History of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

The history of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. began in 1901. It first played in the Southern League, and was elected to the Football League in 1920. They won promotion to the First Division in the 1978–79 season, but were relegated in the 1982–83 season. They returned to the top flight for the 2017–18 season playing in the Premier League.

The club played its matches at the Goldstone Ground between 1902 and 1997. After the stadium was sold, the club played at Gillingham for two years, then at Withdean Stadium between 1999 and 2011. In 2011, a new stadium Falmer Stadium was completed and it has served as the home ground for the club since. Crystal Palace, Brighton's biggest rivals were the first team to win at the 'Amex' with Brighton favourite Glenn Murray scoring the final goal of the game for Crystal Palace.

Formation

The club was first formed as Brighton & Hove United on 24 June 1901, and the name was quickly changed to Brighton & Hove Albion. The club took the place of a defunct club, Brighton & Hove Rangers, in the Southern League. In the Southern League they won their only national honour to date, the FA Charity Shield, by defeating Football League Champions Aston Villa in 1910.Brighton & Hove Albion Talk Football. Retrieved 9 August 2011 There had previously been Old Brightonians, representing the area in the FA Cup in the 19th century.

The club initially played at the Hove County Ground, with a few games were also at Goldstone Ground that was used by Hove F.C. From 1902 onwards, Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. and Hove F.C. shared the Goldstone Ground.

In 1920, 19 years after the club was formed, they were elected to the Football League's new Third Division.

Crest history The first known crest (1946–1975) to be used by Brighton & Hove Albion was the traditional coat-of-arms design of the twin towns of Brighton and Hove. A hybrid design employing the shield of Hove and the dolphin crest of Brighton was also used at times while a calligraphic shield was worn on the team shirts in the latter 1950s. During the 1974/75 season the club became known as 'The Dolphins' and by the beginning of the following season, a new club crest had been introduced. Both this nickname and crest were to prove short-lived, however, following an incident said to have taken place in the Bo'sun public house in Brighton. Prior to a 'derby' fixture with Crystal Palace, a few away supporters started chanting, "Eagles, Eagles" to which a group of Brighton & Hove Albion fans responded with a chant of "Seagulls, Seagulls". Current club director, Derek Chapman, is said to have been among the group who first christened the club with this nickname. The club has been known as 'The Seagulls' ever since and in 1977 the club crest was changed once again to represent this. A round seagull crest was used on club shirts until 1998 when the current design was introduced. New chairman Dick Knight wanted to sweep away all the remnants of the old, disgraced regime and saw an updated crest as a sign to supporters of new beginnings and happier times ahead.

During the 2001/02 season, however, the club shirts displayed no seagull crest at all. For the club's centenary season a return was made to the traditional shields of the former boroughs of Brighton and Hove (now officially one city). The Brighton shield shows Martlets (birds used often in Sussex heraldry) and coral which both represent the sea. The Hove shield also displays martlets and a ship that has run ashore, representing a French galley, commemorating the French attacks on the coast of Hove during the early 16th century.

Mike Bamber

Mike Bamber was the Chairman of Brighton from October 1972 until 1983. He famously brought Brian Clough to the club later that year and then appointed Alan Mullery, who led the football club to the First Division in the 1978/79 season. He also appointed Jimmy Melia as Manager who led the club to their one and only FA Cup Final in 1983. After relegation in the 1982/83 season, Mike Bamber stood down after the most dramatic 11 years in Brighton & Hove Albion's history.

Brian Clough and Peter Taylor Following resignation from First Division Derby County Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor were persuaded by chairman Mike Bamber to join Brighton, who were then at the foot of the Third Division. Such was the loyalty to Clough that along with himself and Taylor, scouts and backroom staff completed the walk out, following the pair for their brief spell with Brighton. He proved less successful on the South Coast than with his previous club, winning only 12 of his 32 games in charge of the Division Three side. Whereas eight months earlier Clough was managing a team playing Juventus in the European Cup, he was now managing a club who, just after his appointment as manager, lost to Walton & Hersham 4–0 at home in an FA Cup replay. On 1 December 1973, his side lost 8–2 at home to Bristol Rovers. Albion eventually finished in 19th place that season. Clough left Brighton less than a year after his appointment, in July 1974, to become manager of Leeds United following Don Revie's departure to become manager of England, though this time Taylor did not join him. Taylor remained for a further two seasons, guiding the team to a 4th-place finish in 1975–76.

Life at the top (1979–83) Brighton's life as a Football League club brought little in the way of success and headlines until 1979, when under the management of former England player Alan Mullery they were promoted to the First Division as Second Division runners-up.

