absolute brighton

ABSOLUTE FOOTBALL
Seagulls’ new nesting ground
The American Express Community Stadium
A dream has been brewing for Brighton & Hove Albion fans for well over a decade, and
Martin Perry is the man given the task to make that dream a reality… no pressure then!
Our Editor Verity Craig went to meet the Chief Executive of The Albion at the new
stadium where she saw that progress is taking shape quickly
Recently named ‘American Express Community Stadium’ from just
a vision to concept, Martin Perry, and the Project Team he has led,
have been there through thick and thin making sure that thousands
of Albion fans have their dream made reality. Clearly one never to give
up, Martin and his team is making sure through outstanding perseverance,
that Brighton and Hove’s football club and its fans receives only the best.
From its original design, to gaining that notorious planning permission with
the local council, it was this team that drove the project forward from its
onset and continues to do so. “It’s my life” he told me upon my visit to
the stadium site. “I sleep, eat and breathe it day in day out; ask my wife.
And the same is true for the rest of the people around me, they are very
committed.”
It all began 14 years ago when Martin (who originally grew up in Brighton
but work took him away) sadly lost his mother who had still lived in
Brighton. Obviously a sad time for him, he also felt crestfallen that he now
had no reason to visit Brighton. “Just as I was thinking that I’ll have no
reason to visit Brighton any more, the phone rang and it was the then
Leader of Hove Council, Ivor Caplin. I was working for Alfred McAlpine
at the time building a new stadium for Huddersfi eld Town. He said that
Brighton also needed a new stadium and he asked me for help!” Of course
the rest is history. Easy to hear now, but hearing fi rst hand from Martin
how tough those 14 years have been makes you realise how hard this man
along with his colleagues have worked, fought and driven to make sure that
our local football club receives an outstanding stadium; it’s been a rocky
road to say the least.
54 ABSOLUTE
Based in Falmer (almost on top of the railway station, making easy access for
fans) you can’t help but be impressed when you have a fi rst glance of the
site in progress. As I approached from the A27 and saw its imposing steel
arched roof for the fi rst time, I felt shivers up my spine; you’d have to have
been living on a desert island to have missed this long-running saga, so to
see it now actually in progress is quite stirring. To make an average local feel
this way, I wondered how it must make Martin feel, seeing it each day as he
drives to work. “I still pinch myself each time I see it from the road. I still
can’t believe that it is actually happening and is fi nally in progress.
“But we have also been very lucky along the way. First of all Dick Knight,
the former Chairman, was around at just the right time in 1997. He
was prepared, when there was no-one else willing to take the huge risks
involved, to put a substantial proportion of his personal wealth behind the
club with absolutely no security whatsoever. He saved the club and without
him it would not exist.”
Another man who has famously played a massive role in making this dream
a reality is local businessman Tony Bloom. Reportedly, he has generously
given (well, invested) a staggering £80m to The Albion for the Amex to be
built. And why? “Tony generously put that money into The Albion because
he simply loves the club; he’s a fan who can,” according to Martin. “His
grandfather played a big role in The Albion so it is in his blood too. Without
Tony’s generous donation, this project would simply not be happening,
simple as that.” Now as the Chairman of the football club since May 2009,
Bloom is leading the club into a new era.
“And then we have had other good people just when we needed them.”