The stewardship of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club is a position of the utmost importance. A vital role requiring leadership, acumen, experience, and the ability to spot opportunities.
With a very notable exception, we’ve been blessed with some extraordinary characters who have led from the front, utilising their unique skillset for the betterment of our club. Mike Bamber added a touch of glamour in the 1970s as the Albion rose from the old Third Division to the First, signing great players along the way, on long, lucrative contracts.
Dick Knight rallied the troops in the 1990s, stepping up to the plate to a role that no-one wanted – ultimately saving the club from almost certain extinction.
Then, of course, there’s Tony Bloom, whose success in the business world enabled him to finance the building of the Amex. And, his vast knowledge of the intricate inner-workings of professional football has catapulted Albion to a scarcely believable level.
Back in the 1930s, Major Carlo Campbell was the main man in the Goldstone Ground boardroom. Decorated for gallantry after flying more than 20 sorties during World War I, his war medals were auctioned in 2006.
But, he is perhaps best remembered for his rather ambitious plans to introduce cheetah racing to the United Kingdom at White City, London in 1937.
The Greyhound Racing Association faced a severe problem at the time as the United Kingdom appeared to have fallen out of love with dog racing, leaving the UK’s stadia – 77 tracks, with 33 in London alone – half full and in desperate need of new ideas.
Campbell imported six cheetahs – the fastest animals on planet Earth – to perk up greyhound racing but the 70mph creatures failed to find the necessary competitive spirit, despite steaks being placed on the back of the mechanical rabbit the dogs usually chase.
An observer recalled, “they just wandered about".