In their first top-flight season, a 4–0 home defeat to Arsenal set the tone for an abysmal start to life in the big time. However, an away win to European Cup holders Nottingham Forest inspired a remarkable recovery and Brighton finished the season well safe from relegation with a respectable 37 points.

The following season, Brighton found themselves in relegation trouble before an end-of-season rally with wins in the last four games saw them to safety. However, Mullery resigned after a dispute with Mike Bamber over the transfer of Mark Lawrenson and proposed changes to his coaching staff. He was replaced by Charlton Athletic manager Mike Bailey.

Season 1981–82 was the high point of Brighton's stay in the top flight, with the side in the top half or mid-table all season, finishing a credible 13th on 52 points, their highest-ever league finish to date. The following season saw a wildly inconsistent start, with victories over Arsenal and Manchester United mixed in with heavy defeats and poor results in away games, and Mike Bailey eventually lost his job at the start of December 1982. Jimmy Melia and coach George Aitken took over on a temporary basis, later Melia was made permanent manager. Melia however was unable to turn the situation around and Brighton ended up being relegated after a defeat at home to Manchester City, and finished the season in bottom place.

Despite their relegation, Brighton reached their first (and only to date) FA Cup final and drew 2–2 with Manchester United in the first match. Brighton's goals were scored by Gordon Smith and Gary Stevens. This was the final that featured the "miss" by Gordon Smith with virtually the last kick of the game in extra time prompting the well known phrase "and Smith must score" – in effect it was actually a save by the Manchester United goalkeeper, Gary Bailey. In the replay Manchester United won 4–0, despite Brighton dominating the first twenty minutes of the match.

Sliding towards another relegation (1983–87)

Brighton's first Second Division campaign for four years began with a three straight defeats, but then things perked up with a run of five games unbeaten, including an amazing 7–0 victory over Charlton. However, another run of three defeats was enough to cost Melia his job, with former player Chris Cattlin stepping up to replace him and steering Brighton to mid-table safety. 1984–85 saw Brighton nearly return to the top flight, missing out on promotion by only two points. However, the following season saw Brighton slump to 11th place which, along with purported complaints from the players about Cattlin's management style, caused the board to axe him in favour of returning hero Alan Mullery. However, Mullery resigned at the start of 1987 due to a combination of indifferent form and unhappiness over the club's financial situation, and after his resignation Brighton would only win two more games all season, resulting in them being relegated again – this time to the Third Division.

A brief revival (1987–91) Although new manager Barry Lloyd hadn't been able to save Brighton's Second Division status, he helped them regain it at the first time of asking. In 1990–91 Brighton spent the season pushing for promotion to the First Division and finished sixth. They reached the play-off final after beating Millwall 4–1 at home and 2–1 away but lost to Notts County in the final at Wembley 3–1. If the disappointment of missing out on a top flight was traumatic for Brighton supporters, it was nothing compared to the traumas that the club would encounter over the next few years.

Relegated twice more (1991–96) The club's fans were hoping for a push for promotion to the upcoming new Premier League for the 1991–92 season, but instead they watched their side battle against relegation. The battle was lost and Brighton started the 1992–93 season in the new Division Two. Along with relegation, the club were universally derided for their playing strip at this time, which consisted of striped shirts and shorts.

Barry Lloyd quit in December 1993, having failed to mount a serious challenge for promotion to Division One, and was replaced by Liam Brady. Brady lasted just two years before being replaced by Jimmy Case, but the transition came too late to prevent Brighton from going down to Division Three at the end of the 1995–96 season.

Meanwhile, the club's financial situation was becoming increasingly precarious and the club's directors had come to a decision that the Goldstone Ground would have to be sold in order to pay off some of the club's huge debts.

Near oblivion (1996–98) Jimmy Case was sacked after a terrible start to 1996–97 saw Brighton stuck the bottom of the league by a considerable margin – they seemed certain to be relegated from the Football League just 14 years after they had almost won the FA Cup.

The season was marked by a series of protests by fans over the sale of the Goldstone ground and against chairman Bill Archer and chief executive David Bellotti, who had no firm plans in place for a new stadium.

The protests included a boycott of the home match against Mansfield Town, which resulted in a home attendance of just 1,933, the lowest officially-recorded attendance at the ground for a first-team game. A 'Fans United' match was organised in February 1997, which was attended by fans of other teams in support of the Brighton fans and their protests against the club's directors.

The club appointed a relative unknown in Steve Gritt, the former joint manager of Charlton Athletic, in hope of performing a miracle survival.

Brighton's league form steadily improved under Gritt, although their improving chances of survival were put under further threat by a two-point deduction imposed as punishment for a pitch invasion by protesting fans.

Dick Knight

Steve Gritt