Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. - the facts, the lists, the trivia

BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION SQUAD: 1999-2000 SEASON

Back row (left to right): Martin Hinshelwood (director of youth), Kerry Mayo, Darren Freeman, Andy Arnott, Jamie Campbell, David Cameron, Aidan Newhouse, Dean Wilkins (youth team coach).
Middle row: Malcolm Stuart (physio), Paul Watson, Paul Armstrong, John Westcott, Mark Walton, Scott Ramsay, Mark Ormerod, Ross Johnson, Ryan Palmer, Gary Hart, Jock Riddell (kit man).
Front row: Andy Crosby, Darren Carr, Rod Thomas, Paul Rogers (club captain), Alan Cork (assistant manager), Micky Adams (manager), Ian Culverhouse (reserve team coach), Gary Hobson, Keith McPherson, Charlie Oatway, Chris Wilder.

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BHAFC - just the facts

Brighton and Hove Albion. Founded: 1900.

Colours: Blue and White striped shirts, blue shorts. Away colours: Red-and-black stripes. For eight years in the 1980s, the club did change to an all-blue strip, as seen in the famous 1983 Cup Final against Manchester United. Rumour has it this was done so sponsorship logos - first seen around the beginning of the 1980s - would be more visible! Other away kits in history: all yellow, blue and black stripes, all red, and a hideous red-and-white concoction that from a distance appeared pink. In 1991-92 the shorts were also striped, leading to the nickname, "The Andy Pandys". Both home and away kit were voted into the top 5 of "most hideous" kits by the readers of a magazine that season.

Current sponsors: The extremely rendy Skint Records, the record label owned by Norman Cook aka Fat Boy Slim, have become the Albion's sponsors as of June 1999 - a fantastic piece of business by the club. Suddenly Albion shirts are fashion items! The idea of this recovering club having "Skint" emblazoned across their chests is also nicely ironic. (Particularly later this season when they play Barnet, sponsored by "Loaded" magazine.) Compare this to last year, when the sponsor was local pizza restaurant Donatello's - I mean, they helped the club out an' all, and all credit to them for that, but it's not quite the same is it? Previous sponsors have included British Caledonian, TSB, Sandtex and the notorious NOBO, which of course was the source of considerable amusement to the fans of other teams.

Local rivals: Most Albion fans would say Crystal Palace. However, a lot of space, league-wise, currently separates the two and Leyton Orient are currently making a good bid to fill it. Matches against Portsmouth have also never been very amicable affairs. Recent events may also lead to friction the next time the Albion meet either Gillingham or Hereford United.

Home ground: Not really applicable. The Goldstone Ground, Old Shoreham Road, Hove, the club's home until 1996, is now a retail park. For two years they played "home" games at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium, a 140-mile round trip!! However, finally, the club are moving back to a temporary home at the Withdean athletics stadium in Brighton. Plans for a new stadium near the University of Sussex, to the north-east of the town, are on the drawing board. A recently-held referendum (May 6th 1999) in the town expressed 2-to-1 support for the proposed site, so hopefully things will move fairly quickly.....

Manager: Micky Adams, formerly of Fulham (he took them out of Division 3 before Al-Fayed's millions paid for Kevin Keegan). Took charge for the last five games of the 1998-99 season after Jeff Wood's spell as surely the most unsuccessful manager in charge of any club: 11 games, 2 points, 3 goals.

League history: Before listing the Albion's progress through the league, it is worth pointing out that they won the Charity Shield in 1910, when that trophy was competed for by the champions of the Football League and the champions of the Southern League. They beat Aston Villa 1-0, and this remains the only major trophy the Albion have ever won.
1921-58: Division Three (South) - promoted as champions. 1958-62: Division Two. 1962-63: Division Three. 1963-65: Division Four - promoted as champions. 1965-72: Division Three - promoted as runners-up. 1972-73: Division Two. 1973-77: Division Three - promoted as runners-up. 1977-79: Division Two - promoted as runners-up. 1979-83: Division One. 1983-87: Division Two. 1987-88: Division Three - promoted as runners-up. 1988-96: Division Two (note - this contained a relegation in 1991-92, but that was the same year in which the leagues were rearranged to form the Premiership. Hence it appears as if the Albion just stayed where they were). 1996 - present: Division Three.

