Are we losing something?

[alan partridge]

I do know what you mean but at the same time, I want Brighton to win every game, and I get excited when we sign GOOD footballers. That inevitably means Brighton are going to be moving up.

I MIGHT get a bit bored if we're stuck in the prem finishing around 13th every year, but for now, it's one hell of a ride.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Right here goes...

I'm a bit worried that I'm falling out of love with the Albion. I've followed them for 20 years or so, through the end of the Goldstone, Gillingham, Withdean, all that. During this time, I've watched other clubs with their new stadia, higher ticket prices, impersonal relationships with fans etc. etc. and liked the fact that we weren't doing that.

And now I've got this horrible feeling that we are losing something as we take these massive strides forward. I can't shake this feeling that i just don't feel part of it - for example, I've got 10 loyalty points so how the hell am I going to get a home ticket?

Nature of the beast I suppose - if you don't move forward you die in this game and we nearly did the latter so I'll take the former anyday. Suppose the way I support them is changing? No more Tuesday nights on a terrace for 10 notes, which for me is a shame.

Just me?

I don't get the abuse you and others are getting about this. Everyone has different personal circumstances and prioirties which will affect how often they go to matches (work, financial, family, illness, choice or whatever) It doesn't make them any less of a fan in my eyes, we all support the team in our own way which is why i hate this culture (especially bad on here over the years) of one upmanship such as 'I'm a bigger fan than you' rather than welcoming people openly to the clubs growing fanbase

Returning to this post, I suppose the equivalent would be when we returned from Gillingham to Brighton and someone saying i preferred Gillingham because there were less of us at matches therefore we felt more important being there as we were contributing a greater percentage to the club and our contribution was vital to keep the club alive, so i can see why so many are disagreeing with you about this and finding it hard to understand.

In recent years gone by we as fans have had to fight for what we needed at the club, either a change of board to oust Belotti and Archer or to campaign for a new stadium. So there is that sense of loss in that we have achieved our off the field goals (for now) and it may feel a bit strange now for some that we don't have to do anything to do to help the club any more (which could explain your feeling of detachment)

I noticed that change but while we were still at Withdean, the atmosphere there died soon after we got permission for Falmer. We no longer had a common purpose in compaigning for something that had taken a lot of our attention. Suddenly football was the focus again and this seemed to lead to an increase in complaints about trivial things such as the food, etc at Withdean. The singing also seemed to die down too as we no longer needed to chant songs about wanting Falmer and there wasn't really anything to replace those things staright away.

There were also those who felt that they couldn't trust the board to make the right decisions, fearing another Archer / Stanley / Belotti situation if they took their eye of the chairman and board, which is something that we may still have a little bit with all the fuss over trivial things about the new stadium which were just teething issues, they felt they had to make the club aware as they thought the club were incapable of doing anything about it themselves but then i guess it shows how strongly some of our fans care about the cluib and want everything to work out the best for us and future fans.

Given this clubs recent history a lot of people who fought and campaigned for this future we have now have a very strong bond to the club, probably a feeling only shared by the supporters of other clubs whose future has been in the balance and only through fans campaigning they helped save it or those whose club disappeared and a new phoenix club has been set up in its place (like Wimbledon) This is why i don't think we are or will become just another club with a new stadium, etc, that you don't like

 

[El Presidente]

Surely it is a lot easier to get a ticket at the Amex than it was ten years ago at Withdean when the capacity was only 7,000?

There's also at least 20 away games this season when we will fail to fill our allocation and you can watch those too.

Keep the faith.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Cheers Simon. I would have responded to that one myself but I didn't actually understand what he said.

The feeling is mutual

I understand you are talking about your own emotional and irrational response to changes you can not control, but for the last 14 years all I have wanted is for Brighton and Hove Albion to have a proper football ground, so that it can stop just being about the ghosts of the Goldstone and start being about football again.

This has been delivered in spades, wrapped in seagulls paper with a big blue and white bow and if you haven't been to the Amex yet, listen to me EVERY GAME is a massive game right now. It doesn't have to be Palace, Liverpool or Leeds, in fact Eastbourne Borough was a massive game.

