FANS UNITED - on the crewe website

[seagullski]

have you seen this on the crewe rivalsnet site?

a lengthy, well documented article on FANS UNITED

thank you to our friends at crewe.

www.crewealexandra.rivals.net

 

[syrup head]

have you seen this on the crewe rivalsnet site?

a lengthy, well documented article on FANS UNITED

thank you to our friends at crewe.

www.crewealexandra.rivals.net

I've just read it. Brilliant piece. An emotional old boy is off to bed now.

 

[Braders]

I discovered North Stand Chat, a Brighton message board that puts the Crewe web community to shame. Thousands of messages posted daily; it's a world of football talk, political discussion, hot gossip and really bad betting tips

Busted GG

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Top stuff indeed! Have posted a thank you on their Rivals message board.

Can;t wait til Saturday!!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Excellent stuff!



Fans United - Brighton

By Jon Colclough
Date: 12/10/2004

Over the next few weeks crewealex.co.uk examines some of the clubs facing more turbulent times ahead in the near future. In the first in a series of reports we look at Saturday's visitors Brighton and their endeavour for a new stadium.

Fans United. Grand name. Grand aims. But Fans United is no ordinary organisation, it has no leadership, no paying members, in fact it is not an organisation, so to speak, more the name for the cohesive attack on the rogues and con merchants trying to pillage the beautiful game. An example of the way in which crooks have come into the world of football as a means of making profit is no more evident than at fellow Championship strugglers Brighton. Because, since 1997, the Seagulls have enjoyed a somewhat tumultuous relationship with the football league. Now homeless and penniless Britain's newest city relies on one man to ensure the future of their once great football side. This epic task lies on the sizeable shoulders of our punch throwing, jag driving, beer swigging Deputy PM John Prescott.

1997. A year stained in the minds of all Brighton fans. Ex chairman Bill Archer, then owner of home improvements giant Wickes, sold the famous Goldstone ground to a firm of developers, pocketing the profit and leaving the club with nothing but a bunch of overpaid nobodies and a huge bill to be paid to the taxman (still not paid). The club, now homeless, moved 90 miles down the coast to Gillingham, taking only 1500 home fans with them for their weekly 2-hour pilgrimage to Priestfield. Probably at the lowest ebb in their 100 year history Brighton were forced to spend their limited resources on improving the Gills' ground to the state we see today.

Now back in Brighton, well just outside it, some would argue the club are only slightly better off. The grandly named Withdean Stadium is their home but the reality is a ram shackled athletics track with hastily erected temporary stands around the pitch. The ground is not fit for Conference football, let alone a city as large and prosperous as Brighton & Hove and a team with such an illustrious history. So for years the club have been trying to move to a new 22,000 seater stadium at Falmer but constant clashes has seen the process delayed time after time again so even today, 7 years since the closure of the Goldstone, the fans do not know for sure where their future lies.

OK this is a brief encounter of the past 7 years with (very) limited facts and my sketchy knowledge. Unfortunately with the tide of the net in the past 5 years myself and many other fans have only recently come to comprehend the true scale of Brighton's problems. But the fans of this south coast club must be commended for their dedication, devotion and perseverance over these years; campaigning heartlessly to move forward. They alone managed to rid the club of Archer through a wide range of protests and campaigns. One year he may have over estimated his popularity when he received thousands of Christmas cards irate over his handling of club affairs. New chairman Dick Knight, ably supported financially by Fatboy Slim, has always been able to count on their tremendous cause in canvassing politicians to accept their new stadium. Indeed I can conclude that the past few years have not torn the club at the seams, but that the fans have found hope in adversity forming one of the best supported clubs outside the Premier. On researching this article I discovered North Stand Chat, a Brighton message board that puts the Crewe web community to shame. Thousands of messages posted daily; it's a world of football talk, political discussion, hot gossip and really bad betting tips, not to mention an official Q&A with the club. In striving for a new stadium Brighton fans have formed a united front that no politician, or crook can ever break.

