packed coach of say 55 passengers?

 

[Seagull58]

Precisely. And the idea of him setting us up like a Dyche/Frank team in order to pinch a point at the end of a season, rather than continue to indoctrinate the younger players (whoever is available) into playing the RDZ way is a bit like suggesting that if your missus is ill you should go and shag the woman who lives opposite.

So, you're generally in favour of the alternative setup then.

 

[Gazwag]

Mitoma for example. These days it’s a well known fact many younger fans follow players not teams. And heaven forbid when we eventually get relegated from the PL, there will be an exodus as many people only come for PL brand.

I get it with Mitoma and I sort of get what you are saying about kids - however, my next door neighbours 10 year old boy didn't care much for football, played a bit of FIFA on his play station, "supported" Brighton but we did and gave him some flags as and when we had them at games. Then we bought him with us to the Leeds game last season and he became a footballaholic over night, he is now obsessed with FIFA and if you asked him who "random player" plays for he will tell you and probably tell you who he was signed from. He's been to quite a few matches with us since in the NS, knows all the words to all the songs (he changes the rude ones) even managed to get him to the Forest away game this year. But he is really excited when we tell him he is coming to a game as he wants to see the big names from the opposition and this is what he is looking most forward to before a game....BUT, when when the match starts he is 100% a Brighton fan and is as happy as the rest of us when Salah misses an easy chance and as stressed when Spurs scored their 2nd and almost a 3rd at Christmas.

I think the big difference is between those who go to matches and those that don't who are the player followers.

 

[Gazwag]

Is that a packed coach of say 55 passengers?

I used it once this season and it was pretty full, I think it starts in Hailsham, it did use to start in Hastings so its not just Polegate to Falmer

 

[portlock seagull]

I get it with Mitoma and I sort of get what you are saying about kids - however, my next door neighbours 10 year old boy didn't care much for football, played a bit of FIFA on his play station, "supported" Brighton but we did and gave him some flags as and when we had them at games. Then we bought him with us to the Leeds game last season and he became a footballaholic over night, he is now obsessed with FIFA and if you asked him who "random player" plays for he will tell you and probably tell you who he was signed from. He's been to quite a few matches with us since in the NS, knows all the words to all the songs (he changes the rude ones) even managed to get him to the Forest away game this year. But he is really excited when we tell him he is coming to a game as he wants to see the big names from the opposition and this is what he is looking most forward to before a game....BUT, when when the match starts he is 100% a Brighton fan and is as happy as the rest of us when Salah misses an easy chance and as stressed when Spurs scored their 2nd and almost a 3rd at Christmas.

I think the big difference is between those who go to matches and those that don't who are the player followers.

Funny that, but I never saw thousands of Japanese at the Amex until Mitoma arrived. I wonder how many will continue to come after he leaves?

 

[Gazwag]

Funny that, but I never saw thousands of Japanese at the Amex until Mitoma arrived. I wonder how many will continue to come after he leaves?

I agree with you about Mitoma - I'd love to know the AlbionMitoma+ membership numbers compared to the total membership

 

[Seagull58]

i didn't realise but it sounded like he'd been carrying the ankle injury since he came back at Christmas and playing through it.
They've only just decided to commit to the operation.

He probably did more damage to it when scoring his thunderbastard in his first game back.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Is that a packed coach of say 55 passengers?

Most of the ST coaches are 49 seats or less - one seat is usually reserved for the Steward (if they have one on the route). If you buy their season ticket (payable in instalments) it is cheaper.

I recall many years ago that Liz used to say that for away games, they had to have 35 people on a coach to cover the costs. As ST need to not only cover costs but also make a profit, they must work to similar numbers but with driver shortages across the industry and fuel costs, hiring buses and coaches cannot be cheap these days.

It is also noticeable that they have stopped using some of the smaller operators and those using really old coaches as there had been some issues with reliability and replacements in the past. That again must add to their cost.

It's a shame that they took away the £2 subsidy a few years ago which helped people offset the cost.

