Build a Bonfire: How Football Fans United to Save Brighton and Hove Albion

by Paul Hodson (Author), Stephen North (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1997

  $29.99

  This is an account of what happened to Brighton and Hove Albion FC, a club that nearly died and which was saved by its fans. In July 1995 the club owners, Bill Archer and Greg Stanley, announced that with the support of the chief executive, David Bellotti, they had decided to sell the club's 95-year-old Goldstone Ground to a property developer for #7.5 million. With no new site to go to, the club was to share Portsmouth's stadium for the 1996-97 season, requiring a round trip of anything up to 200 miles for fans wishing to watch home games. All this was done without consulting anyone connected with the club. To combat this move supporters mounted a campaign to save their club. Using interviews with people involved in the struggle, this book traces the events leading up to the sale of the ground and charts the progress of the fans in their fight against the board. The battle culminated in Dick Knight's group gaining a controlling interest in the club at the end of the 1996-97 season. The book also explores possible implications for other clubs.