v 
THE BLUES
Mixed reviews from Saturday's game but overall good. Six points would have been great but four points, after the trauma of Bailey's transfer and the late inclusion of new signings and youth players, is not bad at all.
There was some promising signs in both league games, lets try and forget Cheltenham, and the loan signings of Sawyer and Robson-Kanu might mean T&B have pulled it off again. It's a shame Jonathon Douglas from Leeds didn't happen as more experience would be good but I'm sure Tilly will find someone before the loan wondow shuts, 24 hours later than usual on September 1.
Peterborough's 3-0 demolition of the Borient shows they have the attacking talent we suspected, or Orient's defence is crap, and that our new back five is on the way to being pretty damn good. Harding, of course, will be playing against a former club whose fans held him in high regard.
Of course we now have Mr. Sawyer and Mr. Robson-Kanu to add to the mix. As soon as we have Tilly's team we will update the preview but both may well start. The Moose could have most reason for concern but I think he'll stay in and with Tilly announcing Hal is being looked at as a winger the injuries to Walker and Scannell must be more serious than first thought. If so, let's hope the form we saw from Anthony Grant in midfield last Saturday is repeated while Barny gets that opening goal he needs to kick start his season. More of the same from Alex Revell, another Brighton old boy, as well please, if he starts.
Possible X1: Mildenhall, Francis, Clarke, Barrett, Harding, , Grant, Moussa, Betsy, Robson-Kanu, Barnard, Revell. Sawyer starting on the bench for now.
Millwall were not the strongest of opponents but Brighton could be, I have them down for a play-off finish, and we might know a lot more of what the season holds after this one.
THE OPPOSITION
The Seagulls are on the same points as the Blues after an 2-1 away win at Crewe was followed by a 1-1 home draw with Bristol Rovers. In between they demolished Barnet 4-0 in the Carling Cup.
The second coming of manager Mickey Adams along with signings such as the return of defender Virgo from Celtic and the continuing goals of veteran forward Forster have given some hope to Brighton fans they can get a step closer to promotion this season.
They just missed out last time around, the 2-0 defeat at Roots Hall finally seeing them off while keeping us in a play-off position we confirmed with the win at Carlisle.
A match report on the home draw with Bristol Rovers from Fatman Slims of Brightonfans.com
GATE; 6210. ATMOSPHERE; Full of hope but this gave over to frustration as old problems emerged by the end. TEAM; Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, Hawkins, Livermore, Cox, Virgo, Thomson, Richards, Hart, Forster. Subs; Mayo, Loft, Robinson, Lynch (80), Fraser (63)
Useful numbers got along to the Withdean for our first home fixture in League1. A couple of hundred b&w quartered types from the west country assembled in the Worthing end. Gully had got a couple of feathered friends for company, apart from his Girls who did look good as birds in formation.
Micky Adams was applauded for turning up and we all settled down to watch Albion dance around as per routine. Murray was suspended and McLeod unfit so we witnessed a new line-up. Well at this stage of a long season, everything is new.
GOALS; 10 min. Brighton were in Bristol's area and Forster went down with the ball at his feet. He stepped up to score from the spot. 1-0 - lucky start and they're not always given. 85 min. Bristol were in our area and numbers crowded around the ball. Kuipers went on the deck with the thing between his gloves. But Ref pointed to the spot for shirt pulling. 1-1 - someone had pulled a stroke and all, there was nothing we could do but hope for another surprise.
OFF DAY; Hawkins received MoM accolades and was one in the frame for a prize. A lot of 13 fielded didn't figure for recognition and others weren't at the races anyway. Albion were grinding it out, reverted to route one but could have collected a wooden spoon.
NEVER MIND THE QUALITY; Brighon fans thought the idea was to have wide-men and provide a string of crosses. On occasion we nearly expected to see a diamond employed like last term as Rovers shut-up shop at the back and channels became Bristol's. Albion had no idea how to cope and eventually Virgo went up-front and we then launched it even higher.
POST-IT; Kuipers didn't have a lot to do but had to keep alert as Rovers pressed for an equaliser. He got down to tip a hard, low shot onto an upright and noted mass applause from north, east and south. Previously he'd been beaten from a free kick that hit the bar, to distant vocals from the west end.
ALBI HOVE SAID; 'what a load of rubbish. It was almost a throw-back to last season's very average third-tier fare and hardly value for money for poor punters seeking thrills away from the TV with birdsnest stadium coverage. Micky Adams knows more about what his squad can do but perhaps more relevant to our future, what they can't.'
SECOND COMING; Adams said he was disappointed. The first time in 1999 he was philosophical, saying; 'it would be folly to believe we are anything other than a decent third division team. Time will tell us if we are that.' How the years go by.
Essex boy but ressurected Brighton forward Gary Hart has backed Albion's highly-rated strike pairing to bring the side success this season. But the versatile long-server would love to stand in for Glenn Murray or Nicky Forster, or anyone else for that matter, after completing an amazing comeback from reject to starter.
