This is an open letter to the people who put together the banner at The Amex on Saturday. It said "Some Things Money Can't Buy... Football Isn't One: The Amex".

I can only presume that this is related to the fact that the ground is named by an American corporate so the suggestion is that the club is bankrolled that way.

A few facts that you might have better checked first.

1) Amex only sponsor the ground

2) There are some money men behind the club but hardly in the Abramovich league and they have been involved in a long and admirable fight to save the club. If you're suggesting that the club has been acquired lock, stock and barrel by rich businessmen and that that's a bad thing then there are better examples a bit closer to home (have a look at the front of the shirt that you were no doubt wearing on Saturday.)

3) Check your history (read Build A Bonfire) Brighton's previous and long standing ground was sold from under them by two ex-directors and the club just about survived by playing at a 6,000 capacity converted athletics track. During this time a group of supporters worked though endless objections by local councils to every suggested alternative that was put forward until, after a feat of amazing patience and dedication, they got their result and their new ground was built. There are few clubs or fans that have been through as much. It's a proper club.

You did us no favours. The number of Brighton fans I heard trashing ITFC proved that. Look at their boards today too. And for what? As a club we have always had a pretty good reputation for fairness and a decent relationship with most other fans so what do we gain by winding people up where there's no point behind the attack anyway?

In the end it worked nicely for Brighton. Their chants of "can we play you every week" at the station afterwards made sense. Their team had played us off the park (not sure how Paul Jewell thinks we were the better side at any point during the 90 minutes) and they had the chance to ram your insult back down your throats. Happy days for some.

Maybe I - and all the Brighton fans - have got this wrong? Why don't you explain it? In the meantime, unfortunately the rest of us have been tarred with the same brush. Thanks.

naa added 10:23 - Feb 27 Sorry Daleyitfc but how can it be expected for Brighton fans not to take offence? Firstly, it isn't especially funny and secondly it's clearly attempting to make some kind of joke about the fact that Amex sponsor the ground. The hypocrisy in even attempting a joke of this kind beggars belief. Are our fans really that stupid? They do realise that we are £66m in debt to a rich person bankrolling us don't they? Jeez. I admit that it's hardly the most offensive banner ever seen but it is not funny, makes no valid point whatsoever, is hypocritical and makes Ipswich fans look stupid. Which is a shame really.

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ernie added 11:53 - Feb 27 All this nonsense over a stupid banner Maybe if a few of our fans wrote a few more banners, actually made some noise when they went to grounds we would have a more notorious support who sang and got behind the team You're missing the point- none of your idiots bleating on about the banner made an iota of noise during the game, despite waving around the fact that you had got tickets and others hadn't Instead of trying to protect our clubs nicey nicey reputation- why don't you try and get behind the team next time instead of being morally outraged and apologetic over a banner WORST AWAY SUPPORT EVER SEEN

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HARRY10 added 12:47 - Feb 27 "They have gone from 8000 to 16000 gates which suggests somewhat fair weather supporters" Thankfully our 18,000 stayed the same number when Arsenal came to PR last season, no fairweather fans there .... .. though some might say that number is considerably less than the 30,000 we were getting when we were in the Premier League, but still nothing to do with fairweather fans As far as the banner goes, unfortunately we are stuck with a small bunch of moronic kids (year 6 I think they call themselves) who seem to want to great a 'name' for themselves If they want to act like adults then the club should charge them full adult price - then maybe we will see who has 'fairweather fans'

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Surreyexile added 17:33 - Feb 27 I was sat in the West Stand with three mates who are lifelong Brighton supporters, they were offended at the banner! They are not thick, humourless, lacking in a sense of irony or in anyway meathead footie fans. The point is the club has had to work incredibly hard with very little money, until quite recently, anyone who has been around the game will remember their own self-deprecating kit sponsorship saying "Skint". American Express are actually a big employer in the region so quite fitting that they sponsor the ground. As the club was nomadic before the Withdean and they had to ground share in Kent even for home games I think this slight at their attendances by Damster is foolish! Check the records my friend and you'll see that they have always had a big following but you can't get a quart in a pint pot! The banner did actually ramp up the atmosphere and one of my mates did comment that the singing started earlier than normal once it was displayed. He also said that apart from Palace, we are the only away fans that have been booed when the attendance was announced, including Millwall! As for the game....apart from the first 15 mins and the occasional flash of inspiration we were second best and the scoreline certainly showed it!

