How FANTASTIC Has This Weekend Been For The Town?

[Pogue Mahone]

Any chance we can come back to the point that this was a fantastic weekend for the city and find other threads to grind axes about the council, the i360, etc. etc...

It's a shame the i360 wasn't ready. I think it'll be a real focal point, and made for occassions such as this.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Astounding good fortune that the weather gods smiled on us all weekend and made for fun in the sun. Dark skies and tipping it down now.

 

[VAL1850]

Knees up Brighton TOWN

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Astounding good fortune that the weather gods smiled on us all weekend and made for fun in the sun. Dark skies and tipping it down now.

Yes. In a summer where days like Saturday and Sunday could be counted on the fingers of one hand, fortune certainly shone on us this weekend, along with the sun.

Today is shit.

 

[oneillco]

It's a shame the i360 wasn't ready. I think it'll be a real focal point, and made for occassions such as this.

Agreed Mr Mahone...but even unfinished the i360 makes Brighton look like a happening and exciting kind of place.

I also hope we get our act together to win World Heritage funding to restore the cast iron arches, etc.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I seem to remember that the council initially refused to let us play at Withdean and it took a lot of work to persuade them otherwise to bring the club back home.

I don't really want to stray into the Archer business because it is now becoming far removed from my original comment which was simply praising the club, but now it has been brought up; When the Goldstone was first sold, it wasn't fit for many more seasons, two at best, needed £millions spent on it to bring it up to league standard, we were £6m in debt and on the verge of being kicked out of the league.

Archer made money from the second sale of the site but by that time he had already been punched in the face and had been toppled. I couldn't tell you if he had good intentions of using that money to invest in a new stadium or just planned to run away with it, but seeing as he wasn't at the club, due to public demand, at the time of the second sale I am not surprised that he kept it.

I disliked what happened at the time but looking back on it I am not too sure on the choices we had. We needed to clear our £6m debt that season, and had to invest probably at least another £10m into the Goldstone immediately just to bring it up to minimal league standards. That is at least a £16m shortfall, and no one could have realistically come up with that sort of cash to take the club over.

The Goldstone was never fit for full scale development because of the East Stand so any money put into a temporary fix would have been a waste of money in the long term, because we still needed a new stadium.

I presume Archer first put in a pre-planning application for Waterhall which is the standard process, but on the face of it, in principle, it was a good choice of location.

I would love to know what the other option was because we only hear of what he shouldn't have done not what he should. Maybe you could help me with the other option available to get around the £16m shortfall?

Anyway my point about the council is they are apathetic and slow about everything. The West Pier fiasco and the lack of will to replace the old SS ice rink are prime examples of this.

It's a good job we had Knight, Perry and Bloom to push the Amex through so the whole city can enjoy international events. I don't give the council credit for this because they suggested Sheepcote Valley.

There are several bits of this that are worth responding to, but at this stage I'll just deal with the final paragraph. It wasn't Brighton and Hove City Council that proposed Sheepcote Valley. It was Lewes District Council and they only proposed that site to allow themselves to persist with their ludicrous (and expensive) campaign to stand in the way of Falmer.

 

[Leyton Gull]

Have not read the thread but this weekend highlights how ludicrous it was for some to dilly dally with the project in the first place.

 

[symyjym]

There are several bits of this that are worth responding to, but at this stage I'll just deal with the final paragraph. It wasn't Brighton and Hove City Council that proposed Sheepcote Valley. It was Lewes District Council and they only proposed that site to allow themselves to persist with their ludicrous (and expensive) campaign to stand in the way of Falmer.

I accept that the council became more helpful, if they weren't, the Amex wouldn't have been built. I just seem to remember that the council didn't really have the taste for football in the 90's. My original comment was just giving the club full credit for leading the way and if it wasn't for the board and supporters the council wouldn't have been bothered about having an international venue in the city.