Brighton History "big club"

[Silent Bob]

Ok lets get this right, I keep hearing from people that brighton are a big club, bigger than pompey etc. Yet when i look back at the record books, the history of the club, other than making an FA cup final (runners up), and being in the top flight of english football once from 1901-2011, i just dont understand where this "big club" ego comes from?

I mean no major domestic trophies - yet a "big club"

Well putting things in qutation marks doesn't actually mean people have said it. If anything, we should be asking this of you as it wa sPortsmouth fans who were signing "you've never won f*** all" when we crushed you at Withdean last season. I think most sensible people would say that we are clubs of a similar standing, Portsmouth have an ill gotten FA Cup it's true, and an FA Cup during the second world war, whereas we eventually lost when we got to the final.

I think what you're probably seeing, which you have misconstrued, is Brighton fans who are confident about the future with the upward trajectory we are on. Whereas your club Portsmouth seem to be in a period of decline. That's all.

 

[Rich Suvner]

We have the potential to be the biggest team on the South coast with the right management in 5 years we could be the "Fulham" of the south coast

and yet ironically Fulham are seen to be a small club!

i think we're simply a club with a potentially large fanbase. a little success in the Championship or FA Cup won't distinguish us from many others, and neither will crowds of 22,000 to 30,000.

for me, 'big' clubs are the ones with significant, prolonged history at the highest level (Liverpool, Man Utd, Real Madrid, Barca, Bayern Munich etc).

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

This is the football equivalent of the "my todger is bigger than yours" debate.

The desire to prove the club you support is 'big' or 'bigger' seems to come from a need of some supporters to demonstrate to others 'objectively' that their club is worth supporting. A bit like a schoolboy who is a Man Utd fan and is able to show how 'good' being a Man Utd fan is from the trophies they've won. But I contend that Brighton and Hove Albion are worth supporting, no matter what our ground capacity is, no matter what division we're in, no matter what trophies we've won or not won, no matter what the future holds.

 

[oldalbiongirl]

We have a bloody big name. Thats good enough for me. BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION FOOTBALL CLUB. You try fitting it into a song. I think weve done rather well over the years.

 

[drew]

I get so angry when people forget that one!!!

Well seems like the club themselves forgot as I don't recall seeing any recognition for Charlie Webb even though he scored the only goal in that game and served the club for 47 years. They have one player that I recall on the walk of legends from the pre war era and I haven't a clue who he is!

Then of course there are the numerous divisional titles including the Southern League when it was equivalent to the First Division, a couple of play-off finals, and the FACT that we were only the seventh team to win consecutive divisions of the Football League (Champions of both Division 3 and Division 2 at the same time (albeit for 24 hours only) a mere 10 years ago). Yep, no history whatsover... The argument isn't that we don't have history, just that we don't have a history of being a big club!



As for a being a "Big Club", that is debatable...

Wouldn't we have to win the Prem (or old Div 1 as it was) and FA Cup in order to match our south coast rivals?

So, do you consider Everton to be a bigger club than Chelsea just because they have won the top flight trophy on more occasion. We can't change history so we can only compare ourselves in the present with the status of those around us. As I mentioned above, Everton have a great history but are hardly considered in the same breath as Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal or Chelsea.

 

[Albion Dan]

Ok lets get this right, I keep hearing from people that brighton are a big club, bigger than pompey etc. Yet when i look back at the record books, the history of the club, other than making an FA cup final (runners up), and being in the top flight of english football once from 1901-2011, i just dont understand where this "big club" ego comes from?

I mean no major domestic trophies - yet a "big club"

Future looks bright though, if you can keep poyet, i wish you well.

We are no big club, and probably only flirted with being one for a few years in the early 80's, BUT Pompey have never been a big club either and their recent success was purely down to cheating and spending money they didnt have. Given their proximity to Saints I would also say their potential is less than ours.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

We are a big club , Crawley , Eastbourne Borough and Lewes are minnows compared to us. WACCOS - We are Champions , Champions of Sussex.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

We are no big club, and probably only flirted with being one for a few years in the early 80's, BUT Pompey have never been a big club either and their recent success was purely down to cheating and spending money they didnt have. Given their proximity to Saints I would also say their potential is less than ours.

Portsmouth have been League Champions of England twice. Would that help to make them a big club?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

We were a third division club for a long time. We then had a crack at the top flight. Ended up being a run of the mill side. Lost our ground. Became very tinpot and now we have a chance to establish ourselves as a second flight team.

 

[seagull1971]

This Cardiff city fan seems to think so, bit of a read beforehand but interesting all the same.


jezzy666 wrote:
to be fair annis that is just a small snippet of data and unfair to say as a whole attendances are dropping.


interesting read from last season

The Football League celebrated record attendances in the 2009-10 season. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Attendances in the Football League reached a 50-year high last season as more than 17m fans walked through the turnstiles.

The Championship kept its place as the league with the fourth-highest attendance in Europe with a total of more than 9.9m fans, up 0.3% to an average of 17,949 supporters per match. Only Germany's Bundesliga (13.1m), the Premier League (12.9m) and Spain's La Liga (11m) have higher attendances, and the Championship still outstrips Italy's Serie A (9.1m) and France's Ligue 1 (7.6m).

