Dick Knight at Brentford voted Brighton Comedy Moment 2022-23

Brentford away was the first time that Brighton introduced their controversial new away ticketing policy and with wonderful timing, the exact same game saw Albion life president Dick Knight unable to gain access to the Gtech Stadium because his ticket would not work.

What followed was a weird and wonderful series of events which have been voted as Comedy Moment of the 2022-23 season, involving a fantastic foul-mouthed rant, footage going viral on Twitter and Knight “handing himself” a 10 game ban.

When the video first appeared of Dick Knight unable to access the away end at Brentford, it was assumed it was down to the Albion’s new North Korea-style checks to ensure fans are who they say they are.

These involve hand written names on tickets which club officials can match against ID and ticket collections for randomly selected fans.

The purpose being to stop supporters buying a ticket and passing it onto somebody else who does not have the required number of loyalty points to attend that particular away match.

Anyone found breaking the rules is given 10-game home and away ban, stopped from purchasing any away tickets during that period, has 50 loyalty points deducted and must do eight years hard labour in a Siberian gulag.

Obviously, asking the life president of the football club to prove who he is would have been completely ridiculous. So too making Knight collect his ticket in person so that the club could check him out.

Because without Knight and his efforts in saving Brighton during the 1990s and then keeping the club afloat through the Withdean years, the Albion would not be in existence today. The only reason there is a football club asking to see ID is down to him.

But even with the away ticketing ID policy not to blame, it did not lessen the comedic effect of what followed. Knight’s ticket would not scan at the turnstile and so he was unable to enter the stadium.

After several failed attempts, he shouted: “I’m the president of this ****ing football club”, much to the delight of the Albion fans watching the chaos unfold.

Dick Knight did eventually get in, although he might have wished he hadn’t – Brighton were beaten 2-0 by Brentford thanks to an Ivan Toney brace. An unhappy Friday evening all around in west London.

And that should have been that. Older person gets annoyed when technology does not work. Thanks for the laugh, Dick. Story over (other than when we need to revisit it for deservedly winning WAB Comedy Moment of the Season).

Except it wasn’t. A few days later and Knight released a statement via the Albion website, saying he was giving himself a 10-game ban as life president for his behaviour at the Gtech Stadium.

Knight wrote: “I was initially unable to gain entry to the stadium due to a glitch with my ticket’s bar code which meant the stadium access system failed to recognise my ticket.”

“I understand several other supporters had similar issues. In frustration, I behaved in a way that was unbecoming of the club’s president.”

“In line with the club’s zero tolerance policy for any kind of abusive behaviour, I have therefore accepted that I should step aside from my role as honorary life president for the next 10 matches.”

It is common knowledge that there is little love lost between the current board of the Albion and Knight. Which makes you wonder whether a 10 game ban and grovelling statement pushed through the club’s official website that most Brighton fans felt was a completely over-the-top reaction was actually initiated by Knight himself.

Knight has earned the right to have a rant every now and again for what he did to keep the Albion in business, especially when it is delivered in such comedic fashion.

Rather than banning him, there should have been t-shirts for sale with “I’m the president of this ****ing football club” emblazoned upon them. Could have made a killing out of a moment thoroughly enjoyed by Albion fans.

There was hardly anything to separate second and third in the vote, with the runners up spot going to record signing paraded at half time of 5-1 defeat.

Brighton had secured the £30 million capture of Brazilian forward Joao Pedro before the end of the campaign. He was introduced to the Amex crowd in the pouring rain at half time of the Everton game with Brighton already 3-0 down.

By full time, the Albion had lost 5-1 to the side sitting 19th in the Premier League. The Toffees had scored only 16 goals in the previous five months.

Pedro must have been watching and wondering what the hell he had signed up for. Welcome to Brighton, Joao. It is not this shit every week, honestly.

Just 0.55 percent behind Pedro’s unveiling in Comedy Moment of the Season was the Albion giving out 3,000 free t-shirts to supporters with a very large and very obvious spelling mistake.

It was undeniably a great gesture from the club to reward all Brighton fans attending the final fixture at Aston Villa with a t-shirt listing every away game played in the 2022-23 season on the back. The front read RDZ Blue & White Army.

Not so great though was forgetting to spell check said t-shirt, so that Tottenham Hotspur read Tottenham Hostpur. Where was the spellchecker of this ****ing football club when they were needed?

WeAreBrighton.com Comedy Moment of the Season 2022-23 – The Results

• “I’m the president of this ****ing football club” – 33.36%
• Record signing paraded at half time of 5-1 defeat – 23.41%
• Spelling mistake on 3,000 Roberto De Zerbi t-shirts – 22.86%
• Dave’s poem at the Fans’ Forum – 8.86%
• Carabao Cup elimination at Charlton – 7.00%
• End of game victory music played to celebrate offside – 4.48%

Previous Winners: Chelsea fan boots ball into his own friend’s face (2022), Missing two penalties v West Brom (2021), Ezequiel Schelotto v Wilfried Zaha (2020), Yves Bissouma laughs at Arsenal (2019), Anthony Knockaert faceplant (2018).