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Congratulations Brighton
- Thread starter Mike E
- Start date
Well done to Brighton. Its a great story and a wonderful achievement.
I must admit I was fascinated by what happened in the 90's and in particular to the Goldstone ground. I was looking at YouTube and seeing how what was deemed to be the "final" match got abandoned after 15 mins. However, the Goldstone was reprieved to be played at for another year.
So I started to look and watch for more videos. I came across this studio-tv debate...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mG-o6-S7uE
Its taken from a period of time where Brighton are about to stop playing at the Goldstone and ground share to Gillingham for the following season. Brighton were bottom of the football league, planning applications for a new ground were submitted and rejected and Dick Knight was trying to lead a consortium to take over.
Chairman Archer and Chief Executive Bellotti are this programme saying how they had to sell the Goldstone to pay the debts. The fans obviously disagreed about the manner in which they were deciding to run the football club.
What made it interesting was their was reports about the Fan Utd event at the Goldstone where the crowd went from 4,000 to 8,000 for this organised event. Right at the start of this video there are two Argyle fans captured in shot that were going to the match as part of the event. So its shows how the two clubs have been fortunate to have two sets of fans, who in times of need, have helped each other out.
What made this show interesting were so other points about other clubs and how in general people see football, both then and in the future. Here is a summary....
1. Portsmouth were getting 7,000 crowds. Then managed by Terry Fenwick. They were losing a huge amount of money each week as 14,000 was need to break even.
2. Journalists seem to think the way football was being run that ground shares and team mergers were going to be a common practice. One person even thought it possible to see a reduction in league numbers and a return to div 3 north/south
3. AFC Bournemouth, at the time of the airing of this show, were 24 hours away from being wound up. They had a high court appearance the following day and unless they could agree a deal with creditors they would face liquidation. Their Chairman was on the show and rated their chances as 50:50 in terms of the clubs survival. Brighton Chairman and Chief Executive kept referring to Bournemouth by mentioning that the club would survive and wouldn't be on the brink of being wound up like them.
4. Fans and owners thought football players were earning too much at the top end of football. That the gap between the premier league and the football league in terms of finances was too big. They felt that wages should be capped.
5. Gary Nelson was on the show then playing for Torquay. Believed that players had a right to get as much as they could and believed the responsibility lied with the chairman for making sure the club could afford this. Torquay were losing £3,500 a week according to Nelson. There were a number of other clubs mentioned in similar plights.
6. That the F.A. and Football League washed their hands of the situation. There was no strong authority leadership and you wonder in this present climate if things have changed that much.
Hopefully just like Brighton, Argyle have survived their darkest hour, and now will be period of progression. However, after watching this I cant help but spare a thought for clubs like Coventry and Leyton Orient who by no fault of the fans, are being run in an appalling manner. Over 20 years on teams are still being run by chairman who treat the club like its their toy. In Leyton Orient case you have a man who ego believes he knows more about football than the number of managers he keeps hiring and firing. In Coventry's case you have a consortium who didn't care if they played football in Coventry or Northampton.
You wonder how many times things have to happen before the football authorities actually take control of the game they are supposedly looking after. Each season we had new warning signs. After introducing a fit and proper ownership test it still seems they are failing miserably as you had Portsmouth who were ruined by owners who didn't have the money and a Leeds Utd club which is currently being run by a man who's ego and background seem highly questionable.
Maybe it is down to the fans to finally make a stance to stop this for good because after Coventry and Leyton Orient they will be another club to take their place in terms of struggling to survive. That's the sad fact.
I must admit I was fascinated by what happened in the 90's and in particular to the Goldstone ground. I was looking at YouTube and seeing how what was deemed to be the "final" match got abandoned after 15 mins. However, the Goldstone was reprieved to be played at for another year.
So I started to look and watch for more videos. I came across this studio-tv debate...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mG-o6-S7uE
Its taken from a period of time where Brighton are about to stop playing at the Goldstone and ground share to Gillingham for the following season. Brighton were bottom of the football league, planning applications for a new ground were submitted and rejected and Dick Knight was trying to lead a consortium to take over.