So what are club fighting for? As I said they have placed all their hopes on being granted permission to build a state of the art 22,000 capacity stadium at Falmer, a small village outside Brighton. Unfortunately despite receiving permission, after an overwhelming majority decision in the Planning Department, from the council the foundations have never been laid. Local villagers, now lambasted by all as NIMBYs, objected to the plans and forced a public inquiry. Once again permission was granted but continual lobby by the middle classes of this rural backwater meant that the decision now passed to John Prescott. But now the NIMBY cause was backed by Lewes District Council despite the fact that Falmer does not fall under their jurisdiction.

Confused? Me too. Well to make it more ridiculous Prescott refused to make a decision instead passing it over to another public inquiry. But this inquiry will not decide whether to build at Falmer, it will decide whether to build at 8 other listed location, all of which are impossible. Indeed one already has a supermarket built there and the others all have massive problems including one which will probably fall into the sea before too long. Anyway, the main arguments of the NIMBYs are that the stadium will be built on an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (it won't because the borders change next year) and that there is limited accessibility to the site (there won't because public transport and huge park and ride schemes are planned).

During the long and tortuous campaign for justice the Brighton fans have been both imaginative and colourful in their protests. They sent hundreds of flowers to Prescott on Valentine's Day, they gathered a 70,000 strong petition to send to the Deputy PM and they won a local referendum 3:1 over whether or not to build the new stadium. A couple of weeks ago they marched on the Labour Party conference but due to the continued NIMBYism of the villagers and the £150,000 spent by Lewes Council (taxpayers money - the stadium isn't even in Lewes) no decision has been made yet. The club is so short of money now that they are trying to raise £2m from the fans to pay for the enquiry, and there is the prospect of a judicial review if the enquiry finds against them. But club, players, management and fans are all united behind their cause and when 1000+ Seagulls make the trip to Gresty Road on Sunday let's all remember their plight.

What can you do? Not that much really now. The public enquiry is in February and will hopefully find in favour of the club. You could post your messages of goodwill on northstandchat.biz or alternatively you could send an email to Charles Kennedy asking why his supposed left wing party is blocking plans of revitalisation and rejuvenation to the Brighton area (both the council and Norman Baker, local MP opposed to Falmer are Lib Dems). More importantly we can learn the Brighton lesson and make sure it never happens to our club, we must defend the very independence of Crewe against this type of thing.

 

[dougdeep]

Informative and well written.

 

[Kryten]

well written. fantastic.

 

[Fran Hagarty]

Is the head office of Focus still in Crewe?

It would appear so:Registered office:

Focus (DIY) Limited
Gawsworth House
Westmere Drive
Crewe
Cheshire
CW1 6XB

 

[Yorkie]

well written. fantastic.

Agreed

 

[kalinski]

top article

 

[Northstander]

Well written and a brilliant piece of info for Crewe fans!!

Bring on Saturday!!

 

[b.w.2.]

Is the suggestion to lobby Charles Kennedy a good one?... if so, I'm in... anything to help in the fight to get Lewes DC to back down... advice please, LB... thank you...

 

[Gazwag]

I believe that WHEN we get Falmer there should be a Fans United day involving two teams made up of players selected from the Championship, League 1 & 2, which fans from all clubs in the country invited to attend at discounted ticket rates.

 

[Hiney]

Quality article.

Saturday will be even better now

 

[Wardy]

Well written by what can only be described as a true football fan.

 

[aftershavedave]

a very well written article!

 

[itszamora]

Excellent stuff

 

[Scarface]

But club, players, management and fans are all united behind their cause and when 1000+ Seagulls make the trip to Gresty Road on Sunday let's all remember their plight.

Sunday?

 

[The Large One]

A few detail errors in there - but generally excellent.

The 'campaigning heartlessly' bit was funny, though.

 

[Blackadder]

I discovered North Stand Chat, a Brighton message board that puts the Crewe web community to shame. Thousands of messages posted daily; it's a world of football talk, political discussion, hot gossip and really bad betting tips

Busted GG

REALLY bad betting tips!!