Taking the criteria of fanbase, stadium, potential and club history into consideration....

[Gully Forever]

We've never been giants.

So how on earth are we sleeping?

We've got potential. Nothing more. If we did not have a large investor, where would be?

As someone wisely said, some of our fans are so deluded, it is embarrassing.

BTW - why has no one mentioned Sheffield United, Coventry, Ipswich, Derby, Bradford City?

All historically more successful than us.

Again, What possible bearing does History have on potential success.
Are you saying that because Brighton have never Achieved great success in past History, then History will not change. What utter cack.
I said, ALMOST sleeping Giants. Comparing the size of our Support to those in the lower half of the Premier League.

What's embarrassing is some people call themselves supporters, yet scold those who get excited about the changes at the Club.
Why can't those people get there head around that fact the Brighton FC is no longer the small club it once was.
So if your the type who doesn't believe Brighton FC are going places, ie the top tier in football. then I suggest you support someone else.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Again, What possible bearing does History have on potential success.
Are you saying that because Brighton have never Achieved great success in past History, then History will not change. What utter cack.
I said, ALMOST sleeping Giants. Comparing the size of our Support to those in the lower half of the Premier League.

What's embarrassing is some people call themselves supporters, yet scold those who get excited about the changes at the Club.
Why can't those people get there head around that fact the Brighton FC is no longer the small club it once was.
So if your the type who doesn't believe Brighton FC are going places, ie the top tier in football. then I suggest you support someone else.

Brighton FC?

 

[Gully Forever]

Brighton FC?

Did or do you live in Hove or something. did I forget you. Not sure what your getting at.

 

[Rugrat]

Again, What possible bearing does History have on potential success.
Are you saying that because Brighton have never Achieved great success in past History, then History will not change. What utter cack.
I said, ALMOST sleeping Giants. Comparing the size of our Support to those in the lower half of the Premier League.

What's embarrassing is some people call themselves supporters, yet scold those who get excited about the changes at the Club.
Why can't those people get there head around that fact the Brighton FC is no longer the small club it once was.
So if your the type who doesn't believe Brighton FC are going places, ie the top tier in football. then I suggest you support someone else.

Did or do you live in Hove or something. did I forget you. Not sure what your getting at.

Like when did we become Brighton FC?

It's great having ambitions but then so have pretty well every other club in the Championship and many in L1 too.

So all those who don't think we're destined for top tier football (you don't say when or how long we have to sustain it) have to go and support someone else? Thanks for that ... next time we're in L1 do all the dick wavers f*** off somewhere else too?

 

[worthingseagull123]

Again, What possible bearing does History have on potential success.
Are you saying that because Brighton have never Achieved great success in past History, then History will not change. What utter cack.
I said, ALMOST sleeping Giants. Comparing the size of our Support to those in the lower half of the Premier League.

What's embarrassing is some people call themselves supporters, yet scold those who get excited about the changes at the Club.
Why can't those people get there head around that fact the Brighton FC is no longer the small club it once was.
So if your the type who doesn't believe Brighton FC are going places, ie the top tier in football. then I suggest you support someone else.

By logic we cannot be sleeping giants if we've never been giants. I'm sorry but I cannot understand your interpretation of being a sleeping giant.

Leeds, Sheffied Wednesday, Sheffield United, Forest, Derby - they are sleeping giants.

We are not and it would take several decades of success for us to even come into the sleeping giant terms, were we to decline afterwards.

I agree we do have exciting times ahead. But I'm enjoying things at this level. Whether we can go up and become a sustainable Premier League side, who knows.

But lets not ignore our history. We are having the second most successful spell at our club. Christ, before 1959 we'd never been in the second tier.

When the buzz factor of Falmer wears off, will we still have decent gates?

All I am saying is those people that consider ourselves on bigger or on par than teams like Forest, Derby, Leicester, Sheff Utd, Coventry are seriously deluded.

We may have better squads and higher gates right now than some of those clubs, but not kid yourself for one minute that the country would perceive us to be a bigger club than the above.

 

[Working class pride]

So you are measuring our fan base on the two years since we have moved to the Amex?

Over tyhe last ten years or so we have been a tiny club with a tiny ground punching above its weight. It will take us a few years to move on from that.

I'm not sure how you come to either conclusions from reading my posts.

1. I judge a clubs size on fanbase, both pas present and future as I have said before in the other posts. Brighton have always had large attendances for the division they have played in, and my reference to Bamber, was that we were the 9th best supported club in the 70s despite playing lower league football. That mate is not judging the albion on the last two seasons.

2. No mate, Brighton were not a small club when they lost the Goldstone, and went to Gillingham and then Withdean. Nor were Wolves when they went to the 4th division. They were both clubs with a big support who had fallen on hard times. There is a difference

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

All I am saying is those people that consider ourselves on bigger or on par than teams like Forest, Derby, Leicester, Sheff Utd, Coventry are seriously deluded.

We may have better squads and higher gates right now than some of those clubs, but not kid yourself for one minute that the country would perceive us to be a bigger club than the above.

Agree 100% with what you're saying, but all you've got is your own perception of it at the end of the day, and in the same way that two people will look at an oil painting of Wilfred Zaha hanging in an art gallery and come away with two utterly divergent views on that work of art, you're probably never going to get two people ordering the 90 odd league clubs in the same 'size' order from top to bottom, regardless of whether those clubs once won the Pig's Bladder Kicked Between Villages Trophy in consecutive seasons in 1677, 1678 and 1679, get home gates of 50,000 on a regular basis, or are Brighton and Hove Albion with our 1.2m catchment area making Coventry City look like Accrington Stanley.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

I'm not sure how you come to either conclusions from reading my posts.

