Brighton History "big club"

[BHseagull]

I prefer the term 'Sleeping Giant'. However I won't open up that debate again...

We have never been a 'big' club, granted. But we do have the potential to be one with the lack of clubs in surrounding areas, potentially huge fan base, attractive place for players & managers to live.

Now the Amex is ours & we are in the Championship, we have every right to have aspirations of becoming a 'big' club.

To confirm - I would suggest a 'big' club is one which has established themselves within the top flight, with no threat of relegation.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I have never said we were a big club. But we do have the potential to have large crowds over a long period of time if we are relatively successful.

 

[Muzzy]

There's not many of our supporters that think we are a "big club" as far as I know... A few think we are bigger than our some of our rivals, and that's debatable IMO.... But TBH I don't care how big we are or ever likely to be as well as we remain self sufficient and continue to be competitive on the pitch... If we can reach the heavy heights of prem football and hold our own I would be ecstatic with our meteoric rise from nowhere!

Every club has deluded fans, and every club has it's ups and downs... That's why we love the game so much....Lets just keep the faith,our ambitions realistic and enjoy the ride!

 

[KZNSeagull]

I suspect, although I am happy to be proved wrong, is that a lot of the comments about the Albion being a big club come from the same people who are obsessed with the size of their dingalings.

I couldn't give two hoots as to whether people perceive Brighton as a big club or not. Are we bigger than Pompey? Who cares? All I know is that the only team I want to follow is Brighton.

My major concern at the moment is that if we do become a "big club", are our fans going to start crying when we do not sign three 50 million pound players in a transfer window?

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Charity Shield Winners 1910 i'll have you know, battering the mighty Aston Villa 1-0.

Except it was not the charity shield then,we became known as "CHAMPIONS OF ALL ENGLAND!"

 

[Seagull on the wing]

I prefer the term 'Sleeping Giant'. However I won't open up that debate again...

We have never been a 'big' club, granted. But we do have the potential to be one with the lack of clubs in surrounding areas, potentially huge fan base, attractive place for players & managers to live.

Now the Amex is ours & we are in the Championship, we have every right to have aspirations of becoming a 'big' club.

To confirm - I would suggest a 'big' club is one which has established themselves within the top flight, with no threat of relegation.

We are older than Palace tho.

 

[Hunting 784561]

Anybody who doesnt think our new stadium was a total game changer is a backward looking fool.

Historical comaprisons are now absolutely meaningless given the backdrop of the Amex.

22.5k capacity now, rising to 30 k from next season.

This will be exactly the same size as So'ton, and bigger than P'muff, or Reading, and with our corporate and matchday revenues continuing to climb through the roof.

Look forward from here on in, not back - I have no doubt we will be punching our weight on more than level terms, if not more than them, for a very long time to come.

 

[Storer 68]

Charity Shield Winners 1910 i'll have you know, battering the mighty Aston Villa 1-0.

Indeed -we were Champions of the Southern League (at the time the FL was for northern professional clubs and the Southern League for the predomainatly amateur/semi professional southern clubs. Spurs won the FA Cup in 1901 as a souther Neague club) and so the Charity Shield was effectively a play off final between the northern and southern clubs for the title of "Champions of all england".

We are the STILL the regining champions of the Third Division South.

and as for "no domestic trophies"................

here's one from LAST season

 

[Storer 68]

yes it was called the FA Charity Shield, even then

 

[BHseagull]

We are older than Palace tho.

I know... 1901 vs 1905. What does that have to do with what I said?

 

[BHseagull]

Anybody who doesnt think our new stadium was a total game changer is a backward looking fool.

Historical comaprisons are now absolutely meaningless given the backdrop of the Amex.

22.5k capacity now, rising to 30 k from next season.

This will be exactly the same size as So'ton, and bigger than P'muff, or Reading, and with our corporate and matchday revenues continuing to climb through the roof.

Look forward from here on in, not back - I have no doubt we will be punching our weight on more than level terms, if not more than them, for a very long time to come.

Great post. Totally agree.

In 2001/02 we were promoted to the Championship with Stoke & Reading. Both of those teams went on to be promoted to the Premiership. Stoke are still there & don't look like moving....

... the notable difference between the 3 clubs at the time? Their stadiums. I see no reason why we could not be in the Premiership in the next few seasons & would go as far as saying I could see us staying there, like Stoke have done (but playing nicer football!).

