Mike Bamber - hero or villain?

[public school boy]

Remenber what Brian Clough said " Bamber was the best chairman I've worked for".

 

[northstandnorth]

The worst thing Bamber ever did was to take a £1 million loan off Stanley. The best thing he ever did was live our dream of being a top flight team.

Actually no.apart from the fact Bamber had died before Stanley was on the scene.archer (not Stanley)came in with the loan years after Bamber died.

The worst thing Bamber did was create the "100 share" private company that replaced the wider public (f*** knows how many shares)company.
The constitution he created with its clause that shares could only be traded amongst directors or those approved by them,and liability for debt being concentrated on so few people,made it easy for Archer to get control of OUR club for Peanuts.£56.25p including V.A.T.

But f*** it,apart from sacking Pat Saward,Bamber? Albion Hero

 

[amexee]

Late 70's early 80's magic times.
However when that whole block at the bha end at wembley in the cup final was full of man u fans, it was clear that a scam of some sort was in play

 

[northstandnorth]

Well, f*** my old hat.

Now it's Mike Bamber's fault that we lost the Goldstone it appears...........

Ultimately,by changing the constitution and making share ownership a tight little package of people,(100 shares tradeable only with consent of the holders)he certainly made it easy for unscrupulous people to gain control of the club.
So not such a facepalm post as you think.

 

[shaun_rc]

Bamber was responsible for the debt and the constitution that made it possible for Archer to buy the club for £50. Sorry, that does make him partly responsible for the loss of the Goldstone.

But... we would also not have had the First Division, Cup Final etc.. He is both a good guy and a bad guy in the story of the Albion.

 

[northstandnorth]

Late 70's early 80's magic times.
However when that whole block at the bha end at wembley in the cup final was full of man u fans, it was clear that a scam of some sort was in play

No scam.
He made no secret of the FACT he sold of a large lump of our allocation to manure.The replay was better attended by Albion.But then.tickets were sold to diirect to fans.

 

[Deano's Invisible Pants]

Well, f*** my old hat.

Now it's Mike Bamber's fault that we lost the Goldstone it appears...........

I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but the club was in a terrible financial state long before Archer et al. got involved, and that was partly because we were paying the price for living beyond our means under Bamber. That is not to absolve A*cher of the blame, nor to deny Mike the credit for having the vision (and funds) to take the club to new levels. So yes, hero and a villain of sorts.

I really hope that the last 30 years' history have taught Albion fans not to take everything at face value. Don't get me wrong, I think the club is in good hands and we are incredibly fortunate to be led by Tony Bloom who is a genuine fan. But while we "enjoy the ride" we should still want to take a look under the bonnet occasionally and ask the odd question. What is our wage to turnover ratio, for example? Could we meet our financial obligations if, for whatever reason, we no longer had TB to inject capital? Maybe we should have asked those sorts of questions during the heady days of the late 70s and early 80s.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

The biggest problem was Wickenden was the shrewd "head" within the board, his demise caused the more risky undertakings by Bamber. Also at the time the club under the company name of Brighton And hove Albion Holdings Ltd owned large investments, one of which was La Manga resort in Spain, developed by Bamber, which had to sold off after Wickenden's death. Reputedly Bamber at the time was one if not the richest guys in English football. Wickenden also was extremely rich.

Bamber for me was a legend, especially as I grew up during our glory years

 

[bobby smith]

that thread that mentions the supposed "missing millions" from the 1983 cup run, got me wondering....

What is your verdict on mr bamber? I always liked him, had that air of charm and raffishness that suited both the club and the town - and he pulled off one of the great coups in football by getting brian clough as manager (clough always described him as the only chairman he enjoyed working with). He fell out badly with mullery tho, and for some the question will always remain 'where did the money go...?'.

hero without a doubt god rest his soul

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I should have added to my post, that after the death of Wickenden, Wickeden's family had no interest in football or the investments made within it such as La Manga and wanted the money out. It should be noted that the resort at that time was very much in its infancy and Bamber/Brighton had to pay off the Wickenden family. The dealings there in would suggest the sale of La Manga were concluded under valued (especially considering its now value) and the club suffered hardship from Wickendens demise. Bamber never really recovered from this.

 

[The Buttery Biscuit Base]

Remenber what Brian Clough said " Bamber was the best chairman I've worked for".

Brain Clough also said that chairmen were the one people in football that knew nothing about football!

Do you think he will insult the one chairman that stroked his large ego and gave him EVERYTHING he asked for?

 

[osgood]

i think that we had 30,000 gates many times in the old div 1, think that the accounting was at fault,
for whatever reason, for one night match v Liverpool the place was jam-packed ,
yet the crowd was recorded as 23,000 i think

 

[kevo]

Late 70's early 80's magic times.
However when that whole block at the bha end at wembley in the cup final was full of man u fans, it was clear that a scam of some sort was in play

It was the block below the Albion end, which was meant to be for 'neutral' fans (ie fans of regional football associations, etc). However, United fans had managed to get virtually all the tickets - meaning our end was in effect half Brighton half United.

One of the worst memories I have as a Brighton fan is being at the front of the top tier of that end at Wembley, and being continously pelted with coins by the United fans below.

Even worse, there was an old fella stood next to me (trying to dodge the sharpened coins) who had obviously supported Brighton all his life. Two United thugs had got into our end and stood next to him and were giving it large and behaving like obnoxious, aggressive ***** throughout the match. It obviously ruined his day. I was only 14 or something, but I remember thinking if I was older I would have sorted them out. Sadly, no-one did.

