Lost the passion?

[Beach Hut]

What did everyone expect in the transition from Withdean to the Amex ?

Yes there were the darkest hours and many many people fought hard to get to where we are now however what was their actual expectation ?

For me, it was always going to change totally from being the little club at the Athletics stadium to the Amex as there was so much at stake. What has happened, in my view, is that the little club we once all loved and were very close to has gone. The days of either North or South, meeting by the badger burger vans and limited fan base all knowing each other has disappeared and to be honest always would.

We are now how large corporate football clubs are run, perhaps for many it was not what they expected or more importantly what they wanted but the reality is this is what football is now like in the land of mega-money, Premier League etc.

We are now just a customer, the fan has long since be abolished so I am quite surprised people did not see this coming.

I suppose as a customer the only thing you can do is vote with your feet these days.

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

They certainly did, players like Steve Burtenshaw, Jimmy Collins and Dave Turner were as hard as nails, if others werent showing commitment, these guys would let them know about it.

Brian Horton would top my list. But pitch performances are a mere sideshow in this thread, which raises far more fundamental concerns.

 

[Seagull58]

Bit of an ill-deserved kick in the teeth to True Spirit Of The Albion players like Calderon and Kayal tho eh? They deserve better than that. IMHO, like.

Kayal has only been here a few weeks and Calderon hasn't played that many games Who would you say has genuinely shone like a beacon this season and deserves to be Player of the Season? 3 months ago I might have said Dunk but he has been dire recently.

 

[Working class pride]

What did everyone expect in the transition from Withdean to the Amex ?

Yes there were the darkest hours and many many people fought hard to get to where we are now however what was their actual expectation ?

For me, it was always going to change totally from being the little club at the Athletics stadium to the Amex as there was so much at stake. What has happened, in my view, is that the little club we once all loved and were very close to has gone. The days of either North or South, meeting by the badger burger vans and limited fan base all knowing each other has disappeared and to be honest always would.

BHA were not a liitle club at Gillingham or Withdean. The Albion were the same sized club that they always have been and are today, they were just the same sized club who had fallen on hard times, in exactly the same way that Wolves were the same sized club they always had been, even when they dropped into the 4th division. As for all this soul searching then my my what a load of fuss about nothing. The only thing wrong with the club is the same problem throughout our history - a shocking side.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Kayal has only been here a few weeks and Calderon hasn't played that many games Who would you say has genuinely shone like a beacon this season and deserves to be Player of the Season? 3 months ago I might have said Dunk but he has been dire recently.

Dunk, Calderon and Kayal in that order.

 

[Horses Arse]

So many issues raised in this thread...

Supporters who travel from London - it doesn't give you the gold key to the crapper when it comes to feeling particularly hard done by - you pays your money, you makes your travel plans and you live with it.

How it feels not to be able to go - eventually the depression wears off and it doesn't even cross your mind to go. You then need two things to get you back - opportunity and a kick up the arse from someone to remind you what you're missing.

How it feels to go again after a long time away - awful, as far as this season is concerned; bloody awful, the same as it does for those who never went away. Peaks and troughs, ups and downs, stand or fall.

Player of the season - find some poor soul who has been to every single game this year, home and away, cup and league, friendlies as well, and give the award to him or her. Some efforts off the field are worth rewarding more than the efforts on the field this year.

The Amex 'experience' - shorten the halftime beer/food queues somehow (dedicated beer lines maybe, or add all drinks to the beer only carts/stands), stop the servers from gripping pints by the rim with their grubby hands... and that's about it. When we whinge about the stadium then things must be appalling on the field.

In summary, having started off in the 70s, been absent for over 20 years from the mid-80s, I'm now as committed and passionate as I ever was and screw you if you think I should be leaving that to the teenagers and twenty-somethings. We all have a part to play, all have our own threshold for putting up with this season's rubbish, and all make our choices about how we respond to how the current situation makes us feel. For me, I'm hooked again, like I should have been all along. I'm also never home, mostly skint, and always knackered. Championship, Premiership, League One - I'm in.

Bring on 2015/16.

What the hell are you on about when you say those that travel down from London being seen as a gold key to feel hard done by? Not seen that from anyone. Surely you see that anyone travelling to get to home games has to commit more time and money than those living locally.

 

[Working class pride]

Couldnt we do a "worst player of the season" award. Would be more apt, mildly amusing and lots of candidates

 

[Giraffe]

There was always going to be this feeling sadly but I am surprised at how bad it has got.

For me it's all about the football I don't give a shit about all the pre match or post match stuff.

And bottom line is I want to see Brighton players playing with passion, determination and skill. We have lacked in all three for some time.

I also want to like the players. Two seasons ago I liked all of them, they felt like Brighton players.

Now, other than Calders, Dunk, Bruno, Kaz and CMS I don't feel anything for them. We have an assortment of loanees, and average journeyman players.

We have some good prospects coming through and maybe then that will change but at the moment I am pretty deflated with the whole thing. It won't stop me going because I always will but it is starting to remind me of some of the Withdean years where I went out of loyalty and blind devotion. If I and others feel like that imagine what the floaters feel. That can only mean attendances dropping.

 

[Horses Arse]

What did everyone expect in the transition from Withdean to the Amex ?

Yes there were the darkest hours and many many people fought hard to get to where we are now however what was their actual expectation ?

For me, it was always going to change totally from being the little club at the Athletics stadium to the Amex as there was so much at stake. What has happened, in my view, is that the little club we once all loved and were very close to has gone. The days of either North or South, meeting by the badger burger vans and limited fan base all knowing each other has disappeared and to be honest always would.

We are now how large corporate football clubs are run, perhaps for many it was not what they expected or more importantly what they wanted but the reality is this is what football is now like in the land of mega-money, Premier League etc.

