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[Albion] 20 years ago



Kalimantan Gull

Well-known member
Aug 13, 2003
12,897
Central Borneo / the Lizard
20 years ago, almost to the day, 17th February 2001, we played away at Cheltenham, the infamous burger van on fire game. Good day out I recall, rather marred by losing 3-1 to a struggling team who played 70 minutes with 10 men. We were second in division 3, the bottom division, on our way to the title, but there were certainly nerves and pessimism on North Stand Chat.

I wonder what the 26 year old me would have thought if I'd been told that 20 years later we'd play Leeds, Spurs, Liverpool and Villa, all established top ten premier league sides at the time, in the space of a month, winning three, drawing 1 and keeping clean sheets in each game, two of them at our shiny 30,000 all seater stadium.

Disbelief I imagine. Of course if you told me there would still be nerves and pessimism on North Stand Chat, that would have been a lot easier to believe :lolol:

We sometimes get grief at being an optimist on here, but it's been easy to be an optimist at Brighton when they've proved us right over and over again for two decades. Back then Micky asked us to keep the faith, and through Dick and Tony, Martin and Paul, Micky, Mark, Gus, Chris and Graham, Bobby, Gary, Danny, Charlie, Leon, Gordon, Inigo, Bruno, Anthony, Shane, Glenn, Solly, Lewis and Adam's-a-plenty, and many many more, they've deserved that faith.

My thought for a Sunday evening. Up the Albion :albion:
 

Yoda

English & European
Was that 20 years ago? Remember the burger van well, as well as the gents toilets overflowing and a river of piss making it's way along the terracing, but not so much the football as it was such a sapid display from us. Wasn't Cartwright dropped for Kuipers after that game for the rest of the season?
 

butchy

Well-known member
Jul 24, 2005
1,950
Bethnal Green, E2
Cartwright had a howler which effectively saw FDM regain his rightful place in the team.....what a journey we have been on since that division 3 winning team!
 


DJ NOBO

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2004
6,308
Wiltshire
I remember, and indeed contributed to, the river of piss.
Good lower league away day that.
 

sully

Dunscouting
Jul 7, 2003
7,823
Worthing
I have to say that back in 2001, I truly believed that Dick Knight and Martin Perry would deliver our stadium (with our help) and that we would make it to the Premier League. And that wasn’t the misplaced expectation of youth. I’d followed the club from bottom to top before and knew we were a big enough club to do it.

The funny thing is, there’s a lot about those lower league days that I miss.

My 50 years supporting the club really has been a rollercoaster. I love rollercoasters!
 

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