Hi People

First of all, fair play to anyone that made the journey down to the worst ground in the country

I thought you guys in midfield were quite solid and got stuck in but your defence was pretty dire to be honest and up front you need someone that can get involved a bit more. You stuffed us up at your place so it was nice to repay the debt


Sorry about our pi** poor ground but here is hoping your over at our new home soon

http://www.countdown2falmer.co.uk/jan11.php

You are welcome to Palace!! yeah 14 years without a proper home and now having a real top class one is beyond our wildest dreams to be honest, and paid for by a proper chairman who is a lifelong fan(£100 million appox).

I looked over towards the away end today and even though it was a dreadful game for your fans to watch with a proper awful view miles away from the pitch your lads and lasses still had a good sing song here or there. Albion got proper stuffed away at your place and i was gutted when Lua Lua broke his leg up there but Craig Noone has come in replacement and looks a mighty good prospect.

Good luck for the rest of the season

AT LAST !! I knew we'd come across the half decent Brighton fan. I was starting to believe he didn't exist

Most of us are a decent bunch to be honest. The truth is there are WUM's and idiots at every club i club i guess. I am sure you will be visiting The Amex soon enough and you will be welcome as every club that visits has a personalised away end(Team colours & heroes for each club that visits). We are damn lucky but will never forget our dark days of fans united and the real fans of this world that supported us

come on you know we were total gash for 90 minutes That said, you need the points more than us so we decided not to turn up

Chip, it was a beautiful day on the sussex coast today, clear blue sky and 12c+ degrees today at least there was some consolation for a totally shit performance.

That must be a few yrs back then Chip.....£2.50 !! Can't sneeze for that in Brighton these days.

Chessington.........Well you were poor in the main but every game is different and you have had a bit of an up and down season this year.

Lovely ground but how far is it from the town centre?
Went to Oxfords new ground I think it was the first season there and it was foooking miles away from the city centre.

5 minutes on the train. The stadium is 1 minute walk to a station at Falmer. The club had to pay for a station upgrade and all the roads. I think this is nearing £101 million now. The Chairman/Poyet now wants a 12 pitch training centre with undersoil heating(£15 million). It's all a bit weird. Little 'ol Brighton getting this

This sounds all a bit Reynolds-esque

Doesn't look like there is much of a car park..!

What is the capacity?

Reynolds-esque?

Only a car park for a small number of 1901(Posh boxes) fans as there was a green travel issue as part of the conditions of the stadium being built, but a train station and buses are easily accessible. Lots of terms and conditions included as part of the permission. We are only allowed one concert a year too as far as i understand it. The Stadium is 22,500 capacity but can be adjusted to 30,000 by filling in a few corners with seats if needed and 44,000 if we do really well(Mmmmmmm). I think we are gonna be on target for selling 12-15000 season tickets so far

Out of interest, Monkhouse has been a good player for you guys but he seemed to have a quiet one yesterday. I know the Brighton fans think he is a good player, how has he been for you this season?

Here is the inside taken recently

It looks like the KC in Hull from that picture, swish as they are all these new grounds look exactly like another somewhere else. The more that pop up the more soulless football becomes, although I understand Brighton's need for a new ground more than most.

It's nice to hear some outside views that are not just silly rants so thanks. I think it is easy to mention soul-less stadiums as there are those that have cropped up, Colchester being one of them in my view, but The Goldstone was a wreck and the recognition by the fans that we needed to move even yrs before the chairman sold the ground site from under the clubs feet was there to be seen, The Goldstone was falling apart. KSS the design company have built some stunning modern stadia and although it does not hark back to Grounds of a by gone era rather than 'Stadiums' what is being built is a community stadium not just 'Big Business'.

W have nearly died as a club so having the withdean and gillingham and comparing this is beyond our wildest dreams.

Transport links re very good and prices for all have been considered. We are the first club in the country to offer a monthly DD payment scheme(interest free) for the season tickets to make it more affordable and the sponsorship money from American Express is going directly to community projects and not one penny to the club on the football side.

I am aware of the idiots than come on other clubs forums making ridiculous jibes and it is good to talk to proper fans and this is the first time i have done this, i was just impressed with your guys coming down all this way , to what is, an absolute junk yard of a ground. As i said before the view is truly appalling.

Looks a mighty fine stadium too me Mr Amish ..Was it modelled on the Darlo Arena ?..

