Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.
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| Full name | Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Seagulls The Albion |
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| Founded | 1901 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Withdean Stadium Brighton & Hove (Capacity: 8,850) |
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| Chairman |  Dick Knight |
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| Manager | Micky Adams |
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| League | League One | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | League One, 7th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club is an English football club based in the coastal city of Brighton & Hove, East Sussex. They play in Football League One, after their relegation following the 2005-06 season from the Championship. The team are nicknamed 'Seagulls', partly due to the city's seaside location and partly as a response to the similar sounding nickname 'Eagles' of their main rivals Crystal Palace. Prior to this nickname they were known as 'the Dolphins' or 'the Shrimps'. The team have historically played in blue and white stripes, though this changed to all white briefly in the 1970s (in the Freddie Goodwin era) and again to plain blue during the club's most successful spell in the 1980s.
Founded in 1901, Brighton played their early professional football in the Southern League. They were elected to the Football League in 1920. Between 1979 and 1983 they were in the old First Division. In 1983 they reached the final of the FA Cup, which they drew 2–2, but lost 4–0 in a replay to Manchester United. They were unfortunately relegated from the First Division in the same season. But over the next decade or so, financial problems dragged the Seagulls down the league and in 1997 they narrowly avoided relegation to the Conference. A boardroom takeover saved Brighton from going out of business, and by 2001 they had climbed out of the basement division. A second successive promotion was achieved, but they were relegated after one season. Promotion was gained at the first attempt, but the Seagulls went down again two years later.
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[edit] The fight for a stadium
For many years Brighton and Hove Albion were based at the Goldstone Ground in Hove, until the board of directors decided to sell the stadium. For two years, from 1997–99, the club shared the ground of Gillingham, but have since returned to Brighton, where they now play at Withdean Stadium. This is not predominantly a football ground, having been used for athletics throughout most of its history, and previously as a zoo.
The sale of the Goldstone Ground, implemented by majority shareholder Bill Archer and his chief executive David Bellotti, proved controversial, and the move provoked widespread protests against the board. The club received little if any money from this sale.
In their last season at the Goldstone, 1996-97, the Seagulls were in danger of relegation from the Football League. They won their final game at the Goldstone against Doncaster Rovers, setting up a winner-takes-all relegation game at Hereford United, who were level on points with the Seagulls. The Seagulls drew 1–1, and Hereford were relegated to the Football Conference on goals scored.
Because of the cost of the public enquiry, rent on Withdean Stadium, fees paid to use Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium, and a general running deficit due to the low ticket sales inherent with a small ground, the club had an accumulated deficit of £9.5 million in 2004. The board of directors paid £7 million of this; the other £2.5 million had to be raised from the operations of the club. In an effort to achieve this, a fundraising appeal known as the Alive and Kicking Fund was started, with everything from nude Christmas Cards featuring the players to a CD single being released to raise cash. On 9 January 2005 this fundraising single 'Tom Hark (We Want Falmer)' went straight in at number 17 in the UK chart, gaining it national airplay on Radio 1.
Unlike most clubs carrying a large debt, the club has never considered entering administration, as it was a previous period of administration that led to Archer gaining control of the club.
On 28 October 2005, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced that the application for Falmer had been successful, much to the joy and relief of all the fans. However, Lewes District Council contested John Prescott's decision to approve planning permission for Falmer forcing a judicial review. This was based on a minor error in Prescott's original approval which neglected to state that some car parking for the stadium is in the Lewes district as opposed to the Brighton & Hove unitary authority. This caused further delay. One the judicial review ruled in favour of the stadium, Lewis District Council said that they would not launch further appeals.
The football club's board said in 2008 that although the stadium will be ready in 2010, it will not be ready for the start of the 2010-11 season. As such, the target date for opening is August 2011.
Building of the Falmer Stadium started in December 2008.
[edit] History
- See also: History of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.
[edit] Managers
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See Soccerbase for full managerial history
[edit] Players
[edit] Famous Former Players
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[edit] Current squad
- As of 1 December 2008.[1]
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[edit] Out on loan
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[edit] Honours
[edit] League
- Football League Championship/(Old) Second Division[2] titles: 0
- 1978/79 Runners Up
- Football League One/(Old) Third Division[3] titles: 2
- 1964/65 Champions
- 2001/02 Champions
- 2003/04 Position 4th (1-0 vs. Bristol City, Play-off final)
- Football League Two/(Old) Fourth Division[4] titles: 2
- 1957/58 Champions (Division 3 South)(after which Div 3 North & South split in Div 3 & Div 4)
- 2000/01 Champions
- Southern Football League Division One
- 1909/10 Champions
[edit] Cup
- FA Cup
- 1982/83 Runners Up
- Charity Shield
- 1910 Winners
[edit] Women's football
Brighton & Hove Albion also have a female team, Brighton & Hove Albion Women, affiliated since 1991. They currently are in the Women's Second Division.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Official
[edit] References
- ^ "The Squad". Brighton & Hove Albion FC. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
- ^ The Second Division became the First Division upon the formation of the Premier League, and is now known as the Football League Championship.
- ^ The Third Division became the Second Division upon the formation of the Premier League, and is now known as Football League One.
- ^ The Fourth Division became the Third Division upon the formation of the Premier League, and is now known as Football League Two.
