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ME8_Gills

ME8_Gills

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Just been up to London today and one of my mates lives 1 train stop from Charlton but only goes there when Gills play them. That got me thinking to back in the late 90's, I lived in Livvy Road and nether bothered to watch Brighton, always preferring to watch Gills away. Did anyone on here actually see a Brighton home game at Preistfield?
 
ME8_Gills said:
Just been up to London today and one of my mates lives 1 train stop from Charlton but only goes there when Gills play them. That got me thinking to back in the late 90's, I lived in Livvy Road and nether bothered to watch Brighton, always preferring to watch Gills away. Did anyone on here actually see a Brighton home game at Preistfield?
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No, on principle. The team I most dislike in the whole world. How they got their stadium.... ? Well I'll leave it there.
 
I didn't, but from what I remember the crowds that did attend were pretty minimal. Listen to a BHA fan though and they'll tell you that their stay at ME7 paid for most of the refurbishments at Priestfield around the turn of the Millennium and that we tried to bankrupt them with rent payments.

Forgetting of course that had GFC not stepped in to offer (and yes, there was a financial aspect but that's only to be expected considering the circumstances) then it's highly likely that BHA wouldn't exist now as the same organisation, let alone be doing as well as they are. Considering the attitude of their fans, I wish we'd never bothered. Then of course there was the amazing levels of entitlement that went with the entire Falmer saga - which should never have been allowed to be built where it is, but that's another story entirely.
 
PhilK66 said:
No, on principle. The team I most dislike in the whole world. How they got their stadium.... ? Well I'll leave it there.
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You mean you don’t like clubs being gifted £100 million stadiums from a sugar daddy with “pay some back when you feel like it” terms?

A heap of concrete and light pollution being built on a plot of land designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with poor public transport links? Eventually getting planning permission following political pity?

What’s wrong with you?😉

JoeScout said:
I didn't, but from what I remember the crowds that did attend were pretty minimal. Listen to a BHA fan though and they'll tell you that their stay at ME7 paid for most of the refurbishments at Priestfield around the turn of the Millennium and that we tried to bankrupt them with rent payments.

Forgetting of course that had GFC not stepped in to offer (and yes, there was a financial aspect but that's only to be expected considering the circumstances) then it's highly likely that BHA wouldn't exist now as the same organisation, let alone be doing as well as they are. Considering the attitude of their fans, I wish we'd never bothered. Then of course there was the amazing levels of entitlement that went with the entire Falmer saga - which should never have been allowed to be built where it is, but that's another story entirely.
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Their crowds seemed to drop massively ala Wimbledon when all that franchise shit started. Beforehand IIRC they would average over 10 irrespective of the division they were in.

To be fair given their poor ownership decisions and the sheer journey to and from each home game I don’t blame them.
 
JoeScout said:
I didn't, but from what I remember the crowds that did attend were pretty minimal. Listen to a BHA fan though and they'll tell you that their stay at ME7 paid for most of the refurbishments at Priestfield around the turn of the Millennium and that we tried to bankrupt them with rent payments.

Forgetting of course that had GFC not stepped in to offer (and yes, there was a financial aspect but that's only to be expected considering the circumstances) then it's highly likely that BHA wouldn't exist now as the same organisation, let alone be doing as well as they are. Considering the attitude of their fans, I wish we'd never bothered. Then of course there was the amazing levels of entitlement that went with the entire Falmer saga - which should never have been allowed to be built where it is, but that's another story entirely.
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Ungrateful bastards 😆😆😆
 
Trev_GFC said:
You mean you don’t like clubs being gifted £100 million stadiums from a sugar daddy with “pay some back when you feel like it” terms?

A heap of concrete and light pollution being built on a plot of land designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with poor public transport links? Eventually getting planning permission following political pity?

What’s wrong with you?😉


Their crowds seemed to drop massively ala Wimbledon when all that franchise shit started. Beforehand IIRC they would average over 10 irrespective of the division they were in.

To be fair given their poor ownership decisions and the sheer journey to and from each home game I don’t blame them.
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Trev. I would like to think that as a club we would handle things differently but I somewhat doubt it. Human nature and all that.
 
Breckland said:
Yep - If there's one thing we hate it's the success of other teams. Not an attractive look really.
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It depends what your motives are. Jealousy isn’t a good look, true.

What about the dislike of unfair advantage in our national sport? Over-inflating everything as the rest of the clubs try catching up, or otherwise unsettling the ownership because the fans think their owners should be dipping into their own pockets more?

Football clubs are pillars of the community as well as cogs of the local and national economy. I don’t think 24 clubs in a league combining together to make losses of a billion pounds is a good look.

Plus we love concreting over every little bit of grass while our town centres crumble.

