With the Albion riding high in Division Two, one would have thought the Withdean Stadium would be full to bursting every home game, no matter what the opposition or day, so what happened last Tuesday against Wycombe?

The team played in front of just 3,237 "fans". With a crowd capacity of 7,000, the stadium was less than half-full. With 3,763 missing, one has to wonder what new manager Peter Taylor's thoughts were. He was attracted to the Albion on the back of their legendary supporters, wasn't he?

Programmes through the Eighties and early Nineties - during the Albion's drop from "penthouse to basement" - show that up to 16,000 fans deserted the Goldstone terraces. This loss of trade at the turnstiles was the main factor in putting the club £2.5 million into debt by 1991.

The "Fans United" game against Hartlepool on February 8, 1997, realised a gate of only 8,412, which included several hundred coming to the Goldstone from abroad. The Leader (February 13, 1997) hailed this as "easily the biggest gate of the season". By then, of course, the club were £6 million in debt.

I find it hard to believe this was the fault of certain (two) members of the then board.

A couple of years ago, it was estimated the cost to build the football and community stadium at Falmer would be £30 million. This figure is now £44 million, a rise of 47 per cent with not a sod yet dug. Are we looking at a miniature Wembley stadium fiasco?

-Don Black, Shelley Road, Hove