[Albion] I Just Don’t Care Anymore

[Mo Gosfield]

I kind of understand what the OP is saying but I certainly DO care about the Albion and maybe that’s what is causing the flat feeling at the moment. As a 56 year old I’ve experienced the highs of getting to the old 1st Division and the FA Cup final, and the lows culminating in that day at Hereford, then the journey back. This season has probably been my most memorable ever supporting the Albion - the trips to Marseille, Ajax, Athens and Rome with my son have given me memories I will take to the grave And memories I could have never imagined. But since that defeat in Rome the season feels like it’s fallen off a cliff and just leaves me feeling that I now can’t wait for this season to end. I honestly can’t see us getting another win with the fixtures we have left and as a result I believe that Wolves, Bournemouth and Fulham will overtake us and we’ll finish 13th. The injuries, the performances & results and now the demeanour of RDZ has caused this feeling. I feel we are now at a crossroads as a club - do we push on to the next level to strive for more European adventures and winning a domestic cup, or carry on buying raw talents and selling for a profit and keep settling for mid table comfort while every decent manager we get wants to leave after a short time with us ? It’s the fear of the latter that is concerning me at the moment and leaves me asking myself ‘where do we go from here’ ?

Where we go is simply concentrating on retaining our place in the PL. Not pushing on to ' next levels ' The route to the highest echelons is blocked by 6 clubs who have been allowed to develop global strength and a massive advantage over the rest. We are the supporting cast. Us and 13 others. A mini league with a fine margin of getting it right or not so right. The dynamic can change very quickly. Leicester...PL title...FACup...5th..5th..8th...relegated. Apart from the Greedy Six we are all on loan to the PL. I think it is the realisation of this that eventually seeps into the pores of most of us and manifests itself in periods of relative disinterest. We love our club but it's part of a sport that has become greedy and dirty and ugly. Big money always attracts the leeches..the charlatans..the quick buck merchants. Once it was boxing now its football.
Our ongoing injury list has frustrated a lot of us as we feel we are not realising our potential. We need to reset..go again..with or without RDZ and keep tilting at windmills. Keep playing David to the Goliaths. That is the real enjoyment for me. Putting big noses out of joint and listening to the entitled elite wailing and gnashing their teeth. UTA.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

My two passions in life have been football and rock music. There is a comparison, I think. You can go to a top band‘s concert, you sit down , everyone claps and the music is first class but somehow it does not compare to a good night at a small club standing in the dark near the stage with a good little band giving it out .

We have fond memories of the Goldstone standing near the pitch shouting to players and feeling more a part of it.
I dislike the Premier League as well… the silly money , the var , all the “ big time Johnnies” , but our club has succeeded and if you win matches you get promoted, so here we are.

I still love the Albion. It is a club to be proud of . But I hanker for the good old days ….. Even so , I am looking forward to the next game , and who knows what the future holds?

 

[Giraffe]

Attack v low block on repeat with horseshoe football (down one side, no cross, back again, and repeat repeat repeat repeat) is dead boring. But add Mitoma and March and it is a different game. We have become a bit boring to watch but it's largely due to injuries.

I do concur with the opening poster in that something is not quite the same as it used to be. But Europe was just bloody fantastic.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Attendance is optional…..if you don’t enjoy it any more, don’t go

This is my second season not being an ST holder in the Amex era and I've actually enjoyed it. We've picked our games, have always been able to get a ticket, have sat in a variety of places round the ground, taken some games off when it clashes with my son's football or what have you.

Each year I'd have had no problem jumping back into having an ST as they've always been available, however at the moment picking and choosing suits us.

 

[Nicks]

I wonder how many of us on here would of thought we would be having this conversation on here 13 years ago today ?

 

[Bold Seagull]

I wonder how many of us on here would of thought we would be having this conversation on here 13 years ago today ?

I actually thought we would have been having it sooner!

7th season in the PL - these conversations entirely predictable. 13 years ago today I thought we'd be up from the Championship within 2 seasons, 3 at most. And probably should have been.

 

[chaileyjem]

To also put it into perspective - 7 days ago - that lot up there were seriously fretting about relegation, and sharing misery whereever you looked. . 7 days later - the Austrian fella is the new messiah and they're apparently headed for the top 6 or even better next season.

 

[Vicar!]

To also put it into perspective - 7 days ago - that lot up there were seriously fretting about relegation, and sharing misery whereever you looked. . 7 days later - the Austrian fella is the new messiah and they're apparently headed for the top 6 or even better next season.

They will need to survive the transfer window first, they will do well to hold onto Olise and Eze.

 

[chaileyjem]

They will need to survive the transfer window first, they will do well to hold onto Olise and Eze.

And Guehi come to that.

 

[Vicar!]

Another aspect we should consider, as of next season it will be our longest consecutive spell in any one division since the old Third Division South. Same teams every season syndrome.