Don’t worry, everyone. I’ve got work in a minute so I’ll have to step off this soap box soon 😂
 
Why not ? Had I lived within walking distance of Priestfield back then I may well have popped along to watch a Brighton "home" game, provided it didn`t clash with a GFC game, of course.
 
I wouldn't turn down a massive gift but I've said on this site before that I'm happy with the Gallinsons trying to build up a feasible structure/club, rather than spunk money over us.

Leicester got a new ground in dodgy circs too iirc. Poor Ipswich didn't and they sank badly. Glad they are recovering now. Proper club and I have a soft spot for them ever since the 70's when they deserved to win the league but had nowhere near the scousers spending power.
 
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Brighton, Brentford, Luton, Bournemouth in the Prem. All teams we used to play regularly that got lucky with investors/owners.
Last year we got lucky. If we get promoted we might even get fans disliking us as much as Wrexham.
Seen Gills play at Brighton at 3 different Sussex grounds but had no interest in watching them in an almost empty Priestfield.
 
Gills 58 said:
I wouldn't turn down a massive gift but I've said on this site before that I'm happy with the Gallinsons trying to build up a feasible structure/club, rather than spunk money over us.

Leicester got a new fround in dodgy circs too iirc. Poor Ipswich didn't and they sank badly. Glad they are recovering now. Proper club and I have a soft spot for them ever since the 70's when they deserved to win the league but had nowhere near the scousers spending power.
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Agree. Ipswich fans hounded out their owner (Marcus Evans) despite him propping up the club by paying off £10 million debts each year IIRC.
 
PhilK66 said:
No, on principle. The team I most dislike in the whole world. How they got their stadium.... ? Well I'll leave it there.
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they got because they had a galvanized fanbase, a rich owner and depending on your view a government which knew want to retain its labour seats or could see how it could benefit the local community

Living down here, Brighton are pro-active in the local community, even when they were playing in League 2, much more than we have been.

I must say, there is a lot people who I know who watch the Albion who are "2 clubbers", like my neighbour who will wear an Arsenal shirt but have an Albion season ticket. There is a big difference between these people and die hards I know.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Albion's attendances if they went down or if Tony Bloom decided to pull out.

What I would say, the Albion success is on much firmer foundations than Bournemouth, who I believe are an accident waiting to happen.
 
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Trev_GFC said:
You mean you don’t like clubs being gifted £100 million stadiums from a sugar daddy with “pay some back when you feel like it” terms?

A heap of concrete and light pollution being built on a plot of land designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with poor public transport links? Eventually getting planning permission following political pity?

What’s wrong with you?😉


Their crowds seemed to drop massively ala Wimbledon when all that franchise shit started. Beforehand IIRC they would average over 10 irrespective of the division they were in.

To be fair given their poor ownership decisions and the sheer journey to and from each home game I don’t blame them.
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I understand where you are coming from, but there was an active boycott on Albion's games whilst the then owner and chief executive were running their club at the time (Much more effective boycott than Perry's crusade!)

And the ONB site they built on was sandwiched between Southern Water site at Falmer and the University. That is was within the boundary of A27 and the other main road in that area meant this site was available and within the realms of the expansion of the university as well.

Tony Bloom is a dream owner. An actual fan of the club (his Dad was a director of the club), and someone who knows what he is doing
 
Lozzy-Hove_Gill said:
they got because they had a galvanized fanbase, a rich owner and depending on your view a government which knew want to retain its labour seats or could see how it could benefit the local community

Living down here, Brighton are pro-active in the local community, even when they were playing in League 2, much more than we have been.

I must say, there is a lot people who I know who watch the Albion who are "2 clubbers", like my neighbour who will wear an Arsenal shirt but have an Albion season ticket. There is a big difference between these people and die hards I know.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Albion's attendances if they went down or if Tony Bloom decided to pull out.

What I would say, the Albion success is on much firmer foundations than Bournemouth, who I believe are an accident waiting to happen.
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I hate them more than any other team in the world. Would love to see them back in L1/2
 
I went twice and stood in the away end on each occasion. One game was their first match at Priestfield v Macclesfield and I'm pretty sure it was 1-1.

I also attended the Fans United day the next season when they played Doncaster, which ended 0-0. At the time both teams occupied the bottom two spots in the division and it was possibly the worst game I've ever seen, even worse than some of the fare served up by us in Evan's last few months or the first half of last season.
 
When the Gills were away, I used to go to see Maidstone, when they were playing Conference football in Dartford. I wasn't quite ready to let go of Sir Keith.
 
When they were having one of their home games at Priestfield one day, I was putting air in my tyres at the petrol station when a minibus of their fans pulled in. I tried to be friendly but when they knew I was a Gills fan, they started a tirade of abuse about Gills, how lucky we were to have decent people like them in our sh**ty little ground instead of gypos, how they'd like to burn the ground down etc. I didn't like them before, I hated them after that and still do.
 
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