 

[kevo]

 

[Brovion]

The retain and transfer system ended in 1963? If you're meaning Bosman then that wasn't until 1995. There was no major change in the system between those two events.

Bamber made mistakes but then he was just doing what a lot did at the time. Definite hero and should be remembered as such.

You're partly correct, I should have been more accurate, however you're wrong when you say there were 'no major changes in the system' in between.

The full-blown 'Retain and Transfer' system did indeed stop in 1963 and the full-blown 'Bosman' system did indeed come in in 1995, however there were several staging posts on the way. The crucial one was in 1977. Between 1963 (when contracts started) and 1977 football clubs had the option to re-hire players at the end of their contract. If they chose not to exercise this option the player could leave on a free, but the crucial part is that it was still 100% down to the club, the players had no say.

In 1977, partly inspired by the Packer revolution in cricket, this was deemed to be 'restraint of trade' and it was agreed that at the end of their contracts players could now exercise their option to leave their clubs. It was also agreed that if their current club offered the player new terms that were at least as attractive as the old ones then that club was still entitled to a transfer fee. If a fee could not be decided between the clubs then a new transfer tribunal would then decide the appropriate figure. However when under contract in this new system players or their agents were explicitly not allowed to initiate transfer moves; it was up to the potential buyer to approach the club directly where the player was based. This system lasted until the Bosman ruling case in 1995.

It was the 1977 change and the knowledge that players could just walk away from the club that prompted the '10 year contract' situation to try and prevent the top players from leaving.

 

[BLOCK F]

We never did get a crowd of 30,000 in the old First Division. The crowds were in fact a bit disappointing. I remember one gate of only 13,000 and Bamber complaining that we were not breaking even. The club was in debt by the time we were relegated and the cup final cash paid off the debts. The Bamber years were brilliant lets hope we are about to enter a similar period.

Yes in a away,travelling to the old first division was better than arriving.I remember being rather disappointed with some of the attendances after the wonderful times during the preceding few seasons.
Mike Bamber.......a definite hero.Yes mistakes were made ,but without him we would never have had the unforgettable 'Glory Years'.I also agree with a previous poster re the sad death of Keith Wickenden being a great loss to the Board and so to the club itself.

 

[papajaff]

Makes me LAUGH when I see that BELLEND Dick Tight called a legend, he is not FIT to wipe Mike Bambers BACKSIDE let alone BE called a legend alongside Bamber.

I'm DISGUSTED that there is no tribute to Mike Bamber at Falmer and the supporters bar SHOULD have been NAMED Bambers and not named AFTER a potless pillock.

I couldn't have put it any better myself. What an emotional posting.

 

[Cheshire]

As many posters have already stated Bamber was a hero for believing that Brighton could go beyond the lower leagues and achieving it. I would say thoughts of the 'Glory Years' have kept many of us going through the subsequent dark hours of the club. Even Tony Bloom, has stated that period as being his inspiration for achieving similar success. And if that is achieved no doubt this time round we may have better fortune- no sudden deaths of influential directors (Wickenden), managers that are capable of sustaining the impact if and when Gus leaves, and the financial hindsight to keep the success running and a backdrop of culturally better times for football in general.

 

[Lord Bamber]

The biggest problem was Wickenden was the shrewd "head" within the board, his demise caused the more risky undertakings by Bamber. Also at the time the club under the company name of Brighton And hove Albion Holdings Ltd owned large investments, one of which was La Manga resort in Spain, developed by Bamber, which had to sold off after Wickenden's death. Reputedly Bamber at the time was one if not the richest guys in English football. Wickenden also was extremely rich.

Bamber for me was a legend, especially as I grew up during our glory years

hero without a doubt god rest his soul

The dealings there in would suggest the sale of La Manga were concluded under valued (especially considering its now value) and the club suffered hardship from Wickendens demise. Bamber never really recovered from this.

I am not for one saying Bamber was perfect and did not make some mistakes but how people can call the legend of Bamber a possible Villain is beyond me. He remains the best chairman we have ever had although who knows where the legacy of Bloom will find us. I do agree with a post earlier, let's check under the bonnet periodically to make sure the engine's working, given what we have suffered.

Mike Bamber - You are sir a legend and you created the best of times to grow up supporting the seagulls.

In the words of John Vinicombe it was "up & up & away"

 

[Brovion]

We never did get a crowd of 30,000 in the old First Division. The crowds were in fact a bit disappointing. I remember one gate of only 13,000 and Bamber complaining that we were not breaking even. The club was in debt by the time we were relegated and the cup final cash paid off the debts. The Bamber years were brilliant lets hope we are about to enter a similar period.

Yes in a away,travelling to the old first division was better than arriving.I remember being rather disappointed with some of the attendances after the wonderful times during the preceding few seasons.
Mike Bamber.......a definite hero.Yes mistakes were made ,but without him we would never have had the unforgettable 'Glory Years'.I also agree with a previous poster re the sad death of Keith Wickenden being a great loss to the Board and so to the club itself.

Both very good points. One of the 'mistakes' Bamber made was in believing that Albion fans would be loyal and would stick with with the club when times got tougher. He also thought that the fans might just appreciate that 1st division teams were going to be that little harder to beat than a lot of the lower league cannon-fodder we'd been happily mullering for the previous two or three seasons. He was wrong on both counts. The fickle Albion public turned their back on the team in droves once we started to struggle; the away attendances at places like Old Trafford and Anfield, places we'd dreamed of visiting were appalling. Home gates dipped to below 20,000, so the income he thought was all but assured never materialised.