Whilst many of you folk in the United Kingdom have been standing up to a battering of storms, I have been getting a little taste of what life is like as a Seagull Downunder
This included keeping tabs on Brighton 0-0 Wolves at 6.45am on the morning of Tuesday 23rd January from Sydney, Australia.
My journey from North Sussex to the other side of the world began on Saturday 20th January from London Gatwick. In recognition of Brighton flying high in Europe, perhaps Gatwick should be renamed Albion International Airport? Or at the very least have a terminal dedicated to Seagulls memorabilia.
Emirates Airlines provided the transport for the first leg of the journey to Dubai. With a nice 98mph tailwind, it was only six-and-half hours from take off until wheels hit the ground in the UAE.
The Albion had recently made the same journey to Dubai for the purposes of tuning up and warm weather training. I do hope they had more legroom than I had in cattle truck economy class.
I have taken my new Brighton baseball cap with me on the trip and boy does it draw attention these days. Queuing to get through security in Dubai ahead of our flight transfer, I was stood next to an engineer from Germany.
He spotted the Seagull logo and said he knew the Albion and followed the club’s progress having attended the University of Sussex. Small world.
There was not even time for a McDonalds between leg one and leg two of the journey. Flight time from Dubai to Sydney was 13-and-a-half hours on an aircraft even more cramped than the last.
The wonders of technology meant I was able to watch our old pal Neal Maupay score the winner for Brentford against Nottingham Forest from 39,000 feet.
Things have certainly come a long way since I started out in the business of trying to solve computer crime for the UK Police Service.
Once in Australia, the Albion baseball cap attracted even more attention. Football fansworldwide are clearly beginning to take Brighton more seriously, as shown when I engaged with another who wanted to talk the Albion at Circular Key near Sydney Opera House.
Circular Key is an area no stranger to Seagulls. They even have a Seagull Patrol. I got to meet one member of the patrol, a dog called Pippa who is employed to scare away the seagulls so that they do not cause a nuisance.
Come Tuesday morning and I was hoping the Seagulls could scare away the Wolves. I had done all my prep in terms of setting things up to be able to follow the Albion in the Premier League and FA Cup matches I will miss whilst in Australia and New Zealand.
My reason for this is that I have a sneaky feeling that if we start this second half of the season well, there may be the need for Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 3. We cannot be having any blanks in the book just because yours truly is the other side of the world.
At 5.45am the teams were announced. Johnny Cantor, Warren Aspinall and Tim Durrans could be heard loud and clear over the BBC Radio Sussex airwaves from some 10,800 miles away.
Their voices sounded even more comforting than normal, even when Johnny dropped the stat that Brighton were yet to win a Monday night home game in the Premier League.
The Albion had though only suffered one defeat in their last 13 matches against Wolves. Those two statistics contradicting each other seemed to suggest a draw was the most likely outcome.
As the teams were led out onto the pitch, Sussex by the Sea played without any talking over from our commentators. Hearing it so clearly whilst being so far away from home suddenly made me quite emotional.
It was almost as if Johnny could sense what I was feeling as when the Albion anthem finished, he said “it gets you every time, doesn’t it?” And how right he was.
Before kick off, listeners were informed that some of the players were wearing a new design of football boots. I was fairly certain our current crop of Brighton superstars do not shop for their own boots where their predecessors did many moons ago, namely Edwards Sports in Church Road, Hove.
All my childhood football boots in the 1960s came from Edwards Sports. I always remember how great it was to go there, especially with the off-chance you might see an Albion player.
Johnny painted the picture of Brighton kicking towards the South Stand in the first half. It sounded as though the game began in fast flowing fashion.
Danny Welbeck let a shot go early on which flew over Jose Sa’s crossbar before the first corner of the game went to Wolves on eight minutes.
A big cheer from the North Stand followed with Johnny saying the taker had succeeded only in kicking the ball straight out of play for a Brighton goal kick.
The Albion had the next corner. Pervis Estupinan placed it beautifully to the back post, where it was headed towards goal by Facundo Buonanotte and cleared off the line. Warren purred over the delivery from Estupinan, saying it was a wonderful ball with pace and whip.
Brighton were threatening from set pieces. A Pascal Gross free kick in the 20th minute found Jan Paul van Hecke, forcing Sa into a stretching save.
Johnny informed us that the technical area might be quieter than normal as new rules mean only one coach can stand at any one time.
With Robert De Zerbi spending most matches constantly on his feet, the rest of his staff will have to beware. Especially the set piece coach.
The whistle to bring the first half to a close was met by a lot of Wolves players complaining to referee Craig Pawson. Brighton were not impressed and things apparently became a little fractious.
As I sipped on an Australian cup of tea, I wondered whether the confrontation between the teams would lead to a spicier second half.
If Wolves lost their heads, then Brighton could take advantage and a celebratory hotel breakfast would be on the cards.
Within seconds of the restart, Wolves showed they meant business by putting the ball just over the bar. “Crikey” I shouted in an attempt to get into the Aussie spirit.
That lucky escape for Brighton was followed by a lucky escape for Wolves. A great break down the right saw a Jack Hinshelwood cross turned against the post by visiting captain Max Kilman. Almost a disastrous own goal.
Wolves came on strong late in the day and Jason Steele did very well to preserve his clean sheet and negate Wolves scoring a late winner.
The point lifted Brighton above Manchester United and into seventh in the Premier League ahead of sights turning towards the FA Cup this weekend, when a trip to Sheffield United beckons.
I will be in New Zealand by then and an afternoon kick off UK-time means following from afar becomes a middle of the night job rather than a first-thing-in-the-morning exercise.
Fingers crossed by the time I return to Sussex, Brighton will have moved another step closer to a Wembley return. Imagine how bigger the Albion’s profile in these foreign lands would be if they were to win the FA Cup…
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2 charts Brighton’s record breaking 2022-23 campaign through the eyes of Tony Noble, an East Stand Upper season ticket holder at the American Express Stadium. It is available from Waterstones, WHSmith, Amazon Bookstore and all good bookshops as well as the Albion Superstore at the Amex and via this link.
