Just came back from Goldstone Retail Park

[Southover Street Seagull]

Just to clear up a major point that seems to have been raised from previous comments. Yes me and my dad have a strained relationship that was probably glossed over with the Albion but the point was that on that occassion he forgot his values and morals and so i felt that there was nothing left in common from then on other than a biological link. I could easily have overlooked it but where would that leave me and my values.

Finally i appreciate that there are people on here who have supported the Albion for X number years and have done this and done that but how can you claim to really whole heartedly support the Albion if you can bring yourself to set foot on that land let alone make an organised trip to go there or for that matter work there.

Where are your ethics!

So by your high ethical standards I cannot possibly wholeheartedly support the Albion; because I dropped my then girlfriend off in the car park and then waited outside for her in the car in Newtown Road?

 

[Garage_Doors]

Please tell me what difference it would make if every single Brighton and Hove Albion fan didn't shop there....

None, the number of Albion supporters is very low compared to those living in the Brighton & Hove areas and those of the retail parks customers.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Sir Sarcy, do you have a season ticket at Withdean?

 

[Brovion]

Well you're questioning it, so don't be surprised if people come back to "justify" it.
I'll admit it felt odd going there for the first time, still does, and I did hold off for a number of years before I took the plunge one Christmas for the sake of convenience, as what I was after was ONLY in stock at Toys R Us at the time.

I guess that makes me some kind of scumbag in your book, but thankfully I have enough perspective on life not to let stuff like this overly bother me or dictate my behaviour and shopping habits. I have enough fond memories of the Goldstone not to turn me into some kind of gibbering wreck every time I see it these days.

Don't worry about it. If people (and I sure Sir Sarcy isn't the only one) think that anybody who has shopped at the G.R.P. isn't a true Albion fan then fine, we're not true Albion fans. Whatever. However we shall continue supporting the Albion in our non-true fashion - if that's ok with the purists.

 

[Here's Johnny!]

Sir Sarcy, do you have a season ticket at Withdean?

He does. Has been a season ticket holder for years and attended all the home games at Gillingham I believe

 

[Storer68]

I take the point about fans not wanting to go to the retail park because of the Archer / Bellotti thing, I really do, but I find it a bit odd.

Is it acceptable to start going there when, for instance, Falmer opens? If so, why? We've got a ground at the moment and it's in Brighton, not ideal but we have.

The facts are that the ground was crumbling in the 80s and 90s, and if it had been made completely all-seater the capacity would have been c. 20,000 tops. Had the ground not been sold we'd still have been faced with the problems of relocating.

Without Archer we might not have had Knight, and without Knight we might not have had Falmer (which gives us a bright future). I'm not one for dwelling on the past too much, and the way I see it we've got to look forward.

Besides which, DFS have got a superb sale and we will be buying a £750 sofabed interest-free £15 a week for 4 years - the DD won't touch the sides.

So if they built a car park over the graveyard in which your father is buried, albeit 12 years ago, , that would make it alright?

 

[wellquickwoody]

Revenge Will Be Funny!

I have in the last couple of years got past the anger I felt at DFS and Comet etc., and have shopped there. I always thought that Focus was crap and did not spend a penny there when Archer was in charge. But my time will come!

When I die my wife or daughter has strict instructions on how I am to be 'disposed' of. On the last Saturday before Xmas at precisely 3pm she is to empty my ashes over till number 3 at Toys R Us, thus causing maximum disruption to one of the squatters on our home at a crucial time of year, and maximum press exposure to remind people, and lastly a small piece of me will forever be in the centre circle!

 

[wellquickwoody]

Interest Free?

I take the point about fans not wanting to go to the retail park because of the Archer / Bellotti thing, I really do, but I find it a bit odd.

Is it acceptable to start going there when, for instance, Falmer opens? If so, why? We've got a ground at the moment and it's in Brighton, not ideal but we have.

The facts are that the ground was crumbling in the 80s and 90s, and if it had been made completely all-seater the capacity would have been c. 20,000 tops. Had the ground not been sold we'd still have been faced with the problems of relocating.

