Brighton and the "Fans Utd" day

[Yma O Hyd Fund Group]

Originally Posted by Rob

I was busy spending it sending picture messages to the live match thread - and having a word with the stewards who were trying to remove banners.

Majority did support, but there were a few who were focussed entirely on the pitch and losing 3pts.

Edit: the live match thread for posterity is Wrexham v Gateshead KO 3pm BSBP - the 'warning' gives a good indication to the pre match atmosphere and the pics I sent in by B n Q etc. A warm welcome both ways!


Quite interesting to re-read that match thread .

This is also a great thread to relive the gateshead day, brings back memories

Well done Wrecsam fans today.

[Birdy]

Maybe hold a bucket collection at Brighton try and raise some money for the trust? If brighton allow it of course.

[IamMe]

Bump

[On the Left Wing]

I have written a small piece about it all on page 66 of today's Leader

[shinyredadidaskit]

Brighton were at home to Burnley that day. Makes more special. Burnley played their part too.


From Burnley's official site at the time

Wear Red For Wrexham'



Football fans across the country are being urged to wear red to next Saturday's games, to show their support for League One side Wrexham.

The Clarets make the long trip to the Withdean Stadium to face Brighton and Hove Albion next weekend and a large number of the Brighton fans are expected to turn out in red to show support for the Red Dragons.

The reason for the campaign is because Wrexham AFC is facing an uncertain future after Chairman Alex Hamilton resigned from the board recently. The controversial character is still the majority shareholder and owns, through one of his property businesses, the club's stadium and fans believe he will soon force them to leave.

The Racecourse Ground is only leased to the club and part of the agreement is that they only need to be given 12 months notice before being forced to leave. As the financial stability of the club is reaching a critical level, supporters fear that Hamilton will sell the stadium out from underneath them.

Wrexham have until November 17th to pay tax bills of over £900,000 to the Inland Revenue that owner Hamilton refuses to pay and it looks increasingly like professional football could disappear from the North Wales town after 132 years.

The supporters of Wrexham have tried to halt this process. Rob Griffiths, the Supporters Trust chairman, commented: "Wrexham is a proud club and the ground is of international significance. We could not watch the club die or the ground be sold.

"We hope supporters will have a major part to play in the future."

The fans have set up a "Save the Racecourse" campaign that has received support from not only Wrexham fans but also those of other clubs who have been in the same situation.

A supporter's trust has gathered 500 members and recently presented proposals for the redevelopment of land on which the stadium is built, which they believe could raise enough money to finance a takeover deal.

The Supporters Trust is receiving backing from the local council but it is a distinct possibility that the club could be left penniless and homeless before sliding into obscurity.

So, November 20 2004 is to be 'Wear Red for Wrexham' Day on which fans from clubs around the country turn up to watch their respective club dressed in red.

This will be a striking visual show of support for their cause and will show the North Wales club that they are not alone. It will also show the powers that be that the rest of football cares what happens to the club.

Anyone seeking more information on 'Wear Red for Wrexham' day or the campaign in general should email:-

fansbehindwrexham@hotmail.com

It is important that as many of you as possible turn up in red to show support so please make the effort and spread the word round your club.

Nice one Burnley

[On the Left Wing]

Today's Leader piece in full .... in addition the paper has published a very good six page special on the tie, plus a look back 20 years ago to the legendary Arsenal game.

