Crisis? What Crisis! Fickle Brighton fans should remember it's Roma next (not Rochdale)

Last week, as happens every four years, a significant Albion anniversary went under the radar in the low key manner it always does.

On 29 February 1992 in a small ground floor flat in Hove, a stones throw away from the Goldstone Ground, the Brighton Independent Supporters Association (BISA) was formed.

A season on from taking nearly 35,000 to the Division two play off final at Wembley (that’s the Championship now kids) Barry Lloyd’s team, having effectively been asset stripped, were sleep walking towards relegation to Division three for the first time in 15 years – and it was reported the club were already in the dire financial straights that would see the ground being sold a mere three years later.

There’s nothing like a good old fashioned protest to get the, supposed, undivided attention of the powers that be, and within a matter of days on the back of a post match protest, I found myself part of a fans deputation invited into the boardroom to meet the club hierarchy.

History now sadly tells us, they knew exactly what the long game was and the apparent ‘supporter’ detente was nothing more than grooming and appeasement.

Thankfully, despite some desperate times, it mobilised us all as a collective body of fans to embark on the battle which started in July 1995 that eventually helped save the club.

So fast forward to the present day, we now currently sit in the Top 10 of the greatest league in the world, consistently attract 30,000 plus attendances in a state of the art stadium and on Thursday play, for the first time ever, in the last 16 of a European knockout competition.

Yet reading the diatribe on social media from some fans in the wake of a couple of disappointing performances it put me in mind of that story when we were kids, when Chicken Licken said the sky was going to fall in.

Fact. The Albion squad has never been this strong

Fact. Roberto De Zerbi is, by a country mile, the best manager the club has ever had.

Fact. (At time of writing) Second only to Newcastle, the Albion suffered 28 major injuries this season with a 1093 ‘playing’ days missed.

Certainly not a criticism but an observation, maybe mistakes and oversights were made in the January transfer window, and sometimes I feel we put too much effort into being ‘everyone’s second favourite team’.

Tony Bloom hasn’t got where he’s got in life by being nice, maybe we need to be a bit more ruthless?

To reiterate the recent performances, due to a number of factors, have been disappointing, but after 51 years following the club, bad Albion performances?

I’ve got the T shirt, and whilst they have faded over the years I still have the mental scars. Take stock of where we are, years right across the decades Albion wise it’s been far, far worse.

A principal hope is RDZ is as strong a character as I think he is, and he completely ignores all the rubbish on social media.

Back in the war days a significant battle for the fans was at Rochdale when we showed David Bellotti we could not be messed with.

Never mind Rochdale, all roads now lead to Rome, just one decent performance and all the Johnny Come Lately’s will be celebrating by paddling in the Tiber!

Football fans can be a fickle breed.