With a Withdean sell-out 8,800 and record club receipts for the Leeds match, what crowd figure will be announced around 4.15pm on Saturday?

Well, while I'm not naive enough to think it will be another post-8,000 attendance, with the Albion going well — albeit in a not very strong division — I would hope that now is the time when the local footballing public get behind the Seagulls.

As I've suggested previously, if Leeds are the best this league has to offer, then the Albion, on their day, are not that far behind.

The crowd do play a big part and what is really needed, now, is the good, old-fashioned "bums on seats", creating a bit of atmosphere at the Withdean which would launch the club on a winning run, that could see them entrenched in the play-off picture.

And to be one of those fans, you need to ring the club ticket office on 01273 776992.

Godfather of non-league
Exciting news for all the BBC SCR phone-in listeners.

On Saturday night, I met up with The Godfather of local non-league football, Rod Wood, and he has kindly agreed to join me as guest on the show before Christmas.

It be won't be dull and it might move outside the boundaries of football — I'm taking a solicitor — but it will be certainly not be one to miss. So I'll keep you posted on the date.

Lewis says he's off

Lewis Hamilton's proposed emigration to Switzerland will surely create a few red faces in certain quarters.

Less than a year ago, a new British sporting hero was unveiled, and with an amazing new angle: not only was he from a working class background, but he was the first mixed-race star in an almost exclusive white man's sport.

He was going to open up all kinds of new avenues and the sporting "pc" brigade even claimed — to my mind, nothing short of patronisingly — that perhaps most importantly he was going become a role model for thousands of black youths living in our inner cities who had previously no interest in Formula One.

That, obviously, could still apply if we were talking about downtown Geneva . . .

Seriously, Hamilton's initial explanation of his departure, concerning his privacy, and his reluctance to sign autographs, begged the question: "How long did it actually take for him to forget where he had come from?"

But as serious a question that is, I think this is no more than a smokescreen. The real issue is income tax evasion.

None of us like paying taxes, but without them who would pay for our essential public services?

In his first 22 years of life, has Hamilton never had to use a hospital?

Has his home town of Stevenage been a lawless badlands bereft of any policemen?

Are there no state schools there?

Is there an illiteracy level of 100 per cent?

I have no problem with the wages he is paid.

It already looks like he will be financially secure for the rest of his life.

But why get out of paying your dues to your country and helping to create a better place for us all to live?

Perhaps, in his defence, it's probably not been his decision.

His "advisors" have probably looked at his earning potential over the next 10 years and thought how much more they could cream off if he doesn't have to pay income tax in this country.

I think the advice he has received is wrong.

Had he made this move in five or six years' time, no one would have batted an eyelid.

Going so early, and using the autograph line, could end up affecting his standing as a British sporting hero.

With the money at stake, maybe his advisors don't think that's an issue. I'm not sure the same can be said for the great British public.