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

I feel what punters are trying to say is that 'we should be bigger' than our recent history shows. This is quite realistic. The catalyst is having a proper footie stadium.

In the heady late 70's / early '80s were were an established (old) First/Second division Club enjoying 20-30k crowds. In the late '80s there was a general decline in football attendances as punters found better things to spend their precious money on than going to uncomfortable and antiquated football grounds where there had been a series of horrific disasters. This undermined any chance of proper financial stability for many clubs and in our case created the backdrop against which we were later exploited by Archer and Belotti. We all have a soft spot for the The Goldstone and the memories it triggers but in reality it was rather basic and getting very dated, with limited scope to make it into a modern and comfortable stadium that would also be financially viable. The rest is history. For 14 years we were the largest UK conurbation not to have its own dedicated footie stadium. There was no money to invest in the team and we nearly exited the league. Somehow we survived the Priestfield and Withdean years. It is no wonder that many fans drifted away while a die hard core bravely flew the flag.

Now we have a proper stadium the true scale of our fan base is apparent, having sold 18000 season tickets. This should not be a surprise as we have a 50 mile radius to our catchment area containing a population of about 1.5m. The Club only built a 22k capacity stadium because of initial planning constraints but it is already configured to be increased to 30k.

Yes some fans are branded as JCLs (a minority that became closet Man U or Chelsea) but they have to start somewhere so I respect that many fans are returning. Most importantly they are bringing with them the future generations of footie fans to support their local club and enjoy the spectacle in comfort. It helps to coincide with gaining promotion, playing good footie and having a proper budget to develop further on and off the pitch. The Chairman has now made £15m available for a new training complex and academy. We are lucky to have a Chairman who is also a fan and part of an Albion dynasty so is here for the long haul and has set out some serious ambitions and matched this with a serious budget. Local people want to be associated with success and a forward looking attitude. There is a buzz about the City.

In the short term we will at least re-establish ourselves at Championship level and even if the size of crowds eventually settle down following the initial euphoria this will be closer to the level that a City like Brighton & Hove deserves. However if greater success follows then we could be 'bigger' as we will now have the infrastructure to go with it.

Many of the circumstances described above could equally apply to clubs like Pompey who really should be bigger than they are, if they had not been mismanaged and invested in their ground etc. I suggest that if we can come back from near oblivion then there is no reason why others should not - but only if there is the will to make it happen.

 

[Jam The Man]

Historically a 'Well-supported' club might be more accurate. Not sure where we sit on the all time league table of average home gates, though I would imagine we'd be top half?

 

[whitelion]

I feel what punters are trying to say is that 'we should be bigger' than our recent history shows. This is quite realistic. The catalyst is having a proper footie stadium.

In the heady late 70's / early '80s were were an established (old) First/Second division Club enjoying 20-30k crowds. In the late '80s there was a general decline in football attendances as punters found better things to spend their precious money on than going to uncomfortable and antiquated football grounds where there had been a series of horrific disasters. This undermined any chance of proper financial stability for many clubs and in our case created the backdrop against which we were later exploited by Archer and Belotti. We all have a soft spot for the The Goldstone and the memories it triggers but in reality it was rather basic and getting very dated, with limited scope to make it into a modern and comfortable stadium that would also be financially viable. The rest is history. For 14 years we were the largest UK conurbation not to have its own dedicated footie stadium. There was no money to invest in the team and we nearly exited the league. Somehow we survived the Priestfield and Withdean years. It is no wonder that many fans drifted away while a die hard core bravely flew the flag.

Now we have a proper stadium the true scale of our fan base is apparent, having sold 18000 season tickets. This should not be a surprise as we have a 50 mile radius to our catchment area containing a population of about 1.5m. The Club only built a 22k capacity stadium because of initial planning constraints but it is already configured to be increased to 30k.

Yes some fans are branded as JCLs (a minority that became closet Man U or Chelsea) but they have to start somewhere so I respect that many fans are returning. Most importantly they are bringing with them the future generations of footie fans to support their local club and enjoy the spectacle in comfort. It helps to coincide with gaining promotion, playing good footie and having a proper budget to develop further on and off the pitch. The Chairman has now made £15m available for a new training complex and academy. We are lucky to have a Chairman who is also a fan and part of an Albion dynasty so is here for the long haul and has set out some serious ambitions and matched this with a serious budget. Local people want to be associated with success and a forward looking attitude. There is a buzz about the City.

