One man who would be more justified than many in wishing yesterday had brought a decisive result is Paul Samrah.

For much of the past turbulent decade he has been spearheading Albion supporters' efforts as they strove to save their club.

He is a chartered accountant by profession but chairing the Falmer For All campaign to secure a new stadium has become as draining as a full-time job.

If he was hoping to finally put up his feet and crack open a well-earned bottle of champagne, Mr Prescott's ruling yesterday would have been a disappointment.

But Mr Samrah's fighting spirit shows no sign of flagging, such is his relish for the club and determination they will step out one day at Falmer.

At one point, however, in the dark past he was banned from even setting foot in the Goldstone Ground, the club's former home.

Mr Samrah, who lives in Henfield with wife Belinda and their five-year-old son, made his name working alongside Paul Bracchi, former chief reporter for The Argus.

They discovered in 1995 how then-Albion director Bill Archer had paid just £56.25 for his majority shareholding in the Albion.

The pair later exposed a non-profit clause being removed from the club's constitution, which stated if the club went out of business any surplus money would go to local sports clubs and charities.

Mr Samrah, an Albion fan for 30 years, said: "I had to put up with a lot of verbal abuse from the previous board and was banned from the ground. I got the letter on Christmas Eve 1996 banning me for the next 20 months.

"I knew then that I was never going to give up. There was nothing they were going to do to stop me.

"I will never ever forgive what they did to the club, the community and what they did to me personally."

He remains fiercely proud of how supporters united to help bring the club back to Brighton from Gillingham to the Withdean Stadium.

Those strong bonds were essential as Mr Samrah put together a coalition of talents to push for Falmer.

Mr Samrah said: "This campaign was run by a number of people, not just one person. If you have a structure and are all singing from the same hymn sheet, it's amazing what can be done."