 

[Weststander]

Most of the ST coaches are 49 seats or less - one seat is usually reserved for the Steward (if they have one on the route). If you buy their season ticket (payable in instalments) it is cheaper.

I recall many years ago that Liz used to say that for away games, they had to have 35 people on a coach to cover the costs. As ST need to not only cover costs but also make a profit, they must work to similar numbers but with driver shortages across the industry and fuel costs, hiring buses and coaches cannot be cheap these days.

It is also noticeable that they have stopped using some of the smaller operators and those using really old coaches as there had been some issues with reliability and replacements in the past. That again must add to their cost.

It's a shame that they took away the £2 subsidy a few years ago which helped people offset the cost.

So income before costs/depreciation for the coach company of circa £1k per game.

Over the last 25 years we've become such an expensive country, a way of the Western world? Does £1k sound about right/fair for the coach company?

 

[Jam The Man]

Also there's now a whole generation /bulge (our Amex baby boomers) of Amex kids/fans who have grown up with Championship or PL football in an amazing stadium. 24/25 is Season 13. My lad who was holding my hand and drinking hot chocolate when he first went in August 2011 is now downing pints of Cruzcampo at half time and just as committed at the age of 23.

Yep I can relate to that with my lad too.

 

[alexradley2103]

I’ve been to a lot of these fans forums and refrained from asking my usual nonsense question. However, De Zerbi walked past me on his way to stage. I’ve never seen an Albion manager with his ‘presence in a room’ before. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. He just has that X factor. Can’t put my finger on it but he is just an astonishingly inspiring in person.

First and last post on NSC.

Waited with my kid outside Bournemouth Hilton with shirt and Sharpie. Dunk, WBG and Fati signed the shirt very hurriedly but full respect to them - 95% of squad got there head down and walked in.

RDZ signed his shirt, bent down smiled and pinched his cheek. It was the only proper interactive moment whilst we were there. My kids only four and only really knows a handful of players facially. He's always gone on about RDZ though and now hasn't stopped telling everyone about that moment.

For me he is our best coach ever and taken us to unimaginable levels. We've been so fortunate that Uncle Tony brought in Hughton, Potter and now RDZ. I think RDZ is the type that will only get the credit he deserves once he's left.

As a sidenote there were mainly kids around 14 waiting for signatures to sell on, had to laugh really considering what Barber said about the adults ruining it for the kids - they need to hustle too.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

So income before costs/depreciation for the coach company of circa £1k per game.

Over the last 25 years we've become such an expensive country, a way of the Western world? Does £1k sound about right/fair for the coach company?

Seagull Travel are a travel agency in this, not the coach operator.

Without knowing their business model I would assume that they have contracts to hire coaches with the companies. If you took a 3pm kickoff, depending on the location the hire would probably be for around 7 hours to cover getting to the first pick up point the journey each way plus waiting time at the Amex (they can't go off and do something else while the game is on), the return journey and time to get back to the depot and clean the coach. Some of the ST routes start outside of Sussex so the hire would be longer for some routes.

With driver wages and insurance costs the hire charges won't be that cheap and on top of that, ST then have to cover their operational costs (including paying the coach park stewards), office overheads, etc.

To give an example, some friends looked to hire a small coach for the day to come down to Brighton from Welwyn Garden City last year on a Saturday and were quoted around £1500.

 

[dstanman]

Did PBOBE mention that there is some exciting news with Nike going to be announced. Will this be a contract extension?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

RDZ bent down smiled and pinched his cheek.

Tsk! Italians, eh?

 

[Weststander]

Agree my daughter was nine when the Amex opened and she became a season ticket holder. She will be 22 this year and after fours years at Uni, will be a season ticket holder again next year. She has zero interest in any other team and only has eyes for Brighton.

She visited the Principality Stadium yesterday as part of her university study wearing a Brighton hoodie. She was chuffed when she saw this and sent me a picture.

View attachment 181646
She would have been 2 years old at that point. Good old Leon Knight.

That was a great weekend away.