Achievements: Charity Shield winners, 1910.
Division 3(South) champions, 1958 (and hence reigning champions of this discontinued league!)
Division 4 champions, 1965.
Highest ever league placing: 13th in Division 1, 1981-82.
F.A.Cup Finalists, 1983.
Play-off finalists, division 2, 1990-91.

Club records: Victory - 10-1 vs Wisbech, FA Cup 1st round, 13/11/65.
Defeat - 0-9 vs Middlesbrough, Division 2, 23/8/58.
Highest scorer in season - Peter Ward, 32, Division 3, 1976-77.
Most league goals in total - Tommy Cook, 113. 1922-29.
Most Capped Player - Steve Penney, 17, Northern Ireland.
Transfer fee received - £900,000 from Liverpool for Mark Lawrenson (yes, that one), August 1981.
Transfer Fee Paid: £500,000 to Manchester United for Andy Ritchie, October 1980.

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BHAFC - trivia

....we proudly present the sort of dreadfully trivial facts that only the true football fan could appreciate, without shame or apology....

• "Brighton and Hove Albion" is the only official club name throughout all four divisions of the English Football League that has four words. At 21 letters, however, it is only the second longest name, beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
• When Brighton reached the Cup Final in 1983, they became the first club ever to have played in every single round of the F.A. Cup, from Preliminary to Final. Due to an administrative error in the 1930s, they forgot to claim exemption one year and had to play through the qualifying rounds. They now share this distinction with Wimbledon (finalists in 1988).
• Kevin Keegan played his last ever first-class game, for Newcastle, against Brighton in 1983.
• David Beckham played his first ever first-class game for Manchester United against Brighton in 1993.
• And completing this trivial trio, Peter Shilton played his 1,000th league game against Brigton, for Leyton Orient, in 1996.
• Brighton's most famous fan is, of course, Des "God" Lynam. Other fans in the public eye: Ralph Brown (actor, "Withnail and I", "Alien3", and "Up and Under" in which he wore an Albion shirt on screen), Attila the Stockbroker (performance poet, who was match announcer whilst the Albion played at Gillingham, and is also a very nice bloke). I read once that Harry Enfield (comedian) is also an Albion fan, but have never since had that corroborated.
• On average, in seasons 1997-98 and 1998-99, Brighton's fans have travelled further from their home town to see their club than the fans of any other British team in history. Not only is the club relatively isolated from other clubs, but, of course, they are playing their "home" games 70 miles from Brighton, in Gillingham. So the level of support at games is even more impressive! STOP PRESS: it's just been calculated that someone who had seen all of the Gillingham games in the last two seasons would have travelled 7,200 miles just to see Albion at "home". This distance is roughly equal to the diameter of the Earth.
• The game at the end of the 1996-97 season against Hereford led to both teams ending the season on 47 points, with Hereford being relegated due to having scored 3 fewer goals. This was the highest ever points total for a team finishing bottom of any division. Had Hereford beaten Brighton that day, and had Brighton not had two points deducted as punishment for an earlier pitch invasion by fans protesting against the chairman, Brighton would have finished bottom and been relegated with 48 points.STOP PRESS: Scarborough have just been relegated from the league with 48 points (May 1999).
• Brighton's first ever game in Division 2, in 1958, ended in their record defeat: 0-9 against Middlesbrough. They survived the season, however.
• Apparently, the only league team out of the whole 92 that Brighton have never beaten at some point in their history is Macclesfield Town.
• In a match against rivals Crystal Palace on Easter Monday 1989, referee Kelvin Morton awarded five penalties in open play: a British record for one game. Brighton were awarded one (scored), Palace were awarded four (scored one, one saved, one hit post, one over bar). The match finished 2-1 to Palace.
• Current Albion midfielder (1999-2000 season), Charlie Oatway, has the longest name of any player in professional football. How come? Because his parents were rabid QPR fans, and gave him the first names of all the QPR team in the mid-70s. His name is: Anthony Philip David Terry Frank Donald Stanley Gerry Gordon Stephen James Oatway. Where the "Charlie" came from I have no idea!
• When Darren Freeman scored in the second minute of Brighton's 4-2 win over Exeter on 3/1/2000, he became the first goalscorer in English professional football in the new millenium. Or not, if you're a millennium pedant - well, the first goalscorer of the year 2000 then!