Hart, released by Dean Wilkins three months ago, found himself kicking off the opening home League One fixture on Saturday. It took a combination of events to take him to such elevated status, including a change of manager, a pay cut, some pre-season endeavour and a needless red card for Murray in midweek. Hart ran and harried his way through a little more than an hour of action before giving way to Tommy Fraser, with Adam Virgo going up front.
He does not expect to kick things off when his side go to Roots Hall on Friday. But who knows what this tale of the unexpected could bring next?
Hart said: "I know what I'm about. I'm not going to play week in, week out. My aim is to get in that team and I want to play every week but Fozzy and Muzza have got a great partnership. 'm not going to stand in their way. I want success for Brighton and I want to be a part of that. I'm just going to keep plugging away. I haven't really played much as forward in the last couple of years but I want to give it a go, try and get that sharpness back. If the gaffer needs me to play somewhere else, obviously I will. Being a defender and a forward is hard because they are different movements, stuff like that, but me and the gaffer have spoken about it. Everything is absolutely fine."
So it has been all change over the last three months, a hectic period which also included Hart's testimonial. But then some thing do not change. Hart's endeavour saw him pick up a yellow card on Saturday but he was not impressed by that decision, or the two penalties, and did not mind admitting it.
He continued: "To be honest, I didn't think Fozzy's was a penalty. I was watching theirs and I couldn't see anything wrong. No one could understand it. Even their fans didn't cheer until they realised the ball was on the spot. I'm not blaming the referee but even on my booking the player slipped over three times and he has accused me of fouling him. I could have got sent-off for absolutely nothing and that changes games."
So where does Hart resurface next? His versatility, millstone that it may be in some ways, at least improves his chances of seeing more action. When the line-ups were read out in the press room before kick-off, some reporters thought Hart would be wide on the right with Dave Livermore in central midfield, Adam Virgo up front and Matt Richards at left- back. In fact it was far from that. Which shows Albion have options, though the new-look front pair had an increasingly frustrating afternoon.
Hart expalined further: "The manager told me and Fozzy to work from the front, close them down and make them knock it long. It's good working up front with him but it was one of those games where there were never going to be many chances. Last game we played (at Crewe) we had 30-odd crosses. I don't think we had half as many this time because of the way the game was played. It's a shame I've come up front into a scrappy game but that's life."
Played 95: WON 35 DRAWN 19 LOST 41
Approaching a century of games it all started 88 years ago on Aug. 28 1920 when a Fairclough double led to a 2-0 win at home. Not unsurprisingly 25 of our 35 wins (70%) have been in Southend
The biggest margin has been 4-0 which we have achieved three times. Oct. 10 1925 with Watkins(2), Shaw, Bissett scoring. Oct. 23 1954; Bums, Bridge, Anderson(W) and Hollis. Finally, Feb. 17 1976 when Silvester scored all four!
In fact we are on a good run against the Seagulls at the home of football where we have not been beaten since Apr. 12 1974 when we lost 0-2. Since then we have played them 12 times in cups and league, winning 11 and only 1 draw, and that was the League Cup Round 1 Leg 1! (1-1, Parker, Aug. 14 76).
This amazing sequence started 33 years ago when the L in TLG, Alan Little, scored on Jan. 11 1975 in a 1-0 win. Another home win was in a Coke Cup R2 match on Sep. 19 2006, an exciting 3-2 comeback; a rare Paynter goal, Freddie and a very late Hunt winner.
It still continues to this day with the last in the league a 2-0 win on April 8 this year; Gower and a Barrett cracker which many considered the best goal we scored last season. The points saw us rise to fourth in the league but following on from a 2-3 home defeat to Port Vale it left too much for Brighton to do and they ended up finishing seventh, only one place below the Blues but by a large margin of seven points.
THE HISTORY
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club was formed in 1901 after two previous teams in the town had folded. The club gained entry into the Football League in 1920 as original members of Division Three. 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 arch rivals Crystal Palace. Prior to this nickname they were known as 'the Dolphins' or 'the Twins'.
Despite several decent FA Cup runs Brighton could not manage to win promotion from Division Three South until the very last year of that division's existence in 1958. They had previously finished as runners up in both 1954 and 1956. The club spent four seasons in Division Two before suffering a severe slump which saw them descend into Division Four in 1963. In 1965 the Seagulls won the fourth division championship and returned to Division Two in 1972. The following year, however, they slipped straight back down into the third division.
Interest around this time was boosted hugely by the subsequent managerial appointments of Brian Clough, Peter Taylor and Alan Mullery. Brighton won promotion into Division Two in 1977 and after missing out on promotion to Tottenham Hotspur on goal difference the following year they made it into Division One for the one and only time in 1979. A measure of the clubs buoyancy at this time is provided by the average attendance figure of 25,265 for the 1977-78 season when the Seagulls just missed out on promotion. A far cry from the Withdean. The club relied heavily on the goals of Peter Ward and had the outstanding defensive qualities of Mark Lawrenson in their ranks. Brighton's best effort in the League Cup came in 1979 when they reached the 5th round. The club beat Millwall, Burnley and Peterborough United before losing to Nottingham Forest 3-1.
