The 12 game winless home record Brighton set in the 1997-98 season

Brighton & Hove Albion’s class of 2020 are on the cusp of achieving something very impressive. One more winless match at the Amex and they will equal the Brighton record for longest run without a home victory, tying the 12 matches without success of Steve Gritt’s 1997-98 vintage.

Should Graham Potter and his players join Gritt’s men on 12 barren home games, they do at least have the excuse of being up against some of the biggest clubs and the best players in the world.

The Seagulls have twice faced Manchester United and Liverpool in their drought, alongside Manchester City, Chelsea and, er, Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley and Southampton.

When the 12 game record was set 23 years ago, the quality of opponent was not quite so high. We are talking the likes of Lincoln City, Torquay United, Colchester United and Scarborough.

Gritt was however working with what is largely considered the worst Brighton squad in history, who recorded just 35 points Divsion Three points on their way to finishing 91st out of 92 teams in the Football League.

Only Doncaster Rovers being somehow worse and ending the campaign with 20 points saved the Albion from slipping into the waters of non-league football.

As Potter’s squad of million pound players feel the hand of history upon their shoulder, what better excuse to whisk us all back to 1997 and recall the last time a Brighton side went 12 matches without a home win?

It should serve as a reminder that even though things might seem bleak for the Albion at the moment, they are still a world away from the dark days of the Priestfield Era.

 

Saturday 18th October 1997: Brighton 1-3 Exeter City

Brighton kicked off their club record 12 game home winless run when Exeter City came to the Priestfield Stadium on October 18th 1997. Gritt was down to the bare bones, having only 14 fit professionals which meant rare starts for teenagers Paul Armstrong and John Westcott.

The Grecians sauntered into a 3-0 lead in just over an hour through two goals from Darren Rowbotham – one a penalty – and a Shaun Gale strike.

Robbie Reinelt got the Albion’s consolation from the substitutes bench after replacing Valur Gislason, an Icelandic Under 21 international signed on loan from Arsenal who was so bad that not one photo of him playing football appears to exist anywhere on the internet.

 

Wednesday 22nd October 1997: Brighton 0-1 Lincoln City

Four days after losing to Exeter and there was one of those dreaded midweek trips to Gillingham to deal with. The 1,036 Brighton supporters who bothered to make it were rewarded with a 1-0 defeat to Lincoln City with Lee Thorpe scoring the only goal on 64 minutes.

Much more interesting than the football was the fact that one of the Priestfield’s floodlights did not work. In most circumstances, this would result in the game having to be called off, but Gillingham’s floodlights had been newly installed in the summer and were so good that the match could go ahead even with one of them out of action.

How had the Gills managed to afford such high-tech lights? The rent that Brighton were paying their landlords probably had something to do with it.

 

Wednesday 5th November 1997: Brighton 0-3 Barnet

Game number three in the Albion’s club record winless home run is considered by those who were there to be the worst night in Brighton history. It is certainly hard to recall a more soul destroying experience.

Whilst anyone with half a brain was getting ready for Bonfire Night celebrations, 1,025 Albion supporters made the trek to Priestfield to watch Brighton lost 3-1 at home to Barnet – the lowest attendance ever to watch a home game in the Football League outside of wartime football.

Even that number felt massaged as the terraces were bare. From the Rainham End, you could see the people of Gillingham enjoying their night as fireworks lit up the sky. The Albion meanwhile were busy conceding three times in 32 minutes either side of half time to Stevie Searle, Paul Wilson and Lee Howarth.

Gritt described the performance as being nowhere near good enough. He publicly wondered if it was a backlash to the news he had to deliver in the lead up to the game that five of his senior pros had been transfer listed as the club could no longer afford them. The reality of life playing home games 75 miles away was beginning to bite.

 

Saturday 8th November 1997: Brighton 1-2 Rotherham United

Ronnie Moore brought his promotion chasing Rotherham United to the Priestfield and it was no surprise when they left with a 2-1 victory. Neil Richardson gave the Millers the lead inside of three minutes, Lee Glover made it 2-0 four minutes into the second half with Stuart Storer’s consolation right at the death doing little to lift Brighton spirits.

Gritt tried to look for the positives, pointing to the fact that it was only November and the Albion already had as many points away from home as they had acquired on the road in the whole 1996-97 season.

That was being offset though by just one home win so far in 1997-98, a record that was in stark contrast to the final five months at the Goldstone Ground where Gritt had never tasted defeat as Brighton manager.

 

Saturday 22nd November 1997: Brighton 0-1 Cardiff City

Even when visiting teams could not find a way to score past Brighton at Priestfield, the Albion still conspired to lose. Derek Allan netted an own goal with 20 minutes played, which ended up giving Cardiff City a 1-0 victory. The Seagulls had a surprising number of chances but could not do much with them. Sound familiar?

There was at least a little bit of good history made in this fifth home defeat in a row. Darragh Ryan made his Albion debut, making him and dad Gerry the first father-son combination to both represent Brighton in the Football League.

 

Wednesday 3rd December 1997: Brighton 0-1 Notts County

Notts County would end up lifting the Division Three title come the end of the 1997-98 season, so defeat to the Magpies came as no surprise to anyone.

