'Supporting the Albion has been a rollercoaster'

The first time Brighton & Hove Albion supporter Graham Maskell ever went on a date with his future wife was when the club played Ipswich Town in 1976.

"She has never been to a football match since," he said. "She told me she had never heard language like that.

"But a year later we got married. We have been together ever since."

Speaking to the BBC ahead of the club's 125th anniversary, the 69-year-old, from Lancing, said he had been a Seagulls fan since he was nine.

One highlight of his was the 1964/65 season when the team won the Fourth Division, scoring 102 goals.

"They did have a good side back then," he said.

Other big moments for Maskell are when he drove one of the open-top buses for the victory parade when Brighton & Hove Albion won the Third Division in 2000/01 and then again when they triumphed in the Second Division the following season.

"We have had some good times," he said. "We have had some bad times.

"It has been a rollercoaster of a ride supporting the Albion".

Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, said he began supporting Brighton & Hove Albion in 1980 - the year he moved to the city.

"I'd grown up just south of Crystal Palace my whole life, but never fell in love with them," he told BBC Radio Sussex.

"They're a difficult club to fall in love with."

Cook described the 90s as a period of "wilderness, horror, homelessness and pennilessness" for the Seagulls.

But he added: "I really remember the sense of community - and polarisation - we had around how to save our team."

"That was a classic time."

Cook said the record label he cofounded - Skint Records - stepped in to sponsor the team at their "lowest ebb".

"Luckily for us... everything since then has got better."

Cook said it was "great fun" when the Albion played at Withdean Stadium, following the loss of their historic Goldstone Ground in 1997.

"It was kind of amateur and had no pretensions or airs and graces," he said.

"A lot of teams were scared to play us at Withdean because they couldn't get that big match atmosphere."

Cook said he was "loving it" that the club was now in the Premier League and recently celebrated its second-ever appearance in Europe.

"It's a boom time. But it feels like a different club. It's run ruthlessly and professionally now."

Retired accountant Paul Samrah helped save the club's finances and described its turbulent time in the 90s.

"Players were being sold in an almost fireside sale... Then it was revealed the Goldstone ground had been sold.

"The troubles really got deeper and the rank-and-file supporter could see what was going on," he said.

During this time, Samrah said fans fought for "regime change" at the Albion.

"There were protests – supporters were banned," he said.

"All the time the club was sliding towards the bottom of the division."

As the previous board was replaced and bankruptcy ultimately averted, Samrah said the Seagulls were also 27 minutes from relegation in 1997 until Robbie Reinelt scored an equaliser against Hereford United.

"Who knows what might have happened had we been defeated," Samrah said. "You shudder to think about it."

"The new generation supporters may or may not know the story, but when we're complaining about being 8th or 10th in the Premier League, you have to have a reality check as to where we've come from."

Samrah then spearheaded a campaign to build a new home at the Amex stadium, where he is a season ticket holder.

"The best thing is the camaraderie," he said. "The friendships one makes going to the games.

"You don't always know the names of the people, but you see the familiar faces week in, week out."

He said he was very proud of the thousands of fans that campaigned for the survival of the club and the new stadium, which had brought benefits to the city and the county of Sussex.

"It's just extraordinary," Samrah continued.

"I hope that never again are we in that situation where the club's future is in jeopardy because we can see what a huge asset it is for the community."

Albion was founded on 24 June 1901 at the Seven Stars pub in Ship Street.

The Seagulls were promoted to the Premier League in 2017 and have remained in the top flight ever since.

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