Tony Foster

Tony joined the Supporters’ Club in 1993, the committee in 1994, and was chairman for two years from 1996 – the last season at the Goldstone and the first at Gillingham. Since that time he has been a general committee member.

Born in Hove almost under the floodlights of the old Goldstone Ground, he was taken to his first game was on his ninth birthday, 7 March 1970, when Albion beat Barnsley 2-0. Now the young Tony was hooked, and returned three weeks later for the 2-1 victory over Reading.

Since that time he has been going to games regularly, rarely missing a home game and attending, on average, perhaps half of the away games. Tony has been to all the big matches in modern times: the FA Cup Final and replay in 1983, FA Cup semi-finals (1983, 2019 and 2023), both play-off finals (1991 and 2004), the last game at the Goldstone (1997), the game at Hereford that saw our League status preserved (1997), and all the promotion and relegation games.

A season-ticket holder since 1992, Tony also wrote for a number of fanzines. Now a carer, he worked for many years as a chartered quantity surveyor in procurement, in a number of senior management positions in the transport sector primarily in and out of London.