Chairman Archer and Chief Executive Bellotti are this programme saying how they had to sell the Goldstone to pay the debts. The fans obviously disagreed about the manner in which they were deciding to run the football club.
What made it interesting was their was reports about the Fan Utd event at the Goldstone where the crowd went from 4,000 to 8,000 for this organised event. Right at the start of this video there are two Argyle fans captured in shot that were going to the match as part of the event. So its shows how the two clubs have been fortunate to have two sets of fans, who in times of need, have helped each other out.
What made this show interesting were so other points about other clubs and how in general people see football, both then and in the future. Here is a summary....
1. Portsmouth were getting 7,000 crowds. Then managed by Terry Fenwick. They were losing a huge amount of money each week as 14,000 was need to break even.
2. Journalists seem to think the way football was being run that ground shares and team mergers were going to be a common practice. One person even thought it possible to see a reduction in league numbers and a return to div 3 north/south
3. AFC Bournemouth, at the time of the airing of this show, were 24 hours away from being wound up. They had a high court appearance the following day and unless they could agree a deal with creditors they would face liquidation. Their Chairman was on the show and rated their chances as 50:50 in terms of the clubs survival. Brighton Chairman and Chief Executive kept referring to Bournemouth by mentioning that the club would survive and wouldn't be on the brink of being wound up like them.
4. Fans and owners thought football players were earning too much at the top end of football. That the gap between the premier league and the football league in terms of finances was too big. They felt that wages should be capped.
5. Gary Nelson was on the show then playing for Torquay. Believed that players had a right to get as much as they could and believed the responsibility lied with the chairman for making sure the club could afford this. Torquay were losing £3,500 a week according to Nelson. There were a number of other clubs mentioned in similar plights.
6. That the F.A. and Football League washed their hands of the situation. There was no strong authority leadership and you wonder in this present climate if things have changed that much.
Hopefully just like Brighton, Argyle have survived their darkest hour, and now will be period of progression. However, after watching this I cant help but spare a thought for clubs like Coventry and Leyton Orient who by no fault of the fans, are being run in an appalling manner. Over 20 years on teams are still being run by chairman who treat the club like its their toy. In Leyton Orient case you have a man who ego believes he knows more about football than the number of managers he keeps hiring and firing. In Coventry's case you have a consortium who didn't care if they played football in Coventry or Northampton.
You wonder how many times things have to happen before the football authorities actually take control of the game they are supposedly looking after. Each season we had new warning signs. After introducing a fit and proper ownership test it still seems they are failing miserably as you had Portsmouth who were ruined by owners who didn't have the money and a Leeds Utd club which is currently being run by a man who's ego and background seem highly questionable.
Maybe it is down to the fans to finally make a stance to stop this for good because after Coventry and Leyton Orient they will be another club to take their place in terms of struggling to survive. That's the sad fact.
Just watched to get a feel for the situation at the time as I was too young to remember at the time! The opinions on that show seems to have remained the same as 2017. Clubs still struggling financially every season, premier league wages still going up and up and we probably have even more clubs who have a lack of faith in their board.
It really does make me glad we have Brent at the helm.
Congratulations though Brighton, always been looking out for your results! May drop in for a game next season when Argyle are away of course, could even do a Saturday Argyle away day then go on to Brighton on Sunday :scarf:
It really does make me glad we have Brent at the helm.
Congratulations though Brighton, always been looking out for your results! May drop in for a game next season when Argyle are away of course, could even do a Saturday Argyle away day then go on to Brighton on Sunday :scarf:
Congratulations BHA - chuffed for the club and the fans of course.
The way they supported us was incredible and it has been a pleasure to see their rise up into the Premiership. I will be following them closely next season and hope they do well.
The way they supported us was incredible and it has been a pleasure to see their rise up into the Premiership. I will be following them closely next season and hope they do well.
H