Without Archer we might not have had Knight, and without Knight we might not have had Falmer (which gives us a bright future). I'm not one for dwelling on the past too much, and the way I see it we've got to look forward.

Besides which, DFS have got a superb sale and we will be buying a £750 sofabed interest-free £15 a week for 4 years - the DD won't touch the sides.

£15 x 52 weeks x 4 years = £3120, makes that £750 sofa quite expensive!

 

[Easy 10]

Don't worry about it. If people (and I sure Sir Sarcy isn't the only one) think that anybody who has shopped at the G.R.P. isn't a true Albion fan then fine, we're not true Albion fans. Whatever. However we shall continue supporting the Albion in our non-true fashion - if that's ok with the purists.

Absolutely.
I find all this guff about never going past the site (let alone going ON the site of the old Goldstone) all a bit maudlin to be honest. Yes it was a travesty, yes we are right to STILL be bitter towards the protagonists. But comparing the Goldstone site to something akin to a dead relatives grave is, in my opinion, sentimental claptrap. I bet half the people who swear never again to set eyes on the place probably didn't bother going there much anyway.

Its all a bit AMERICAN innit ? We'll be wanting a shrine there next, so we can all shuffle past in black veils weeping and laying symbolic Pukka Pies down in the carpark outside JJB.

 

[NMH]

I do not look in that direction when driving past.

In memory, it still shines - and I don't want that smeared.

 

[Sir Sarcy]

Well aren't I the controversial one. I fully appreciate that a lot of you have a rich history of supporting the Albion and can all lay claim to be the worlds greatest fan but really this whole argument boils down to my failure to grasp how people can cross that threshold for the first time and why.

It seems that for most of you it was simply a matter of convenience which seems strange, like you cant be bothered to care any more because it in some way affects the way you live your life. It’s no different to preferring a take away, disliking a garage attendant or avoiding roadworks and yet none of you could be bothered!

As I have stated on a previous thread the morning of the first game at Falmer I will go there to bid a final farewell and to link the old to the new but that will be my one and only time I promise you.

To answer a few questions put to me...

My Dad has been out of the country for 7 years and so is now only a fan in name really
My girlfriend would either not go there or not tell me but would certainly not ask for a lift
Finally I don’t expect any of you to put any value in what I think you should be comfortable enough in yourselves to not worry and when the season starts I will be standing there shoulder to shoulder with all of you, just maybe with a clearer conscience?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I bought a PS2 there and it gave me hours of enjoyment. I also bought a little radio and it supplies music to an orphanage in Malawi. Great things can come from a sad loss. :yahoo:

 

[Spiros]

Absolutely.
I find all this guff about never going past the site (let alone going ON the site of the old Goldstone) all a bit maudlin to be honest. Yes it was a travesty, yes we are right to STILL be bitter towards the protagonists. But comparing the Goldstone site to something akin to a dead relatives grave is, in my opinion, sentimental claptrap. I bet half the people who swear never again to set eyes on the place probably didn't bother going there much anyway.

Its all a bit AMERICAN innit ? We'll be wanting a shrine there next, so we can all shuffle past in black veils weeping and laying symbolic Pukka Pies down in the carpark outside JJB.

I know it sounds odd when I think about it, but for me it's about drawing a line under things. I couldn't go there before because it would feel to me as if I was in some small way condoning what happened. But I recognise that it's my own way of looking at it and certainly don't have a problem with others who either went shopping there from day one or who never want to set foot in the place.

I just think I can draw that line when we've played our first game at Falmer - at the moment we are still homeless as we're just lodgers at Withdean. I'll feel we have a home when we're really in at Falmer.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Well aren't I the controversial one. I fully appreciate that a lot of you have a rich history of supporting the Albion and can all lay claim to be the worlds greatest fan but really this whole argument boils down to my failure to grasp how people can cross that threshold for the first time and why.

It seems that for most of you it was simply a matter of convenience which seems strange, like you cant be bothered to care any more because it in some way affects the way you live your life. It’s no different to preferring a take away, disliking a garage attendant or avoiding roadworks and yet none of you could be bothered!

