Brighton

[GazLaz]

I just want to credit their club. They've done everything right on and off the pitch since we were on the football scrap heap together.

Their stadium is 200 times better than ours. We don't need one that big admittedly but it has a bit of character about it for a new en. The acoustics are pretty good as well even though they don't make that much noise. It shows our place up as the cheap soulless bowl it is. The banners/pictures around the ground of their "legends" are a great touch as well.

Queue's a mile long in the club shop, which contained some nice stuff. From quality clothing to some fantastic pictures, including ones from the last time we played there when the ground was rammed. I honestly wouldn't buy a thing from ours baring a shirt I don't think. It's full of cheap tat.

Finally the way their team play is a breath of fresh air. They all play football the right way, nobody is scared to be on the ball where ever they are on the pitch.

No wonder they get near 30k every week now, they do everything right. Whoever has orchestrated taking them onto the next level to what we are at from where they were has done a grand job. Yes I know they have spent too much, but they have got most of the little things right as well.

[Sammy Chung was King]

I thought it was only me that was disappointed with our ''Club shop wares'' got to agree Gaz the quality is lacking,but a massive improvement has been made over the years,the club could be making a few quid on signed team pictures,balls etc and if they were affordable it would be a good buy,instead of buying off the internet,and you would be guaranteed they were genuine,what about doing more reproductions of past shirts,that the older generation would buy,if you look at the Rovers History book from the nineties there's plenty to go at,i've said it before why not do a Rovers mail order catalogue that can be paid on the weekly,teams like Man utd etc make good money from these things,people around here often don't have the cash to just lay out on a new shirt etc,you would sell more.

[The Red Baron]

I think their new gaffer is an improvement on Poyet. His teams used to have a rather niggly edge to them. This lot seem to be more of a footballing side.

[idler]

They were getting crowds of 30,000 and more in the fourth division back in the sixties. There are no other big clubs within 20 or 30 miles to compete for their supporters so they will always have bigger gates than us.
This gives them a big advantage over us. Also they are still high on a wave of success and improvement in circumstances. Maybe if they had had our budget constraints they wouldn't have done quite so well.
Don't forget that our original plan for the stadium was far better than the one we ended up with, if the price of steel hadn't risen so much we would have had the better option.

[nice one rovers]

You're right Gazlaz, they've got loads of things right. Noteably, free bus and train links and fantastic parking provision.
Queuing for the train in the downpour,  I noticed a couple of our young fans wet through, in poor quality Avec thin "splash-proof" jackets , standing alongside Brighton fans in their official merch jackets which are virtually berghaus quality. You can notice differences like this at virtually every club you visit, but I suppose that's the difference in catering for 28000 fans or catering for 8500 fans.

[bobbymax]

Getting everything right is still costing them half a million every month though and that's with crowds over 20,000.

[GazLaz]

Yes you can get better quality for less money if you are able to sell/produce more. That's no excuse for selling poor quality stuff though. Maybe this is something for the IRWT lot. I don't even like the layout of our shop. It reminds me of being in a Skegness souvenir shop. We should look at what the top teams in this country of and learn from them in all departments. Don't get me wrong we have come on leaps and bounds in many areas but to compete in the championship we have to be championship standard in every single aspect.

The music they played 5 minutes before kick off was even thought out and was designed to get the singing going and the atmosphere building. It didn't really work but there was thought behind it, it wasn't just Carley Rae Jepson.

I also saw a number of kids football teams on days out there. I'm sure we must give away tickets to local junior sides and it's a bit of a logistical nightmare for whoever organises these teams to control and transport 20 little kids to a match but maybe the club could go a step further and put on a bus for a team or a couple of teams every week. They may already do this I don't know.

[Highland Rover]

Ref the Club shop.........I was in Toronto last year and was fortunate to blag a tour of the Blue Jays baseball stadium .
One section of their Club shop was devoted to bats, baseballs , team shirts etc that had been used in games ...
plus signed team and player photos  , admittedly a bit expensive compared to a 15 dollar t-shirt but something to be considered by Rovers ??

[River Don]

I think its fair to say the club shop and the Rovers merchandise could do with an overhaul.

The only thing I have bought from there, besides replica tops is a mug. It's a simple white mug with the viking badge on it, I bought it ages ago. I don't think I could get a replacement if I wanted to now, the Rovers mugs these days all seem to be plastered in a plethora of ill considerd graphics and photos.

I've thought for a while the club shop could do with trying a small, quality range of merchandise for adult supporters.

[pib]

Their stadium cost the best part of £100 million to build. In fairness we would've probably got something a bit better than we did if that sort of money was ever available. Ours was £20m for the ground and £32m for the whole complex wasn't it?

[BobG]

It's numbers and opinions like these that really should tell us all that we ain't ever gonna be anything other than a Championship side on borrowed time. Apart from a once in a lifetime juxtapositon of circumstance and talent even SC can only dream about the sort of cash that's needed to be anything else. Where's Crazy Ivan?

BobG

[PDX_Rover]

Here in Portland, the Timbers have got it together. They have an old stadium that's been tastefully added to on one side. Holds around 24,000. The club shops are dotted around the concourse and all of the merchandise is top quality. Quality all the way through.

http://shop.portlandtimbers.com/
www.timbers.com

[albie]

Brighton have had the backing of a very wealthy individual, who has paid out around well over £100m on the stadium build, and the recent extension of capacity. The same man has funded the new training centre at £30m plus.

He has also been willing to write down some of the loans by converting to equity (shares).

Its a bit like a mini Abramovic really. None of it could have been funded by income generated by the business, in the time frame he has worked to.

You can think good luck to them, but the club is still a rich mans toy at present. At least he has built the foundations to step up to the Prem if the team are up to it.

[SoundbiteBarmyArmy]

Brighton's finances aren't as clever as ours! They've gone for broke it seems on trying to get to the PL and so far it's come to no avail! I know whose boots I'd rather be in, as things stand!

#DRFC

 

[BrightonEye]

Brighton have had the backing of a very wealthy individual, who has paid out around well over £100m on the stadium build, and the recent extension of capacity. The same man has funded the new training centre at £30m plus....

Its a bit like a mini Abramovic really.... You can think good luck to them, but the club is still a rich mans toy at present.

Not entirely true. You missed out the fact that Tony Bloom is from a dynasty of Albion directors, going back three generations.

So, rich maybe, but Abramovich he most definitely is not.

[GazLaz]

Bloom won't have a fraction of what our boys have. He's was worth about 100m I think a few years ago.