[Albion] Your Three Favourite Albion Seasons

[el punal]

This came up on a match day train chat. The older you are the more choice, of course! Anyway, my top three, in date order :

1976/77 - Alan Mullery’s first season in charge. In my view it was the first time that I saw an Albion side that had the potential to go all the way. With an incredible attack, especially at home where we scored 63 goals, and great midfield and sound defence we were an absolute joy to watch - and we got promotion.

2010/11 - Gus Poyet (when we all loved him!) built a team that utterly bamboozled the rest of the division with possession football that opposing sides had no answer to. Going top of the league in late September and staying top right to the end of the season was testament to a great squad and management - and the added bonus of moving into our brand spanking new home the following season!

2016/17 - At last! After so many seasons of nearly, not quite, gaining promotion, we finally did it - in style. From October onwards it was just us and Newcastle in the running for top two. Our football was sublime with so many stand out performances. The thing, for me, that encapsulated it all was the most wonderful team spirit. Boy, did we feel the love, the board, coaching staff, players and the fans all as one - marvellous!

 

[Return of the Rev]

76/77

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Nice thread. Will be interesting to see what people come up with.

Given the age profile poll I expect a lot of us have similar memories..!

 

[ForestRowSeagull]

Interesting thread - Its odd in that the recent promotion season one spends so much time worrying about others results/upcoming fixtures etc that you fail to enjoy it. It's just after it all gets confirmed that you can enjoy it. Which is silly as it retrospect it was a magnificent season with many great wins.

The Poyet league 1 promotion does stand out though - we were just so much better than the vast majority of the league. That 8 game win streak in March was unbelievable.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

1. Autumn
2. Spring
3. Winter

 

[Biscuit Barrel]

96/97 - To survive the way we did and Fans United will live long in the memory.

2000/01 - To be back playing in Brighton and to win the league. I felt proud to be a BHA fan again.

16/17 - To finally make it to the promised land and playing some great football along the way.

 

[Brovion]

1 - 1978/79 - The best one. Promotion to the top division for the first time in our history. Equalled but never bettered.

2 - 1976/77 - Everything the OP said in post #1

3 - 2017/18 - First season in the PL, and yes it IS different to the old Division One, it's not just a name change. All those great players coming to the Amex and we weren't disgraced. Long may we stay here.

 

[nicko31]

79/80 - Just about remember it and was when as a kid, at this point I decided whether to support CPFC v1.0 or BHA

00/01 - Back in Brighton after a horrible time at Gillingham, Dick Knight had turned the corner

16/17 - Couldn't sleep after the Wigan game just so pumped up

 

[wolfie]

1964-1965 was the ultimate. Not only did we sign Bobby Smith, sixth months after he last played for England, but we also scored 102 goals and won Div 4 in the last game in front of 31,000 on a memorable Goldstone night.

 

[el punal]

76/77

Yep. Promoted from old Div.3 to old Div.2. Bearing in mind that was only the third time we did it in the club’s history.

 

[Bozza]

It didn't have the happy ending we all wanted (although in some ways maybe it did - paving the way for 2016/17's success) - but I absolutely LOVED 2015/16.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWdAdiuDXu8

 

[The Large One]

1978/79, 2010/11, 2016/17.

I love a good Moriarty, me.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

2000/01 - Brighton are back and winning and we've got Zamora and Micky is great.

2017-18 - in the Premier League, being talked about, and winning games, and being able to watch every game

with apologies to the other promotion seasons, and particularly the play-off season under Gus which was wonderful right up to the last game, my third choice is a bit left-field, 1994-95 - but really the calendar year of 1994. Liam Brady had taken over in December 93 with us in the relegation zone, and got us playing some great football, with Kurt Nogan (unashamedly still my favorite Brighton player) banging them in, the North Stand bouncing and good times after years of Barry.

We finished 14th and then the 1994-95 season started brilliantly with Kurt Nogan and Junior McDougald leading the line and arguably Jeff Minton's best season as a player with Jimmy Case alongside him in midfield. It all culminated in October with us 4th in the table, going away to Premier League Leicester and beating them 2-0 in the League Cup, a fantastic performance.

Then it all went wrong, we lost 9 of the next 12 games, were knocked out of the FA Cup by Kingstonian, Kurt Nogan lost form and was then sold to Burnley in February 95, but we still had some fun towards the end of the season, with the memorable 3-3 draw at Birmingham capping it off. And then Belotti and Archer had other ideas and everything went south in 95-96.

