Sat here on Emirates eve it finally feels like we've arrived back at the top table and no matter how it ends tomorrow I will be incredibly proud. In 1990/91 I remember going on a Junior Seagulls outing to Highbury, being given the tour and we stood there with the prospect of the play off semi final in front of us the female tour guide asked us all eager beavers which division we'd be in the next season and we all screamed DIVISION 1 to come and play here! But alas it wasn't to be....
Arsenal away was one of the first fixtures I looked out for, not least because my wife is a season ticket holder at the Emirates, but mainly because I knew it would be the night before a game such as this that I'd feel how I did back then as an 11 year old. It really is like Christmas eve. We've never played there before, we've never beaten Arsenal before but to me it's this sort of game that typifies the elite of English football.
But would we be here were it not for the affection Liam Brady found for our club in his brief two year tenure back in the day?
He could have walked away, with his head held high, but instead he saw right from wrong and stood firm behind Dick and the consortium and it was only the draw of being appointed Head of Arsenal youth development that stopped him from returning as manager.
Hadn't seen it posted anywhere else but this article posted today on the Argus is a nice book end to that tempestuous period for me and again the class of Liam Brady shines through.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/15567586.An_excellent_man_working_for_a_sensible_regime__Arsenal_legend_Liam_Brady_applauds_Chris_Hughton_and_Albion/?ref=mr&lp=8
Arsenal legend Liam Brady has backed Chris Hughton to keep Albion in the Premier League, helped by the "sensible regime" above him. Hughton's strong Spurs connections are sure to induce an element of ribbing when he takes the Seagulls to the Emirates on Sunday. Not from Brady. You will not hear a bad word said about Hughton by his former North London rival, Republic of Ireland team-mate and fellow occupier of the Albion manager's seat.
Brady said: "I played a lot with him, played against him. He's an excellent man, behaves impeccably all the time. I think he has the respect of a wide spectrum of people in football - fans, media and players.
"You couldn't have a reputation better than that and he's done a fine job at a lot of clubs. Some of the clubs he's had to suffer because, dare I say it, he didn't have the financial resources to match the expectations, particularly Newcastle and maybe Norwich. But I think in Brighton they have a sensible regime who are not going to panic, who know the ups and downs of football and know how good Chris is."
"It's great to see him get those two big results at home, particularly the Newcastle one, where I thought his team played well."
Consecutive wins at the Amex against West Brom and Newcastle have injected belief that Albion are capable of surviving this season. Hughton's starting line-up tomorrow could include as many as five of the summer signings who have settled into the squad alongside mainstays of promotion from the Championship.
Brady said: "They haven't really gone crazy in the transfer market, but they've got a formula which I think has got every chance of keeping them in the top flight. They choose to have in their squad solid, grounded, hard-working professionals who want to be in the Premier League and I think that will serve them well."
Brady was part of the Arsenal team that thrashed Albion 4-0 at the Goldstone in their first game in the top flight in 1979. The gifted midfielder became manager (above) in their grimmest era after a spell in charge of Celtic.
He succeeded Barry Lloyd in December 1993, with Albion languishing in the third tier. He resigned nearly two years later, ending a 100-game reign in disgust at the way Greg Stanley, Bill Archer and David Bellotti were running the club.
Brady became one of the financial backers in Dick Knight's rescue consortium after the Goldstone had been sold to developers. The plan included Knight taking over as chairman and Brady returning as manager, but the lure of a job offer from Arsenal as head of youth development proved irresistible.
Even in those dark days, Brady recognised the possibility of a brighter future. "It was always a club fundamentally with potential and prospects," he said.
"I think the past before me had demonstrated that, when they had that good side that got to the First Division under (Alan) Mullery. It was a real football hotbed down there and the city has grown and grown since those times and since my time. I would put it in the category of a Norwich or Ipswich or Stoke.It's a big city with big football feelings. What you have to strip aside from my time there was the people running it. I think in Stanley's case he was just keen to get some money back out and in Archer's case he was keen to make a lot of money from wheeling and dealing. Once they had left, it was stripped right back to the bare bones, but under Dick he had the vision and determination to keep it going and take it to where he took it before other people realised its potential."
