Losing the love for the albion

[byf1]

I've been supporting the mighty stripes for over 20 years, been solidly going to 35+ games a season for about 15 years now, a football club is about the fans and the club for me are so out of touch & have completely forgotten where we've come from & the ones that ensured were here today to a level thats quite obsurd!

For the follwing reasons shown I feel its just not my football club anymore, feels like ive lost a good friend who's won the lottery and now doesnt want to know you anymore and doesnt need you. I used to LOVE going to albion games, my highlight of the week, now it's just something I do and i'd go as far as saying I hate the powers that be at this club for what were tuning into.

I realise we have a ground to pay for, I realise we are tying to attact new fans, I realise we want profit to attract better players and grow the brand but everyday I'm surrouded by the business & politics of my football club thats come to the fore in the last 18 months that the taste in my mouth is getting more harder to swallow and I really dont know how much longer I'll be part of it, then again i'm a number & the club wont really be bothered anyway.

Pricing

£4 pies, £4.50 cheeseburgers - Not only well overpriced, also nothing special, we appear to be paying premiership food prices, why?

£13 car parking, never been to an away ground anywhere in the country and paid that? Why are we being ripped off?

£41 for a Newcastle ticket in a 3rd round cup game, FCUKING WHY?

£635 season ticket - Premiership prices already!


Banning people,stewards, singing songs & atmophere

- Fans getting thrown out for anti palace songs!! Seriously! (what is this perfect zombie lik environment being created)

- Over zelous stewards being instructed to behave in this way by the club to anyone not staying either in silence

- Where I sit if you say fcuk or bollocks your looked at by fellow fans like your an animal (It's the FOOTBALL LOVE)

- The club trying to create this nice, fun and family orientated environment with no swearing, no anti palace songs, Gee up music, comfy seats and sweets and lollipops on sale, how lovely!


Now for the reasons above my amazing football club who rose from the depths have now become a well oiled machine which rips fans off, puts ridiculous rules of what you can fukng sing now, reporting procedure if you hear someone swear but I for one am proud of where weve come from and the real reasons were still here but also embarrassed on the same level as were catering for the new breed and you either conform with no standing, anti anthing rules or fcuk off your banned.

Maybe it's not just the Albion, maybe it' slightly the whole of football that im dissalussioned with, the money, the greed, the tighter rules being implemented, it's just all going in a direction that doesnt fill me will any form of excitement.

Rant over.

 

[Steve Foster]

I've been supporting the mighty stripes for over 20 years, been solidly going to 35+ games a season for about 15 years now, a football club is about the fans and the club for me are so out of touch & have completely forgotten where we've come from & the ones that ensured were here today to a level thats quite obsurd!

For the follwing reasons shown I feel its just not my football club anymore, feels like ive lost a good friend who's won the lottery and now doesnt want to know you anymore and doesnt need you. I used to LOVE going to albion games, my highlight of the week, now it's just something I do and i'd go as far as saying I hate the powers that be at this club for what were tuning into.

I realise we have a ground to pay for, I realise we are tying to attact new fans, I realise we want profit to attract better players and grow the brand but everyday I'm surrouded by the business & politics of my football club thats come to the fore in the last 18 months that the taste in my mouth is getting more harder to swallow and I really dont know how much longer I'll be part of it, then again i'm a number & the club wont really be bothered anyway.

Pricing

£4 pies, £4.50 cheeseburgers - Not only well overpriced, also nothing special, we appear to be paying premiership food prices, why?

£13 car parking, never been to an away ground anywhere in the country and paid that? Why are we being ripped off?

£41 for a Newcastle ticket in a 3rd round cup game, FCUKING WHY?

£635 season ticket - Premiership prices already!


Banning people,stewards, singing songs & atmophere

- Fans getting thrown out for anti palace songs!! Seriously! (what is this perfect zombie lik environment being created)

- Over zelous stewards being instructed to behave in this way by the club to anyone not staying either in silence

- Where I sit if you say fcuk or bollocks your looked at by fellow fans like your an animal (It's the FOOTBALL LOVE)

- The club trying to create this nice, fun and family orientated environment with no swearing, no anti palace songs, Gee up music, comfy seats and sweets and lollipops on sale, how lovely!


