Losing the love for the Albion

[Lethargic]

That's life Im afraid change occurs for good and bad and it is human nature to reflect on the good times but there were many a time when people left early from the Goldstone, games were poor, no atmosphere etc. I agree that football has been turned into a money machine for the privileged few but again this is a reflection of society in general not just the Albion.
My boy is 9 and he absolutely loves everything about the AMEX is this wrong is he missing out, no its just a different experience but it is still watching Brighton and Hove Albion, having a few beers (me not the boy) and enjoying the social interaction.
I went through a period where I thought I had lost my love for the Albion but it wasn't lost just buried deep and now it is back with a vengance and I am enjoying it as much as ever just in a slightly different way, by adapting my habits.
Mufti (sp) day at school today as well and the only thought on the boys mind was home or away kit, seeing the new generation starting to come through will help as we have missed years of new fans that would have made the transition easier and smoother.

 

[Return of the Rev]

So there I was, 16 years old and the fixtures have just been released, games such as Darlington away, Wycombe away, Brentford away and the real biggun away to Orient will be my future for the next 9 months, dreams of Pompey or Palace in the cup were also possible, what more could you want....it was going to be a hell of a season and I'd go anywhere to watch us. High points of fun away travel knowing we were going to watch div 3 comedy football with tea bars and £2 burgers, terracing and affordable entrances, we were the 'BIG' fish in the smallest of ponds, outsinging and out partying our opponants and on very rare occasions out playing them, these were the days where football was fun, grounds were old, tatty and the experience was hardly smooth and slick, Brighton were shit and I loved every minute of it but as with anything in life, I dreamed like so many others for more, I dreamed of once having a ground as beautiful as what was then the 'Alfred Mcalpine stadium', I cant say I ever thought it would happen............

13 years and the dream has been realized and if I'm honest, I loved it for about 6 months but now the club that I loved, the club that I would have walked 70 miles to watch instead of jumping on a double decker bus to go to, the club which I wanted so so so badly to succeed is just that to me now, a club, a business, a modern day money making machine that gets large numbers through the door, but somewhere within that change over, somewhere in all the quick success and 20,000+ new or returning fans that have emerged, something has dramatically changed and the 'Amex effect' isn't what I dreamed, isn't what I for-saw for my special club and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be part of it. Lets be realistic, it needed to change...I'm fully aware of that, I'm certainly not one of those who wanted us to always be the big fish in the lower leagues but it appears to me, the higher up you go, the more plastic it becomes, the more expensive it becomes and the more theatre like it becomes and that isn't the game or experience that I grew up loving, I had my fix of what the higher level was like from other fans on the trains coming back from the games and also on MOTD if I could get back from Darlington in time!

The most hilarious thing is, we lord it over teams like Palace with their run down ground with wooden seats, a drum and a tacky old school feel about it, but theres something 50x more real about that experience than the same dreary songs being belted out by the amex faithfull as they run up the exit stairs on 80 minutes and head for their train after adding nothing to the day and escaping without being noticed. I know we're very lucky, we have a wonderful chairman who has invested heavily into a wonderful arena to watch football and I may sound it but im most certainly not ungrateful in the slightest, it's just not working out for me personally and I was as avid as they come. Maybe its an age thing or maybe it's modern day football at the higher level in all seater staduims but as I've said, this isn't the great club & game it once was.

I met a pompey fan the other day, I said to him "Bet your gutted about another relegation" "No he replied, why would I be, I get to visit grounds I've never been to, take thousends away and take over small shit hole towns and basically get back to the game I fell in love with" I walked away thinking, my god he's so right.

It's all well and good moaning about the club/ground/expiereince but what can be done, what would make this more appealing, as I cant be alone in this feeling?

For me, terracing would bring a bit of banter back, bring fans closer together and make it more of a laugh to go to football, somewhere along this journey I've stopped laughing at the albion home games, I don't really look forward to them, that usually still thankfully occurs at away games which haven't lost the full edge and the future for me will proberly be just away games as home games just don't do it for me.

Slate me, ban me or ignore me, it's my view but I'll always follow the albion as they once were everything to me, maybe it's healthy that they just aren't what they used to be.

