Nick Herbert MP - Albion hating snob.

[Dandyman]

Guess what Mr Herbert we won our stadium and now we are going to walk all over your friends' country estates, too.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/06/south-downs-national-park


Tristram Hunt's argument for designating the South Downs a national park is as stupid as it is divisive.

So without a park the "right of access ... is being lost to a generation". What tosh. Has he heard of the South Downs Way? He says the threat comes from "retail parks". Where? The most damage to the Downs in recent years came from John Prescott's approval of a 22,000-seat football stadium - shortly after he had announced the park to the Labour party conference. I think that powers should be returned to councils, and that communities should be respected. Hunt thinks that councils are for overriding.

Park status gives the South Downs no greater protection than they have as an area of outstanding natural beauty. Labour's plans to build more than 660,000 houses and ecotowns are by far the biggest threat to the countryside of the south-east - handing the already-protected South Downs to a quango will do nothing to prevent this.
Nick Herbert MP
Con, Arundel & South Downs, and shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Power returned to the councils...doesnt work with something as big as the downs does it? Trying to get however many councils it is to agree on things for the downs is nigh on impossible. It reminds me of pre-GLA London where few of the councils worked with each other and you ended up with oddities like cycle lanes which simply ended when they hit the next councils boundary.

 

[Arthur]

Where does it say he hates the Albion?

 

[Dandyman]

Where does it say he hates the Albion?

No Falmer, no Albion IMO, Mr B.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

he might love the downs as it is and be indifferent to the fortunes of a football club or to football generally. Does not necessarily mean he hates the albion.

 

[Arthur]

he might love the downs as it is and be indifferent to the fortunes of a football club or to football generally. Does not necessarily mean he hates the albion.

Was exactly the point I was getting at. Don't get this notion that if you don't want the ground built at Falmer that you automatically hate the club.

The club will survive with or without Falmer.

 

[glasfryn]

OMG I lived in Brighton for nearly 60 years before we left to retire in Wales and the tract of land that will be our new football ground was totally ignored before the Albion decided it would be the "new" Goldstone and anyone who says they used to use it as part of the new south downs park is IMHO talking bollocks.
In fact that part of Brighton was rarely used other than by farmers to grow cereals and shoot rabbits, now had they said that Waterhall would be the new ground they might just have a case,I spent many a summers day on sweet hill and the golf coarse and all area's in between.
Falmer always has been the best place other than maybe the cement works which had an already decent bowl structure.
hope to meet you at our new ground in Falmer Mr Herbert .......and maybe you can buy a pensioner a drink.

 

[Dandyman]

Was exactly the point I was getting at. Don't get this notion that if you don't want the ground built at Falmer that you automatically hate the club.

The club will survive with or without Falmer.

Sorry, but I don't get that.

The only other geographically viable area was the New England quarter IMO and that was not viable in financial or planning terms.All the other areas were effectively dismissed in the relevant report(s).

I can not see how a club that is losing money already can possibly survive without Falmer and while "hate" may or may not be the right word it's obvious to me that the likes of Herbert, Soames et al do not give a damn about the club, it's heritage or it's role in the community.

 

[Storer68]

Could someone kindly point out to Mr Herbert, that HAZEL BLEARS, and not John Prescott, granted approval to build the Community Stadium.

the permision that Prescott granted was, as I recall, withdrawn in favour of the third publiuc enquiry!

 

[Arthur]

Sorry, but I don't get that.

The only other geographically viable area was the New England quarter IMO and that was not viable in financial or planning terms.All the other areas were effectively dismissed in the relevant report(s).

I can not see how a club that is losing money already can possibly survive without Falmer and while "hate" may or may not be the right word it's obvious to me that the likes of Herbert, Soames et al do not give a damn about the club, it's heritage or it's role in the community.

What part don't you get?

When was the last time BHA finished a financial year in the black?

Falmer is the only viable option because the club have spun it that way. Had the club decided that Waterhall, Toads Hall, wherever was the better site then we all would have been banging that drum.

Regardless of whether Falmer ever gets built the club will still exist that I am confident.

You may be right about people not giving a damn about the club, big whoop, people have interests other than football in the big wide world.

 

[The Large One]

What part don't you get?

When was the last time BHA finished a financial year in the black?

Falmer is the only viable option because the club have spun it that way. Had the club decided that Waterhall, Toads Hall, wherever was the better site then we all would have been banging that drum.

Regardless of whether Falmer ever gets built the club will still exist that I am confident.