 

[Giraffe]

Another aspect we should consider, as of next season it will be our longest consecutive spell in any one division since the old Third Division South. Same teams every season syndrome.

It's a good point. I do miss the joy of going to different stadiums. I'm on just over 70 of the current 92 done but find myself consider trying to tick of the remaining ones with non Brighton games as other than Blackburn they're all in league one and league two now.

 

[GT49er]

Another aspect we should consider, as of next season it will be our longest consecutive spell in any one division since the old Third Division South. Same teams every season syndrome.

Wow! I hadn't thought of that, but it's quite a stat. We've got a long way to go to overtake our length of stay in Division 3(S) though!

 

[Nicks]

I actually thought we would have been having it sooner!

7th season in the PL - these conversations entirely predictable. 13 years ago today I thought we'd be up from the Championship within 2 seasons, 3 at most. And probably should have been.

13 years ago today we became League One Champions.
So we weren't even in the Championship

 

[Bold Seagull]

13 years ago today we became League One Champions.
So we weren't even in the Championship

I know it's a stretch, but as they paraded the League One trophy around the Withdean I actually allowed myself the thought that with this group and the new stadium a double promotion or within 2 or 3 years was entirely possible. Crazy I know.

 

[Justice]

I know it's a stretch, but as they paraded the League One trophy around the Withdean I actually allowed myself the thought that with this group and the new stadium a double promotion or within 2 or 3 years was entirely possible. Crazy I know.

When you hear people moaning and groaning about how they enjoyed the championship more the whole aim would be to get promoted again as quick as possible so I really don’t get that argument. Unless they would want us to be languishing around like Stoke getting nowhere playing in a half empty Amex.

 

[Bold Seagull]

When you hear people moaning and groaning about how they enjoyed the championship more the whole aim would be to get promoted again as quick as possible so I really don’t get that argument. Unless they would want us to be languishing around like Stoke getting nowhere playing in a half empty Amex.

I don't remember thinking around that joyous moment of knowing we were moving to our new ground as champions 'wouldn't it be great if we spent a good long period in the Championship'.

 

[Mellotron]

It's age. Everyone thinks the decades of being teenager/20s is the best ever.

Never is this seen more than in music.

"There's no good music nowadays" = I'm not young anymore and I don't like it.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Essay incoming. Apologies. Please skip.

Interesting to see this thread as it's how I felt coming out of covid. I accept all of this is a reflection of me and i am delighted to see people loving the football. I want my kids to love it and be Albion fans.

Re COVID, without being all dramatic n that, everything that came with it just hit home that sport is just a real life sitcom. It's entertainment. It just does not matter. My wife LOVES crime dramas but isn't bothered about sport. Sport is my equivalent of that. It's panto. It's SILLY. It happens, it stops, it all starts again and we forget what happened before.

For that 90 mins of a match, I want us to win. I will jump for joy if we score (before waiting to see if VAR says I'm ok to be happy), I'll feel a bit down if we lose.........and then it's done. I sit down for dinner with the family and it's completely forgotten about. I might fast forward our bit of MOTD but that's about it.

To hear people genuinely lose their shit arguing over FOOTBALL baffles me.....and that's before we get into the kind of people who FIGHT about it. The vilifying of other people because they follow a different group of 11 people from all over the world who play under the name of an English location. I want my team to beat yours, it doesn't mean you're "scum". The rose-tinted nature of defending your club no matter what. Newcastle, Man City, Everton fans defending what is clear for anyone else to see, just because it's linked to their club.

I gave up my ST last year (had it since 2001) and honestly, I don't miss it. I love the game of football........I don't like a lot of the nonsense that comes with it. I play twice a week now which has probably contributed to not missing attending games and, despite the kids having brighton kits, teddies etc I reckon I might take them along to Lewes or something if they want to go and get a first experience of football. Cost obviously being a huge factor. It's nice to know that my 20 or so ST years saw us play in our own city again, get promotions, move stadium, get to the PL, progress and now we are looking really stable. Maybe I've hit a bit of a "oh, we got to where I dreamed of........that's it then" feeling.

Another aspect is, now being fully emersed in the world of work, I just see all managers and players simply as people trying to make their way in their profession and we are just a cog in that. Do I reckon a kid from Ecuador dreamed of playing for the world famous Brighton? Nah. Are we the pinnacle for a manager? Nah. I'd move for more money so I have no issue with it happening here, but that mindset obviously contributes to some of the magic being lost. As many say, all the above is basically attributed to getting older and having a different outlook on life.

And finally.....VAR. It seems over the top to say, but VAR has ruined the key reasons I went to live football. In a sport where 1 goal may decide the whole thing, the moment you bring in something which means we have to wait to be sure we scored? Nah. f*** that. Another reason I'll go to something smaller if I fancy a live game.

I love this club. I love football. But the partners were right. It's only a game.

