Forest Green the Carabao Cup draw of dreams

“Forest Green Rovers will play Brighton & Hove Albion.” Across Sussex and beyond, thousands of Albion fans punched the air. Could the Carabao Cup second round draw have gone any better for the Seagulls?

As great as it is spending a sixth successive season in the Premier League, there is a part of most Seagulls supporters that not-so-secretly misses the away days that came with being a League One club.

Proper terracing, for starters. Going to a pub in Rochdale that resembled somebody’s front room, where all the clientele stopped and stared for a good five minutes when you walked in.

A random Tranmere Rovers fan and his son bundling four of you into the back of his small car and giving you a lift back to the station in the pissing rain after Brighton had just lost in the last minute to slip into the relegation zone.

80p pints in the Working Men’s Club in Hartlepool. The burger van catching fire away at Cheltenham Town. A giant month which may have actually been a bat attacking Albion fans on a Tuesday night spent on the open terrace at Yeovil.

Visiting famous, world class stadiums like Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United is fun. But is it as fun as winning a leg of a lamb in a meat raffle away at Port Vale?

Brighton being paired with Forest Green is a rare opportunity to hark back to those lower league days, visiting a small town (would you have even heard of Nailsworth if not for their football team?) and all the quirks that come with it.

And Forest Green have plenty of those. In 2015, they became the world’s first vegan football club under green energy enthusiast and owner Dale Vince. You will not find a steak and ale pie at the New Lawn when the Albion visit.

Vince has installed numerous eco-friendly innovations at their current stadium. Not that they will remain there for long. Forest Green are hoping to move to a new 5,000 seater ground made almost entirely of wood with the lowest carbon footprint of any stadium in the world.

Good news for the environment. Not such good news for Albion fans visiting the New Lawn to tick it off the 92, as a return trip will be needed when Eco Park is up and running.

The new ground factor is one which will tempt many Brighton supporters to make the trip to Forest Green in the Carabao Cup.

For those wanting an overnight stay, it provides an interesting opportunity to sample the pubs and clubs of nearby Gloucester, Cheltenham or Stroud. Another reason as to why this is an excellent draw.

Many years ago, your correspondent was fortunate enough to go for a night out in Stroud. This culminated in a trip to a nightclub called Warehouse, which was comfortably the worst bar I have ever been in my life.

Naturally, this made it a fascinating experience. One of the best. The floor was sticky. Enter the toilets and you risked catching TB, polio and other diseases from the 1800s (some of which Boris Johnson and his government have impressively managed to reintroduce to the population through allowing literal shit to be pumped into rivers and seas).

The locals considered Fosters and Carling a premium drink. And it sold some knock off Eastern European version of WKD which I am fairly certain was banned in the United Kingdom at the time.

A quick Google suggests that Warehouse is unfortunately now closed, but there are bound to be other similar places for anyone brave enough to try a night out in Stroud.

Gloucester is slightly nicer whilst Cheltenham has a newly opened Popworld in place of a previous 80s and 90s nightclub called Fever. Everybody knows it is not a proper Tuesday night Albion away game without a visit to a Popworld afterwards.

There may even be some strange Brighton fans who want to do Forest Green, not for the new ground, the strange town or an almighty hangover after drinking Hooch and partying on a light-up dancefloor, but for the football.

They are in for a treat too. Rovers are newcomers to League One this season. They have risen from the National League under Vince’s ownership, thanks to his investment off-the-pitch being equally matched on it.

The draw has therefore given Brighton a very winnable tie, even if Graham Potter makes wholesale changes. Last season, the Albion comfortably saw off Cardiff City (cracking night in Popworld after) and Swansea City with totally different staring XIs from those which had played in the previous Premier League fixture.

Forest Green will be in theory be an easier examination than either of those Welsh Championship sides. If Potter does not go overboard and chuck in loads of kids, the players he selects take the job seriously and give Rovers the respect they deserve, the Seagulls should progress to the third round of the competition.

At the recent Brighton Fans’ Forum, Potter was asked what he would consider a successful 2022-23 season. Rather than name a Premier League finishing position or a points total, he said creating more moments like beating Manchester United 4-0 and winning away at Arsenal and Spurs.

Seeing Brighton in a Wembley final would be a pretty incredible memory to add to the list. The Carabao Cup provides a genuine opportunity to get there.

This is especially true at a time when Potter’s full-strength Brighton have proven that they can beat anyone in England on their day… except Chelsea, but hopefully the Albion get that monkey off their back this season.

Potter has named strong line ups relative to the opposition in every cup match since he was heavily criticised for treating knockout competitions with disdain in his first season in charge.

A starting XI with an average age of 12.5 were eliminated by Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup, who went all the way to Wembley that year.

Sheffield Wednesday reserves then triumphed at the Amex in the FA Cup with Brighton so poor and uninterested that the team was booed off at the end. Cue a programme essay from Paul Barber about how to support the team.

Forest Green Rovers away presents an opportunity for Albion to embark on an historic run to a first ever League Cup final, making it a dream draw in more ways than one.

Managers, players and certain clubs may despise the Carabao Cup, but for fans who love a trip to a small town in Gloucestershire on a Tuesday night in August, it remains an institution.

A vegan pie, a proper terrace, a Jason Steele masterclass and a night in Popworld Cheltenham. Sign me up.