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[Albion] I Just Don’t Care Anymore



GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,790
Gloucester
The 23/24 season represents my 30th season of supporting the Albion and as we all know this has been a truly historic year for the club. Starting my Albion supporting journey back in 93/94, never did I envisage we’d be beating the likes of Man U and Liverpool (amongst many others) in the top flight of English Football.

Which makes my recent indifference to football all the more difficult to understand. Not too long ago, my whole working week would be solely focused on the game at the weekend. The pre and post match drinks, visiting new town/cities, the smell of the pitch, the atmosphere and 90 mins of escapism.

None of that invokes any kind of excitement in me anymore, yet given the recent success of the Albion I know it should. As recently as Fulham away I shamefully walked out after 15 mins for, no other reason than sheer boredom - back to the pub I went. Ajax away, whilst fantastic to go there and win, didn’t quite fill with me the euphoria it previously might have done.

So I then ask myself is this just part of getting older where one starts finding enjoyment elsewhere? Possibly, but I’m only 39.

Is it the Premier League? So focused and hell bent on getting there, that the destination is never as good as the journey? Possibly, but given this seasons Europa exploits you could argue against that.

Or through our success, are we now just too far removed from the ‘grass roots’ of the game? Has the monetisation of football evaporated my enjoyment from the game I once loved? I’ve certainly not ruled out taking in some non league football to reignite some passion.

I don’t know what the answer is, but it started creeping in pre COVID and whilst for a short while it abated following numerous national lockdowns, the ambivalence has very much returned. I’ve renewed my Season Ticket for a 14th year and will in all likelihood attend a handful of away games once again, but my hopes for renewed invigoration are decreasing with every passing season.

The truth is I just don’t care like I once used to and whilst I know I should probably pack it all in and cancel my ST (or adopt a local non league team), I can’t bring myself to do it.
Don't know the answers, but I'm asking myself exactly the same questions. The journey has been amazing, but ..........................................
 






John1066

Member
May 13, 2019
22
I don’t think the atmosphere at the Amex helps, lately the boring sideways football has turned the place into a library.
Teams playing a low press against usually makes a really dull match. Unfortunately football is now more about not losing than winning.
 


essbee1

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2014
4,153
Attendance is optional…..if you don’t enjoy it any more, don’t go :shrug:
For me, it's a bit more complicated than that. My Mum and Dad were 100%
instrumental in starting me going to watch the Albion. My Dad is no longer
with us and my Mum not great. It would seem to be throwing everything that
they started down the drain if I stopped and I would be distraught too.
 


Cheshire Cat

The most curious thing..
You're all bunch of old farts who ought to know better :drama:
 




Mar 4, 2024
41
The decline and fall of the Roman empire ? Apathy within ???? Aggression without (low press bottom 6 who we try and pass through for an hour!!@!)
 


jimhigham

Je Suis Rhino
Apr 25, 2009
7,768
Woking
Who knows? We’re all different complex cocktails of emotions making up the stuff of life. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. No need to feel bad about it. You’ve just found other outlets for your jollies.

I’m 51. Never been able to get a ST because of work and geography. Hoping I stay hale and hearty because I’ve promised myself the golden ticket the moment I retire. For me, it never gets old.
 


Milano

Well-known member
Aug 15, 2012
3,385
Sussex but not by the sea
It’s always been about the football for me, I PAY to watch players do the stuff I can’t and would have loved to have been able to do.
Football as an adult is escape, normally surrounded by others who feel/want the same thing. The ‘new’ fan and ‘match day experience’ are not helping my love of the game.
 




Billy the Fish

Technocrat
Oct 18, 2005
17,505
Haywards Heath
Great thread. I've felt very similar this year.