1. I judge a clubs size on fanbase, both pas present and future as I have said before in the other posts. Brighton have always had large attendances for the division they have played in, and my reference to Bamber, was that we were the 9th best supported club in the 70s despite playing lower league football. That mate is not judging the albion on the last two seasons.

2. No mate, Brighton were not a small club when they lost the Goldstone, and went to Gillingham and then Withdean. Nor were Wolves when they went to the 4th division. They were both clubs with a big support who had fallen on hard times. There is a difference

Very much this. What was that Chris Cattlin quote about us being one of the big nine (biggest clubs in the country)

 

[BadFish]

I'm not sure how you come to either conclusions from reading my posts.

1. I judge a clubs size on fanbase, both pas present and future as I have said before in the other posts. Brighton have always had large attendances for the division they have played in, and my reference to Bamber, was that we were the 9th best supported club in the 70s despite playing lower league football. That mate is not judging the albion on the last two seasons.

2. No mate, Brighton were not a small club when they lost the Goldstone, and went to Gillingham and then Withdean. Nor were Wolves when they went to the 4th division. They were both clubs with a big support who had fallen on hard times. There is a difference

.....but you have to factor in Withdean and Priestfield, what happened with the Goldstone affected the size of our club.

I don't deny we have always had more potential than we have realised. But the fact is that until we realize some of it it just looks pathetic banging on about us being a big club.

Some of the names we are being lauded as being 'bigger' than on this thread is laughable.

I think public perception must play a part in the 'size' of club. When I was a kid and Wolves were in the 4th division I never thought of them as a big club. They were just another shitty little 4th divison club. Then I dad told me who they used to be. My perception was that they used to be a big club.

I guess that throws up another question....... Does the size of a club change?

 

[BadFish]

Very much this. What was that Chris Cattlin quote about us being one of the big nine (biggest clubs in the country)

wrong?

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

wrong?

Cattlin's top nine:

Manchester United
Liverpool
Everton
Arsenal
Everton
Tottenham
Aston Villa
Coventry
Brighton

 

[El Presidente]

Again, What possible bearing does History have on potential success.
Are you saying that because Brighton have never Achieved great success in past History, then History will not change. What utter cack.
I said, ALMOST sleeping Giants. Comparing the size of our Support to those in the lower half of the Premier League.

What's embarrassing is some people call themselves supporters, yet scold those who get excited about the changes at the Club.
Why can't those people get there head around that fact the Brighton FC is no longer the small club it once was.
So if your the type who doesn't believe Brighton FC are going places, ie the top tier in football. then I suggest you support someone else.

You don't understand that:

1: To be a sleeping giant you need to have been a giant in the first place.
2: Capitals are used at the start of sentences and for proper nouns.
3: Brighton FC don't exist.
4: There is a difference between their, they're and there.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Cattlin's top nine:

Manchester United
Liverpool
Everton
Arsenal
Everton
Tottenham
Aston Villa
Coventry
Brighton

Was that Cattlin's actual 'list' ?

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Was that Cattlin's actual 'list' ?

No

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

You don't understand that:

1: To be a sleeping giant you need to have been a giant in the first place.
2: Capitals are used at the start of sentences and for proper nouns.
3: Brighton FC don't exist.
4: There is a difference between their, they're and there.

Agree with all of the above points with the exception of 1. It's been annoying me that this keeps being trotted out. Being a sleeping giant means that you've got unrealized potential. It does not mean that you were once great and no longer are.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Agree with all of the above points with the exception of 1. It's been annoying me that this keeps being trotted out. Being a sleeping giant means that you've got unrealized potential. It does not mean that you were once great and no longer are.

If that's the case then any club, which has a gap between where they are and what they could be, is a sleeping giant. Crystal Palace is a sleeping giant. Ipswich is a sleeping giant. Nottingham Forest is a sleeping giant. Wigan is a sleeping giant. Southampton is a sleeping giant.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

If that's the case then any club, which has a gap between where they are and what they could be, is a sleeping giant. Crystal Palace is a sleeping giant. Ipswich is a sleeping giant. Nottingham Forest is a sleeping giant. Wigan is a sleeping giant. Southampton is a sleeping giant.

To a degree. But it is hard to imagine a club like Stockport or Shrewsbury respectively being a sleeping giant. I personally don't think we are a sleeping giant but I may be proved wrong yet I suppose. I do however believe we are more than capable of holding our own as a medium sized club.


And tbh, Wigan are exceeding expectations and will never have a large fanbase imo. Southampton are doing okay so both of these are not sleeping giants.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

To a degree. But it is hard to imagine a club like Stockport or Shrewsbury respectively being a sleeping giant. I personally don't think we are a sleeping giant but I may be proved wrong yet I suppose. I do however believe we are more than capable of holding our own as a medium sized club.


And tbh, Wigan are exceeding expectations and will never have a large fanbase imo. Southampton are doing okay so both of these are not sleeping giants.

If people can't imagine Stockport or Shrewsbury being sleeping giants, that's more to do with a failure of their imagination than any actual limits. Many years ago, people would have scoffed at the thought of Wigan - little Wigan - being a Premier League side, yet this has been the case since 2005. It is perfectly possible for Wigan to win a trophy or two in the next fifteen years and that would grow the fanbase, or for Southampton to gain a mega-rich owner like an Abramovich and take the club to title winners.

The potential growth of a club is elastic.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

The term 'giant' suggests 'big' doesn't it? Wigan has a total population of 81k, Brighton and Hove alone is 260k or thereabouts.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

The term 'giant' suggests 'big' doesn't it? Wigan has a total population of 81k, Brighton and Hove alone is 260k or thereabouts.

Precisely.