I wonder how the events of this surprising season would have been reported if we had managed to scrape through and stay in Division One.

Because this has been a very strange, if exciting, season for the Albion and there are many reasons that could be offered for our relegation.

I wrote my first Terrace Talk shortly after Martin Hinshelwood's doomed appointment as manager and I remember comparing him with Jade from Big Brother when I hoped that Dick Knight had made the right choice after those long summer weeks that the team had remained without a manager.

As events transpired, it would be the easiest thing in the world to blame Martin for the team's eventual relegation but offering him up as scapegoat would be unreasonable and unfair.

Because, at the end of the day, relegation comes as the result of not being good enough to survive in Division One and although losing 12 games in succession was a contributory factor, it wasn't the only factor.

It was interesting to see the reaction of other fans as they trudged out of Blundell Park.

As always, the last game of the season brought out the party spirit and many of us had chosen to spend the whole weekend enjoying the charms of Cleethorpes before turning up, in various interesting costumes for Sunday's game.

The party spirit was tempered with a sense of "que sera sera" with fans keen to see the team survive yet still maintaining a sense of balance about relegation.

This attitude was in complete contrast to the game at Selhurst Park in October shortly after Steve Coppell took up the managerial reins. Having waited so many years for a face to face meeting with the Palace, our terrible 5-0 defeat was a dreadful blow and the fans weren't prepared to take this quietly. The mood was angry with many people blaming Martin Hinshelwood for the team's apparent loss of morale and will to win.

The atmosphere was very different on Sunday despite the dire consequences and there seemed to be an acceptance, albeit reluctant, of some of the harder facts of the matter. The first of which is that the team simply were not ready for promotion.

There's nobody who could deny the sheer delight of being back-to-back champions but the economics of being in a higher division will be a challenge all the while the team is forced to play at Withdean.

It is not until you visit other First Division stadiums that you realise just how the other half lives although, ironically, the away trips were one of the best things about the season!

Even Selhurst Park delivered accommodation rarely seen in the lower divisions where for too many years duff catering, dodgy lavatories and cruddy stadiums have been the main attractions endured by the blue and white travelling army.

We've seen some tremendous football this year although, sadly, not enough of it, and if there was one common element to the season it has to be inconsistency.

As a result, we've won the games that we could afford to have lost and lost the games we simply had to win.

Just one victory against Stoke could have made all the difference and, although it was satisfying to play Wolves off the pitch at Withdean, as things transpired I would have willingly exchanged that 4-1 victory for three points against Grimsby back in September.

All the post-match analysis in the world won't keep us in Division One next season but I'm not as depressed as I would have expected. Being a Brighton fan is all about expecting the unexpected and there's always something worth looking forward to. Especially if Falmer gets the thumbs up.

Roz South edits Brighton Rockz fanzine. Email roz@southspark.co.uk