Now for the reasons above my amazing football club who rose from the depths have now become a well oiled machine which rips fans off, puts ridiculous rules of what you can fukng sing now, reporting procedure if you hear someone swear but I for one am proud of where weve come from and the real reasons were still here but also embarrassed on the same level as were catering for the new breed and you either conform with no standing, anti anthing rules or fcuk off your banned.

Maybe it's not just the Albion, maybe it' slightly the whole of football that im dissalussioned with, the money, the greed, the tighter rules being implemented, it's just all going in a direction that doesnt fill me will any form of excitement.

Rant over.

.................... if you like to be close to the action, how about watching the occassional non league match, when the Albion are away.

Then, you get the best of both worlds?

 

[Hyperion]

With regards to the ticket prices, how much do you expect to pay for around a £130m(Stadium & Training academy) investment and to attract better players? whilst trying to run at a profit? I think you maybe have an issue with the wider issues of the sport to be honest

 

[Simster]

Dony worry [MENTION=24083]byf1[/MENTION]. By falling in and out of love with the Albion, it just marks you out as NORMAL. I'd question the sanity or the quality of life of anyone who rabidly follows the club year on year, decade on decade without going through spells like this.

These are halcyon days, but nevertheless there's nothing wrong with feeling pissed off at certain aspects of the club.

 

[saafend_seagull]

Lol @ OP. Picks top end prices of everything.

Also needs to get real with reality. We are not in 1990s anymore.

Why are you not complaining about your massive house price rise since then?

 

[Simon Morgan]

I don't think some people realise what a transformation this club has experienced over the past couple of years. Not saying that people can't be pissed off with aspects of the club, but the reality of being in a superb stadium with significantly bigger crowds is new to most people at the club. There are bound to be some issues to iron out. Early days

 

[Southern Scouse]

Some really good points, and I find myself in agreement with you.
I think you will have to look back at the roots of any football club to find the answer. Scouse family, brought up in Sussex. LFC has all the typical Pl tendencies. foriegn management, superstar wages, big ego's, money grabbing at every opportunity, and the all important "Brand".
The big difference is the support, the crowd. The game going fans are a fixed part of the club, so the management whoever they may be at a given time are not that important, only the club. In some parts of the ground the humour, language, banter is the same as it was 100 years ago. In other parts, because of the kids, ladies, easily offended whatever people mind their behaviour. The stewards however do not interfere. The people around the abusers do the stare's, an elbow a few words. You do not make the club look bad.
You make the club look bad, you make yourself look bad. That not only refers to the club, but also the community they live in, strong and united when needs must.
Brighton used to be in the 70/80's a great team to support. Family team, passed down from father to son, good atmosphere and there was all the rubbish also associated with that period. Now a great new shiny stadium, new fans, a brand, all the things you need to bring about PL football. Now it is a very up market, cosmopolitan, expensive place to live. Not exactly a football hotbed is it?
Possibly this was why LFC's owners decided to expand Anfield instead of a big new shiny stadium, they didn't want to lose the club and community's soul.
We still have the old generations from the 60/70/80's at the Amex. When they fade away and the memories of the Goldstone will be books and photos in the club's museum the club will have changed completely.
Going to the Albion will be an "Experience". It will be like that and in the end all football clubs will be this way.
May take a little longer to change LFC, but in the end all clubs will be the same with different kits.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

Didn't Bozza post a thread about this the other day?

 

[User removed 4]

I don't think some people realise what a transformation this club has experienced over the past couple of years. Not saying that people can't be pissed off with aspects of the club, but the reality of being in a superb stadium with significantly bigger crowds is new to most people at the club. There are bound to be some issues to iron out. Early days

The issues wont go away, they are here to stay . The original poster needs to get used to happy clappy , sanitised fandom.

 

[Arthur]

You're not alone [MENTION=24083]byf1[/MENTION] Paying fans: The least important people in football? - ESPN FC

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

I used to love going to the Goldstone,park my car on the side of the road,pay £8 at the turnstile to go in and stand where I want.times have changed I'm afraid and for all the bad changes you look at the stadium and facilities and things really are not too bad you know.

 

[Decode]

We spend half our time making fun of Palace for being stuck in the dark old days of a rubbish stadium they can't fill. And then the other half moaning but the fact that our state of the art, mostly full stadium, isn't like the old days.