Twenty years ago, Knight (above) took over a club at the foot of the Football League, playing home games at Gillingham. Brady said: "That must have been the bottom of the barrel, but the fans were always there in the background, waiting to support the people they felt had the best interests of the club at heart. They saw that in Dick and the people with Dick, and they see that with the Blooms now."
Arsenal away was one of the first fixtures I looked out for, not least because my wife is a season ticket holder at the Emirates, but mainly because I knew it would be the night before a game such as this that I'd feel how I did back then as an 11 year old. It really is like Christmas eve. We've never played there before, we've never beaten Arsenal before but to me it's this sort of game that typifies the elite of English football.
But would we be here were it not for the affection Liam Brady found for our club in his brief two year tenure back in the day?
He could have walked away, with his head held high, but instead he saw right from wrong and stood firm behind Dick and the consortium and it was only the draw of being appointed Head of Arsenal youth development that stopped him from returning as manager.
Hadn't seen it posted anywhere else but this article posted today on the Argus is a nice book end to that tempestuous period for me and again the class of Liam Brady shines through.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/15567586.An_excellent_man_working_for_a_sensible_regime__Arsenal_legend_Liam_Brady_applauds_Chris_Hughton_and_Albion/?ref=mr&lp=8
Arsenal legend Liam Brady has backed Chris Hughton to keep Albion in the Premier League, helped by the "sensible regime" above him. Hughton's strong Spurs connections are sure to induce an element of ribbing when he takes the Seagulls to the Emirates on Sunday. Not from Brady. You will not hear a bad word said about Hughton by his former North London rival, Republic of Ireland team-mate and fellow occupier of the Albion manager's seat.
Brady said: "I played a lot with him, played against him. He's an excellent man, behaves impeccably all the time. I think he has the respect of a wide spectrum of people in football - fans, media and players.
"You couldn't have a reputation better than that and he's done a fine job at a lot of clubs. Some of the clubs he's had to suffer because, dare I say it, he didn't have the financial resources to match the expectations, particularly Newcastle and maybe Norwich. But I think in Brighton they have a sensible regime who are not going to panic, who know the ups and downs of football and know how good Chris is."
"It's great to see him get those two big results at home, particularly the Newcastle one, where I thought his team played well."
Consecutive wins at the Amex against West Brom and Newcastle have injected belief that Albion are capable of surviving this season. Hughton's starting line-up tomorrow could include as many as five of the summer signings who have settled into the squad alongside mainstays of promotion from the Championship.
Brady said: "They haven't really gone crazy in the transfer market, but they've got a formula which I think has got every chance of keeping them in the top flight. They choose to have in their squad solid, grounded, hard-working professionals who want to be in the Premier League and I think that will serve them well."
Brady was part of the Arsenal team that thrashed Albion 4-0 at the Goldstone in their first game in the top flight in 1979. The gifted midfielder became manager (above) in their grimmest era after a spell in charge of Celtic.
He succeeded Barry Lloyd in December 1993, with Albion languishing in the third tier. He resigned nearly two years later, ending a 100-game reign in disgust at the way Greg Stanley, Bill Archer and David Bellotti were running the club.
Brady became one of the financial backers in Dick Knight's rescue consortium after the Goldstone had been sold to developers. The plan included Knight taking over as chairman and Brady returning as manager, but the lure of a job offer from Arsenal as head of youth development proved irresistible.
Even in those dark days, Brady recognised the possibility of a brighter future. "It was always a club fundamentally with potential and prospects," he said.
"I think the past before me had demonstrated that, when they had that good side that got to the First Division under (Alan) Mullery. It was a real football hotbed down there and the city has grown and grown since those times and since my time. I would put it in the category of a Norwich or Ipswich or Stoke.It's a big city with big football feelings. What you have to strip aside from my time there was the people running it. I think in Stanley's case he was just keen to get some money back out and in Archer's case he was keen to make a lot of money from wheeling and dealing. Once they had left, it was stripped right back to the bare bones, but under Dick he had the vision and determination to keep it going and take it to where he took it before other people realised its potential."
Twenty years ago, Knight (above) took over a club at the foot of the Football League, playing home games at Gillingham. Brady said: "That must have been the bottom of the barrel, but the fans were always there in the background, waiting to support the people they felt had the best interests of the club at heart. They saw that in Dick and the people with Dick, and they see that with the Blooms now."
