The Goldstone Wrap

With its rather jolly looking Tamplin’s brewery advert and clear view of many people’s homes and gardens, the Goldstone Ground in 1972 may not look like an intimidating sight. However, it is where Brighton & Hove Albion showed sufficient form to clinch promotion from the Third Division in 1971/72. Pat Saward’s men won an impressive fifteen home league matches out of 23, with the Goldstone roaring the side on in the decisive 1-1 draw with Rochdale in May.

An Evening Argus supplement was issued to celebrate the newly won Division Two status. Its centre-spread featured a magnificent image of three stands of the Goldstone. I’m not sure if this image below does it justice. Click on it to get an enlarged version to see a lot more detail:

If you look closely, you can see that the club kept supporters up-to-date with the alphabetised half-time scores on the side of the pitch.

Promotion in 1971/72 was a shock to many at the Albion. Considerable money was spent and much building work was done in the summer to ensure that the spartan facilities were not an embarrassment in the Second Division:

Reception and general office

Board room

Treatment room

Players’ boot room

I don’t know about you, but these renovations don’t look that impressive!

Still, it was probably the best that could be done. There was a lot less money to play about with at the club compared to later on in the decade.