First Division life was difficult for Brighton and they were relegated in 1983. Significant consolation came the clubs way as they won through to the FA Cup final. The Seagulls had a tricky path to negotiate in reaching Wembley as well. They won a replay against Newcastle United at St James Park in round three before knocking out Manchester City 4-0, Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield, Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday. They were famously within a whisker of beating Manchester United in the final as well. Level at 2-2 with only seconds of extra time remaining Gordon Smith saw his shot parried at point blank range and United lived to fight another day. The replay was lost 4-0.
After three seasons in mid table Brighton finished bottom of the second division in 1987 only to climb back instantly after finishing as runners up in Division Three in 1988. In 1991 Brighton only missed out on a return to the top flight after losing in a play off final 3-1 to Notts County but collapsed the following season and were relegated into the third tier of English football. Then in 1996 the club slumped into the basement.
The club was in complete turmoil around this time, struggling financially and having to play home matches at Gillingham's ground after selling the Goldstone Ground without having a site for a new stadium. There were probably one or two ex-pats living in Kent who thought this was great but the 300 mile round trip to every home game was a bit of a bugger for most Seagulls fans. In 1997, after having two points deducted, Brighton only avoided relegation to the Conference by virtue of having scored more goals than Hereford United, who they managed to draw with on the final day of the season. If goal difference had been used to separate teams that season the Seagulls would have perished.
Having stabilised Brighton managed to win successive divisional championships to return to the second tier in 2002. The club then yo-yoed for a couple of seasons, relegated in 2003 then promoted in 2004 after a play off final victory over Bristol City.
The 2006/07 season began with uncertainty, over the future of then manager Mark McGhee and consequently the out of contract players. Several board member, led by major shareholder Tony Bloom wanted McGhee sacked, but chairman Dick Knight still backed him. The situation was eventually resolved with McGhee retained as manager, youth coach Dean Wilkins promoted to first team coach, and fist team coach Dean White named chief scout.
With pre-season came mixed messages, then manager Mark McGhee proclaiming promotion was the aim, while Knight stated at the pre-season fans forum that mid-table would be acceptable. The mixed feelings for Seagulls fans continued into the season, as new non-league signing Alex Revell scored a debut goal to secure a 1-0 victory at Rotherham, but in the immediate aftermath young forward Colin Kazim-Richards handed in a transfer request that would eventually lead to him leaving the club on deadline day to sign for Sheffield United for £150,000 with a 25% sell on clause.
Results quickly deteriorated, and manager Mark McGhee was sacked at a meeting with Albion chairman Dick Knight on 7 September 2006. Assistant manager Bob Booker also left the club on the same day, after several years working with a number of managers. Many fans had lost faith in McGhee during the previous season's relegation battle, and this was cited by Knight as one of the key reasons for his departure, along with a loss of faith in the dressing room.
Following McGhee's sacking the club installed Dean Wilkins as caretaker-manager, saying they would have to give Wilkins a chance to see what he could do for the club. Chief scout Dean White was promoted to Wilkins' assistant manager. The pair were given the posts on a permanent basis on 29th September and former player Ian Chapman was also added to the coaching staff shortly afterwards.
It was to prove a difficult season for the rookie management team, whose inexperience was mirrored by that of the team, 10 youth players having been awarded contracts in the summer, along with several youth team graduates already in the first team. There were some highlights - beating Leyton Orient 4-1 home and away, winning 2-1 away at Scunthorpe United (one of only two home defeats for the eventual champions), and thrashing Conference side Northwich Victoria 8-0 at home in the first round of the FA Cup. A 3rd round tie away to West Ham United was a break from League One for Brighton's fans, but their side were beaten 3-0 after a disappointing second-half performance. Albion also reached the Southern area Semi-Final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. January 07 signing Bas Savage claimed cult fame on television programme Soccer AM for his moonwalk celebration following each one of his goals scored for the Albion, which were also proving crucial in keeping Brighton away from a relegation battle.
Watkins signed a three year extention in April 07 and after what many fans and pundits deemed a very good 2007-08 season for Brighton, it was announced on the 8 May 2008 that Wilkins had been sacked from his position of manager and offered the role of first-team coach at the club, which he subsequently declined. It was then revealed that Micky Adams would be returning to the club to take over the duties of being manager and that reserve team coach Ian Chapman had left the club.
The Road to a New Stadium
For many years Brighton and Hove Albion was 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. After a four-year struggle that went to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the club gained final planning permission for a new stadium at Falmer near Brighton on 28 October 2005.
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.
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.
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.
Permission has been granted for the club to progress with their stadium. Shortly following the government's decision, Lewes District Council announced that they would not appeal against it, much to the relief of Albion fans. The stadium has been scheduled to open in mid way through the 2009-10 season, or the beginning of the 2010-11 season. Building of the stadium is due to start December 2008 and good luck from us on that one, we know the feeling!
(Thanks to the usual suspects in their help with this article.)