The Football League chairman, Greg Clarke, said: "Attracting more than 17m fans into their grounds is an outstanding achievement by Football League clubs, particularly in the current economic climate. Our clubs are focused on attracting a new, family audience to football and those efforts are clearly working."

A total of 17.1m supporters attended the 1,656 league matches played during 2009-10, up 4.4% on last season and the highest aggregate crowd figure since 1959/60.

The Football League gates have more than doubled during the last 25 years to an average of more than 10,000 in the three divisions outside the Premier League.



Jezzy,
Yours is a better account, will be interesting though this seasons attendances.
I took the article out of this Sundays Mail.

haha its just something i found, i thinks its a very good debate and i would not be surprised if come the end of the season we are down on attendances.

then again the media would only draw negative things like the raw fact you gave without looking into explinations.

personally i think it will be even higher this year....purely because

we have teams like birmingham west ham leeds and brighton in the league with high attendances and lost the likes of scunthorpe preston and SWANSEA

 

[MACROBLUE]

Which people have been telling you wer'e a" big club "? How can we ever compare to the likes of Man U Arsenal et al . Think you are just trying stir things a little. I would challenge you to name them.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Big club as in line with who exactly? Chelsea? Man Utd? Liverpool? Arsenal? Or big club as in Bolton? Wigan? Swansea? Norwich? (with respect to those four clubs)

What exactly makes a big club? History? Present? Future aspirations?

Is it measured by ground size? Fan base? Trophies? Spending power? Player pulling power?

Is it a big pot with each ingredient added?

If so, this probably tells me we aren't a big club, and personally I couldn't give a monkey's left gonad if we are big, medium, small or mediocre. So long as we keep with our current aspirations we can be as small as East Preston FC for all I care, cos it matters not a jot. All my personal opinion for the record.

Are Wigan a big club because they play in the top flight but to half empty stadiums?
Are Bury a big club because they won the FA Cup twice? which is more than several current top flight clubs
Are Oxford or Luton big clubs because they have won the League Cup?
Are Sheffield Wednesday still 'a big club' because they have a large ground and won trophies in the past yet play in the 3rd tier in a half full stadium two divisions below teams like Swansea and Norwich who have won far less in the way of top flight honours?
Were Manchester United, Chelsea and co considered big clubs when they were knocking around in the lower leagues?
I'd bet that the definition of a big club varies from person to person.

As regards to Brighton, we have a potential which we may start to reach with our new stadium able to finance an improved team on the pitch but it won't turn us into a team challenging for top flight titles. We may get to another cup final and have a chance to win but lower league teams have reached finals in the past like Millwall and Tranmere in recent years.

Given the right (massive) investment, I think that virtually any team could be transformed and challenge for top flight honours, would Blackburn have won the Premier League if Mr Walker hadn't pumped millions in, would Manchester City be up there fighting for the title and European success without their wealthy foriegn owners paying for it all and so on, but equally that money could disappear and they fall back down the football pyramid again. I don't expect that to happen to Brighton but the investment we have received from Tony Bloom has stabilized the club and secured our long term future and allowed us to move up the football pyramid a bit from where we were since the Goldstone was lost and (hopefully) stay there, plus has given us a greater chance than before of achieving top flight football again (however brief it may be)

As for which club is a bigger club than another one, who really cares (except maybe to a footballer given the choice of which club to join if they have multiple offers)

 

[Mine]

It is based on potential. 18k in season tickets is impressive.

I think the key for the future will be for Albion to determine how far we can take the momentum AMEX has given us. I don't think BHAFC will ever be the big club in terms of trophies or jaw-dropping transfer fees. But the future could very well be what Stoke has now with the right team in place committed to building the club for the long haul. They are a model for how to take your club from struggling in Division One to battling for the Europa League spots. And they are doing this with a ground seating just under 29,000. When you can take a draw from Manchester United and cause a few problems for them yourself, then you've reached a certain "big club" status in your own right. That is what I'd like to see for Albion.

 

[NMH]

A matter of perspective, but we are over 100 years old and the club is representing Brighton and Hove - which are no small hamlets.

Winning trophies doesn't affect that.

 

[bhaexpress]

We'll never be Man Utd but there again, neither will Saints, Pompey or Palace.

 

[heavyweightsrbest]

We were a third division club for a long time. We then had a crack at the top flight. Ended up being a run of the mill side. Lost our ground. Became very tinpot and now we have a chance to establish ourselves as a second flight team.

Of all the posts on this thread, this one sums up the position best. We have always had potential but have spent most of our existence in the third tier of professional football. People say we could be a big club only because there were no others in a 50 mile radius. This ignores the fact that much of the local population has always supported other clubs. A new stadium will always attract larger crowds but will we still pull in over 15 - 20K when we are struggling? There is a feeling things will be different now but only time will tell.

 

[Paddy B]

There is no definitive answer to what makes a "big club", my own opinion is that it is just a feeling. For instance, we are not (yet) as big as say Portsmouth, Southampton or Coventry but do I feel have the potential to be as "big" as at least two of those examples.

History has a lot to do with it and Portsmouth, in particular clearly have a more illustrous history than us but right now we have a better and bigger stadium, bigger crowds and a better team. If we keep that position for say 10 years then....

The point is there really is no tangible measure to a clubs "bigness"

 

[Chamberpot]

It's true we aren't a big club, but theirs always time.