[Albion] If we'd have lost at Hereford...

[GT49er]

Thing is, we’ll never know.

A bit like, what if Smith DID score?

.......................we'd have had more experience of playing in Europe prior to this season!

 

[el punal]

You scenarios ignore the inconvenient bit, that the Conference had indicated that they were NOT planning on admitting us (without a ground).

I met up with friends on New Year’s Day 1997 and also mentioned about us dropping into the Conference League. At the time I think we were 12 points adrift. I said we’ll be back in Division 3 (as it was back then) soon enough. One of the lads then said “Yes, but who says we’ll be allowed to join if we haven’t got a home.”
It was then that the enormity of our plight hit me.

 

[Brovion]

Would we?
We (the fans) had a reputation for protest and disruption (pitch invasions, protest marches, game called off (York) after a pitch invasion and the crossbar was snapped (which happened to be described iirc as a riot, with running battles between fans and riot police) and so on.... so would they really have view us as a good addition to their league, as someone other clubs in that league would have been keen to play against as they thought it would bring fans flocking to matches for the chance to watch us? or as a risk that their ground could be damaged, their games disrupted or called off adding to their costs?

We were, at that stage, nothing like the club or the team that had been in the FA cup final in 83 or in the top flight for a few seasons prior to it.
We were a smaller club that had had a few seasons in the top flight before dropping back down the leagues to around the level where we had spent most of our history playing at. Would clubs like Swindon? Barnsley? or Bradford City (which had spent time playing top flight / premier league football) be seen as a big draw if they suddenly fell into non-league football, many seasons after they last played at that top level?

That's a very good point. Leaving aside the inconvenient fact that the Conference categorically said we could NOT join I'm not sure their clubs would have tried to persuade them otherwise anyway. We're not Man City, Wolves or Sunderland, or Rangers when they had to start from the bottom of the Scottish League. We didn't have an away following in the thousands, so the argument that our visit would somehow be a massive financial boost to the host club is fanciful at best. They'd have had a few hundred more away fans than they'd usually get, and they'd probably sell a few more hot dogs, but that would be about it. Offset against that would be the increased police costs to cover the presence of unruly, protest-happy Brighton fans, and possibly a few less home fans put off by the thought of getting caught up in a riot. And yes they would be worried about that, the fact we had a new owner wouldn't matter - what if we didn't like him either?

 

[Commander]

Hereford in 1997 were a bit smaller than us as a club and obviously not got as much history. They dropped out of the league and have never been back. They now play in the same league as a team I have loads of mates playing for. There is no guarantee we would have bounced back and I suspect we would have ended up going bust completely like they did.

We will never know though.

People keep saying this, but it isn't true. They have been back, and they went all the way back to League One.

 

[Exilegull]

Brighton/Hove too big not to have a professional team we would have found a way either Phoenix club or some other solution. We dont have the football culture like in the north where they can do everything wrong yet have success now and hen through willpower. To answer OP maybe bouncing between League One and Championship maybe with smaller stadium in Falmer or rebuilt Withdean

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

.......................we'd have had more experience of playing in Europe prior to this season!

Prague in the Communist era. I would have wanted more than 5 points

 

[Berty23]

People keep saying this, but it isn't true. They have been back, and they went all the way back to League One.

Apologies. My mistake. Fair enough. They dropped off my radar and just popped up again when I was there with 16 other away fans in 2019. Boiling hot day. Day before stokes went mad at headingley and the day andone got that dumb red. Nothing quite like being in a crowd with only a few away fans and scoring.

 

[Anger]

What if Smith had scored or if we had beaten Notts County in ‘91?

Could we have improved our finances and delayed or avoided having to sell The Goldstone or being in the Hereford situation?

#multiverse

 

[Vicar!]

Why didn't we go to Millwall ? It would have been a better option.

I heard an approach was made but they were not interested.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

We would have disappeared without trace.

 

[Vicar!]

I personally think the club would have gone, and a Phoenix club created. This would either have risen quickly, or have failed with lack of local support from the powers that be. So taking that to be the case what would we have done?

Our support could well have benefitted the non league scene. Perhaps we would have seen Whitehawk rise in our place, re-branded with Brighton in the title. Worthing push on quicker than they have done, with a new ground and pushing league status. Perhaps even Southwick surviving and taking a leading role in local football.

Although Luton have done remarkably, the loss of the Goldstone could well have been fatal to us if relegated. No Falmer, no Europe no club.

Chilling.