WITH all the hatred and vitriol aimed at Micky Adams – perhaps the worst I have witnessed in my 36 years supporting the club – my faith in real sport was restored by watching the Worthing Raiders rugby team play Barking at Roundstone lane on Saturday.
From the moment my party arrived and were met by Mike Perring, the club's commercial manager, everything ran like clockwork.
Pleasant surroundings and a first-class pre-match meal that equalled anything I have ever eaten in corporate hospitality a
t numerous football grounds around the country.
Along with Mike, club president Dick Mowbray and his deputy Paul Baker were the perfect hosts, and the game that followed certainly didn't disappoint.
The words "fairly close" wouldn't begin to do the game justice. It was nip-and-tuck all the way and incredibly exciting, and played out in a pleasant atmosphere of sportsmanship.
Worthing won it, deservedly so in my humble opinion, and then it was all in the club house to witness another edge-of-the-seat encounter between Wales and England in the Six Nations.
Different sport, different attitude? Everything about the day was both relaxed and enjoyable. Perhaps tellingly, there were a number of people who were regulars at the Withdean five years ago but have now swapped their support.
Returning to my first paragraph, who can blame them? I'd never totally desert the Albion – your football team are your first love – but the rugby experience is certainly something I would heartily recommend. I, for one, will be gravitating back to Roundstone Lane in the not- too-distant future.
The only downside of Saturday was the euphoria of the Worthing win tempered by another Albion home defeat, this time in a supposed relegation six-pointer against Carlisle.
I make no bones about it, I've enjoyed my media career. It's got me to places I would never have been to, and perhaps in hindsight I should have turned my mobile off, because as we were celebrating the win my phone-in show, in my absence ably looked-after by top Brighton club comic Steve Grant, was descending into an oral version of Micky Adams being tarred and feathered.
Obviously, this was conveyed to me and I rightly or wrongly decided to take on the mantle of caller and phoned the show to ask, even despite the results, why there was so much negativity.
By the time this column is published, Micky Adams may no longer be the manager of Brighton and Hove Albion.
If that is the case then even he would admit that he was not totally blameless. However, you also would have to look to the board room when apportioning blame.
As I stated on the radio, I believe the root of a lot of the Albion's problems is in the breakdown in relationship between Dick Knight and the then manager Dean Wilkins in January.
I believe Knight made up his mind that Wilkins would go at the end of the season, to be replaced by Adams.
Knight should have got rid of Wilkins at that point. I'm not saying that was necessarily the right or the wrong thing to do, and I'm not sure things would have turned-out differently, but the seventh place that Wilkins ultimately achieved last season has perversely been the foundations for a very troubled season at the Albion.
As for the hatred and the vitriol, I'm told this is part-and- parcel of the modern football fan. Well, if that's the case, I'm not sure in the long term I want to be a part of it.
Like I said, I won't desert the Albion. But clearly our "relationship" won't be as full on.
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