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TLO added 20:43 - Feb 27 It seems apparent many, if not most Ipswich fans are cheesed off with this banner thingy, and what it has come to represent. In no way do I speak for every Brighton fan, but I personally feel this is now getting to the 'tomorrow's fish & chip paper' stage. The worst that will happen? We'll see you next season at Portman Road with an equally bizarre and psychedelic banner - something about, I don't know, fingernails and caviar... Put it this way - I was far more offended by Fulham fans in 1996 singing 'There's only one Bill Archer...'

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rosseden added 20:45 - Feb 27 anyone who has been around the game will remember their own self-deprecating kit sponsorship saying "Skint". That was actually a record label from Brighton who sponsored the club for a season...... Fat Boy Slim was part of it and they used to be a big label brand back then when records sold a plenty and they made some monoey..... http://www.skintentertainment.com/
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TLO added 20:51 - Feb 27 Nine seasons, actually rosseden. And they were the record label when 'Seagulls Ska' had their top 20 hit in 2005 with 'Tom Hark (We Want Falmer)' - inspired by the Brighton fans wishing to re-claim it from, of all places, Portman Road, after you used The Piranhas' - a Brighton band - version as (the detestable concept of) goal music.
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SXBlue added 23:04 - Feb 27 I think this blog sums up the feelings of the vast majority of Ipswich fans. To Brighton fans I apologise for the offence caused by a small minority chasing media coverage for their own cause. Unfortunately they have got it, but at the same time I hope it also highlights that their views are not representative of all of us.
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rosseden added 23:11 - Feb 27 every days a school day TLO, i have known Damien and the guys since i was a nipper and i never knew they sponsored the team for 9 seasons! id have been on the blag more often if i had!!
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singingtheblues added 05:29 - Feb 28 how ironic - football 'followers' (some fans/some idiots) debating the english language - i though only greame le saux read the guardian! although a town fan for 40 years, i come from brighton & have a good many friends who went to the game from both camps - i know the brighton story inside & out - many were insulted, many town fans were disappointed & a whole load more just didn't get it Fess up, the banner people made a poor error of judgement (lord knows what they were trying to achieve) - now is the time to apologise & we can all move on!

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Surreyexile added 07:19 - Feb 28 That was actually a record label from Brighton who sponsored the club for a season...... Fat Boy Slim was part of it and they used to be a big label brand back then when records sold a plenty and they made some monoey..... http://www.skintentertainment.com/ Rosseden, thanks for the music lesson! the fact that Norman Cook lives in Brighton and supports the club too would have nothing to do with the record label sponsoring the shirt then??

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rosseden added 09:05 - Feb 28 Yeah, it was him and a musician who went by the name of Midfield General who ran Skint. Both local lads and both fans too. . . . Can't fault them really . . . .
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Southamptonblue added 11:34 - Feb 28 I was living in Brighton when the Goldstone was closed and I remember the feeling of despair in the town at the time. I don't like it when clubs sell the name of their grounds, but the BHA fans have had to deal with with nearly two decades of being effectively homeless so if the club has had to do it in order to pay for somewhere permanent, then good luck to them.

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We_Want_Falmer added 14:55 - Feb 28 As an Albion fan, I'd always had a soft spot for your lot; proper club, won trophies against the odds, decent support, especially away. After Saturday I felt a little let down. We've been through the mill, and back again. It doesn't make us better than other fans, just different. The banner was a poorly executed pop. For one, a banner should need one glance to understand its meaning, not four days and reading countless message board posts. I still hold Ipswich in the same high regard as before but I would love to know what the perpetrators were trying to get across. In the meantime, this is the follow up to Build a Bonfire that starts after leaving the Goldstone in 1997 and finishes on the first game at Falmer, August 2011. That's 14 years without a home. http://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Want-Falmer-Brighton-Football/dp/1907158162/ref=sr_1_

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mightytown added 18:58 - Feb 29 this is such a non issue. who cares? nobody died. a couple of people might have got a bit upset. boo hoo. its got nothing to do with anyone other then the idiots that hung the banner. its just a football match.brighton won anyway, so just a little more egg on the face of the minority of fans who had anything to do with whatever banner it was that nobody cares about anyway. nobody cares about this. nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares. its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match its just a football match who cares? i dont care nobody died nobody cares

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