I don't want to get into a debate about loyalty and I fully understand that not everyone has the time and or the money to attend every match, but we all make choices in life, why worry about falling out of love with the Albion ? Get to a game and experience it for yourself. If you leave disappointed then fine. As many have suggested you can go follow non-league football, where ticket prices are more reasonable and you can still stand behind the goal.

 

[CheeseRolls]

To clarify for you self-styled 'sarcastic bastards', I do agree the club needs to recognise 'loyalty', but there will never be a perfect system and, being selfish, I'm just disappointed to miss out on the best times for ages due to my 'life' circumstances. Up to you cheeserolls / wozza if you think I'm a 'part-time fan', I can take it, see you at whichever game I can next be at.

Far be it from me to claim to be a lifestyle guru, but my suggestion to you is this. Cancel your contract with your ISP. It might not be that much money in the scheme of things, but it will start to make a difference. The money you save over a couple of months will allow you to increase all be it slightly the number of football matches you can afford to attend. This could be the start of something positive for you.

 

[brunswick]

there is something very gay about spacious padded seats to watch football.

 

[Wozza]

It's about more than that mate, but you carry on belittling me if it makes you feel good.

Look, fair enough if you want to moan about the changing state of football over the last couple of decades. You have my sympathies on that.

But to moan, right NOW, that *Albion* isn't what it used to be is a joke.

We've been homeless for 14 years, and now we're in a luxury mansion,ffs! (reluctant to say 'palace').

We're in our highest league position for 28 years.

Our GENIUS manager could walk into many Premier League jobs.

We have a brilliant squad, with players competing for most positions and genuine game-changers on the bench.

The pies are great.

We're signing (crocked) Spanish superstars!

Etc etc

Are we losing something? Yes, our reputation as a noddy club. And our lower league status.

Everything about the club is better than 5 or 10 years ago. EVERYTHING.

You can't get a ticket for the Gus bus? Well, sorry about that, but you had your chance. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of fans have bought tickets knowing that they can't make every match*, and many of those are sharing with friends/family.

The irony about your post is that ticket availability is the best it's been for at least 20 years too…

So, no, it's not the same as it used to be. And, as someone who had season tickets at Gillingham and Withdean, I say THANK f*** FOR THAT.


* If you want to moan about something, how about the fact that there's no easy way for STHs to sell their spare tickets leaving empty seats at the stadium each week. THAT would get hundreds of, um, 'floating fans' in the Amex each week.

 

[supaseagull]

Right here goes...

I'm a bit worried that I'm falling out of love with the Albion. I've followed them for 20 years or so, through the end of the Goldstone, Gillingham, Withdean, all that. During this time, I've watched other clubs with their new stadia, higher ticket prices, impersonal relationships with fans etc. etc. and liked the fact that we weren't doing that.

And now I've got this horrible feeling that we are losing something as we take these massive strides forward. I can't shake this feeling that i just don't feel part of it - for example, I've got 10 loyalty points so how the hell am I going to get a home ticket?

Nature of the beast I suppose - if you don't move forward you die in this game and we nearly did the latter so I'll take the former anyday. Suppose the way I support them is changing? No more Tuesday nights on a terrace for 10 notes, which for me is a shame.

Just me?

Plastic fan- you never fall out of love with your team!

 

[CAPTAIN GREALISH]

We're all different. I've followed the team all my life, and have never loved it more than I do now.

correctlove this club now like my days as a kid in the north stand.
NEVER NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY THAT

 

[Mattstrugnell]

So far it seems Liverpool , Palace and Leeds tickets are the only ones based in loyalty points. I sort of understand where you're coming from; I miss the days of jumping on the train, collecting a Gulls Eye, handing over cash at the turnstile.
BUT there has never been a more exciting time to be an Albion fan. Everything is happening at the right time, and if we are going to make progress, we couldn't have done it in a better way. To be honest I'd rather turn up for ten matches and watch quality football,( in a f***ing superb stadium), than turn out every game watching shit football, and wading through piss in the north stand bogs.
Good memories but better times to come.