Sean Farrell’s seventh minute strike was the only goal of the game as Brighton played for the first time without Ian Baird, Craig Maskell, John Humphrey and Mark Morris – four of those five players who had been transfer listed earlier in the season and now released as the Albion’s financial problems deepened.

Whilst the Notts County game represented a sixth successive home loss, the Albion were unbeaten in five away from home. Gillingham really was a ghastly place to go at this point in time.

 

Saturday 20th December 1997: Brighton 0-0 Shrewsbury Town

Albion fans who shunned the shopping on the last Saturday before Christmas in 1997 finally witnessed Brighton pick up a point at home. It was hardly a classic as Shrewsbury Town were held to a 0-0 draw but it did at least bring that terrible run of six defeats in a row to an end.

Had VAR been around in the bottom tier of English football in 1997, then Brighton might even have won the game. Paul Emblen’s cross was practically caught in the box by a Shrewsbury defender and yet somehow exotic sounding referee Mr R D Furnandiz missed this blatant handball.

Paul Linger and Richard Barker both made their Brighton bows with Barker denied a debut goal by an excellent reaction save from Shrews goalkeeper Paul Edwards.

 

Friday 26th December 1997: Brighton 4-4 Colchester United

One of the most extraordinary games in Brighton history took place on Boxing Day 1997 as the Albion launched an astonishing comeback from 3-0 down to draw 4-4 with Colchester United.

Things looked bleaker than when a new born baby catches King Herod winking at them as Brighton went in at half time trailing by three goals to an Isaiah Rankin brace and a Tony Adcock effort.

Whatever Gritt said to his players during the break clearly had the desired impact, particularly on Emblen who went berserk with a second half hat-trick.

Scott Stamps put Colchester back into the lead but a late Jeff Minton penalty ensured Brighton earned a deserved share of the spoils. A true Christmas miracle.

 

Saturday 10th January 1998: Brighton 0-1 Swansea City

Despite being in the midst of an eight game winless home run which was beginning to stretch into club record territory, attendances were somehow starting to rise.

The 2,997 who turned out for the visit of Swansea City to the Priestfield was the third highest crowd in Division Three that day, a ridiculous effort given that no other club’s supporters had to undertake an 150 mile round trip.

If those who made the journey for the game against a Swans side managed by future Albion assistant Alan Cork were expecting a repeat of the entertainment on offer against Colchester, then they were to leave Gillingham disappointed.

Tony Bird scored the only goal on 37 minutes, giving Swansea a 1-0 success. Things might have turned out a little different had Kerry Mayo’s 30 yard free kick not rattled the bar 60 seconds earlier. Kerry Mayo. 30 yard free kick. Let that sink in for a minute.

 

Saturday 24th January 1998: Brighton 1-1 Scarborough

Scarborough were gunning for promotion when they arrived at the Priestfield and yet they were lucky to leave with a point. Jamie Mitchell took time out from being in EastEnders to score an 86th minute equaliser, cancelling out Peter Smith’s first half opener.

Gritt was left ruing his sides inability to put the ball in the back of the net in a performance full of promise. Despite a 10th winless home game being added to the record, it was enough to suggest that Brighton might have turned a corner . Yeah, about that…

 

Saturday 24th January 1998: Brighton 1-4 Torquay United

BUGGER! Smith was on target for a second game running, giving Brighton the lead against Torquay United. That was about as good as things got for the Albion though as the Gulls were level by half time through Jason Roberts.

They then ran riot in the second half, scoring three times through Andy Gurney, Roberts again and Rodney Jack to inflict a 4-1 defeat on Brighton.

With Emblen’s loan spell from Charlton Athletic having ended, the Albion looked desperately short of firepower. Gritt said he was trying hard to do something about it, which turned out to be the signing of Michael Mahoney-Johnson. He may as well have signed Boris Johnson.

 

Saturday 14th February 1998: Brighton 0-0 Doncaster Rovers

Doncaster were rock bottom of the Football League when they arrived at Gillingham on Valentines Day 1998. If Brighton could not avoid stretching their club record winless home run into a 12th game against opponents as poor as Donny, then the Albion should probably give up.

With Rovers in serious danger of going out of business as well as the Football League thanks to ownership even worse than we had experienced under Bill Archer, David Bellotti and Greg Stanley, this was billed as ‘Fans United 2 The Heart of Football’.

6,399 turned out to support the day, the Albion’s best ever crowd at Priestfield. Gritt said in his programme notes that if the occasion matched the previous season’s Fans United day – when Brighton hammered Hartlepool United 5-0 at the Goldstone – then he would be a happy man.

Needless to say, it did not. A dour 0-0 draw was played out by the two worst sides in English professional football at the time. The result was only the start of Gritt’s problems, however – back-to-back defeats on the road in the next two games against Rochdale and Exeter saw him sacked less than a year after overseeing the greatest of great escapes from relegation.

Within 24 hours of Gritt’s firing, Brian Horton was named as his replacement. 48 hours after that and Horton took charge of the Albion for the first time, ending the Albion’s club record 12 game winless home run with a 3-2 win over Chester City.