Machiavelli
Well-known member
Well it does a bit. We were a long time in wilderness years, we were losing many, many fans in the last 5 or 6 years at the Goldstone, Withdean was limited in capacity, and in interest for many. We got the Amex, there was a fantastic response from our long standing fans, and an even more amazing response from many thousands who clearly weren't active followers of the Albion previously. They saw the glory of the new stadium, they saw 2 seasons in the playoffs, the 'promise' of EPL football (Premier League Ready), that kept many of them coming, but now that (one) ambition bubble has been so impressively burst it no real surprise that some will go back to their Sky Sports and back to armchair supporting whatever team they want. It's a fickle thing football, look how the mighty have fallen (Leeds, Wednesday et al) , we have not been mighty (yet) so the fall isn't a surprise really, the club needs to regroup and rethink, we'll probably see lower crowds next season (tickets sold), but if they dish something up on the pitch worthwhile, those crowds may grow as the season develops.
Spot on. I'm one of these JCLs, having lived in Brighton since 2002, avoided the Withdean, and the Amex's arrival coinciding with my son reaching five. We shared a season ticket in 2012/13, but ended up buying tickets for those non-allotted games towards the end of the season (we saw Ulloa's hat-trick, and us thump six past Blackpool, for instance), followed by two full season tickets. I asked the boy if the season had disheartened him so much that I shouldn't renew his ticket (he did go six months without seeing a home win, because he doesn't go on Tuesday evenings), and his response was "you've got to support your local team".
I've explained that football is a good illustration of life: it doesn't always go well. I think it's @BBasic that's got a tag-line quotation from Adorno, that says "football implies the desire to suffer". It also implies hope.
Not only does he like watching the football, and seeing Kazenga play, he also likes the banter we have in WSU.