David Beckham made debut at forgotten stadium of Premier League club that was bulldozed for budget supermarket
10/03/2024 06:15 AM
David Beckham took his first steps into professional football back in 1992, but you wouldn’t recognise the pitch.
Beckham's famous career started on the south coast and Brighton had the honour of seeing the future Manchester United legend for the first time.
But it was not at the freshly built Amex Stadium, which would not open for another 19 years.
Instead, the Goldstone Ground – home to the Seagulls since 1902 – was where Becks first appeared.
The stadium had its charm, even hosting football games during the 1948 Olympics – the first competition of its kind since World War Two.
It was one of two grounds to host football matches outside of London during the tournament, the other being Portsmouth’s Fratton Park.
And when United visited Brighton in the League Cup in September 1992, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to throw on a fresh-faced Beckham on for his first team debut.
Aged just 17 at the time, the midfielder was missing the tattoos and chiselled looks he has since become synonymous with.
Instead, a floppy-haired Cockney teenager sprinted onto the pitch, coming on for the final throes to replace Andrei Kanchelskis.
Around 16,000 people were in attendance to watch Beckham make his first steps in the sport.
He would go on to become one of, if not, the most famous football players of all time, plastered over billboards, TV adverts and men’s perfumes for years to come.
And that is not discounting his impressive playing career, winning Premier League titles at United, La Liga at Real Madrid, MLS Cup with LA Galaxy and Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain.
These days he is co-owner of Inter Miami and is as famous for his exploits off the pitch as he was on it.
But if Beckham ever wanted to visit the ground where he made his debut, he would probably end up in the middle aisle of Lidl looking at potato peelers.
That is because the Goldstone Ground was sold by Brighton in 1997, leaving the club homeless while the site was turned into a retail park.
They narrowly avoiding relegation to the Conference on the final day of the season.
Steve Gritt, who managed the club during this difficult time, said: "Everybody had been going to the Goldstone for God knows how many years. All the players who had played there.
"Everybody knows what a special ground it was.
"I played there for Charlton – sometimes good, sometimes bad.
"But it was a smashing ground, a great ground to play at.
"When there was a big crowd in there, it really had a great atmosphere. Thankfully we were allowed to get more fans in that day, which enhanced the atmosphere.
"It was a very emotional day for those who had seen the club play for years and years."
They had to travel to Kent to play at Gillingham’s Priestfield for two years, not a pleasant journey for the Brighton locals.
Having returned to the area, the Seagulls played at the Withdean Stadium – an athletics field before identifying land in Falmer to build a new ground.
In 2021, Lidl opened a shop at the Goldstone site over where the pitch was while other stores include TK Maxx, Pets At Home and a Burger King.
While the people of Hove rejoiced at the sight of the low-cost shop, some older Seagull fans might rue the fact they have moved home.
Brighton have since found great success in recent years under the ownership of Tony Bloom, establishing themselves in the Premier League.
In recent years, they may have lost key players such as Marc Cucurella, Leandro Trossard and Yves Bissouma and even their manager Graham Potter.
But replacement Robert De Zerbi was a revelation, leading them to the Europa League and making history at the Amex Stadium.
Things are looking good under new manager Fabian Hurzler, who has started the 2024/25 season well.
They are currently ninth in the Premier League.
