Simon Morgan
New member
I'm hoping the following might get published by F365 tomorrow, but in case it doesn't, and for anyone that cares, here's a thing I felt compelled to write.
It’s difficult to say just how much credit has to go to Chris Hughton. The man has been an absolute hero, navigating both the bad and the good situations we have faced with absolute class. We get quite a few vaguely patronising tributes for our defensive solidity and ‘organisation’ (sort of like a more artisanal, Ocado version of Die Mannschaft) but there is a lot to be said for having 2 hard ******** (Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy) to build your defensive identity around. When you add in the lesser known Pascal Gross (who I was shocked to discover cost less than Wycombe's Craig Mackail-Smith), Glenn Murray and basically everyone else, it seems you have a recipe for survival!
The thing about being successful is that it is stressful. It wasn’t so bad 2 seasons ago when we inexplicably went and nearly got promoted, against all odds, before being edged by a humble, classy Middlesbrough outfit (not) and then dying a bit of a death in the playoffs. That whole season was a little bit of an anomaly, and given the enormous contrast with the previous year we endured under the worst manager in the world ever, Sami Hyypia, I found it a bit easier to enjoy the wins. Last year was not fun for large parts. The expectation, the outlay on a few new players and the fact that this really was our time to go up. It was all a bit much. Obviously the ends justified the means, but Christ the means were painful. Similarly, this season has been a stress rollercoaster. I don’t think we’ve won a game we didn’t deserve to, and we have proved reasonably adept at throwing away good positions in games. We have at times had to stare face to face at the cruelty of the Premier League.
However, this absolutely pales into nothing when compared with what BHAFC fans must have been going through 21 years and a day ago. Stadium sold, fans exploited, nearly out of the football league. It’s a variation on a depressingly common theme nowadays. But, for me, at that age - joining the then uncool and hardy ranks of Albionistas just 2 years before we left the Goldstone Ground - I didn’t really have a clue how bad it all was. I was at a home game against Carlisle where fans ran on the pitch at the end. I was at the York City game where after barely 10 minutes the crossbars were bent in half by a furious blue and white mob. On the day we got our precious point at Hereford to secure league status, I was playing football in Hove Park - within spitting distance from the now redundant old stadium - with my brother and Dad, whose frequent trips to the car to check the score eventually yielded a quite incredible outcome. I’m almost glad I wasn’t aware enough to experience such emotional trauma at such a young age, and it’s only in hindsight that I can appreciate how far we have come.
In the world we live in, so many people mould their persona by identifying negatively with things. Anti-Tory, anti-Corbyn, anti-having to pay for things (I am at least one of the above). However, I absolutely love my football club and could not be prouder of what everyone has achieved tonight. I know that anyone that is connected to me on social media must be sick to death of hearing it now, but don’t worry, I’ll be getting stuck into the local election chat soon enough (I won’t). To win against United, the team everyone else gloatingly ‘supported' at school/Uni, makes it even better. We’ve achieved a hell of a thing and we should never forget it. Brighton TID!
It’s difficult to say just how much credit has to go to Chris Hughton. The man has been an absolute hero, navigating both the bad and the good situations we have faced with absolute class. We get quite a few vaguely patronising tributes for our defensive solidity and ‘organisation’ (sort of like a more artisanal, Ocado version of Die Mannschaft) but there is a lot to be said for having 2 hard ******** (Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy) to build your defensive identity around. When you add in the lesser known Pascal Gross (who I was shocked to discover cost less than Wycombe's Craig Mackail-Smith), Glenn Murray and basically everyone else, it seems you have a recipe for survival!
The thing about being successful is that it is stressful. It wasn’t so bad 2 seasons ago when we inexplicably went and nearly got promoted, against all odds, before being edged by a humble, classy Middlesbrough outfit (not) and then dying a bit of a death in the playoffs. That whole season was a little bit of an anomaly, and given the enormous contrast with the previous year we endured under the worst manager in the world ever, Sami Hyypia, I found it a bit easier to enjoy the wins. Last year was not fun for large parts. The expectation, the outlay on a few new players and the fact that this really was our time to go up. It was all a bit much. Obviously the ends justified the means, but Christ the means were painful. Similarly, this season has been a stress rollercoaster. I don’t think we’ve won a game we didn’t deserve to, and we have proved reasonably adept at throwing away good positions in games. We have at times had to stare face to face at the cruelty of the Premier League.
However, this absolutely pales into nothing when compared with what BHAFC fans must have been going through 21 years and a day ago. Stadium sold, fans exploited, nearly out of the football league. It’s a variation on a depressingly common theme nowadays. But, for me, at that age - joining the then uncool and hardy ranks of Albionistas just 2 years before we left the Goldstone Ground - I didn’t really have a clue how bad it all was. I was at a home game against Carlisle where fans ran on the pitch at the end. I was at the York City game where after barely 10 minutes the crossbars were bent in half by a furious blue and white mob. On the day we got our precious point at Hereford to secure league status, I was playing football in Hove Park - within spitting distance from the now redundant old stadium - with my brother and Dad, whose frequent trips to the car to check the score eventually yielded a quite incredible outcome. I’m almost glad I wasn’t aware enough to experience such emotional trauma at such a young age, and it’s only in hindsight that I can appreciate how far we have come.
In the world we live in, so many people mould their persona by identifying negatively with things. Anti-Tory, anti-Corbyn, anti-having to pay for things (I am at least one of the above). However, I absolutely love my football club and could not be prouder of what everyone has achieved tonight. I know that anyone that is connected to me on social media must be sick to death of hearing it now, but don’t worry, I’ll be getting stuck into the local election chat soon enough (I won’t). To win against United, the team everyone else gloatingly ‘supported' at school/Uni, makes it even better. We’ve achieved a hell of a thing and we should never forget it. Brighton TID!