Maybe it's an age thing, maybe it's just the trajectory of the journey we've had. For me the apex was promotion from the Championship. Premier league is great football for the neutral, for a fan who goes to games it's boring as f**k.
 


dejavuatbtn

Well-known member
Aug 4, 2010
7,216
Henfield
For me, it's a bit more complicated than that. My Mum and Dad were 100%
instrumental in starting me going to watch the Albion. My Dad is no longer
with us and my Mum not great. It would seem to be throwing everything that
they started down the drain if I stopped and I would be distraught too.
But their experience was perhaps different gravy- times when working class people met and socialised on the terraces, and supported the players who got to the ground on the bus with them.
 


jackalbion

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2011
4,052
Don’t get this at all personally, best time ever supporting the club, remember going to multiple away games and having no hope. The European tour has made me want European football even more, spending time with my best mates doing what I love doing. Yesterday, as poor as the result was, had a fantastic day with great friends, going on a long trip up north, into a “interesting” town. Seeing familiar faces as the day went along, it’s great. One mid table season in the Premier League doesn’t change that. After going to a few games with my friend who’s a Torquay fan, relegated to the conference south, financial problems and no hope, it’s a) made me discover how lucky I am to support Brighton, and b) made me realise how much football clubs (like ours) are important as football and community institutions. Getting stabbed made me realise this as well. How important the community around these clubs are. We aren’t a big club who win things all the time, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.
 




warmleyseagull

Well-known member
Apr 17, 2011
4,222
Beaminster, Dorset
Surely this is just representative of so many things in life: social, marital, work, hobbies.

Most of us have several balls to juggle, and some are more important at different time to others. My first game was 4-3 vs Bristol Rovers on 1.1.66. I was hooked. Dad brought me to virtually every home game for several seasons; we were well known in our spot at South end of East Terrace.

I went to uni, moved away to Bristol and for many years had an Albion diet of Kidderminster, Torquay, Rovers, Swindon, Cheltenham and the like. Kids left, Amex ST opportunity arose and have spent 12 years commuting on M4/M25 and, latterly, A31/M27/A27 with several way games thrown in. But, like a few on here, I pick and choose. Went to every match in Feb up to and including Roma away, and decided after that match that it was enough, season over and will pick up again in August. have sold ST for every match since and no intention of going to any more. I live in AONB and prefer to join friends walking and cycling.

To me, that is just what you do: take the good bits and discard the rest, else you are doomed to disappointment.
 




W3 BHA

Well-known member
Nov 16, 2009
363
I’ve been in this boat for a while, and posted a similar thread a few months back… little has changed since then… at 43 I’ve mellowed and, as the Eagles once rightly quipped… you start to lose your highs and lows… it’s what comes with age, maturity and wanting to conserve energies for more important stuff… I guess…

That and the PL really is, for the most part, an absolute bore fest and the inevitability of the outcome doesn’t really stand up to repeated viewing… the hyperbole that surrounds it too, it’s ridiculous especially when you examine the ‘product’ in the cold light of day… Burnley vs Brighton ? Best league in the world my ARSE.
I agree, especially re the PL. I have been going to see the Albion for 59 years. I don't watch/am not interested in watching any other football. I think we thrived on being hard done by underdogs. I am still furious over the Saints / Spurs draw which denied us promotion! I did a sponsored walk for the club when Pat Saward was manager. I had man love for Brian Powney, Sully, Wardy, Bobby Z and a few others. I loved the 3rd division sell outs to teams like Villa in the 70s. I thought the world was going to end at half time against Hereford. I donated to the 40 notes fund. I bought and still love my Palookaville shirt. I paid good money to have my name on a seat at the Amex. I have now used the 260 mile round trip to home matches as an excuse to give up my ST. I still love the Albion, I'm just not IN love with the Albion (at the moment!). Sorry - it's not you, it's me......
 




Milano

Well-known member
Aug 15, 2012
3,385
Sussex but not by the sea
I think the thing I hate the most about the EPL and the average Sky/Talksport ‘fan’ is the requirement for an immediate decision on everything, you’re either brilliant or shit, whether it be a player, team, club, manager, ref. It doesn’t matter what happened last week it’s all about now. It’s f***ing draining.
 