In the short term we will at least re-establish ourselves at Championship level and even if the size of crowds eventually settle down following the initial euphoria this will be closer to the level that a City like Brighton & Hove deserves. However if greater success follows then we could be 'bigger' as we will now have the infrastructure to go with it.

Many of the circumstances described above could equally apply to clubs like Pompey who really should be bigger than they are, if they had not been mismanaged and invested in their ground etc. I suggest that if we can come back from near oblivion then there is no reason why others should not - but only if there is the will to make it happen.

That SOC is a top post. Thank you.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Don't think anyone claims we have been long in the big leagues. Though we have won plenty of lower league titles and promotions going up and down rather than boring plateauxing at the bottom of the champ. Not a big club but have always had the potential to be and the financial constrictions preventing this. Our new wealth and stature is the true level Brighton should have been at for years and the b(l)oom times are just on the horizon not actually happening yet

 

[Muhammed - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

I feel what punters are trying to say is that 'we should be bigger' than our recent history shows. This is quite realistic. The catalyst is having a proper footie stadium.

In the heady late 70's / early '80s were were an established (old) First/Second division Club enjoying 20-30k crowds. In the late '80s there was a general decline in football attendances as punters found better things to spend their precious money on than going to uncomfortable and antiquated football grounds where there had been a series of horrific disasters. This undermined any chance of proper financial stability for many clubs and in our case created the backdrop against which we were later exploited by Archer and Belotti. We all have a soft spot for the The Goldstone and the memories it triggers but in reality it was rather basic and getting very dated, with limited scope to make it into a modern and comfortable stadium that would also be financially viable. The rest is history. For 14 years we were the largest UK conurbation not to have its own dedicated footie stadium. There was no money to invest in the team and we nearly exited the league. Somehow we survived the Priestfield and Withdean years. It is no wonder that many fans drifted away while a die hard core bravely flew the flag.

Now we have a proper stadium the true scale of our fan base is apparent, having sold 18000 season tickets. This should not be a surprise as we have a 50 mile radius to our catchment area containing a population of about 1.5m. The Club only built a 22k capacity stadium because of initial planning constraints but it is already configured to be increased to 30k.

Yes some fans are branded as JCLs (a minority that became closet Man U or Chelsea) but they have to start somewhere so I respect that many fans are returning. Most importantly they are bringing with them the future generations of footie fans to support their local club and enjoy the spectacle in comfort. It helps to coincide with gaining promotion, playing good footie and having a proper budget to develop further on and off the pitch. The Chairman has now made £15m available for a new training complex and academy. We are lucky to have a Chairman who is also a fan and part of an Albion dynasty so is here for the long haul and has set out some serious ambitions and matched this with a serious budget. Local people want to be associated with success and a forward looking attitude. There is a buzz about the City.

In the short term we will at least re-establish ourselves at Championship level and even if the size of crowds eventually settle down following the initial euphoria this will be closer to the level that a City like Brighton & Hove deserves. However if greater success follows then we could be 'bigger' as we will now have the infrastructure to go with it.

Many of the circumstances described above could equally apply to clubs like Pompey who really should be bigger than they are, if they had not been mismanaged and invested in their ground etc. I suggest that if we can come back from near oblivion then there is no reason why others should not - but only if there is the will to make it happen.

top posting

 

[Seagull Steve]

Having looked around the interweb, I find that it is the fans of other teams branding us as being bertie big bollox. They seem to have confused our excitement with arrogance. I have yet to meet one Brighton fan that feels anything other than lucky. I won't go into our potential as it has all been said above. I have no reason to think that Tony Bloom a fan since birth will desert us, yes Gus will leave someday, but our Chairmen is not stupid and will not entrust our club to just any new manager.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Arsenal have only been in the top flight once over the the same period!! lol

Twice, actually. Sorry for being pedantic.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

We have been reigning Champions of Division 3 (South) for the past 53 years!! How long have Portsmouth been reigning champions of anything for?

 

[Simster]

We have been reigning Champions of Division 3 (South) for the past 53 years!! How long have Portsmouth been reigning champions of anything for?

The small matter of an FA Cup, for six or seven years.