WHEN my beloved Seagulls drew Wrexham in the third round of this year's FA Cup, in a game to be played at our sparkling new Amex Stadium, there was an instant urge to shout!
Instead I just sat and smiled.
There was a strange symmetry about the draw.
In this peculiar game of football, Brighton and Hove Albion have three close blood brothers of fellow clubs, all bonded by survival in adversity.
Back in August we kicked off our first season at our new stadium with a home fixture against Doncaster Rovers – a game we won 2-1 against a team, club and supporters we have long regarded as our closest friends.
Then two months ago we rallied with fans from dozens of other clubs in a Go Green weekend to raise awareness of the financial plight of mutual friends at Plymouth Argyle.
And now comes Wrexham.
It's been a strange old journey following Brighton. Since my first game as an 11 year-old in September 1967 watching us beat Bury 1-0 (Bobby Collins and all) I was hooked.
Like supporters of any football club there have been highs and lows over the ensuing 45 years.
The highs are many: four years in the top flight between 1979 and 1983 beating European Champions Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Arsenal along the way, a famous FA Cup final against Man United and more recently four promotions in the past 11 years.
But the lows are many more.
I could start with the 8-2 drubbing by Bristol Rovers, the week after Brian Clough became our manager in 1973, the 4-0 FA Cup humiliation by non league Walton and Hersham the same season or more galling the 3-1 home defeat by our arch rivals Crystal Palace in September – salt rubbed into the cruelty by the fact it was our first league defeat at the Amex.
But in reality nothing can touch the hell that was 1995 to 1997, when then owners, DIY entrepreneur Bill Archer and Lib Dem MP David Bellotti, sold our beloved Goldstone Ground from under our noses for a retail park development.
As majority shareholder Archer had secured control of our club a couple of years earlier for just £56.25!
As a club we narrowly avoided extinction but remained homeless for the next 14 years playing our home games initially 70 miles away at Gillingham then at an old athletics stadium at Withdean.
But we made our friends along the way in our fight for a permanent new home.
And few were closer than those at Wrexham.
It started on May 8, 2004 when over 1,000 of us turned up at the Racecourse for the final game of the the Division 2 season. We were already assured of a play-off spot, while Wrexham were safe.
It was a game with little riding on it.
That is until we were met at the gates by scores of Wrexham supporters handing us red cards, explaining the plight of their club and asking for our support to help oust then chairman Mark Guterman and owner Alex Hamilton.
Everything we were told by the fans struck chords... this was 1995-97 all over again.
We took part readily in the so-called red card protest and two weeks later displayed a 10 metre banner at our play-off final at the Millennium Stadium which read: “Fans United say Save AFC Wrexham”.
Fans United days followed and gradually the whole football world realised what was happening at Wrexham.
Wrexham responded with a huge demonstration of blue and white balloons and banners supporting our battle for a new home at their Sky televised FA Cup tie at Ssilly billyhorpe on Friday December 3, 2004.
Sadly the same day Wrexham entered administration and were deducted 10 points.
Then there was the so-called Fans Final – the last LDV Vans cup final at the Millennium Stadium in April 2005, when Wrexham, supported by fans from almost every club in the country beat Southend 2-0 in a glorious final.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Cynics may snipe that this is just an incestuous love-in between football fans.
But it is deeper than that … it is a permanent bond between real football supporters who will never forget that the true ownership of their clubs lies with the fans and not the big money men or asset strippers.
Earlier I mentioned the symmetry about the draw.
Ironic that in the same season Brighton moved into a new permanent home at the Amex Stadium, Wrexham is at last owned by its own fans!
Whatever the result on Saturday it will be game of mutual respect and plenty of broad smiles and handshakes.
I tip us to win 3-1 with goals from our wonder boys Lua Lua, Will Buckley and the human dynamo Craig MacKail Smith!

[Alan Attack]

Excellent article.

Just to note, the LDV Vans Final was in 2005.

[On the Left Wing]

Originally Posted by Alan Attack

Excellent article.

Just to note, the LDV Vans Final was in 2005.

Damn it was! I was there too ... genuine typo error! sorry... but it has been corrected for the paper today!

[On the Left Wing]

Nice piece by Mike Griffiths on the same page:

SINCE the draw for the third round of the FA Cup was made, plenty of people have told me how disappointed I must be by its outcome.
Brighton away, after all, is hardly the money-spinner which would have wiped all our financial concerns out in one fell swoop, and it isn’t the home match against vulnerable opposition which leaves us looking forward confidently to the next round.
My response hasn’t been what they’d been expecting though. Frankly, I think it’s just about the best draw we could get.
Well, nearly. I recognise that the best of all outcomes would have been to take a trip to Old Trafford, Anfield or the Ettihad Stadium, enjoy a day in the limelight and walk away with the WST having been given a fantastic leg-up as they look to put the club’s affairs in order.
However, if we couldn’t have that, I reckon going to Brighton’s about the best draw we could have hoped for.
This is partly because I don’t see the attraction of the supposedly ‘easy’ home tie. They’re an illusion. There are no sure things in the cup, and if you want proof, look back to the last time we got to the fourth round.
It was at the turn of the Millennium, and having beaten Premiership Middlesbrough in the third round we fancied our chances of progressing deep into the competition when we were drawn at home to Cambridge, a struggling side from the Third Division, just like us.
We were made favourites by the bookies, and of course we lost.
And anyway, don’t let our superb form nudge you into a false sense of security; we might be top of the Conference, but we’re still a non-league team.How many of the sides left in the competition should we confidently say we’d see off?
While I strongly believe the top half of the Conference is much better than the bottom half of League Two, I’d rather not jeopardise our chances of making some money by putting that belief to the test.
There’s a much more important reason to be delighted with a trip to Sussex though. Over the course of the last decade, Wrexham and Brighton have created a bond between them the nature of which I’ve never experienced.
Brighton truly are a progressive club. Their fans understand that they are supporters not just of their club, but of the game in general, and that has motivated them to be the prime movers behind so many laudable pan-football causes.
And one of the first was us, of course. Brighton fans mobilised the country for the Fans United day at The Racecourse, and helped a number of us to understand the value of standing up for the values that are at the core of our clubs and the shared experience of following them.
It’ll be privilege to go down there tomorrow and, armed with the knowledge that I am now part-owner of fan-run club, meet them proudly eye-to-eye and thank them for their help.

[lewi11]

This went up yesterday before the game, haven't spotted it anywhere else.

The FA Cup Third Round: Brighton & Wrexham – Fans United | Twohundredpercent