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[Albion] Why do so many of our fans think we are still a 'small club'?
- Thread starter Mustafa II
- Start date
BadFish
Huge Member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 18,196
So your metric for the size of a club is how many fans they have from outside the local area.
Living in Australia I can tell you that this is extremely transient and based on many factors. Currently there is a huge wave of city supporting kids over here. when I first got here there were loads of Leeds fans (Viduka and Kewell The main reasons), then Newcastle because Viduka moved there. Both Leeds and Newcastle were dropped pretty quickly after relegation. We had our moment with Ryan playing for us but that interest has faded.
My point being that the fans you are using to measure our size by will not on the whole stick by us if/when we are relegated. Most will move on to the next team so they can continue to watch premier league football.
I have to ask why you have chosen the fans outside the local area over other metrics as a measure for club size?
Mustafa II
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #24
Local area is absolutely included, and I agree is far more important.
Like I mentioned, whether it's Worthing, Eastbourne, Crawley or Brighton itself - 15 years ago seeing BHA crest or colours was a rare sight. Now it is everywhere. We are the dominating team in Sussex, after decades (?) of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and the like being everywhere.
When I was in school, I was the ONLY kid in my year with Albion things. Now it's rare for a kid to NOT be an Albion fan in Sussex, particularly in Brighton.
I was looking for a vote option when I saw this thread.
JOLovegrove
Well-known member
- Jan 30, 2012
- 2,060
I think we have to win something before we start discussing this.
Great…another pointless ‘big club’ willy-waving heap of meaningless horseshit.
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BadFish
Huge Member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 18,196
My question was why have you chosen this to measure our club size?
Back in the day (presumably similar days) I was telling people of our potential to be better than the div 3/4 team we were. Massive catchment area, nice place to live etc. So by those measures I was always saying we were a 'bigger' club than our league position suggested.
The whole notion is flawed though because it depends what you use to measure.
To clarify how big a club do you think we are and how small a club are you suggesting others think we are?
As mentioned I always felt we were a tier two club that underachieved for a long time and is now overachieving.
Mustafa II
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #30
For me it's really important as I have seen the club on the brink of survival - for the best part of 2 decades if you are to include being homeless in the lower divisions.
But by acquiring a global fan base - and by becoming the number one club in Sussex - we have secured our future for decades to come.
Small clubs are always at risk of going under. So many have. It doesn't take a lot.
The generation of fans we have acquired has secured our future for decades, at least, if not forever.
It's amazing.
Can we use fruit as a mechanism for visualizing that?Lets compromise - medium sized?
Would you say we’re like an orange? Bigger than an apple but smaller than a pineapple?
BadFish
Huge Member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 18,196
I was a bit young to know but I wonder if this was said in the late 70s early 80s. Or by Charlton fans, Swansea fans, Oldham fans.
The fans you are talking about didnt give a shit about us when we were shit and if it happens again they will ditch us again.
Sorry but your big club forever idea is built on sand my friend.
Just enjoy the good times.
BadFish
Huge Member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 18,196
Nope there is only big and small.Lets compromise - medium sized?
We’re a mid-sized club currently punching above our weight, thanks to Tony Bloom. But the difference with us is it’s not down to us having a Billionaire sugar Daddy, as loads of smaller clubs have had this before. It’s down to having a genius at running a football club in charge (who also happens to be a Billionaire sugar Daddy). This genuinely hasn’t been done before, and while my gut tells me we will sink back down more or less where we came from at some point, perhaps we actually won’t.
In the same way that we don’t see Man City or Chelsea as proper big clubs, it would take generations of us finishing in the top 6 for proper English football fans to see us as a genuinely big club (and probably an expansion of the Amex to 50,000). But this isn’t really important- it’s far more important for young, up and coming players to see us as a genuinely big club, and that can happen a LOT quicker.
When Buenonotte was 13 and playing FIFA with his mates, we were a Premier League club. As far as he is concerned, we’ve probably only ever played in the Premier League. That’s a huge step from 5 years ago when kids at that age would have seen us as a nothing club. A 13 year old Buenonotte in 2024 will see us as one of the biggest clubs in England by the time he is 18 and ready to make a move to the Premier League, if we can somehow keep this current success going for another 5 years. So while we’d still be seen as New Money by your average English football fan then, the people we would actually want to impress wont see us like that at all. And that has to be the goal.
In the same way that we don’t see Man City or Chelsea as proper big clubs, it would take generations of us finishing in the top 6 for proper English football fans to see us as a genuinely big club (and probably an expansion of the Amex to 50,000). But this isn’t really important- it’s far more important for young, up and coming players to see us as a genuinely big club, and that can happen a LOT quicker.
When Buenonotte was 13 and playing FIFA with his mates, we were a Premier League club. As far as he is concerned, we’ve probably only ever played in the Premier League. That’s a huge step from 5 years ago when kids at that age would have seen us as a nothing club. A 13 year old Buenonotte in 2024 will see us as one of the biggest clubs in England by the time he is 18 and ready to make a move to the Premier League, if we can somehow keep this current success going for another 5 years. So while we’d still be seen as New Money by your average English football fan then, the people we would actually want to impress wont see us like that at all. And that has to be the goal.
AmexRuislip
Retired Spy 🕵️♂️
We're slightly bigger than Whitehawk and less bigger than MASSIVE
I think it’s perfectly fair to say that we are, unquestionably, the biggest club in Sussex
Mustafa II
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #37
I don't think you can possibly understand if you don't live here.
Albion shirts, colours, crests and stickers are everywhere now, and not just in Brighton... all of the surrounding areas too. Miles and miles reaching all around Sussex.
All the kids playing football in the park in Albion shirts, listening to 'Free from desire' on the phone on the bus talking about who the best Albion player is. These new fans are not temporary or fickle - these are permanent, life long Albion fans that we are acquiring. Generations.
When I was a boy - it was so rare to see ANYTHING Albion, even in Brighton itself, that it was so astonishing it was genuinely exciting.
But, we were a very small club back then. Most people supported the big clubs.
- Apr 5, 2014
- 25,901
Corrected
Silverhatch
Well-known member
Good post - his agents and advisors will know all the nuances of choosing us over the usual behemoths. Darts is unreal btw.
