“And now, chairman Dick Knight will cut a giant birthday cake in the middle of the pitch”
Dick Knight is an Albion great. Without him, the club could have died at multiple points over his 12 years at the helm. It could have gone out of business in 1997. It might never have returned from exile in Gillingham. And there would certainly be no Amex Stadium.
The Albion owe their continued existence to the man. But despite his well-deserved legend status, there is no denying that he still had some bloody weird ideas. There were his frequent speeches made at half time on the Withdean pitch, often rambling monologues which nobody could actually hear due to the fact the tannoy was crap unless you happened to be in the toilet.
How about the time he promised to cover the new ground with pictures drawn by kids, because what every state-of-the-art stadium needs is a painting by a six-year-old from Whitehawk. Or when he wanted to celebrate the groundbreaking at Falmer by scoring a penalty between two JCB’s, but ended up missing.
Or when he blurted out live on the BBC Sussex Fan’s Phone In that he was personally guaranteeing that the Albion would bring in five players in the January transfer window, and then had to sign Shane McFaul on deadline day to make up the numbers. Or when he designed a blue and white home kit, a yellow and blue away kit and an all blue third kit and didn’t think there might be a colour clash issue when we played one of the 11 other League One clubs who wore blue.
All of these are great, but undoubtedly the most bizarre moment of Mr Knight’s chairmanship came when AFC Bournemouth were the visitors to Withdean on Saturday 22nd September 2001. This was the closest home game to the centenary of Brighton’s first ever competitive match, a 2-1 victory over Shoreham in September 1901 and so the club decided they would dedicate the fixture with the Cherries to celebrating the Albion’s 100th birthday.
Great idea. The most poignant moment came with the unveiling of the Robert Eaton Memorial Flag, a huge crowd-funded flag which measured 62 feet by 32 feet and was dedicated to the memory of Albion fan Robert who had sadly lost his life in the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 days previously. Remembrance for one Robert was mixed with celebrations for another as before kick off, Bobby Zamora received his PFA Division Three Player of the Year award for the previous season in which his 31 goals fired the Albion to the league title.
You can imagine how the planning meeting went for the rest of the day’s commemorations. “Right everyone,” says Mr Knight. “I want a samba band playing on the running track before kick off. Get John Baine to write us a poem. We’ll need a group of kids to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ in the centre circle as well. Oh, and then I want to cut a load of giant birthday cakes on the pitch at half time.”
And that is exactly what we ended up. Mr Knight stood on the pitch at half time cutting four giant birthday cakes to celebrate the Albion’s centenary. Thankfully, this was in an age before social media, because can you imagine the reaction that would get now? There were also only 6,714 Albion fans at Withdean that day who had to witness this farce.
Many of those will have forgotten about it or just dismissed it as a memory that can’t possibly be true due to how ridiculous it is. We were firmly in the “that is too ludicrous to have actually happened” camp until actual photographic evidence confirmed that it wasn’t some strange MDMA induced dream. Dick Knight really did stand in the centre circle at Withdean cutting birthday cakes.
The game itself almost became a side issue because of all the kerfuffle going on around the centenary celebrations. Brighton were top of Division Two and already laying down a strong marker for a season that would end with a second successive promotion as champions. Bournemouth meanwhile arrived at Withdean having been hammered 6-0 away at Peterborough United four days earlier.
It looked like another hammering could be on the cards for the Cherries as Micky Adams’ side flew out of the traps. Bobby Zamora was denied by Bournemouth goalkeeper Gareth Stewart and Richard Carpenter hit the crossbar both inside of the opening 10 minutes before Paul Watson swung over a free kick from out wide which flew straight in, although Lee Steele tried to claim a touch.
After a blistering opening 45, the Albion were clearly not as motivated by the sight of their chairman cutting cakes as they should have been and they struggled to get going again in the second half. Michel Kuipers saved twice from Carl Fletcher before a certain Eddie Howe headed home a James Ford free kick for the equaliser with a quarter of an hour remaining.
That was the start of a strange spell for the future Bournemouth boss as four minutes later he scored at the other end, putting the ball past his own goalkeeper from close range after Danny Cullip had flicked on a long throw from Kerry Mayo. Given the hoodoo that Howe holds over the Albion as a manager, it’s reassuring to know that in his past dealings with Brighton, he hasn’t always been able to have his cake and eat it.
Unlike Mr Knight, who quite literally did.
Albion: Michel Kuipers, Paul Watson, Simon Morgan, Danny Cullip, Nathan Jones, Richard Carpenter, Charlie Oatway, Paul Rogers, Paul Brooker, Bobby Zamora, Lee Steele.
Subs: Gary Hart (Rogers 72), Kerry Mayo (Brooker 73), Matt Wicks, Robbie Pethick, Geoff Pitcher (unused).
Bournemouth: Gareth Stewart, Eddie Howe, Jason Tindall, Shaun Maher, Wade Elliott, Carl Fletcher, James Ford, Stephen Purches, Derek Holmes, James Hayter, Warren Feeney.
Subs: Garreth O’Connor (Ford 82), Chukkie Eribenne (Purches 86), Karl Broadhurst, Brian Stock, Michael Menetrier (unused).
Attendance: 6,714
