1) A trip to North Lincolnshire to take on the then higher-placed Scunthorpe United. On 1 August 2009 Russell Slade took his Albion squad to Scunny. It was a little different from the previous season. He was now armed with Tony Bloom’s cash and had splashed it on players such as Liam Dickinson, who a few months later was seen carrying a drunken damsel through the streets of the North Laine. It is unusual for a lower-placed team to visit a higher-placed one in pre-season. But Albion’s former Iron Matt Sparrow scored in a 2-1 Seagulls win. Sparrow, incidentally, did bird.
It was probably the highlight of Slade’s tenure. He was sacked by November.
2) The Townsend Thorensen Cup Final on 9 August 1983 at the Goldstone Ground, Hove. No qualifiers or preliminary rounds – the previous season’s extremely lucky FA Cup winners Manchester United and the runners up Brighton and Hove Albion turned up looking tanned and little unfit and played out a 0-0 draw. Someone threw a shoe at Norman Whiteside but it hit the remaining bit of fencing in the west stand. Chris Ramsey said that he knew nothing about it.
The game almost certainly produced the first ever penalty shoot-out at the Goldstone and possibly also Albion’s first ever penalty shoot-out. Albion lost, of course.
3) Crystal Palace in August 1997 at Albion’s temporary home at the Priestfield Stadium in Gillingham. Premier League Palace won 1-0 and their fans sang “where’s the Goldstone gone” throughout to the tune of an old Slade song. No one can remember much about the match or why it was arranged. Croydon is far nearer Gillingham, geographically and socially.
4) Longford away in July 2000. You couldn’t make some of this up and honestly we’re not. The match was arranged on a day when nearly every referee in the Republic of Ireland was at a conference and the man in the middle had practically taken charge of the equivalent of Mile Oak Reserves v Hollingdean Veterans in his previous game and was hopelessly out of his depth. Matthew Wicks committed a foul so bad that even Mickey “I am a millionaire” Adams winced and substituted him immediately. Charlie Oatway wanted a fight after every tackle and after Albion substitute Steve Melton tackled a Longford player neck high, the ensuing melee led Mickey Adams and not the bemused out of puff referee to abandon the match at half time.
Albion flew home the next day, leaving the next opponents Althone Town somewhat kicking their heels.
5) Fast forward 23 years and Albion took on Chelsea in Philadelphia. Albion also played in Atlanta and New Jersey In the Premier League Summer Series. Twelve years previously Albion beat the then European Champions Chelsea 3-1 at the Amex in a very competitive pre-season match in which Albion’s own Champions League finalist Vicente scored twice for the Seagulls. This season of course it is Brighton and Hove Albion and not Chelsea who compete in European football. It really is a funny old game.
