New Fans - Good or Bad

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Personally I loved sharing the withdean experience with 7 thousand misererable, soggy diehards watching us clashing with he likes of tranmere and donny rovers to embracing the new east stand lower mongs and their expensive overcoats.

 

[nordicgod]

one thing I hate is those stupid hipsters with their stupid beards , was even shouting for Bruno to shave it off after his dismal performance for once at the qpr game

 

[Sleaford Seagull]

I guess I look like a newbie at the Amex too. Living 200 miles away since I was 3, I tend to do 8/9 away games and 1 or 2 home games a season. I always choose a different block at the Amex so I guess to the people around me I could look like a newbie! [emoji23] Truth is I was the one kid at football training in the late 90's in Lincolnshire wearing my Sandtex Albion shirt surrounded by United supporters, constantly being asked it was a Wednesday shirt [emoji35]
I now usually convince a mate to come with me to away games, he's traditionally been a Liverpool fan to the extent he owns a few old shirts and follows the results. He's only been to Sussex twice and he still comes along to watch the Albion with me, mumbles along to Sussex by the Sea, goes crazy when we score and follows our results next to Liverpool. He's a casual supporter, he will never live and breathe the Albion like I do but I say the more the merrier. Anybody supporting our club in any capacity is a good thing in my book!

 

[SeagullofMalaysia]

I was there during the last months of Slade, as I began following the Albion for fun at that time. Fast forward 7 and a half years and it has mutated into a genuine passion and love for the Albion!

 

[Nixonator]

Firstly welcome to the Albion.

I do wish all new Albion fans on board the good ship Albion, BUT i don't understand the mentality of 'fans' that go missing, like we had during the Gillingham/Withdean years just because of the facility's and standard of football.

If your a fan you watch the Albion wherever whenever you can.

I am not looking for supafan status as there are far more deserving, but i am a loyal fan through thick and thin and they are the fans i understand most (even if i don't always agree with them !).

People have their reasons. I can only speak personally, being taken to wembley 91 as an 8 year old, and through my teens my dad taking me as ST holders throughout the 90's and 2 seasons of priestfield. For those around my age must surely know what a dark and destitute few years it was to grow up as a young albion fan. I had never known anything better, and we were freefalling through the leagues. The old man kept telling me about the good old days, the first division, an fa cup final and some great players we had but it was all so hard to believe considering what was being served up each week to an aspiring young chap.

When the albion came back to a dire athletics pitch, which incidentally I used to compete on and which my school hired for sports days a number of times, I fell out of love. I saw no hope, credit to those who remained loyal. Also overlapped with a 'coming of age' finding a real job and moving out a fair distance away. It was just easier and more convenient to forget, which obviously I now regret very much - missing the zamora era and missing a playoff final win. Of course I could never really totally forget, I still tracked scores, but albion didn't receive my support in person nor financially when at their most needy. To satisfy my love for the game I instead used my money to watch 'PL' football on the much fabled sky sports

It was only circa 2005, around the time I could see a way out of our then current 'stadium', that I was pulled back in and started going to games again, albeit sporadically, just in time to see us relegated which continued the theme of misery from where I left off. I thought perhaps it was me that had the dark cloud all along. With that said, it does come with a sense of irony that I should be labelled a glory fan, considering I bore witness to almost every minute of the biggest slump in the club's history. It was only since the last 2 seasons of withdean that I had become a regular ST holder again.

With that in mind, it's paramount in my opinion that we acquire as many new fans as possible during periods of success so that they have something good to remember, something my generation never had, to cling to when there are dips and lulls.

 

[B-right-on]

Starting to see a load of new fans and you can spot them a mile away. In the north tonight they had "Beards" and primark jeans. Is this really the type of people we want folllowing our club? I would rather pay more per season and keep our class.

I’m a “new” fan and I don’t give a rats ... what anyone thinks. Got a beard too, and even a Pony tail and I'm the wrong side of 50. I wear a footie top and a baseball cap to the Amex too. But no Primark jeans – but might just go and get me some to annoy this idjit. Got to that age in life that I just am not bothered what others think of me.

I was born near Leicester and moved to Brighton 26 yrs ago because of my work, that year my eldest daughter was born in Brighton. I followed my boyhood team (and still do) and it wasn’t until 4 years ago my eldest daughter went out with a BHAFC fan and she got a ST and started to go to the matches. I went with them a few times that first season and loved it, the stand, the atmosphere, everything. The next season they got me a season ticket next to them for my 50th as a present. That was 3 seasons ago. Got seriously ‘Seagull bitten’ and have renewed my season ticket for the past 2 years and got next seasons too. Daughters boyfriend didn’t last so for the past couple of seasons we go together now, just me and her (hew new BFs not into footie) and bit of quality dad/daughter time watching the Albion as shes since moved out to her own pad.

I don’t know ¾ of the songs and the history of the club, but I love my football and watching the Seagulls and shout as loudly as the bloke next to me when we score - and he’s been going for 20 years. I went to every home game last season under Hopelless Hyypia so I don’t class myself as a glory hunter either and will carry on next season , whether we are playing in the PL or not. I never thought we’d be where we are now, this time last year when we were in the relegation battles. Sure it will bring in new fans but new fans means more money which attracts bigger players as we can afford to pay them and the better we do.

So yes, I’m a new fan and no, I don’t give a sh!t what you think mate.

 

[alfredmizen]

Glory hunter