JUST A QUOTE FROM MAO TSE-TUNG ItS is better to have a great leap forward and loved then lost than to have never love at all


I hope that helps

 

[Hamilton]

Agree with every word the OP said but as someone else pointed out, it's more a case of falling out of love with football rather than the Albion.

Manchester City have just spent about £30m on a player I've never heard of. Seriously, what's the point of trying to go up? Money? It's not like any of us will see any of it.

The year we finished 2nd bottom to Doncaster I went to every game, home and away, and loved very one of them. Nowadays it's all a bit sterile.

Did you? Did you really?

I was worried mad. I really thought that we were going bust and I'd see my team disappear. Did you enjoy it? I didn't.

I'm sure we can all say it was an experience, but enjoy it? No. You can only say that because you look back knowing what the end result was.

 

[spoonie]

Did you? Did you really?

I was worried mad. I really thought that we were going bust and I'd see my team disappear. Did you enjoy it? I didn't.

I'm sure we can all say it was an experience, but enjoy it? No. You can only say that because you look back knowing what the end result was.

correct we all know the ending now, but looking back on that season was pure magic and the best season i can remember following The Albion. Those who were there will never feel anything like that again. I love the Amex but do miss the old days a little tiny bit

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I tell you what. Im getting MACKED off at the lack of activity regarding the manager scenario even if behind the scenes the laywers are having a field day.

Sort it now one way or the other.

 

[essbee]

byf1,

I have a pretty bloody difficult week where amongst one or two other things - the prospect of
footie at the Amex and away matches (many of which I try to get to) are what keeps me going.
I know compared with many my week is relatively ok - but it's still really hard.

OP - you can have some of my weekday work and grief if you want. Maybe you'd see things
differently then. Oh - and I was at Gillingham season ticket and Withdean.

 

[Trevy55555]

Respect to you for your post fella. As with everything, football has evolved. There are plenty of fans around who are not sure if their club will even exist in 1 or 2 years time. Be thankful that we have a true fan running things, and has been generous enough to give us the Amex and a new training facility.

I completely understand how you feel about the differing experience of say 20 years ago but I for one will gladly take today's feeling about the Albion rather than the feeling a few years back when the Goldstone was sold/ Hereford result or non league/ or any number of black days over the past few years. Keep the faith fella. UTA

 

[Braders]

Agree with OP - but rather than "losing the love for the Albion" it should read losing the love for football in general.

Money is absolutely destroying the game and it seems rather than the FFP fixing it - it's going to mean football clubs are going to squeeze even MORE money from the fans, turning this experience into even MORE of a plastic ,commercial one - losing touch of what's really important & enjoyable about football even more

People hate hearing this, but we should really aspire to be like Germany - Cheap tickets, terracing in modern stadia, great atmospheres, great football, plenty of home grown players -etc

Think this post roughly sums up my feelings at the moment - I'm an Albion fan and always will be , but just the surrounding stuff is weighing me down a bit.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

You have to take the rough with the smooth.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

to be brutally honest the version of football that so many people look back on with so much nostalgic admiration doesn't exist at this level anymore. Football at the top level is big business. With that brings a different type of supporter, higher ticket prices, not being able to pay on the gate and sit with your mates without organising, millionaire footballers that you may not feel connected to etc etc etc. It's just the way it is. Even in my time (i'm 26) football has changed so much (or is it a case of the albion being left behind for so long, and we're now catching up at such a rapid rate that some of us are struggling to keep up). I know that I can only really afford to go to several games a year...I've accepted that, so to get my football fix I look for cheaper alternatives...ie non-league.

i'm not saying "accept how it is or **** off", but seriously if you really want that 'back to basics' aspect of football back in your life then there's a successful non-league side in this city who would absolutely your support.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

I love my Amex seat and still being able to go with my old mates, but in much better surroundings. However, to a certain extent, I can see what the OP means. I will take Fulham as an example. We played them away back in 1993, the season after being relegated, when we looked as if we'd make the play offs, but in reality our troubles were just coming into the open. There were only about 5000 at Craven Cottage and we took a few hundred (no doubt some statto will find we took far more, but that's what it seemed to me). I have never heard so few fans make such a noise. Our fans by contrast were quiet and contented themselves with singing how fat the Fulham keeper (Jim Stannard) was. A couple of years later they beat us in the FA Cup at the Goldstone with Micky Adams in charge and still brought down a small but very noisy away following.

