withdean v priestfield debate?

[Return of the Rev]

How anyone could prefer going to that shithole in Kent I'll never know.

£5 each on the coach up to gillingham arrive by 11am and then a pub crawl every other week

 

[Hamilton]

Withdean every time. It was ours. It was in Brighton.

I was so pleased when we came home. It was the sign that we weren't going to go away. It was our foot back in the door.

Anyhow Withdean has been our most successful ground.

And I liked the chips.

 

[Hamilton]

There is one thing I liked about Gillingham. I used to go on my own. None of my mates were interested.

As a result I used to drive. The peace and quiet of a couple of hours on my own in the car was great - or rather, my music in the car there and sports report and 606 on the way back with no one interrupting.

 

[Return of the Rev]

If we had stayed at Gillingham and emulated the withdean form what do you reckon our attendances could have been,plus we could have spent the 2 million spent on relocating on players?
Would we have made more money staying at Gillingham as the profit from withdean tenure was very poor

 

[catfish]

£5 each on the coach up to gillingham arrive by 11am and then a pub crawl every other week

While our club was slowly dying.

 

[cheshunt seagull]

Prior to Priestfield, living 90 miles from Brighton with a young family had turned me into an occasional attendee at the Goldstone. When we moved to Priestfield I found myself bizarrely living nearer to home games than someone in Brighton and got back into the habit of going to home games regularly, a habit which has continued ever since, with a pause in the MA second spell. So, although the football at Priestfield was mostly awful, it had positives for me.....and when I sit in the North Stand at the Amex I can smile and think of how low we sank and where we are now.

 

[Ringmer Seagull]

In some ways I still miss Withdean. I love the Amex and I love the fact we are attracting loads of new fans. I know that this is a new chapter in the life of Brighton and Hove Albion and I am looking forward to the next stage of the journey. However there was something about Withdean, every time I walked under the arch and through the turnstile I thought I am part of the few, I am part of the club. This is the only way I got through some games. Especially when the weather was crap and the football was worse.

Have to agree with that. I love the Amex but at Withdean I definitely felt more closely connected to the club. That and being able to drive to games are the only things I miss about Withdean.

 

[Dav]

Withdean obviously. The only thing that I prefer about Withdean to Falmer is the travel.

 

[Return of the Rev]

While our club was slowly dying.

no while it was was getting reborn

 

[ferring seagull]

It really is pretty irrelevant in terms of which was/ was not the crappiest place you ever saw the Albion play.

What matters is that the entire experience, Priestfield and Withdean, however horrible either was irrespectively, no other club will ever have such an amazing episode in it's history, and that is something which we must always treasure.

It all adds something wonderful to an amazing football club and, given where we are now, all the more so !

 

[Leosayer]

Have to say priestfield was great from a travel perspective as I only live 15 mins away shame we were so sh*te then!

 

[Exiled in Exeter]

Timco’s site is a good reminder of just what the Gillingham experience was. http://www.albionalbum.co.uk/teams/mansfield/17_10_1998/index.shtml

Thankfully those 4-0 home defeats to Darlo should be confined to history.