Muhammed - I’m hard - Bruce Lee

You can't change fighters
NSC Patron
Jul 25, 2005
10,853
on a pig farm
I am 64.
First visit to the goldstone was 1966 when my grandad took me.
Can’t remember anything about the game except the smell of pipe tobacco and the fact it was snowing, and I spent the whole game watching the snowflakes fall through the floodlights.
Recent seasons, we’ve either been fighting to stay up, go up or qualify for something.
I am enjoying this season of mid table, stress free mediocrity, getting some established signings in the summer and then pushing on.
We are BRIGHTON, it is in our blood. I’ll never grow out of it and it will never become boring
 


Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 25, 2011
64,181
Withdean area
I think the thing I hate the most about the EPL and the average Sky/Talksport ‘fan’ is the requirement for an immediate decision on everything, you’re either brilliant or shit, whether it be a player, team, club, manager, ref. It doesn’t matter what happened last week it’s all about now. It’s f***ing draining.

That’s why I blackout 99% of media football stuff, even giving up on R5’s Monday Night FootbalL Club and its Friday equivalent. Tomorrow will include stuff about the genius of ManC. They’ll swerve true underlying reasons or anything that potentially slurs the PL product. Gamesmanship, tugging, fake head injuries, also all swept under the carpet. Broadcasters have to stick to the script.
 
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Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,283
Faversham
The 23/24 season represents my 30th season of supporting the Albion and as we all know this has been a truly historic year for the club. Starting my Albion supporting journey back in 93/94, never did I envisage we’d be beating the likes of Man U and Liverpool (amongst many others) in the top flight of English Football.

Which makes my recent indifference to football all the more difficult to understand. Not too long ago, my whole working week would be solely focused on the game at the weekend. The pre and post match drinks, visiting new town/cities, the smell of the pitch, the atmosphere and 90 mins of escapism.

None of that invokes any kind of excitement in me anymore, yet given the recent success of the Albion I know it should. As recently as Fulham away I shamefully walked out after 15 mins for, no other reason than sheer boredom - back to the pub I went. Ajax away, whilst fantastic to go there and win, didn’t quite fill with me the euphoria it previously might have done.

So I then ask myself is this just part of getting older where one starts finding enjoyment elsewhere? Possibly, but I’m only 39.

Is it the Premier League? So focused and hell bent on getting there, that the destination is never as good as the journey? Possibly, but given this seasons Europa exploits you could argue against that.

Or through our success, are we now just too far removed from the ‘grass roots’ of the game? Has the monetisation of football evaporated my enjoyment from the game I once loved? I’ve certainly not ruled out taking in some non league football to reignite some passion.

I don’t know what the answer is, but it started creeping in pre COVID and whilst for a short while it abated following numerous national lockdowns, the ambivalence has very much returned. I’ve renewed my Season Ticket for a 14th year and will in all likelihood attend a handful of away games once again, but my hopes for renewed invigoration are decreasing with every passing season.

The truth is I just don’t care like I once used to and whilst I know I should probably pack it all in and cancel my ST (or adopt a local non league team), I can’t bring myself to do it.
JCL.

My 54th.

It's all good.
 




Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,283
Faversham
I am 64.
First visit to the goldstone was 1966 when my grandad took me.
Can’t remember anything about the game except the smell of pipe tobacco and the fact it was snowing, and I spent the whole game watching the snowflakes fall through the floodlights.
Recent seasons, we’ve either been fighting to stay up, go up or qualify for something.
I am enjoying this season of mid table, stress free mediocrity, getting some established signings in the summer and then pushing on.
We are BRIGHTON, it is in our blood. I’ll never grow out of it and it will never become boring
This.

FFS

:thumbsup:
 


Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
31,867
Brighton
Understandable. I’m 38 and next season will be the first time I haven’t had a season ticket in many years. About 10 years ago the idea of giving up my season ticket would’ve been completely unthinkable. Now it’s….ok.

For me I feel it’s a phase of life thing - I have a 6 and a 2 year old, and I want to be with them on the weekends as I work through the week.

I like the idea of “doing the 92” when I’m retired, or doing a lot more live sport in years to come anyway, but who knows? Maybe my priorities will change again.

Maybe I’ll get into fishing? Surely not.
 


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