 

[poidy]

Essay incoming. Apologies. Please skip.

Interesting to see this thread as it's how I felt coming out of covid. I accept all of this is a reflection of me and i am delighted to see people loving the football. I want my kids to love it and be Albion fans.

Re COVID, without being all dramatic n that, everything that came with it just hit home that sport is just a real life sitcom. It's entertainment. It just does not matter. My wife LOVES crime dramas but isn't bothered about sport. Sport is my equivalent of that. It's panto. It's SILLY. It happens, it stops, it all starts again and we forget what happened before.

For that 90 mins of a match, I want us to win. I will jump for joy if we score (before waiting to see if VAR says I'm ok to be happy), I'll feel a bit down if we lose.........and then it's done. I sit down for dinner with the family and it's completely forgotten about. I might fast forward our bit of MOTD but that's about it.

To hear people genuinely lose their shit arguing over FOOTBALL baffles me.....and that's before we get into the kind of people who FIGHT about it. The vilifying of other people because they follow a different group of 11 people from all over the world who play under the name of an English location. I want my team to beat yours, it doesn't mean you're "scum". The rose-tinted nature of defending your club no matter what. Newcastle, Man City, Everton fans defending what is clear for anyone else to see, just because it's linked to their club.

I gave up my ST last year (had it since 2001) and honestly, I don't miss it. I love the game of football........I don't like a lot of the nonsense that comes with it. I play twice a week now which has probably contributed to not missing attending games and, despite the kids having brighton kits, teddies etc I reckon I might take them along to Lewes or something if they want to go and get a first experience of football. Cost obviously being a huge factor. It's nice to know that my 20 or so ST years saw us play in our own city again, get promotions, move stadium, get to the PL, progress and now we are looking really stable. Maybe I've hit a bit of a "oh, we got to where I dreamed of........that's it then" feeling.

Another aspect is, now being fully emersed in the world of work, I just see all managers and players simply as people trying to make their way in their profession and we are just a cog in that. Do I reckon a kid from Ecuador dreamed of playing for the world famous Brighton? Nah. Are we the pinnacle for a manager? Nah. I'd move for more money so I have no issue with it happening here, but that mindset obviously contributes to some of the magic being lost. As many say, all the above is basically attributed to getting older and having a different outlook on life.

And finally.....VAR. It seems over the top to say, but VAR has ruined the key reasons I went to live football. In a sport where 1 goal may decide the whole thing, the moment you bring in something which means we have to wait to be sure we scored? Nah. f*** that. Another reason I'll go to something smaller if I fancy a live game.

I love this club. I love football. But the partners were right. It's only a game.

I think this is a really good post and interesting take on it, particularly the point on COVID-19.

We’ve probably all been guilty of getting caught up in the football is ‘life and death’ narrative, but in contrast to what Bill Shankly (was it?) once said, it really isn’t.

I don’t think the point on COVID can be overstated. 17 million global deaths attributed to the Pandemic and over 230,000 in this country alone.

Not to mention the COVID hangover, where from my experience over the last two years, worringly there seems to be an inordinate amount of Cancer cases now arising. No doubt linked to COVID and the pressure the pandemic placed on the NHS. My wife for one (for the Grace of God she’s now on the mend) and then sadly two deaths at work last year within two weeks of each other.

Reflecting on all of the above, it’s hardly surprising that many people have emerged from this once in a 100 year event, with a newfound perspective on life and what’s important.

That one or two idiots on here have resorted to personal insults because of it, is frankly pretty abhorrent.

 

[Weststander]

I think this is a really good post and interesting take on it, particularly the point on COVID-19.

We’ve probably all been guilty of getting caught up in the football is ‘life and death’ narrative, but in contrast to what Bill Shankly (was it?) once said, it really isn’t.

I don’t think the point on COVID can be overstated. 17 million global deaths attributed to the Pandemic and over 230,000 in this country alone.

Not to mention the COVID hangover, where from my experience over the last two years, worringly there seems to be an inordinate amount of Cancer cases now arising. No doubt linked to COVID and the pressure the pandemic placed on the NHS. My wife for one (for the Grace of God she’s now on the mend) and then sadly two deaths at work last year within two weeks of each other.

Reflecting on all of the above, it’s hardly surprising that many people have emerged from this once in a 100 year event, with a newfound perspective on life and what’s important.

That one or two idiots on here have resulted in personal insults because of it, is frankly pretty abhorrent.

Yep, disgusting that you faced attacks. You’d simply shared heartfelt feelings. Another example of weird online control freaks, who couldn’t handle your view not matching theirs.

I think the effect of the lockdowns was the bigger thing. Generations for varied reasons now look at life differently. From the resulting mental illness epidemic, to a new found self awareness of folk looking for lives not as a slave to an employer (this is Europe wide), to folk now maximising things they truly enjoy … “Life’s too short”.