Nowadays if you go there, the place is full, with 23,000 crowds. However, there is precious little atmosphere, a very large proportion of the crowd are people who just feel like watching a Premiership game, and there doesn't seem to be a hardcore, as shown by their dire away followings - 247 on a Monday night at Southampton, for example. Talking to some Arsenal fans last season, they all claimed to prefer Highbury, and apparently pubs on the Holloway Road are full of old Arsenal fans who used to go to Highbury, but can't afford the Emirates. There is a box office on Piccadilly that regularly advertises Arsenal tickets. I asked how much they were. £125 was the reply - £75 face value, £50 booking fee. That I think is the real problem with modern football. I don't think it's specifically the Albion that are affected, though I think the current situation is hitting everyone's morale, while at the same time all we seem to be hearing is more money making ideas from the club.

 

[byf1]

For those that say bugger off and support someone else = good attitude, you are totally and utterly missing the point i'm making and I'll most certainly not be doing that. It wont fill the void if I support some other random outfit, the Albion is, was and will always be my team. I was there in the sit in protests, I was there at fans united against Hartlepool as a wee lad and I was even there at Notts County in 91, every single year I attend the most away matches out of all the lads so it's fair to say I haven't just started going recently, it was everything to me to the extent that when I was too young to have a job I used to do police ID parades and wash cars to get to the away games at your Carlisle's and Darlo's (Why I'm justifying this I have no idea but there you go) but people do make a very valid point....it could be a mix of what modern day football has become which has left this taste in my mouth aswell.

As lots have pointed out, It's my opinion.....hate it, disagree with it whatever.....but at least respect it.

 

[LA1972]

I think it's a great post and I agree 100%. It's something I've heard from a lot of people in the pubs before and after games. To tell him " good riddance" ect just makes you sound like a bell end.

 

[HovaGirl]

Not much of a fan, then, are you, byf1? Gotta be through thick and thin, for better or worse. And, like everything else in life, we have to compromise and adapt.

 

[byf1]

Not much of a fan, then, are you, byf1? Gotta be through thick and thin, for better or worse. And, like everything else in life, we have to compromise and adapt.

Hahaha, have you got a comedy DVD out just before xmas?

 

[Randsta]

Football has changed. But you can still get some of the old-school thrills in non-league. Lewes, Eastbourne Borough, Hastings and probably many of the others are pleasant places to be at 3pm ona Saturday, in my experience.

No thrills to be had at Eastbourne Borough awful hoof ball all the way!

 

[essbee]

Monkey Man,

Hastings on a Saturday afternoon?!!!

oh my good gawd please no!

 

[Timbo]

Did you? Did you really?

I was worried mad. I really thought that we were going bust and I'd see my team disappear. Did you enjoy it? I didn't.

I'm sure we can all say it was an experience, but enjoy it? No. You can only say that because you look back knowing what the end result was.

Yes, I really did! Because clubs like Brighton don't die, look how many chances Pompey are getting. They won't fold, football league clubs don't.

Even if we had packed up, we'd be back in the football league by now in one form or another and all had a bloody good time along the way.

The only thing I'd have felt bad about was the amount of effort and money Dick Knight was putting in. Would hate to have seen him lose it all as to be honest he didn't have a ridiculous amount to start with as far as FL chairman go.

 

[Official Old Man]

I know exactly how you feel. Back in the 70's I went to every home and away game. The promotions, relegations and near misses, I lived them all. Dreaming of the day that BHA may just reach the heights of the top league. In my early 20's following BHA was my life. Then it happened, the dream became reality, and top league football arrived at the Goldstone. And I lost interest. My season ticket saw me at all the home games but never went away at all. Now I'm back and looking to the big time again, but that failure this year, still not sure if I'm disappointed or happy to still be in the second tier.

 

[del strangefish]

I've had my moments this season when I've felt the same way as the OP.
However I can't imagine a life where the albion didn't exsist.
I agree with other posters about it being a symptom of the modern game.
As a kid, I used to cry if I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch MOTD, now I'm 52 and allowed to, I can't be bothered with it.