We are now just a customer, the fan has long since be abolished so I am quite surprised people did not see this coming.

I suppose as a customer the only thing you can do is vote with your feet these days.

I thought this club would be different or at least try to be different. Naive maybe but that's what I thought.

 

[Beach Hut]

I thought this club would be different or at least try to be different. Naive maybe but that's what I thought.

In what way would they be different as we are already, how many clubs showcase a band outside pre-match and how many other clubs encourage people to remain at the stadium post-match to drink ?

 

[Deleted member 22389]

If we where still at the Withdean we wouldn't be getting a second chance, we would have been down by now wishing we had a new stadium to play in. That is the biggest difference for me. It's shit at the moment, but what do people want. Bloom is trying to secure us a future.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

One bad season. I wish people would realize this and stop being ungrateful.

I will never stop being grateful to the Henfield One. It's the rest of them that struggle to retain my gratitude.

 

[Beach Hut]

If we where still at the Withdean we wouldn't be getting a second chance, we would have been down by now wishing we had a new stadium to play in. That is the biggest difference for me.

This is quite an important point, we had to move on from the way we were to evolve and this is the only way forward whether you like it or not is another thing entirely.

 

[Jam The Man]

Agree with most of this.

I missed the "I hate football" thread - being stupidly busy at work at the moment - which is a shame as I would have contributed. The players, in general, are arrogant spoiled mercenaries. Maybe they still were back in the day but it didn't come across to me that way. I think about the heroes of my day and I think of Ian Chapman and Stuart Tuck buying me a pint, John Keeley saluting each and every one of the 200 odd who used to go up North after another dismal 3-0 defeat that those of us who'd gone by train has used as a two hour break from drinking or Johnny Byrne giving every last bead of sweat. Nice bloke Byrne, he's coached my son and follows back on twitter, Agustien won't even do that with the sad sacks that spend all day kissing his ar$e. I think of leaders like Fozzie, Grealish, Horton. There was a photo of Wendy Wilkins in the programme last night that I joked about because, despite his nickname, he was caked head to foot in mud in it. When you did lose 3-0 in some Northern shit hole there was no spin, no marketing campaign or twitter take over. Nobody "manged expectations on social media". You just got on with it and two weeks later you'd be back with your mates at 6am on Brighton station with a bag full of newspapers and ale ready to go again. Maybe it's that the OP misses? I know I do.

The absolute nadir of this season? It's hard to tell. Millwall's up there but so is last night. We literally would not have scored if we'd played till midnight. Paul Barber lecturing the fans, Sami being appointed / kept on. The club pretending Toko was a DS signing. All fairly annoying. But if anything sums up my "i hate football" match of the season was Arsenal. The mega superstar multi millionairre Sanchez walking about with his hands in his pockets before the game and getting cleaned out by Rohan Ince during it. We still lost it though because we gave them too much respect, treated them like Royalty instead of 11 other players. After the game the OB on Falmer station protected a load of their brain doners singing "no noise from the batty boys" just outside a stadium that has led the fight against homophobia.

That's modern football folks. Massive clubs with massive salaries and massive twitter accounts. Spin, money and loan players like that little shit Leon Best. I put more effort in than him fetching my morning paper.

Yet I still go. Yet I renewed. Why? My son loves it for one. It's a genuine passion. He didn't even want to leave early last night. My friends for another. The social side. The monthly DD becomes a kind of down payment on good times with my mates. The alternative, frankly, is tramping round some equally soulless, commercialised, overpriced zoo complete with its own twitter account or visiting a similar shopping centre or cinema complex or, God forbid, staying in. They've got us by the short and curlies. I don't like it but I like the alternative less.

More similar thoughts here if you're interested https://brightononlyathome.wordpress.com/

Bang on.

 

[Working class pride]

In what way would they be different as we are already, how many clubs showcase a band outside pre-match and how many other clubs encourage people to remain at the stadium post-match to drink ?

I'm still wondering how you thought we were a small club at Withdean or Gillingham or am I splitting hairs? Did you start watching us at Withdean? The club is the same as it always has been, just the club hit hard times. Wolves didnt become a small club when they went to Div 4 and neither did we when we had even harder times than we had been used to

 

[Working class pride]

I will never stop being grateful to the Henfield One. It's the rest of them that struggle to retain my gratitude.

Rest of who..?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I thought this club would be different or at least try to be different. Naive maybe but that's what I thought.

I think the club is inherently very decent and tries to do every damn thing decently. for that, Total respect. Club is the good guys

But enough of the club.

Playing-side-wise the club is SHOCKING. They act like a League One club, and are far more likely to gravitate towards League One than the Premier League, unless there's one almighty SHAKE-UP!

 

[Working class pride]

I think the club is inherently very decent and tries to do every damn thing decently. for that, Total respect. Club is the good guys

But enough of the club.

Playing-side-wise the club is SHOCKING. They act like a League One club, and are far more likely to gravitate towards League One than the Premier League, unless there's one almighty SHAKE-UP!

Nail on head

 

[Beach Hut]

I'm still wondering how you thought we were a small club at Withdean or Gillingham or am I splitting hairs? Did you start watching us at Withdean? The club is the same as it always has been, just the club hit hard times. Wolves didnt become a small club when they went to Div 4 and neither did we when we had even harder times than we had been used to

Splitting hairs, maybe I should have said fan base at the time which was small at Withdean and Gillingham but for obvious reasons.

Yes I am a JCL as I went to the Goldstone ground, started watching us around '79

 

[symyjym]

It's easy to lose passion at this stage of the season, where we are, and probably safe even if no more points are gained. If we have a good pre-season and capture some quality players we will probably get some belief back which we need before passion.