For all those losing a little perspective after the disappointment of Monday, remember what it was like when you first set eyes on the Albion - and how far we've come in recent years.
I took my 10-year-old daughter to her first football match last season. It was 0-0 against Hull at the Amex. She obviously liked it because she asked to go again, so we went to the Forest game at home a few weeks later. As the match entered stoppage time she turned to me and said: "I'm never going to see a goal, am I?" I promised her that she would one day and with that we both turned back to the action, just as Will Buckley slotted the winner right in front of us. Cue pandemonium. She stood on her seat and cheered herself hoarse. We went to seven or eight home games after that, and this season we got season tickets in the ESU.
After the Palace game on Monday night, we were walking to the bus to take us back to Mill Road and she was very quiet, head bowed. I took a closer look and there were tears running down her cheeks. I asked her what was wrong and she said: "Daddy, I really wanted them to win tonight." That was the moment I knew she had the Albion in her soul, and it will never, ever leave her, whoever owns the club, whatever division we are in, wherever the ground is based and whoever plays for us. If we don't have the lows, we'll never be able to enjoy the highs nearly as much (which would be like supporting Man United, I guess).
Many on here will class her and others like her as a JCL. True supporters will know that she is actually an FFL (Fan For Life).
A Proud Dad
(FFL since April 13, 1979: Brighton 2 Charlton 0)
I took my 10-year-old daughter to her first football match last season. It was 0-0 against Hull at the Amex. She obviously liked it because she asked to go again, so we went to the Forest game at home a few weeks later. As the match entered stoppage time she turned to me and said: "I'm never going to see a goal, am I?" I promised her that she would one day and with that we both turned back to the action, just as Will Buckley slotted the winner right in front of us. Cue pandemonium. She stood on her seat and cheered herself hoarse. We went to seven or eight home games after that, and this season we got season tickets in the ESU.
After the Palace game on Monday night, we were walking to the bus to take us back to Mill Road and she was very quiet, head bowed. I took a closer look and there were tears running down her cheeks. I asked her what was wrong and she said: "Daddy, I really wanted them to win tonight." That was the moment I knew she had the Albion in her soul, and it will never, ever leave her, whoever owns the club, whatever division we are in, wherever the ground is based and whoever plays for us. If we don't have the lows, we'll never be able to enjoy the highs nearly as much (which would be like supporting Man United, I guess).
Many on here will class her and others like her as a JCL. True supporters will know that she is actually an FFL (Fan For Life).
A Proud Dad
(FFL since April 13, 1979: Brighton 2 Charlton 0)