 

[Hillian1]

Seems like the right place to put this question:

I have read recently that the Amex at £95 million, is the most expensive stadium ever built, anywhere, on a £ per seat ratio.

Anyone know if this is correct and if so why?

 

[nwgull]

Premiership pricing for pies and burgers? Why should a pie bought in a lower league cost any less than a pie bought in a Premiership ground; it's down the quality of the pie surely?

Car parking is included in the price of your ticket. It's not ideal having to get the bus after the game, but then getting away from any ground with 20K+ other people is always going to be problematic. After Derby away, it took me longer to get away from Pride Park and onto the ring road than it takes to wait for the bus to Mill Road.

Tickets pricing is a valid point, particularly non-season tickets. Although you have quoted one of the more expensive season tickets - there are cheaper available and I'm confident that even the cheapest seats at the Amex offer a much better view and more atmosphere and comfort than Withdean.

 

[BadFish]

Some really good points, and I find myself in agreement with you.
I think you will have to look back at the roots of any football club to find the answer. Scouse family, brought up in Sussex. LFC has all the typical Pl tendencies. foriegn management, superstar wages, big ego's, money grabbing at every opportunity, and the all important "Brand".
The big difference is the support, the crowd. The game going fans are a fixed part of the club, so the management whoever they may be at a given time are not that important, only the club. In some parts of the ground the humour, language, banter is the same as it was 100 years ago. In other parts, because of the kids, ladies, easily offended whatever people mind their behaviour. The stewards however do not interfere. The people around the abusers do the stare's, an elbow a few words. You do not make the club look bad.
You make the club look bad, you make yourself look bad. That not only refers to the club, but also the community they live in, strong and united when needs must.
Brighton used to be in the 70/80's a great team to support. Family team, passed down from father to son, good atmosphere and there was all the rubbish also associated with that period. Now a great new shiny stadium, new fans, a brand, all the things you need to bring about PL football. Now it is a very up market, cosmopolitan, expensive place to live. Not exactly a football hotbed is it?
Possibly this was why LFC's owners decided to expand Anfield instead of a big new shiny stadium, they didn't want to lose the club and community's soul.
We still have the old generations from the 60/70/80's at the Amex. When they fade away and the memories of the Goldstone will be books and photos in the club's museum the club will have changed completely.
Going to the Albion will be an "Experience". It will be like that and in the end all football clubs will be this way.
May take a little longer to change LFC, but in the end all clubs will be the same with different kits.

This is not just football clubs though. What you are describing is modern culture (cough) everything is one size fits all, mass produced global shite. People don't want individual local produce they want global mass marketed, water down lowest common denominator dullard crap. Look at the music that is popular, formulaic dross! same for films, sames for TV, same for coffee, beer, take away, toys, furniture, electronics, clothes.....the list in endless. We accept this shit because this is what we are given. We accept that every high street in the UK has the same shops, every shopping center in every major city in the world has the same shops.

It's bullshit.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

get real with reality.

Word.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Lol @ OP. Picks top end prices of everything.

Also needs to get real with reality. We are not in 1990s anymore.

Why are you not complaining about your massive house price rise since then?

That's exactly what I thought, but it's human nature to want to live in the past............

However, I prefer to concentrate on what's about to happen tomorrow, because yesterday's dead, gone, forgotten, and there's nothing I can do to change what happened, no matter how much I'd like to.

 

[BadFish]

The issues wont go away, they are here to stay . The original poster needs to get used to happy clappy , sanitised fandom.

No, the poster should fight against it!

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

I used to love going to the Goldstone,park my car on the side of the road,pay £8 at the turnstile to go in and stand where I want.times have changed I'm afraid and for all the bad changes you look at the stadium and facilities and things really are not too bad you know.

You were able to do all that at Priestfield as well, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to still be playing there.......

 

[Southern Scouse]

That's exactly what I thought, but it's human nature to want to live in the past............

However, I prefer to concentrate on what's about to happen tomorrow, because yesterday's dead, gone, forgotten, and there's nothing I can do to change what happened, no matter how much I'd like to.

What you can do is learn from the mistakes of the past to improve the future.
Perhaps our education system is trying to re write history in the future by not teaching it.