What can Brighton fans do instead of shouting SHOOT?

Before anyone gets too pernickety about where this is going, it should probably be pointed out right here in the opening paragraph that Graham Potter did not actually tell Brighton fans to stop shouting SHOOT after the Albion drew another blank, this time against against Norwich City.

The myth that he had came from a wonderfully sensationalised headline which appeared on The Telegraph website on Sunday night, reading: “Graham Potter tells Brighton fans: Stop shouting SHOOT it’s putting off our players”.

Other news outlets subsequently followed the theme. Countless social media posts jumped on the bandwagon, a thread stretching to over 30 pages appeared on North Stand Chat and before anyone could say, er, SHOOT, it had become established fact that Potter had told us all to stop shouting that dreaded word.

What Potter actually said was the following: “The build-up suggests we’re getting there. Of course, the longer you go, you can hear the crowd, ‘shoot, shoot, shoot’, you know, and that sometimes is a challenge for the players.”

The Telegraph have subsequently changed the headline to better reflect Potter’s view that fans shouting SHOOT is challenging rather than off-putting.

Still, it sounds as though Potter believes that the calls of SHOOT from the terraces are not helpful. And as good, loyal supporters, no Brighton fan would want to make things more difficult for a squad of professional players who on average earn £50,000 per week.

We never knew that a man who has played in the bear pit of a Boca Juniors v River Plate fixture like Alexis Mac Allister struggles when the Amex crowd shout SHOOT.

Or that Danny Welbeck – with 16 goals from 42 England caps including in some of the most intimidating atmospheres in Europe – finds folk from Sussex crying SHOOT a challenge.

Now that Potter has pointed out the problems caused by Brighton fans shouting SHOOT, we wanted to do everything possible to help the players from this point on.

The result – we have come up with these four alternative options to shouting SHOOT which Brighton fans can try in an attempt to encourage the Seagulls to score a goal.

Shout SHOOT in a foreign language
The best thing about this Brighton squad is that it is multicultural. It includes players from every corner of the globe. What if we as fans were to reflect that by shouting SHOOT in the native language of the player who has the ball?

Want Mac Allister or Marc Cucurella to have a crack: DISPARO! Neal Maupay or Yves Bissouma: TIRER! Joel Veltman: SCHIETEN! Pascal Gross: SCHIESSEN! Jakub Moder: STRZELAĆ! When Kaoru Mitoma eventually gets a British Work Permit: SHUTO!

This alternative approach not only has the benefit of heeding Potter’s words, but it will also help Albion fans learn many new languages. Who needs a Rosetta Stone course when you can teach yourself how to shout SHOOT in six different tongues?

Shout KICK THE BALL TOWARDS THE GOAL instead
This idea is inspired by fans of the United States Men’s National Team, who came up with the ingenious chant of I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN which they just shouted over and over to no real tune at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Taking the unusual approach of shouting an entire sentence rather than a single word, if Brighton fans were to call out KICK THE BALL TOWARDS THE GOAL then it would be a broader instruction than simply SHOOT. This should please Potter and be less challenging to the players.

KICK THE BALL TOWARDS THE GOAL also has the potential to be deployed in more scenarios than only when an Albion player has time and space 25 yards out in a good shooting position.

It could be shouted when Robert Sanchez receives a 50 yard pass back from the halfway line. Or when the Albion’s forwards are on the verge of setting a Guinness World Record for making 177 consecutive passes from side to side on the edge of an opponent’s penalty area.

The difficulty of getting 30,000 Brighton supporters to cohesively shout a six-word sentence as one is the major stumbling block to this suggestion.

Given that every Albion chant goes off at 1000mph – especially at away games – it seems unlikely that the timing or pace of shouting KICK THE BALL TOWARDS THE GOAL will ever be correct to make it effective. Which is a shame.

Use visual clues instead of words
The chaps at the Seagulls Social podcast can take the responsibility for this genius idea. What about if Brighton fans don’t shout anything at all, but instead use visual clues to direct the players towards that net between three white bits of wood (or whatever goals are made of these days) which they currently have so much trouble locating?

If we're not allowed to shout "SHOOT!" anymore, can we do this instead, Graham? 🤔#BHAFC 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/i9yJWgi9G6

— SEAGULLS SOCIAL (@SeagullsSocial) April 4, 2022

Everyone has seen the photos or footage of the supporters of German fourth tier club FC Magdeburg, who printed off a load of arrows and pointed them towards the goal in an attempt to help their players end a run of five games without scoring.

The arrows were accompanied by an incredible banner unfurled at the start of the Magdeburg’s home fixture with Berliner AK 07, reading: “Don’t worry, chaps, we’ll show you where the goal is!”

And do you know what? It worked. 10 minutes before the final whistle, Magdeburg scored for the first time in 558 minutes through US forward Chris Wright. They conceded shortly after to lose 2-1, but at least the streak was broken.

If you think that such a display could help the Albion score a home game for the first time since mid-January when Southampton are the next visitors to the Amex, then please get in touch as we look to co-ordinate arrows for the North Stand.

Invade the pitch and show the players how it’s done
One of the best genres of football video on YouTube is the classic Fan invades pitch and scores a goal. Many an hour at WAB Towers have been spent down that particular rabbit hole, with a particular favourite being the timeless classic of Swansea fan scores at Anfield.

Not seen it before? Fear not, we have embedded it for you. The noise of the crowd, the celebration, the 40 second chase around the pitch as he evades the attempted rugby tackles of three Liverpool stewards. It is quite simply breath taking.

Is there a brave soul out there willing to provide inspiration to these Albion players by showing them how it is done? Would you risk a lifetime ban to bury the ball into the North Stand goal if it meant Brighton relearning how to score?

Could you sacrifice never being able to spend £3.20 on a bag of Starburst again? Sometimes, drastic times call for drastic measures. And these are drastic times.

(In the unlikely event anyone from the Albion is reading this and suffers from a sense of humour bypass, this is not a serious suggestion or enticement for fans to invade the pitch.)