Coach Travel to Brighton Next Time

You have to go to Brighton to appreciate the constraints their football club has to work under. And having been there you will realise that whatever some people might say about Edgar Street, it's a better stadium and in a better position than Brighton's.

Planning problems, not helped by a difficult council, have stopped a move to a new ground for the Seagulls. Their move to the Withdean Stadium was meant to be temporary but they've now been there for a decade or so.

A new stadium is planned but as a local policeman said he'll believe it when he sees it.

Going to the game by car, you are directed to a park and ride site. But it's not a site, they close a road and park the cars across the one side of it. A bus then takes you for a tour of a leafy suburb and eventually lands up at the stadium.

However, just to complicate matters, the return bus leaves from a different spot. Whilst waiting for what seemed an eternity (probably no more than fifteen minutes) the HUISA coach sails by and there's just the thought would it have been easier to have gone with them.

The cost to Brighton of the park and ride coaches and extra stewards must make a dent in their income. Probably why they need to charge £20 for an adult ticket in the away end.

Yesterday was a sunny and, for the time of year, reasonably warm day. Especially if you were sat on certain sides of the ground. But as the sun dipped behind the trees the away end soon cooled with the loss of the nature's warmth from the sky. What it would be like on a cold wet winter's evening doesn't bear thinking about.

And it is true you are sat thirty yards or so behind a running track. Trying to watch play at the far end of the stadium was difficult.

Still the day wasn't without some 'comedy'.

Andy Williams bringing two pairs of boots onto the pitch for the warmup, Robbie Savage being taunted about how he had dropped down to a club like Brighton, the Fun Bus crew nearly missing the start of the match because they had firstly gone for a paddle on Brighton beach and then found a pub which had Weston's Cider on tap and certain songs about holding hands.

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