Bill Arrcher`s friend

[Lord Bracknell]

That was not through his choice DK was forced into going to Brighton Council to ask to go to Withdean.

That was a REAL BUM DECISION that let down all those Albion fans who would have preferred us to play at ... Motherwell.

 

[Screaming J]

We came back to Brighton because nobody else would lend/hire us a ground.

And here's me thinking we came back to Brighton because its our home, and we found a temporary place to stay at Withdean whilst we tried to find soemthing more permanent.

There have been some bonkers comments on this thread but this one has to be #1 !!!

 

[ROSM]

We came back to Brighton because nobody else would lend/hire us a ground.

Please please please dont ever try and rewrite history like this.

As part of the agreement that the LEAGUE imposed on us being able to play at Gillingham we had to deposit a bond of 500k and had to return to Brighton within 3 years and had to have a planning application lodged for a permanent stadium.

Brighton and Hove council did not see the (political) value in the football club and it is fair to say that they weren't bending over backwards to help us.

The club evaluated 15 different potential sites for a return to Brighton as a temporary measure (it was clear that NO site for a permanent stadium would be achieved within 3 years). The only workable temporary sites were the Greyhound stadium and Withdean and Corals were not keen to allow us use of the greyhound track as well as them having sold the land on the east side for office development. This would have limited the ability to redevelop a stand on that site and as such we wouldn't have reached the 6k league minimum.

The permanent planning application was lodged for waterhall and then withdrawn for the reasons that the public inquiry clearly identified would make the site unsuitable.

Regular readers of NSC will know that you have in the past questioned why we ever bothered coming back to Brighton. The business case was simple - no business would invest in sponsorship of the club, advertising etc the longer we were away from Sussex. Also whilst young supporters may not get a great experience at withdean - there are many more coming now than there were at gillingham.

As for your 'chairman' friends. I think NSC has a right to know as you've mentioned it. I'll get the ball rolling with my guesses:

Paul Scally (not really a guess as he told me about you when I met him)

Dan McCauley of Plymouth (who after the league meeting where we avoided expulsion despite 17 clubs voting against us went of in a cab with Bellotti and the exeter chairman Ivan Dolan)

Fans may be interested to learn that Scally then employed bellotti, has failed to deliver the new ground for gillingham despite having 4 different plans (he has redeveloped priestfield though). he also wanted to cut adrift the bottom two divisions when gillingham finally got into the second tier. last summer he had priestfield's electricity cut off for non payment of a bill.

Dan McCauley was run out of town at plymouth after trying to sell the ground with no new site secured. The club have now successfully redeveloped Home Park under a new chairman.

As for Exeter - they too parted company with their chairman after some strange goings on with their ground 'redevelopment'.

 

[Screaming J]

Dan McCauley of Plymouth (who after the league meeting where we avoided expulsion despite 17 clubs voting against us went of in a cab with Bellotti and the exeter chairman Ivan Dolan)
.......

As for Exeter - they too parted company with their chairman after some strange goings on with their ground 'redevelopment'.

You don't mean Ivor Doble do you? :-

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2064795,00.html

 

[ROSM]

You don't mean Ivor Doble do you? :-

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2064795,00.html

That's the fella - he could spot a wrong 'un eh?

 

[BensGrandad]

That was not through his choice DK was forced into going to Brighton Council to ask to go to Withdean.

The whole point of that post is lost by people like the TLO and ROSM trying to ridicule the statement and change the context of it.

Irrespective of whether it was the FA, Football League other League Chairmen or whoever, the facts remaiins that to return to Brighton was not a point upon which DK could or would have been elected ,had he been a candidate in an election. He did not stand up and say at the outset 'Make me Chairman of the club and I will have us playing in Brighton next year or the year after'. The decision, the correct one as it happens, was forced upon him by others.

My whole point is that when people are applauding DK achievements, and there are some, one of them is to say 'He brought us back to Brighton' Yes he did but it wasn't entirely through his own doing and to his credit as some would have us believe.

The questions about whether or not Archer or anybody else would have done it better or quicker are immaterial as nobody will ever know the answer.

 

[Icy Gull]

If Archer had stayed we would not have a league club to support. I think it really is that simple.

 

[Lawro's Lip]

The questions about whether or not Archer or anybody else would have done it better or quicker are immaterial as nobody will ever know the answer.

But we have a lot of evidence to suspect that it would have done this club no good at all if Archer had been involved in any way.