Peacehaven Wild Kids
Well-known member
Thing is, we’ll never know.
A bit like, what if Smith DID score?
A bit like, what if Smith DID score?
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[Albion] If we'd have lost at Hereford...
- Thread starter Commander
- Start date
Luton are an interesting case. We don't think of them as a 'big' club but from 1937 until 2001 they'd only spent five seasons outside the top two divisions. They reached the FA Cup final and won the League Cup (and were runners-up) so they're not exactly Accrington Stanley or Newport County.
Being a relatively 'big' club, certainly historically results-wise bigger than us, their rise isn't so remarkable as to an extent they're simply returning to their historical 'rightful place' (unlike us with our many many seasons in the third tier). And of course they never lost their ground.
If Man City's slump had continued in 1998 and they'd ended up in the Conference I'm sure they'd have bounced back as well. Little old Brighton, almost permanent 3rd tier residents, going from non-league to European football ...... no chance.
LANGDON SEAGULL
Well-known member
I went to see Bury play on Saturday, as you will know have been in a similar predicament to us. Now playing in step 9 after reforming- same level as Newhaven. Think we would have followed a similar route albeit at a different ground . I was talking to a Bury fan who must have been in his 80s. Said to me he is very unlikely to see Bury back in the league in his lifetime . A sobering thought
Nobby Cybergoat
Well-known member
- Jul 19, 2021
- 7,059
And maybe they would have stuck to that. It would have been a huge shout though. We'd have been a one team fiscal stimulus for most of the other sides in the league.
We'll never know anyway
Whitley Bayster
Well-known member
Who were the 17 absolute snakes? I hope they are all in the conference or lower nowWe wouldn't have been admitted as we had no ground, there is no reckoning.
As it was, we had to survive a vote by the league clubs to stay in the league. We survived by 47-17.
Football: Saved Brighton to share New Den
A vote of club chairmen yesterday saved Brighton from being expelled from the Football League - and the club then celebrated by confirming plans to ground share with Millwall.www.independent.co.uk
LANGDON SEAGULL
Well-known member
Oldham was definitely one
When we played them up there that season they had a fat bloke in goal… it turned out he was the ‘keeper from the owners local pub team.
I remember going to a town center hotel bar after the game on the way back to the station….a number of their players were already in there, in club track suits, drinking. This must have been around 30 mins after the final whistle. From pitch to pub in 30 mins is quite impressive.
Whitley Bayster
Well-known member
Well thats one with a dose of karma!
- Apr 5, 2014
- 23,626
Why didn't we go to Millwall ? It would have been a better option.
Peacehaven Wild Kids
Well-known member
The other 16 were Palace
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
Leyton Orient was another
It’d have been incredibly hard to get a foot back in Brighton or Hove.
The club had opponents with power off the pitch who couldn’t stand football and were snobbish about football supporters. For example unelected CEO’s of BHCC, plus councillors. Some were duplicitous.
League status meant so much, helping the case to get Withdean, the case for Falmer.
TB wasn’t yet seriously wealthy in his own right, his real interest with money was years away.
The club had opponents with power off the pitch who couldn’t stand football and were snobbish about football supporters. For example unelected CEO’s of BHCC, plus councillors. Some were duplicitous.
League status meant so much, helping the case to get Withdean, the case for Falmer.
TB wasn’t yet seriously wealthy in his own right, his real interest with money was years away.
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,206
We wouldn't have had a home ground of our own, would we have found it easy to find somewhere to a) play, and b) be able to generate enough income to break even, (we were in a predicament that let the clubs we approached to ground share dictate how much they charged us, and could exploit that need with high rental costs).
We would have likely been losing money, with little or no assets to secure loans against, how do you build a squad to try to gain promotion back into the football league whilst fighting for a new home ground back in Brighton?
How many other clubs relegated from the football league had just lost their ground and managed to rebound back to the league, or did they all still have it whereas our situation would have been fairly unique?
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,206
Were they newly homeless too? with no clue where they would be playing their matches the following season?
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,206
Would we?
We (the fans) had a reputation for protest and disruption (pitch invasions, protest marches, game called off (York) after a pitch invasion and the crossbar was snapped (which happened to be described iirc as a riot, with running battles between fans and riot police) and so on.... so would they really have view us as a good addition to their league, as someone other clubs in that league would have been keen to play against as they thought it would bring fans flocking to matches for the chance to watch us? or as a risk that their ground could be damaged, their games disrupted or called off adding to their costs?
We were, at that stage, nothing like the club or the team that had been in the FA cup final in 83 or in the top flight for a few seasons prior to it.
We were a smaller club that had had a few seasons in the top flight before dropping back down the leagues to around the level where we had spent most of our history playing at. Would clubs like Swindon? Barnsley? or Bradford City (which had spent time playing top flight / premier league football) be seen as a big draw if they suddenly fell into non-league football, many seasons after they last played at that top level?
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,206
In response to the original question posed, i'd have expected us to have been wound up and gone out of business.
There may well have been a phoenix club, but we would have faced a lot of problems even with that (finding a place to play, finding a squad / manager, would fans of the original club start to follow the new club or give up on football / find a different league team to follow instead. (eg. would Tony Bloom (and his family) still have held the same sort of interest and desire to be involved in running it as they have with the Albion? and to the extent that Tony would be prepared to invest the same vast sums in to deliver what we have now?), and so on....
And there is no guarantee that a phoenix club would have survived, let alone succeed to the same level we have actually managed (after all it did take a few failed attempts to create a club in the area before BHA finally succeeded)
Mellor 3 Ward 4
Well-known member
Reading through this thread, all I can say is 'thank you' to Stevie Gritt, Robbie R and the rest of that team....
- Aug 8, 2005
- 26,575
One season in the Conference would have hardened our resolve. With the experience done we would have been better for it and shot up the league. Almost certain we would have done the Premier league and Champions League double for the last 5 seasons. Damn you Robbie Reinelt.
philgull25
Well-known member
Love the question and many others like it. As has been said, we will never know, but there’s now harm in speculating!
The way I see it is there are quite a few ‘what ifs’ after that moment too from throughout the Dick Knight years-
What if it had taken longer to get approval to play at Withdean?
What if we’d not signed Bobby Zamora?
What if the original approval for Falmer hadn’t been overturned because of the error in the report?
What if Russel Slade hadn’t inspired that great escape from relegation?
The consistent thing throughout the original question and those I have added above is Dick Knight, without whom our club’s history would be very different.
He is the ultimate Albion legend. Amen.
The way I see it is there are quite a few ‘what ifs’ after that moment too from throughout the Dick Knight years-
What if it had taken longer to get approval to play at Withdean?
What if we’d not signed Bobby Zamora?
What if the original approval for Falmer hadn’t been overturned because of the error in the report?
What if Russel Slade hadn’t inspired that great escape from relegation?
The consistent thing throughout the original question and those I have added above is Dick Knight, without whom our club’s history would be very different.
He is the ultimate Albion legend. Amen.
Hereford in 1997 were a bit smaller than us as a club and obviously not got as much history. They dropped out of the league and have never been back. They now play in the same league as a team I have loads of mates playing for. There is no guarantee we would have bounced back and I suspect we would have ended up going bust completely like they did.
We will never know though.
We will never know though.