But for that year of 1994 everything seemed possible. Every game we played it felt like someone would get an absolute hiding by Brady's team - although I'm not sure anyone ever did. It was also a period where we had Foster, Wilkins, Codner, Chapman, McCarthy playing in the same team as Storer, McDonald, Smith, Rust, Minton - a real transitional period. It was the last time for a long-time that we had hope on the pitch and it was rather good fun while it lasted.

 

[bhafc99]

96/97. Intense, unforgettable, Albion was everyone’s life on and off the pitch 24/7.

00/01. Back home, Zamora clearly head and shoulders above the entire league, champions, pipping Cheaterfraud.

16/17. Promotion to the PL at last, a team of real quality, and I finally made it to the Amex from a new exiled life in Dubai.


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[Petee]

2010/11 - First season as a STH and not a bad one to start with.

2016/17 - Getting promoted to the premier league

2017/18 - 1st season in the premier league

Special mention for the Oscar Garcia season. That Ulloa goal at forest will never be forgotten

 

[Barham's tash]

But from my viewing history:

96/97 - perhaps it was being of an age where you felt more like an adult making adult like choices to demonstrate and protest and in doing so finally understand what it means to be a Brighton fan [not denigrating any JCLs here but it really does make all the good times THAT much better AND IMO makes us a more patient group of supporters for times like now when the going gets tough].

00/01 - after years in the wilderness the togetherness exhibited by that Micky Adams team is hard to beat. It felt good having the team back. My first title success, beating Orient convincingly at their place felt so sweet.

15/16 - [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] great shout for 15/16. Genuinely felt like everything clicked until the gods of luck decreed otherwise with the injuries v Massive. I know we didn’t make it but personal circumstances meant I could get to more away games than I could the next season and this so I guess I felt like more or a part of it too!



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[Thunder Bolt]

1964-1965 was the ultimate. Not only did we sign Bobby Smith, sixth months after he last played for England, but we also scored 102 goals and won Div 4 in the last game in front of 31,000 on a memorable Goldstone night.

Good call.

I also really enjoyed the 03/04 season when we made the playoffs, were the least favoured team of the four, but went to Cardiff, and won, publicising our need for the stadium at the same time.
We also felt we were making progress, at last after all that had gone before.

 

[Barham's tash]

2000/01 - Brighton are back and winning and we've got Zamora and Micky is great.

2017-18 - in the Premier League, being talked about, and winning games, and being able to watch every game

with apologies to the other promotion seasons, and particularly the play-off season under Gus which was wonderful right up to the last game, my third choice is a bit left-field, 1994-95 - but really the calendar year of 1994. Liam Brady had taken over in December 93 with us in the relegation zone, and got us playing some great football, with Kurt Nogan (unashamedly still my favorite Brighton player) banging them in, the North Stand bouncing and good times after years of Barry.

We finished 14th and then the 1994-95 season started brilliantly with Kurt Nogan and Junior McDougald leading the line and arguably Jeff Minton's best season as a player with Jimmy Case alongside him in midfield. It all culminated in October with us 4th in the table, going away to Premier League Leicester and beating them 2-0 in the League Cup, a fantastic performance.

Then it all went wrong, we lost 9 of the next 12 games, were knocked out of the FA Cup by Kingstonian, Kurt Nogan lost form and was then sold to Burnley in February 95, but we still had some fun towards the end of the season, with the memorable 3-3 draw at Birmingham capping it off. And then Belotti and Archer had other ideas and everything went south in 95-96.

But for that year of 1994 everything seemed possible. Every game we played it felt like someone would get an absolute hiding by Brady's team - although I'm not sure anyone ever did. It was also a period where we had Foster, Wilkins, Codner, Chapman, McCarthy playing in the same team as Storer, McDonald, Smith, Rust, Minton - a real transitional period. It was the last time for a long-time that we had hope on the pitch and it was rather good fun while it lasted.

Fantastic choice for 94/95. Had we not lured Brady south of the border then the resurrection might never have happened as well.

It really was liquid football at times wasn’t it? Wasn’t there also a 3-3 v Bournemouth in there too with a Chapman thunderbastard and a McArthy diving header to drag us back from the death in front of a packed N stand.

Thinking about it this was also the season my cousin and I graduated from our nomadic West terrace, East Terrace, NW Corner transitional period into fully fledged North Stand hooligans just to the right of the goal about 2/3rds of the way up.

The only things that mattered were football and maybe girls but definitely in that order. Great days.


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[The Kid Frankie]

For me;

2004 Playoff win
2005 Championship survival
2017 Premier League Promotion

 

[Jesus Gul]

Honourable mention for 87/88. Finishing behind Sunderland. Barry Lloyd's Blue and White Army! Nelson and Bremner