From near oblivion to Europe - Brighton celebrate 125th anniversary — SkimNews
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- Brighton & Hove Albion celebrate their 125th anniversary, a turnaround that took the club from a 1995 forced sale of the Goldstone Ground and a 1997 brush with Football League relegation to their second European campaign and fifth place in the Premier League
- Roberto de Zerbi addressed players before Brighton's first-ever Europa League tie at Ajax's Amsterdam Arena in November 2023, telling them more than 6,000 fans had travelled; Brighton won 2-0
- Former chairman Bill Archer sold the Goldstone Ground in 1995 to settle escalating debts without consulting fans, prompting protests that snapped both crossbars and forcing Brighton to play 70 miles away at Gillingham from 1997 before moving to Withdean, a 6,000-capacity athletics track
- Tony Bloom, whose grandfather Harry was a former Brighton vice-chairman, became chairman in 2009 and oversaw the rise from League One to the Amex Stadium, where average attendance last season exceeded 31,000
- Currently fifth after four Premier League games, Brighton have beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford in five of their last six visits and opened their Conference League campaign in Tromso last month
Why it matters: Bloom's 2009 takeover turned a club playing in front of 6,000 at Withdean into a 31,000-average draw at the Amex with an envied player-trading model. The 125-year milestone honors not just the revival under Bloom and figures like Dick Knight and David Davies, but the fans whose bucket collections and protests kept Brighton alive during the Goldstone-to-Gillingham exile.
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