The dangers of supporting a successful football team
It can be dangerous support a successful football team. Or another way of looking at it – a football club becoming successful can be dangerous for supporters.
Because unless you are a club backed by a nation state or multibillionaire business person, sustained success at the top table can be tricky.
Even the definition of success changes from club-to-club. Just look at West Ham United. Hammers fans are going through a period of real success.
Their domestic campaign in 2022-23 may not have been the greatest. But they still managed to win a European trophy (even if the London Stadium chanting ‘Champions of Europe’ is somewhat far fetched).
Prior to last season, they secured back-to-back top seven finishes. In 2023-24 so far, they sit sixth in the Premier League table and are into the Europa League round of 16.
Over Christmas, they picked up 10 points – more than any other club. And yet West Ham supporters still booed off their team after a hard-earned – not to mention fortuitous – 0-0 draw against the Albion.
What then does success look like for Hammers fans, if not all that? I guess they want good results, the occasional trophy, European football and an attractive style of play.
My point is, it is rarely possible to have all of that at the same time. Unless you are Manchester City or Liverpool with those nation state and multibillionaire owners.
Shifting the viewpoint onto Brighton, this got me thinking about the Albion’s rising fan base – and especially those on social media.
Over the last few years, there has been an understandable increase in followers of the official Brighton Twitter account (I simply will not refer to it as X).
Many of these followers are from overseas – particularly the United States – and it is absolutely wonderful to see.
Their reasons for adopting the Albion are varied. Some have seen something in our club’s story and rise from the ashes.
Some recognise how special Roberto De Zerbi is. And some understand the values of the City of Brighton & Hove and how important they are to its citizens.
All of these fresh faces to the Albion support are passionate and, in this writer’s opinion, very welcome here. It is still sensible to exercise caution, though, when talking about success and hopes for the future.
I still consider myself a relatively new Brighton supporter. When I was a kid growing up in Hastings, I supported Manchester United. My father supported them, as did my older brother, so I did not really stand much of a chance.
A friend of mine introduced me to the world of Brighton and Hove Albion during the 2008-09 season, when I was 22. Needless to say, I fell in love with the club as soon as I visited Withdean for the first time.
This plucky team – so close to dropping out of the Football League just a few years earlier – had so much to like about it.
There was a Former Dutch Marine in goal called Michel Kuipers. An incredible attacking force of Gary Hart, Lloyd Owusu, Nicky Forster and Glenn Murray. And most important of all… I looked like right back Andy Whing (and still do!)
I will never forget that incredible run of form at the end of my first season, culminating in a 1-0 home win over Stockport County to secure League One survival.
Of course, there was a pitch invasion. And of course, I was in amongst it. My friends and I were even convinced we had somehow ended up with Russell Slade‘s famous baseball cap after the game. Sadly, this turned out not to be the case – but it did not stop us from exalting it in the pub after the game.
My point in harking back to the Great Escape of 2008-09 is that my experience of football ‘success’ before that was supporting Manchester United from afar.
The Albion avoiding relegation to the fourth tier of English football was a different kind of success. But I am a Sussex lad, born and raised. I realised that Brighton staying in League One on the final day of the season was better than United winning a treble any day of the week.
Nobody would have dared predict in the pub after that Stockport game that 15 years later, the Albion would be topping a Europa League group including Ajax, Marseille and AEK Athens.
We are living through the most successful era in Brighton history. But a glance at the club we eliminated from the FA Cup third round is a reminder of how difficult it is to sustain the glory days.
Stoke City had done brilliantly to establish themselves in the Premier League, managing three top half finishes and an FA Cup final appearance.
They played to their strengths, made the Bet365 Stadium a fortress and achieved great success given the size and resources of the club.
Then came the desire to push to the next level, going from top 10 to European challengers. They changed manager and playing style in an attempt to do this and before you could say “Rory Delap long throw”, were back in the Championship.
I wonder what Stoke fans would say now if you could offer them steady mid table finishes in the Premier League every season since they went down in 2017-18? Would they go back and change the decision making which saw them try and take the difficult step of breaking into the top eight?
All of this, then, is not to sound like a pessimist when it comes to the Albion and their current extraordinary success in comparison to the last few decades.
Far from it. The precise opposite, in fact. This is a reminder for Brighton supporters to enjoy every second. Soak it up. Drink it in. Consume it however you can.
All football clubs have their peaks and troughs. Relish this peak and worry not about the potential trough or what might bring it on; concentrate on the here and now rather than concern about a big bid for Joao Pedro or Roberto De Zerbi joining Real Madrid.
Given the definition of success changes from club-to-club and circumstance-to-circumstance, it stands to reason the definition of failure should as well.
Brighton probably should have beaten West Ham at the London Stadium. Some saw not doing so as two points dropped.
But given our missing players through injury and suspension – a list far longer than West Ham’s, not that Sky Sports would have you believe it given the way they went on – a draw on the road in the top flight is not to be sniffed at.
With an excited and expectant fan base watching on from further reaches of the planet than ever before, the Albion clearly have a lot of reasons to be cheerful.
I just hope that our new friends appreciate that it may not always be like this – and that in wanting to push onto the next level, we run the risk of losing what we are, right now, so grateful to be enjoying.
Having said all this, it is the hope that kills you. And it is the rollercoaster nature of football fandom that keeps us all hooked. To enjoy the highs, you need to have experienced the lows.
Those highs and lows look different from club-to-club, and there is no denying that Brighton are experiencing a terrific high right now.
I hope that we can maintain our high level of performance, both on and off the pitch, for many years to come. And maybe, just maybe, take the steps needed to reach the next level.
But is it worth the risk? I told you it can be dangerous supporting a successful football team.
Mark Elms @Mark_Elms71
