How big can we become?

Shropshire Seagull · Apr 25, 2017

I'll know when we have become BIG when you can buy a Brighton shirts in Sports Direct.

For years I had to tell my girls when they were little that Brighton were SO popular, there were none in Sports Direct because they were always sold out !

Rod Marsh · Apr 25, 2017

Marshy said:
Mid Table mediocrity with the odd flirt of Europe, I think thats all bar the Top 7 can ever really aspire too, you get the off freaky season like last year but that has to be the aim

Agreed Marshy. You have to also accept that at some point anyone outside the top 7 will get relegated. A bad manager appointment, a couple of poor transfer windows and you get relegated. Similarly, the reverse can happen and you scrape in to europe.

Eeyore · Apr 25, 2017

hans kraay fan club said:
Guaranteed that this quote will be on some Palace gimp's twitter, and all over the BBS by the end of the day, as evidence of our 'delusion'

It's there already. Although it appeared to arrive nearly an hour before it was made. Is there a time zone difference ?

Nixonator · Apr 25, 2017

Just remaining in the country's elite for the forseeable would suit me fine, bouncing up and down would probably be more fun but not good for the heart.

Hope we can continue to grow slowly and sensibly as a club, and integrate the right kind of players.

Behind Enemy Lines · Apr 25, 2017

hans kraay fan club said:
Bigger than Palace, Watford, or Bournemouth
As big as Stoke, Southampton, West Brom, West Ham, or Leicester
Not as big as Arsenal, Spurs, United, City, Chelsea, Everton or Newcastle

Despite the disastrous move to Stratford, West Ham are a big club. They have won a European competition, FA Cups, produced England's one World Cup winning captain and hat-trick scorer which forever embeds them with a special status in nation's football culture. They have a very large fan base across East London and Essex. We're not at their "level. " Agree we have the potential to become an established Premier team.

Albion my Albion · Apr 25, 2017

Pessimism at it's finest.

seagully said:
Finish 19th next season followed by 5 years flirting with relegation back in the Championship

Just thought I'd put a more pessimistic slant on it

Then come within a couple of goals of getting back to the PL before dropping to League One the next season. Now that is BHAFC football.

Kalimantan Gull · Apr 25, 2017

The below may be tainted by my age, but this is how I see it:

The top tier is permanently Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal. They will always be massive even if they're shit.

Then there is Chelsea and Man City who have bought their way to the top tier and will probably stay there even if they become shit, certainly for a decade or two

Then there are those teams which join this tier when they are good, but fall out of it when they're rubbish. Spurs, Villa, Everton, Leeds, Newcastle

The next lot can flirt with the top tier but would need sustained success to stay close - West Ham, Forest, Wednesday, Sunderland, Blackburn

Then there is everyone else - teams that can be big when they are at the top - Southampton, Boro, West Brom - and get forgotten when they fall away - Bolton, Coventry, Ipswich, Wolves, Portsmouth.

I guess that's where we will fit in

Peter Grummit · Apr 25, 2017

Am I the only one who hates the lazy construct 'big club'?

If you mean how high can we finish; what size crowds could we attain; what could be our regular away support; could we play in Europe; what could our turnover reach, then say so.

Big is a fig leaf for underperforming clubs to hid behind.

PG

Stat Brother · Apr 25, 2017

I'd like to live long enough to us be bigger than Leeds, Wednesday and Portsmouth.

Is it PotG? · Apr 25, 2017

Peter Grummit said:
Am I the only one who hates the lazy construct 'big club'?

If you mean how high can we finish; what size crowds could we attain; what could be our regular away support; could we play in Europe; what could our turnover reach, then say so.

Big is a fig leaf for underperforming clubs to hid behind.

PG

Totally agree. Had my shower radio on to TalkShite this morning, some bloke talking about Newcastle going up and how Rafa should stay as they will now be one of the biggest clubs in the PL. WHAT?

How does one define 'BIG'?

Nixonator · Apr 25, 2017

Stat Brother said:
I'd like to live long enough to us be bigger than Leeds, Wednesday and Portsmouth.

I reckon we are about 2% of the way there already.

Justice · Apr 25, 2017

Let's win a PL game first :shrug:

BBassic · Apr 25, 2017

I'm looking at the future much like I looked at the last few weeks of this season: one step at a time.

Survival next season and then who knows?

I think, looking past the next season, I'd like us to be a force in the cups and maybe flirting with the top ten.

blue'n'white · Apr 25, 2017

I've always said to anybody who cared to listen that we should be on a par with Southampton . An established PL club - occasional flirting with Europa League, win the odd cup or so and "comfortable". The only problem is getting there and now we've done that bit I cannot see Tony Bloom's long held ambition for the success of this club to be one mad season spunking all the money on some no hopers from the Russian or Brazilian leagues in the hope that they'll bring goals and stability to the club. I think we can grow quietly, nurture the players we have and become a force in the mid table - we can be just as "big" as your Stokes, Southamptons, Watfords, Bournemouths and Palaces.

Pretty pink fairy · Apr 25, 2017

Seagull Mags said:
It's always good to look ahead, but at the same time not get too far ahead of ourselves... Obviously the immediate challenge will be to stay in the premier league for the first couple of seasons, which is no easy task, but I wonder what the 5 or 10 year plan is at the club?

It would be good to emulate the likes of Southampton and who knows in the future we may have some European trips to look forward to, that would be unbelievable considering what we have come through as a club! I am just going to enjoy next season what ever happens, even if we drop back down I'll enjoy the ride. But always good to hope and have another challenge, seeing Brighton in Europe would be crazy and I hate to admit I would certainly procure a half and half scarf!

...................... OH DEAR
regards
DR

bhadebenhams · Apr 25, 2017

If Dean WILKINS was stillest the manager i would say 7th (SEVERNTH)

Pavilionaire · Apr 25, 2017

Leicester showed what can be achieved if a club has zero expectations, is unencumbered by European football, has a calm, experienced manager and an excellent team spirit.

Mackenzie · Apr 25, 2017

Well bigger than palace (chuckle) for a start. It won't happen overnight, they've had four extra seasons of PL payments to invest in their squad, but we'll get there in the end.

The main difficulty will be the initial few seasons trying to establish ourselves in that league, change the perception of players and their agents that Brighton would be a good option for them. We don't have the historical benefit of being a 'big' club so we'll need to use what we do have- a great town and more importantly a big pile of cash- to attract the players we want.

Going up was everything, now it's staying there which matters.

Pavilionaire · Apr 25, 2017

Whilst Southampton is the template for the club as a whole the example we need to follow is Bournemouth - a club who have taken some almighty pastings in their first two seasons from some of the big boys ([particularly Citeh and Spurs) but have taken that on the chin and started to dish it out themselves.

Wilshere apart, there's very few big names and very few international players. Eddie Howe has done and amazing job there.

Gritt23 · Apr 25, 2017

Notters said:
I would say it's all about money now so there is no limit - we could become the biggest football club in the world, but so could Uckfield Town Fans barely come into it now.

In which case, does the question change to "how big do we want to become" on the basis that to get beyond probably 7th at the moment, we would need the sort of oil-billionaire / consortium that would mean TB sells us.

Personally, having a local man, who is a fan of the club going back generations of his family would be a MASSIVE thing to give up for the chance to climb a few more places.

On the basis that we continue to be owned by a genuine fan, then I would say the peak of our potential is to carve out a Stoke-like existence of solid finishes, never looking over our shoulders at relegation, with the odd Cup run thrown in when we choose to field a strong side.

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