An avid Albion supporter ambushed John Prescott to personally demand he backs the club's bid for a new stadium at Falmer.

Deirdre Wheeler, 57, gatecrashed a Press conference given by the Deputy Prime Minister in Newcastle so she could lobby for the 22,000-seat community stadium.

Mr Prescott was unable to give her any positive promises but he did acknowledge the strenuous - and imaginative - campaigning efforts made by Albion supporters.

The club's campaigners have deluged his Whitehall HQ with flowers and sent Valentine cards to his Hull constituency office.

Many wore John Prescott masks, printed in The Argus, at Sunday's play-off semi-final first leg at Swindon Town's County Ground.

Mrs Wheeler and her husband Don lived in Brighton in the Seventies and regularly attended the Goldstone Ground before moving to Newcastle in 1978.

She was having coffee in Newcastle city centre when she was told Mr Prescott was outside talking to reporters as part of the Labour Party's local election campaign.

She said: "After some hesitation I decided to go out to see if I could ask him about Albion's planning application.

"I asked his PA if he would answer questions from the public when he'd finished with the Press and she said he would.

"One of the journalists asked for Mr Prescott's reaction to Newcastle United's defeat by Marseille and if he realised how upset people were. I was pleased about that because at least it showed how important football is to people.

"I waited for about ten minutes and when the journalists had finished he readily agreed to take my question.

"I asked when there would be some news about the proposed stadium at Falmer.

"He seemed a bit taken aback at first, probably having expected a question on local issues, but clearly knew exactly what I was talking about.

"He then said he could obviously not tell me anything 'on camera' that was not already publicly available but some delay had occurred because the relevant minister in his department had to pass back questions to Brighton and Hove Council following the planning inspector's latest report.

"He finished by saying the minister would be making an announcement shortly but added with a smile that he'd had a lot of representations from supporters, including a very large Valentine card which had landed on his desk.

"I thanked him and left."

Brighton and Hove City Council has given planning permission for the proposed stadium but objections from Falmer residents prompted a public inquiry, which ended last October.

More than 61,000 people signed a petition in favour of the stadium and 68 per cent backed the plans in a Brighton and Hove-wide referendum five years ago.

Supporters say the club cannot survive by continuing to play home games at 7,000-capacity Withdean Stadium, after losing more than £900,000 in the year to June 2003.