I’ve worked with Matt Lorenzo on a number of projects and when he came to me to see if it was something I’d be interested in, I said yes. I didn’t know the full story of Brighton’s journey, but what soon became apparent was how important the fans were, which is something that resonated with me and something I feel very strongly about. It’s a story about the passion and love of the game from the fans, and that’s what’s made the process really enjoyable – exploring that positive feeling that football evokes in all kinds of people.
Very early on we decided to talk to the fans who were there all those years ago. We reached out to a few people, met others at games, and that will come through in the film. Obviously Tony Bloom, Paul Barber, Graham Potter and players will feature, but it’s a story about fan power as much as anything – and we all learnt, from the behind-closed-doors during the pandemic, that football without the fans is nothing.
It’s a story that will resonate with fans of any club. It’s a story of unscrupulous individuals ripping off fans and what collective action can then do. It’s bigger than just football; it shows what can be achieved when people, from all different walks of life, come together as one positive force.
The best example is, as Matt says, when got Paul Samrah and Attila the Stockbroker in the same room. One’s an anarchist punk poet, the other a forensic accountant – who would never have been friends in any other universe – but they love Brighton and utilised their different skills to help the club survive. You’ve got that across the board, be it Dick Knight, Norman Cook, Martin Perry, others too many to mention… they came from different backgrounds but all had the club at heart and wanted the same thing. Hopefully they sit back at the Amex now and reflect on what they’ve achieved.
Coming soon. 🍿 @LorenzoMatthew 🎥 pic.twitter.com/TgPVdh7y8P
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) May 4, 2022
Like the game itself, this really is a story of two halves. Dick and all those people I mentioned kept the club alive and took it to the brink of the Amex. Then you’ve got Tony who takes the club forward; he has got the lineage, the capital and the nous to make Brighton what many people will deem to be best-run ‘smaller’ club in the world.
For me, though, Hereford was the defining moment. It’s fair to say that if that game had been lost, the club wouldn’t be beating Manchester United 4-0 and sitting ninth in the Premier League. Just look where Hereford are now.
Steve Gritt is a really important part of that era and it was a pleasure to be at the 25th anniversary dinner in his honour recently. We had four or five of the lads together chatting, having a laugh and a beer, then Steve walked in and you could immediately see the change in their demeanour and the respect they have towards him. What he helped achieved, with the club 11 points adrift at Christmas, was miraculous really.
Another poignant moment from the dinner was seeing the current chairman sitting there, the former chairman sitting there, and everyone loving them. That’s very unusual for a Premier League club, but a good thing to uphold.
So on to Gillingham; I can’t get my head around the people who went there to support their ‘local’ club, with The FA saying you’ve got two years to get back to Brighton or you’re out. That’s a lot of pressure to deal with but, again, we saw the power of the people – many who gave up their lives and their money to get the club back to Withdean.
We filmed at the club’s former home (not the one in Kent), which became something of a fortress and you can see why. When Man City rocked up there, they must have been thinking, ‘what the hell is this?’ Most probably hadn’t played at a place like that since they were kids!
While the fans are the story, visually we’ve also been blessed. The club has a tremendous archive at their disposal – and there is quite a lot from the ‘war years’ era that exists. You also had things like The Big Match, Meridian TV… and we are still digging into that. It’s not like it’s the 1950s, there is quite a lot of footage, as people can see from the trailer.
I lived in Brighton many years ago, just before the Goldstone closed actually, so we’ve also got a wonderful setting at our disposal from a visual perspective. It has all those English trappings of a seaside town, and I always think of Quadrophenia, Brighton Rock, The Jam playing their last gig there, the Pride festivals, a Green MP, the pier, beach, all the things that make the place a bit different. We’ve tried to use that backdrop, as well as Withdean, the retail park where the Goldstone once stood, the training ground, the Amex, a real mixture. We don’t have a narrator and you’ll see more footage than you will talking heads. They tell the story, their story.
To sum up, the Tony Bloom years are about success and thriving – and we cover all bases there, right up to the wonderful symmetry of the current season and the success enjoyed by the team; the Dick Knight years are all about survival and this collective, immovable force. But one couldn’t happen without the other.
My favourite shot in the trailer is Tony and Dick in the centre circle for the Amex’s opening game, smiling and proud. That was just perfect. Palace fans aside, if you love football, you can’t help but love Brighton...