Publications
Build a bonfire: how football fans united to save Brighton and Hove Albion, by Stephen North and Paul Hodson, published 11 October 1997 (230 pp., Edinburgh: Mainstream, ISBN-10: 1840180250 & ISBN-13: 9781840180251) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries
Abstract:This is an account of what happened to Brighton and Hove Albion FC, a club that nearly died and which was saved by its fans. In July 1995 the club owners, Bill Archer and Greg Stanley, announced that with the support of the chief executive, David Bellotti, they had decided to sell the club's 95-year-old Goldstone Ground to a property developer for £7.5 million. With no new site to go to, the club was to share Portsmouth's stadium for the 1996-97 season, requiring a round trip of anything up to 200 miles for fans wishing to watch "home" games. All this was done without consulting anyone connected with the club. To combat this move supporters mounted a campaign to save their club. Using interviews with people involved in the struggle, this book traces the events leading up to the sale of the ground and charts the progress of the fans in their fight against the board. The battle culminated in Dick Knight's group gaining a controlling interest in the club at the end of the 1996-97 season. The book also explores possible implications for other clubs.
We Want Falmer: How Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, and Its Fans, United to Build a Stadium, by Stephen North and Paul Hodson, published 30 November 2011 (192 pp., Stripe Publishing, ISBN-10: 1907158162 & ISBN-13: 9781907158162)
Abstract:May 3rd 1997; Brighton & Hove Albion drew 1-1 at Hereford United to stay in the Football League. The nail-biting contest took place at the end of a two year struggle by the club s fans to save their club from extinction after chairman Bill Archer sold the Goldstone Ground, with no new stadium in place, leaving the club homeless. We Want Falmer, by Paul Hodson and Stephen North and published by Brighton-based Stripe Publishing, chronicles, through the words of the main protagonists, the next 14 years and the extraordinary, ingenious, humorous, emotional and unique campaign that included marches, petitions, a referendum, soaking Des Lynam, forming a political party, bombarding John Prescott with flowers, a top 20 hit … that, ultimately, ended in a beautiful new home for the football club they all love.