As I have stated on a previous thread the morning of the first game at Falmer I will go there to bid a final farewell and to link the old to the new but that will be my one and only time I promise you.

To answer a few questions put to me...

My Dad has been out of the country for 7 years and so is now only a fan in name really
My girlfriend would either not go there or not tell me but would certainly not ask for a lift
Finally I don’t expect any of you to put any value in what I think you should be comfortable enough in yourselves to not worry and when the season starts I will be standing there shoulder to shoulder with all of you, just maybe with a clearer conscience?

My ex girlfriend did not tell me to go there, I gave her a lift after much deliberation, dropped her off and waited outside, my conscience is totally clear beacuse I don't feel I did anything wrong. I never shopped there, in fact I was probably on the site for about 30 seconds.
Anyway isn't someone's conscience about how they feel about things individually? Someone may sit next to you next season and not give a f*** about shopping at the Goldstone Retail Park and therefore their conscience would be clear.
You haven't answered my question as to whether you have a season ticket either.

 

[Marlton & Hove Albion]

IT's CALLED A PRINCIPLE. I haven't gone there since it was being demolished. I said I would never set foot in the place again after the Donnny game and i haven't and i never will. In my memory its ALWAYS there

I came over from the US for Fans Utd. That day, the game, the North Stand, the result...its ALWAYS there and ALWAYS will be.

On various trips back home, I have gone out of my way to avoid driving down Old Shoreham Road. The Goldstone Ground is still there.....the years and years of memories don't just disappear when the grass and concrete has gone. This thread is a testament to the fact that you can never eradicate what is cherished and loved by so many.

If you have the stomach and desire to step onto the same patch of earth where Fred Binney once graced the game, you are a stronger person than I.

 

[Easy 10]

Its not a question of strength. And its not a question of one fan loving the Albion any more or less than the other depending on whether they've shopped there or not. Its simply that eveyones different, and deals with things in their lives differently.

Perhaps I'd feel differently if the club had ceased to exist after the ground had been sold, but it didn't. The Albion survived and (compared to where we were 12 years ago) has flourished under the stewardship of DK and the board. I still have my memories, very clear memories of the Goldstone and always will have. Driving past or visiting whats there now doesn't diminish that in the slightest, in my mind anyway.

 

[Titanic]

£15 x 52 weeks x 4 years = £3120, makes that £750 sofa quite expensive!

or £15 x 12 x 4 = £720 which is quite cheap for a £750 sofa!

 

[NMH]

This thread was doomed to happen, and probably raise its' ugly spectre again every so often in the nasty spirit form it has.

It's up to the individual.

I personally do not want to look at it. I was raised a few yards from what I feel was hallowed ground, and it's a picture in my memory I don't want spoiled - not even once Falmer is completed.
It sits for me as a crooked monument to their 'success', the success of the thieving uncaring self-serving bastards.

If you shop there every day and still worship the Albion - that is up to you, and I ain't going to subject you to feeling guilt or treasonous ire for going there.
Don't try telling me my feelings are wrong or misguided, and I won't tell you yours are, simple as that.

It's actually silly to argue about it or impose judgements on each other - just get on and DON'T let it be a divisive issue for ALBION fans now. THAT is something we should agree on - it mustn't carry ANY negative effect over us, we are Brighton.

They were filthy evil effing scum who did that, they certainly don't deserve to divide us in any way this far on. Fact.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Typo

or £15 x 12 x 4 = £720 which is quite cheap for a £750 sofa!

Just pointing out the typo - £15 per week, not month.

Regards.

 

[Easy 10]

It's actually silly to argue about it or impose judgements on each other - just get on and DON'T let it be a divisive issue for ALBION fans now. THAT is something we should agree on - it mustn't carry ANY negative effect over us, we are Brighton.

They were filthy evil effing scum who did that, they certainly don't deserve to divide us in any way this far on. Fact.

Wise words. Nice capitals.