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In Praise of Albion Fans and Falmer

Letter published in the Argus 24th August 2004:

"Time to set the record straight. There has been a lot of misinformation about what people think I have said.

 

Firstly, let me be clear. I am a football fan. Played for the Martha Gunners in Brighton on a Sunday, and a qualified referee. And I am a BIG Albion fan. Have been for 29 years. A resonably long time I think you would agree. (I am also a Chelsea fan but please don't hold that against me). I love going to football matches with all its colour and passion. If you read the article in the Argus carefully you will also see that I made a point of praising the Albion fans record. It really is impressive. I have never seen any trouble caused by Albion fans. The only trouble I have seen has been caused by away supporters (mainly London teams in the North Stand of the Goldstone Ground - yes in the 70's and we would all acknowledge it is better now these days). And even then, 99% of away supporters add to the atmosphere. But occasionally a few people who claim to be football fans (they are not) attach themselves to a team and try to cause trouble for the locals. If you don't think this is the case, then please explain why most Cities in the country locate their new stadiums where it is easy to marshal away fans from the ground onto transport quickly and the high Police presence (at Chelsea there is a solid wall of Police between the ground and the station).

 

The ONLY point I was trying to make is that out of a choice between two locations, Sheepcote Valley has some logistical problems that Falmer does not ie how you get potentially 5,000 away fans from the station to the ground - and back again.

 

Of course I expect some Labour supporters to cause mischief over this and try and gain some votes back. And let's not lose sight that the real villain here is Labour's very own Mr Prescott who fudged his decision and blocked Falmer. So, please, let's move on. Stop the points scoring by Labour's mischievous supporters and get back to supporting the big prize - Albion at Falmer.

Mike with Martin Perry (Albion Director) and Richard Ashworth MEP and  at the Albion victory parade

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