Had it not been for my involvement in the Gulls Eye fanzine or the support of its readers, I would never have ended up writing this column.

I feel proud that I, along with a number of others, have helped give the massed Albion support a voice.

Prior to 1988 the gulf between the supporters and the media was almost as big as the one between the all-important, but hugely ignored, paying public and the football club.

Thankfully that has changed, everyone is now allowed to express their opinions, a classic example being in this week's Sports Argus when a certain Mr Stuart Ashby, of Shoreham was shooting from the hip regarding Peter Taylor.

Stuart, who I know as a Gulls Eye reader, also supports Southend United, although we will not hold that against him, and cited Taylor's failures at Roots Hall, Dover and Filbert Street as cause for concern regarding the Albion.

Redknapp, Strachan and Smith, the supposed other three on the shortlist, have all had their fair share of failures.

I do not doubt had Albion gone with any one of those, letters would have come in from supporters of West Ham, Coventry or, in Jim Smith's, case almost half the clubs in the country!

With respect to Stuart and taking out the Leicester situation which is in the realms of the Premiership and non-footballing PLCs, as football clubs go Brighton are a completely different entity to both Southend and Dover.

Dover are non-League, more famous for the white cliffs and latterly asylum-seekers and frankly, however much money you pumped into Southend, they could never get close to having the same potential level of support as the Albion.

Should anyone really judge Peter Taylor on what he has done previously instead of looking forward to what he is going to do with Albion?

On the subject of fanzines, one of the most enjoyable aspects of Gulls Eye was getting a good old-fashioned rumour going.

With the advent of the internet and mobile phone texting things have certainly moved on and that was highlighted during Saturday's game.

Danny Cullip was apparently injured in training last Thursday but that did not stop news of his impending transfer to Southampton for £1.2million spreading like wildfire via the aforementioned mobiles and the internet during the first half.

It is the same old story. If one person tells two people and they tell two more and so on, eventually it is the talk of Withdean.

Needless to say, when questioned after the game Danny knew nothing about it and according to the text it was going to be confirmed on Monday! Practical joker or a prophet of doom?

The enforced exile to Gillingham and the severe ticket limitation at Withdean Stadium has meant Albion have missed out on almost an entire generation of new supporters.

The kind of people who, like myself could in the days of the Goldstone wake up one morning, as I did in April 1973, and get their parents to take them along.

Those days will return when the Albion are at Falmer, but in the meantime all credit to Martin Perry who in very difficult circumstances is still trying to attract a new generation of support to the club.

My son attended one of the excellent Albion soccer schools taking place around the county in half-term this week and one of the benefits was that a number of boys attending received a pair of complimentary tickets to last night's LDV match against Wycombe.

But even before that Martin had already given Worthing United a number of comps for the game, which the club in turn gave out to families who do not normally get the chance to see the team play.

Needless to say, all those people will want to come back again and next time will be quite happy to pay for their tickets.