The long, hard road to Falmer

In that time the Albion spent two years ground-sharing at Gillingham before moving into their current temporary home at Withdean - a former municipal athletics track.

The Seagulls have enjoyed mixed fortunes on the pitch but arguably fought a bigger battle behind the scenes, facing a mounting financial crisis and one of the most thorough public inquiries in planning history.

We look back at the remarkable journey.

July 1995 The Argus exposes a plot to sell the Goldstone Ground and groundshare with Portsmouth.

April 1997 Albion fans invade the pitch during the final match of the season against York on April 27, 1997, pulling down both sets of goalposts and causing the match to be abandoned after 16 minutes.

It is the last match to be played at the Goldstone Ground.

September 1997 Albion begin a two-year spell groundsharing with Gillingham, a 150-mile round trip.

March 1998 Village Way, Falmer, a muddy field next to Sussex University and A27 dual carriageway, is identified by Albion chief executive Martin Perry as a possible site for Albion's future home.

October 1998 Martin Perry reveals that, after a survey into 16 possible sites in and around Brighton and Hove, the club and council are considering a shortlist of four sites for the new stadium.

Falmer is the stand-out candidate.

February 1999 Brighton and Hove City Council announces a referendum will be held alongside the May local council elections, asking the people of Brighton and Hove if they favour Falmer as a stadium site.

Council leader Steve Bassam throws his support firmly behind Albion's Falmer bid.

March 1999 At the Island Night Club in Hove, the YES YES campaign is launched by Albion's various support groups - who later form the Falmer For All Campaign Team. The campaign is backed by The Argus.

April 1999 Micky Adams is unveiled as the new Albion manager wearing a YES YES T-shirt. Hundreds of supporters take to the streets as a three-week leaflet campaign begins.

Albion fans make two separate YES YES leaflet deliveries to 104,000 households in Brighton and Hove.

May 1999 Brighton and Hove awakes to 5,000 green and white YES YES balloons all over the city. 56,701 (83.5 per cent) vote in favour of a permanent home for the Albion, while 44,985 (67.6 per cent) vote in favour of the stadium being at Falmer.

July 1999 Albion return home to the temporary facility of Withdean. After two years' exile in Gillingham, the Seagulls play their first match in Brighton and Hove since the tearful Goldstone farewell in April 1997.

August 2000 The city Council earmarks Village Way North as the site for a community stadium in the first Deposit Draft of the Local Plan.

May 2001 A Danny Cullip header sees Albion beat Chesterfield 1-0 at Withdean to win the Third Division Championship.

October 2001 Albion deposit 32 boxes at Hove Town Hall, containing two planning applications, one for Village Way North and one for Village Way South. Albion fans are asked to write to the council in support of the application.

October 2001 A sad day as Micky Adams resigns as Albion manager to take the job as assistant manager at Premiership Leicester City. Adams cites the lack of a permanent stadium and facilities as the reason he is quitting.

April 2002 Albion clinch the Second Division Championship with a 0-0 draw at home to Swindon.

A little over a fortnight later, Peter Taylor resigns as Albion manager, citing the lack of a permanent stadium as one the main reasons.

May 2002 Albion fans deliver a 61,452-signature petition to council leader Ken Bodfish asking the council to give Albion's stadium the go-ahead.

June 2002 The council's planning committee votes 11-to-1 in favour of Falmer. Some 9,643 fans write in support.

August 2002 On the eve of Albion kicking off in Division One, the Secretary of State's office calls-in the application, meaning Albion face a public inquiry.

February 2003 The four-month public inquiry kicks off and Albion call a number of witnesses to present their case.

The FA's David Davies, Des Lynam and sports writer Paul Hayward take the stand for the Albion. The main opponents of the stadium are Lewes District Council and Falmer Parish Council.

May 2003 Albion are relegated from the First Division following a nailbiting end-of-season dogfight.

June 2003 Albion ask for extra time at the public inquiry in order to submit an additional planning application concerning access to the coach park at the stadium.

Inspector John Collyer grants a further session in October 2003.

Jonathan Clay, representing the Albion, ends the public inquiry by telling the inspector that the hopes and dreams of an entire community rest with the secretary of state's decision.

Mr Clay opens by quoting Daily Telegraph writer Hayward's evidence, saying that the lack of stadium in Brighton and Hove was a "glaring omission, and an affront to children growing up across the county".

October 2003 The public inquiry resumes to consider the additional planning application made by the Albion, concerning access to and from the stadium site.

Brighton University withdraws its objections and signs agreements with the Albion and the council in support of the stadium.

Almost two years to the day Micky Adams tendered his resignation as Brighton manager, Steve Coppell does the same - becoming the fourth departing Albion manager to cite the lack of permanent stadium as one of the reasons why he is leaving.

Dick Knight says: "Once again this club is facing the reality of losing another high-profile manager because of our new stadium, or lack of it."

The public inquiry closes and Martin Perry declares: "We have done everything we can to present a very strong case for the stadium to be built."

December 2003 The Seagulls land at 10 Downing Street. Norman Cook and Des Lynam lead a delegation of supporters delivering more than 6,200 letters and a summary of the 61,452-signature petition to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, urging him to give Albion's stadium the green light.

February 2004 Planning inspector Charles Hoile, in considering Brighton and Hove's Local Plan, recommends the Falmer stadium be rejected as unsuitable.

91 bouquets of flowers are hand-delivered to John Prescott's office in a show of support from every other league club.

In the same month the Deputy Prime Minister receives a giant Valentine Card.

Fans hold a sit-in after the Wycombe Wanderers match.

March 2004 National Falmer Day on March 6. Seagulls fans go to every other league and FA cup match in the country.

May 2004 Albion beat Bristol City in the Play-Off final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, in front of 30,000 travelling fans, winning promotion to The Championship. Supporters don John Prescott masks provided by The Argus.

July 2004 Inspector Collyer drops a massive bombshell in his report, ripping apart almost every claim made in support of Falmer and recommending it be refused.

Mr Prescott throws the club a lifeline by announcing he is to reopen the public inquiry to examine if there are any possible alternative sites for a stadium.

Albion celebrate promotion with a parade through the city surrounded by hundreds of fans.

September 2004 Thousands of Albion fans march on the Labour Party Conference in Brighton urging Mr Prescott to give us a ground.

Fans are joined by chairman Dick Knight, manager Mark McGhee, the players and former manager Micky Adams.

Cash-strapped Albion launch the Alive and Kicking Appeal, asking fans to dig deep to help the club out of financial trouble.

January 2005 Seagulls Ska reach number 17 in the charts with Tom Hark (We Want Falmer).

February 2005 The public inquiry reopens with a new inspector, David Brier. It runs for over three months and closes on May 5.

May 2005 The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) announces that Albion can expect a final decision on the stadium on or before October 31.

The Argus prints messages from hundreds of Albion fans urging John Prescott to say yes to Falmer after the city's three Labour MPs table an Early Day Motion in support of the stadium.

Falmer village resident Tom Carr, the man who led the campaign against the stadium, sadly dies aged 73.

September 2005 Up to 10,000 Albion fans turn out for the second march for Falmer to welcome Labour Party conference delegates to the city.

Among the throng are former managers Barry Lloyd and Steve Coppell, current boss Mark McGhee and the first team squad, Des Lynam, Norman Cook and Albion legends Peter Ward and Gary Stevens.

Dick Knight addresses the crowd with a rousing speech with a plea to Deputy Prime Minister. He says: "We have the love, we have the passion. Now let us consummate it with a stadium."