MadJohn:

Yeah i did wonder about Monkhouse as he seemed very quiet yesterday.

I think we do have a bigger fan base potential compared to Darlington but they are different circumstances, it is here or nothing for us of course and the chairman is no Reynolds for sure. If he has enough money to give Brighton over £100 million for our new home without any bank loans or outside investment then i would say he is pretty minted and he has stated this is all interest free and being a life long fan helps(his dad (Ray)was involved at a high level for years too).

Bloom has stated and confirmed he is not paying over the odds for any players and everything has to be at a sensible cost without throwing Brighton into trouble, he does though have enough clout to support Poyet so we have been very lucky indeed. Thank heavens we are not going to do a Portsmouth

The Kassam is one of the worst grounds going, it only has three sides thanks to the greed of the owner putting the bowling alley / cinema / frankie and bennies etc on the other side. This added to the fact its right next to the science park and about 15mintues drive from the centre with only one pub there.

I'd hate to have to support a team more than 10 minutes walk from local boozers.
I think we need to appreciate how lucky we are having a ground in such a great location.

Could not agree more. We are the luckiest supporters in the world.

Evening chaps. Another Brighton fan here. Just want to echo what the OP said about those who made the trek down to Sussex last Saturday. Well played.

Wanted to pick up on a point MadJohn made about our ground being a 'risk'. In short, we don't think so. 22,500 is a capacity comfortably within our grasp. The Reynolds situation and ours don't stand up to any kind of comparison. Our catchment area is of course, much bigger than Darlington's - no league club for 45 miles. We're well on target for 15,000 season ticket holders next season. You can't judge our potential by the attendance figures for Withdean as they mean little due to its appallingness (is that a word?) which has kept so many people away for so long.

Reagrding the distance from the City Centre? Not much of an issue - we have a pretty decent public transport system here.

Also, there is some car parking at Falmer, mostly at the adjacent University of Sussex and University of Brighton sites, though the encouragement is for people to either use the Park & Ride, or take the train. We like 'Green' issues around here - hey, we even have a Green MP. There is a decent pub in the village (over the road from the stadium) and about 20 bars (about three or four in the away end) serving at least three real ales (two from Sussex and one from the area where the visiting team is from). Failing that, there's shedloads of good pubs nine minutes away on the train in the City Centre.

Something that might be of passing interest (assuming you wish to actually SIT when you visit) is that the standard seats at the Amex are the same ones as the luxury seats at the Olympic Stadium in London. That should help one or two people down here who use their bottoms for recreational activities post-match.

The other thing is about Tony Bloom. He didn't make his fortune by gambling - that's just his side hobby which he can afford to indulge in. The unsecured, interest-free loan he has given the club (c.£100m) for the stadium construction is something he knows he is unlikely to see again, and because it's something he can afford (estimates put his wealth at up to £4bn), he's probably not that bothered. He is that much of a fan.

I'm sorry MadJohn finds it such an appalling state of affairs to make away fans feel as welcome as possible by having the away end lit in club colours and imagery, but you can't have everything.

You probably didn't really care about all this too much, but now you've read it, I guess I've stuck it with you. Sorry 'bout that.

Anyhoo, sort your defence out, and we'll look forward to a few beers at the Amex with you in a couple of years' time. Good luck for the rest of the season.

Totally agree, if Pools moved I think I would seriously consider whether to keep going.

I think we're sort of going to end up arguing semantics here.

There is a desire for a 22,500-capacity stadium, which is not over double our 'historial average'. As you acknowledge, the stadium will probably sell-out in the first few years. So where's the risk? The alternative being build something that is not suitable (say, a 14,000-seater stadium...? As for the lean years sometime in the future, the arguments are the same as a City Centre stadium. In our case, It's not the location that's the issue, it's the quality of football on offer.

As for the out-of-town bit. Seeing as there was nowhere else to build it - as was proved in two public inquiries - and it having its own dedicated railway station, again the risk is vastly reduced. It's not as though it will cost much to get there either. Your match ticket at Withdean means you get to the game for free from 15 miles out. At the Amex, it's £1 to get to the ground from up to 15 miles out.

We'll be fine. Believe me, Fans United day in February 1997 (sorry about the result) is part of our 'Little Blue Book' when indocrinating the next generation. Hey, even Gus has read it. :)