I've accepted I probably won't get tickets for the high interest games, but I've managed to watch some great footy so far, & for
that Im well happy.
Up the Albion

 

[Vegas Seagull]

'i've followed THEM for twenty years'...says it all

 

[Lord Bamber]

i still wake up and the first thing I do is check the website for updates and then NSC for updates and the Word Game (!) then I roll over and give the wife a kiss. For me, its just getting better and better

Class.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Everything about the club is changing - it is so different. I have recently had a couple of meetings with clients who I have talked football with over the last 15 or so years. So many slightly depressing conversations about stadiums, lack of finance, quality of players. There have been some positive ones in there - the days of Zamora stand out - but mostly my tales of the Albion have been met with sympathetic nods.

Now ........ I have to tone down how positive things are. In fact - when I listen to myself I think I may sound a bit of a prick - and they are thinking "this bubble will burst". And that is what slightly concerns me about now. That Albion fans get to sound like big-time charlie's oblivious to the recent history of clubs who have burned and crashed reaching for the stars. I know what we have could be different, and we have a fantastic chairman who appears to be seriously minted, and a fantastic manager who has put together a fantastic squad, and we play in a fantastic stadium in front of fantastic fans. But something at the back of my mind makes me sit slightly uncomfortably.

So I sympathise with the original OP. Not that I am falling out of love with the Albion - for me we are in a legs on the mantlepiece period of our relationship. I just wonder at times whether it is just a bit too unbelievable. A bit of the emperors new clothes. But that may be just me adjusting to the different world of the Albion, holding onto our hats on the open top deck of the Gus Bus.

 

[black & white seagull]

Brighton & Hove Albion is where it is today because of us fans. We wrote letters, went on marches, paid to sit behind a running track in the pouring rain precisely so the club could realise its potential. I've never felt *more* a part of the club than I do now, because I helped make it happen.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Right here goes...

I'm a bit worried that I'm falling out of love with the Albion. I've followed them for 20 years or so, through the end of the Goldstone, Gillingham, Withdean, all that. During this time, I've watched other clubs with their new stadia, higher ticket prices, impersonal relationships with fans etc. etc. and liked the fact that we weren't doing that.

And now I've got this horrible feeling that we are losing something as we take these massive strides forward. I can't shake this feeling that i just don't feel part of it - for example, I've got 10 loyalty points so how the hell am I going to get a home ticket?

Nature of the beast I suppose - if you don't move forward you die in this game and we nearly did the latter so I'll take the former anyday. Suppose the way I support them is changing? No more Tuesday nights on a terrace for 10 notes, which for me is a shame.

Just me?

I was thinking of posting something quite similar this morning My big worry is another promotion after years of looking down on the premiere for its greedy values arrogant fans we could be knocking on its doorMeeting premiere fans on holiday and telling them you support brighton they just look at you like you have spoken elvishStill loving the ride but not sure the destination gonna be my kind of place

 

[BUTTERBALL]

I really don't understand why many people on this thread had to start attacking the OP about his personal opinion. Personally, I can totally understand where bathseagull is coming from. I'm only approaching 20, so I didn't get to experience the Ward era or the dark dark days of Archer, but in a way that's made it even "harder" to be an Albion fan as I'd never experienced the Goldstone or the Premiership years. All I've known is the shithole that was Withdean and us in League 2, 1, then Championship and then settling into the third tier again. When any of the Arsenal/Man Utd/Chelsea/Liverpool plastics at school scoffed at me supporting Brighton, I would not get angry, but laugh with them, but in an endearing way because they were my crap team.
Now we have the glorious Amex, one of the best managers in the country, beautiful football, a cracking team and are top of the league we've only just got promoted to. I'm sure everyone agrees that it's a massive culture shock. For me though, I'm absolutely LOVING it and am bursting with pride in supporting the amazing Albion. But I can understand why it'll take others more time to adjust. For those who were Albion fans since the 90s, I imagine struggle is all you've really known. There's no struggling for Brighton now.

