To many people, Brighton and Hove Albion is a way of life rather than a business.

But the football club has to be run as a commercial company.

It is classified as a small business even though there is nothing small about its ambitions or fan base.

Despite a heritage stretching back more than 100 years, the Albion has had mixed fortunes recently.

In the mid-Nineties the club lost its Goldstone ground and was forced to share a stadium in Kent until moving to its temporary home at Withdean in Brighton.

The best news the club could receive this year would be planning permission for a new 25,000-seater stadium at Falmer.

But there are some underlying concerns about the funding of sport in general, which at the moment is heavily influenced by Premiership media rights.

Mr Coward said: "Although the Chancellor has not tackled the issue of sports funding, the tax breaks offered to help amateur clubs cut their tax bills may indirectly promote involvement in sport.

"It is, however, disappointing that the irksome and environmentally-unfriendly VAT anomaly troubling the club has not been dealt with."

Bob Pinnock, the club's finance director, said: "We try to encourage environmentally-friendly transport by selling a £2 travel voucher along with each £15 ticket. Tickets are liable for VAT, travel is not - but since this is a single supply, our fans pay VAT on the full amount.

"It doesn't seem right they should have to pay extra for something that helps the environment so it would be nice to see the VAT system simplified in this respect."

Despite this, the club welcomed any measures which encouraged young people to the sport and helped it recruit and train the players of the future.