£170 MILLION AT LEAST RIDES ON ONE GAME.

14.012.....and counting. I have had one of those great days. Last night I was otherwise engaged listening to the "Nelson Mass" in the Sheffield City Hall and without being distracted I waited until the concert had finished and read my texts to find out that the Hepworth United Under 12s had won their very hard away match against Ossett Town 1-0, against all odds. Rather like Leicester City, these young footballers have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps (what ever they are?) and produced some very good successful football this season.
This morning we travelled to Wakefield again and took on Ossett Albion, a weaker opposition and won 5-1. So we are nearly runners up in the Huddersfield and District Junior Football League, Division 6 ( we have to wait on other results). Brilliant!

I am not sure where the link is, (possibly against all adversity) but Brighton and Hove Albion was my local club and I remember the club's most recent high point, the 1983 Cup Final. I was also lucky to play at the old Goldstone Ground in County Cup Finals and did have a rare turn out for the Albion Youth team. The Seagulls have a place in my "scrapbook".

The new  Amexstadium is a cracker, they have an excellent training facility at Lancing and the club is unique in its location. With an average attendance of about 25,000 there is not a huge income, but on the other hand there is not a huge expenditure, their biggest transfer has been Anthony Knockaert at £2.6 million. The club nearly dropped out the league in 1997 and had to ground share at Gillingham, a dark period; but now with the very impressive Chris Hughton at their helm, the club has been close to getting automatic promotion to the Premier League. Sadly this afternoon they failed to take the vital points off Middlesbrough and have to go to the play offs.

It is the nature of football clubs that they should be community linked and the Seagulls have had to share the burden of the Shoreham Air Show disaster in 2015 and the sad death of 79 year old Don Lock who was stabbed near the town.

The club staff are all part of the "promotion bonus pool" and get free breakfast and lunch in the super healthy canteen at the training ground. Here they even send their young players out to local club pitches to get experience of playing on "dirty pitches", something recommended by the Premier League.

Scouting and recruitment have been improved, as has happened at other clubs such as Southampton where their young players have been transfered all over the Premier League. Brighton selling Leo Ulloa to Leicester may have been a mistake although it did bring in some cash!

When Middlesbrough last visited the south coast in December, the club served up "parmo" a Teesside delicasy (fried chicken and cheese), they imported N. Eastern beers, they lit the concourses on the Amex in Middlesbrough colours, showed the visitors' recent games on TVs and even sold their merchandise! They look after away fans.

The club is regarded by a recent Serie A study as "a model of the way forward". Even Roy Hodgson has brought the England team to the facility, when he has St George's Park at his disposal. The Amex's Elite Football Performance Centre has a "running hill " to help injury recovery, a giant not too warm, not too cold indoor pitch, and a climbing wall between the academy and the first team dining rooms to emphasise the need for aspiration. There is also a gate at the training complex that leads to the local airport just in case they need to fly to Manchester or Newcastle for a match.

To encourage locals to join the club they throw a Christmas Party at the Amex with a skating rink and real reindeer. Promotion to the PL will boost the local economy of course and there is a small matter of £290million if Brighton goes up and survives the first year, not to mention  parachute payments and the TV money.