Mike Bamber

[Raleigh Chopper]

Shame his dream of a new stadium or redevelopment of the Goldstone never happened under his chairmanship it was his dream, hardly a week went by without something about it in the programme.
Great times were had with Mike Bamber in control.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Best chairman we have EVER had and SHAMEFUL how he was hounded out of the club. I would love to see a Mike Bamber stand or something in honour of him at the AMEX, if it wasn't for him and his dreams of the future we would forever have been a small time team shuffling round the bottom 2 leagues

Great post! Those were the best times to support the Albion!

I was 16 at the time of the cup final,

Same age as me. It was a pity that our cup final run coincided with my revision time for o levels. Could I concentrate on anything other than football, could I heck!

 

[BensGrandad]

He wanted to build a stadium near Hickstead. Then rent it out to Palace every other week as it turned out he would have been better off considering Crawley.

 

[BensGrandad]

I was 16 at the time of the cup final, my father was helping in the club shop leading up to the game and then on the Sunday after selling tickets for the replay, my brother and I went with him and spent most of the collecting the money scattered all over the floor behind the counter and taking it through to the back office to put into piles. (no I don't know happened to it after that!) My abiding memories were firstly Moseley turning up on his push bike and leaving it in the office and secondly Mike Bamber coming in and sitting with my brother and I around the table helping count the money and taking yet another box full of tickets out to the shop. Spent some time with us totally enthused about the day before. The whole time he never appeared to be without a Rothmans clued to his lip. Looking back now it was very surreal given the immensity of the occasion, especially back then when the whole Country and many parts of the World celebrated final day as one of greatest sporting occasion on the calender.

A great man and what a time to be a kid watching the Albion, just a pity Wickenden was not around to be the rock behind Mike.

Might have been you or your dad who served me. I was well p....d and father in law took me to buy my replay tickets and the queue stretched around the Goldstone. Being drunk I wasnt going to queue with JCL so walked to the front of the queue where the police tried to stop me but Ron Pavey saw me and told the police to let me through and served me immediately. I was a stroppy b......d even then

 

[OzMike]

Seconded wholeheartedly

Should be honored and to be honest until Jr posted this thread, he was fading away in the old grey matter.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Best chairman we have EVER had and SHAMEFUL how he was hounded out of the club. I would love to see a Mike Bamber stand or something in honour of him at the AMEX, if it wasn't for him and his dreams of the future we would forever have been a small time team shuffling round the bottom 2 leagues

Agree with this.

A Mike Bamber statue would be a nice touch at the Amex, but a stand named after him would be better.

 

[mbamber]

I have a lot of stories to tell but have learnt to keep quiet all of these years. He dedicated himself to the club and some of you are correct when you say that Keith Wickenden was a big loss to him. His real vision was a new stadium at Waterhall. Sainsbury's were happy at the time to help finance the deal if they could have a hypermarket there but I suppose the rest is history. If he had not died so young he would definitely have been back at the club to save it through the dark times.

 

[Tubby Mondays]

Might have been you or your dad who served me. I was well p....d and father in law took me to buy my replay tickets and the queue stretched around the Goldstone. Being drunk I wasnt going to queue with JCL so walked to the front of the queue where the police tried to stop me but Ron Pavey saw me and told the police to let me through and served me immediately. I was a stroppy b......d even then

What a lovely tale of selfishness that is.

 

[BensGrandad]

What a lovely tale of selfishness that is.

It is but I wasnt going to lose out on a ticket for the replay becuase some people who had never seen them play jumping on the bandwagon and buying them. In those days I went to every game home and away and formed the opinion, right or wrong, that I was entitled to a replay ticket.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Best chairman we have EVER had and SHAMEFUL how he was hounded out of the club. I would love to see a Mike Bamber stand or something in honour of him at the AMEX, if it wasn't for him and his dreams of the future we would forever have been a small time team shuffling round the bottom 2 leagues

So true. When I worked on the turnstiles in the 70s he would periodically come down to the North West corner and say hello, which on match days must have been difficult with opposition boards to entertain etc.

Great visionary and would love a part of the Amex to be named in his honour.

TNBA

TTF

 

[Mackenzie]

I have a lot of stories to tell but have learnt to keep quiet all of these years. He dedicated himself to the club and some of you are correct when you say that Keith Wickenden was a big loss to him. His real vision was a new stadium at Waterhall. Sainsbury's were happy at the time to help finance the deal if they could have a hypermarket there but I suppose the rest is history. If he had not died so young he would definitely have been back at the club to save it through the dark times.

Please tell us if you can, I'd be fascinated to hear about those days from his and your perspective.

 

[B.W.]

Great man. Great times. My BEST Albion-supporting times bar none.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Please tell us if you can, I'd be fascinated to hear about those days from his and your perspective.

This!

 

[Hamilton]

I've always been intrigued as to why there is nothing to recognise Mike Bamber. It's almost as if we'd rather not talk about those days for some reason. The guy had vision, and if I'm not mistaken, had he been more supported then we might have been able to sustain ourselves in the higher reaches for longer. Would love to know more about his time with the club.

 

[Garage_Doors]

It is but I wasnt going to lose out on a ticket for the replay becuase some people who had never seen them play jumping on the bandwagon and buying them. In those days I went to every game home and away and formed the opinion, right or wrong, that I was entitled to a replay ticket.

There's that word again that you love so much.

 

[BensGrandad]

That was how I saw it , was I wrong to think like that.

 

[chaileyjem]

I'm a massive fan of Mike Bamber, his legacy to the club, and how he shaped my early years supporting the Albion so I wrote this piece profiling him for TSLR a couple of years back.
http://jemstone.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/flairman-mike-how-mike-bamber-changed-brighton-forever/

 

[kevo]

Some pics of the great man:

 

[severnside gull]

In many ways he laid the foundations for the club we see today - forward looking and daring to dream.
Never understood why he gets no plaudits from within the club.
Politics I guess

 

[Leekbrookgull]

The best years of my Albion supporting life were under his chairmanship.

Absolutely,and i also believe it went along way into 'putting Brighton' as an area into the modern world.