You may be right about people not giving a damn about the club, big whoop, people have interests other than football in the big wide world.

If Falmer wasn't being built, how do you marry up those two emboldened statements?

 

[Dandyman]

What part don't you get?

When was the last time BHA finished a financial year in the black?

Falmer is the only viable option because the club have spun it that way. Had the club decided that Waterhall, Toads Hall, wherever was the better site then we all would have been banging that drum.

Regardless of whether Falmer ever gets built the club will still exist that I am confident.

You may be right about people not giving a damn about the club, big whoop, people have interests other than football in the big wide world.

We can agree to disagree but the other sites were rejected by a government inspection.

Clubs do exist while making a loss but at the moment we are slowly bleeding to death IMO.

Politician do not have to care about football but they are supposed to represent communites, including in this case one which voted both for a community stadium and for it to be at Falmer.

 

[Brovion]

... The club will survive with or without Falmer.

Well yes in the same way as if I cut off your arms and legs, severed your spinal cord, cut off your ears, poked out your eyes and pulled out your tongue you might survive but it would be a pretty drab existence.

And whilst I'll grant you that Herbert hasn't actually said he's anti-Albion the fact he's opposed to the new stadium gives you a pretty good pointer as to his views. And if the ground was being built at Waterhall or some other field then that article would have read that the downs have already been ruined by the stadium at Waterhall or wherever

 

[sully]

Bearing in mind where his constituency is, he might also have mentioned a certain racecourse just up the road.......

Which proves it's just anti-football snobbery in my book.

 

[Arthur]

If Falmer wasn't being built, how do you marry up those two emboldened statements?

So by Falmer being built we're instantly going to start making hundreds of thousands of pounds are we?

My point was the club has managed to survive this long as does every other FL club because it lives within it's means. Granted we can't go on for ever losing money hand over fist but the ground where ever it may get built isn't going to be a the golden bullet some of you people think it will be. Just look at Southampton currently.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

So by Falmer being built we're instantly going to start making hundreds of thousands of pounds are we?

My point was the club has managed to survive this long as does every other FL club because it lives within it's means. Granted we can't go on for ever losing money hand over fist but the ground where ever it may get built isn't going to be a the golden bullet some of you people think it will be. Just look at Southampton currently.

If we stay at Withdean we will go bust.

But you are right, some people think that Falmer will be the answer to all our problems - it won't

 

[Gwylan]

Well yes in the same way as if I cut off your arms and legs, severed your spinal cord, cut off your ears, poked out your eyes and pulled out your tongue you might survive but it would be a pretty drab existence.

And whilst I'll grant you that Herbert hasn't actually said he's anti-Albion the fact he's opposed to the new stadium gives you a pretty good pointer as to his views. And if the ground was being built at Waterhall or some other field then that article would have read that the downs have already been ruined by the stadium at Waterhall or wherever

That's spot on.
I suspect this is just Herbert trying to boost his environmental credentials, when he obviously knows cock-all.

 

[Questions]

We can exist at Withdean for ever more if we cut our cloth accordingly. At falmer we have a chance to move forward but it will not matter one iota if our chairman employs another clueless twat to manage us.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

If we stay at Withdean we will go bust.

Is staying at Withdean an option anyway?
Having attended the Planning Committee meeting last year where the Albion's tenure was extended until June 2011, I doubt that committee would vote to make this permanent or to extend further if the Falmer project was cancelled.

 

[The Large One]

So by Falmer being built we're instantly going to start making hundreds of thousands of pounds are we?

Making - no. Taking - yes.

10,000 crowds at £15 per person, for instance, will get us £150,000. Take from that the fact that (a) there's bigger crowds who will (b) have more and better opportunities to spend further money on the club at the ground and (c) we won't have to cough up half the matchday takings on all sorts of exhorbitant expenses, we should be much better off.

My point was the club has managed to survive this long as does every other FL club because it lives within it's means. Granted we can't go on for ever losing money hand over fist but the ground where ever it may get built isn't going to be a the golden bullet some of you people think it will be. Just look at Southampton currently.

But this club doesn't live within its means. Nowhere near it.

After everything is taken into account, it survives on largely on the goodwill and generosity of the directors and shareholders who bail out the club to the tune of £2-3m every year - depending on transfers/big paydays (Cardiff, Spurs, West Ham) etc.

And for every Southampton and Coventry you mention, I'll throw a Swansea and Hull back at you. Of course everyone's circumstances are different, but our chances of survival and ultimately thriving are much better served at Falmer than they are at the terminally hopeless Withdean.