Really really good post and sums it up really well.

When we walked out of Withdean for the last time, I thought to myself, everything is going to change, the real end of an era. And not just regards the ground, but Brighton & Hove Albion in general. And with that, came a tiny tiny tinge of sadness. Maybe because struggle and fleeting success is all we have ever known. But there has always been a real closeness with the club and fans and I guess I was worried that this might not continue.

Of course it has all changed - and wow -for the better. We've been so used to fighting for something for so many years, it is almost unbelievable all the amazing stuff that is happening at the moment, like a dream. All of a sudden, everyone wants to be a Brighton fan, which is why we fought so hard in the first place to win back the lost generation. I am now more excited to be an Albion fan than at any point in the last 27 years since i went to my first game and so so looking forward to the next chapter of this incredible story, but at the same time can understand where Bathseagull is coming from to a degree.

 

[Mattstrugnell]

Brighton & Hove Albion is where it is today because of us fans. We wrote letters, went on marches, paid to sit behind a running track in the pouring rain precisely so the club could realise its potential. I've never felt *more* a part of the club than I do now, because I helped make it happen.

When I walked up the steps and saw the inside of the Amex for the first time, it all seemed worth the effort. And I just sat in my seat an hour before kick off, reflecting on home games in Gillingham, Hereford away, Build a Bonfire, fans United, driving around with 'Archer Out' posters all over my car, pitch invasions, walking out, the silent protest,
Then the realisation that in an hour Brighton and Hove Albion will be playing a home match on that amazing pitch. Quite a moment, then I went and had a pint of fine ale.

 

[goldstone]

Yes, we are losing something. It's undoubtedly a great time to be an Albion supporter, but there is certainly still regret about losing the days of the Goldstone, the walk across Hove Park to the game, and the familiar, if rather decrepit stadium.

However the reality is that if we had stayed there, even with a redeveloped ground, we would probably still be in League 1 at best with crowds of 10,000.

It's a bit like the end of steam on the railways. Wonderful things, steam engines, but along came that thing called progress and now we have the rather bland, but more efficient and shiny electric multple units wisking us to our future.

I don't think the club is losing touch with its fans, in fact it is probably as close to the fans as it has ever been.

This is the thing called progress and we're best to embrace it and jump aboard for the ride. It looks like being an exciting one.

 

[pork pie]

Right here goes...

I'm a bit worried that I'm falling out of love with the Albion. I've followed them for 20 years or so, through the end of the Goldstone, Gillingham, Withdean, all that. During this time, I've watched other clubs with their new stadia, higher ticket prices, impersonal relationships with fans etc. etc. and liked the fact that we weren't doing that.

And now I've got this horrible feeling that we are losing something as we take these massive strides forward. I can't shake this feeling that i just don't feel part of it - for example, I've got 10 loyalty points so how the hell am I going to get a home ticket?

Nature of the beast I suppose - if you don't move forward you die in this game and we nearly did the latter so I'll take the former anyday. Suppose the way I support them is changing? No more Tuesday nights on a terrace for 10 notes, which for me is a shame.

Just me?

Yep, we have lost something as a Club.

The non-league begging bowl mentality of the Knight era.

I am sure there are a few who would now be better off going to watch Crawley.

Everyone, throughout the whole Country knows we are a club that is going places - and quickly!

 

[Lethargic]

I can understand the original posters dilemma I ask myself if this is right sometimes, are we losing our club? But then you concider what has gone on and the fact that we are the leading "club in the community", listen to the fans about the stadium, interest free direct debit, Gullys Gang, etc it does feel more like a partnership than some of the other "big" corporate type clubs.

This club was my life until we lost the Goldstone and for the 14 years after it almost felt like a chore supporting the Albion, going to games just for the sake of it, the true love faded, but since the start of this season I feel my love has been rekindled and Saturdays are back to what they were 15+ years ago I wake up excited like a teenager again.

I love it and we should embarrass these times it our 15 minutes of fame.