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

Facts Trivia Lists Go Back

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.


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.

Back to top


BHAFC - trivia

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

Back to top


A few assorted BHAFC top 10s and other lists....

Brighton's ten greatest results.... well, in my humble opinion, anyway, and in my time as a fan only (starting 1976).

  1. Liverpool 1 ALBION 2: F.A.Cup 5th Round, 1983.
    Why choose this as no.1? Well, this was the mid-80s remember. And Liverpool, in the middle of a treble of league titles, never lost at home. Ever. Did they?
  2. Hereford United 1 ALBION 1: Final game of 1996-97 season, Division 3.
    Without this one the Albion wouldn't even be here. No-one won this winner-takes-all game: but the point was enough to keep the Albion in the league and, in all probability, in existence.
  3. ALBION 2 Manchester United 2: F. A. Cup Final, 1983.
    OK, so we got stuffed in the replay. But everyone knows we should have won this one.
  4. Newcastle United 1 ALBION 3: Final game of 1978-79 season.
    A win that took the Albion into the top flight of English football for the first time. (Even if the Palace b******s boringly stopped us winning the title.)
  5. Nottingham Forest 0 ALBION 1: Division 1 (old), 1978.
    Forest were champions, unbeaten for 42 games, still a record. Albion were newly-promoted and bottom. And you should have seen Cloughie's face on Match of the Day! (And we did the double over them that season for good measure.)
  6. ALBION 2 Liverpool 0: F.A.Cup 4th round, 1984.
    We'd beaten them the year before at Anfield, and stuffed the league champions again the next year for good measure: at home this time, but a division below them.
  7. ALBION 4 Millwall 1: Division 2(old) play-off semi-final first leg, 1991.
    A last-minute free kick in the last game of the season had put an injury-stricken Albion in the play-offs - and in fifteen glorious minutes against Millwall, four goals went in. We won the next leg 2-1 as well, and were at Wembley - though not, unfortunately, to win.
  8. ALBION 5 Hartlepool 0: Division 3, 1996-97 season.
    Why this one? Two reasons... firstly it was "Fans United", a brilliant day when fans of all clubs gathered at the doomed Goldstone and showed solidarity with the Albion and indeed with all clubs threatened by rapacious money-men and heartless chairmen. The players responded by thumping 5 goals in - and had they only won 2-0, we'd have been relegated at the end of the season.
  9. ALBION 3 Crystal Palace 1: Division 2 (old), 1988.
    I have to include a win over Palace, so how about this Boxing Day feast, when the old rivals, Ian Wright and all, were stuffed as comprehensively as any Xmas turkey.
  10. ALBION 2 Bristol Rovers 1: Final game, Division 3 (old), 1987-88.
    A win that got us promoted - our last promotion, so far! Just a brilliant day I've not forgotten.