About the booing...

An open letter to my fellow Brighton and Hove Albion fans

Dear Fellow Brighton fans. Let’s talk about that booing.

First, it’s your absolute right to boo, scream, or shout in frustration. Pretty much nothing is off limits so long as it’s (relatively!!) sanitized and free from personal abuse based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or any other legally proscribed or socially unacceptable form of invective.

Football is an emotional game and it’s not just the significant amount of money that we invest in supporting our club (me actually more than most) that gives us this right. It’s the extent to which we are emotionally vested in the badge, the history, the all too rare highs and – especially in our case – the debilitating and demoralizing lows. We, the supporters, have been there through it all, unlike the players, coaching staff and, with one or two very few notable exceptions (Tony Bloom being one), the Board.

So yes, we all have that right. But that doesn’t make it right. In fact, it’s horribly wrong.

I could (just about) understand it, if the boos were in response to yet another turgid, display, in which the manager had got the tactics all wrong, the players were playing only for their pay-checks, and that we had just witnessed a 5thsuccessive defeat resulting in a 9 point gap between us and safety.

But we’re 8thin the best league in the world, playing some unbelievable football that’s as pleasing as any, City and Liverpool included, and turned in a performance that I think was one of the best overall in years. We had 20 shots, dominated, hit the bar and post on 2 or 3 occasions and yes, missed a couple of sitters. After which I was screaming in frustration at my TV from 6000 miles away as loud as anybody in the ground. We all get it. It’s as maddening as it’s been predictable for the best part of a couple of seasons now.

An alternative reaction at the end of the game should have been the polar opposite which might just have a galvanizing effect upon the confidence level of players like Maupay, Moder and others who are clearly in need of a boost in front of goal. How about appreciating what was generally a fantastic performance infused with the memories of the almost surreal like progress we’ve made over the course of the last 20 or so years? “From Withdean to Wembley” is an apt metaphor that describes the fairytale, the improbability, the phoenix rising from the ashes that is the unprecedented story of the recent history of Brighton and Hove Albion.

So to those that booed, this is not admonishment, but a plea. Take a step back, appreciate what we have and apply a little historical context. We all know about the fine margins in this league, one of which is the connection between fans and players, especially when the boys could do with our backing. Now is that time. So when they take the field against Spurs in 2 weeks’ time, let’s recognize the error and give them as rousing a reception and as powerful a lift as we gave them against Sheffield Wednesday in the play-off game a few years ago. It’s nothing less than they deserve.

Ingram Losner

West Stand Season Ticket Holder

San Diego, California