Lifelong Brighton fan recognised at club awards

A lifelong Brighton & Hove Albion supporter who has terminal cancer has been crowned the club's fan of the season.

Keith Todd, from Burgess Hill, known to his friends as Toddy, has followed the Seagulls for more than 40 years.

Mr Todd was diagnosed with terminal cancer last November and said he only had about two months to live.

The 58-year-old was handed this year's accolade at the Brighton & Hove Albion Players' Awards last month in recognition of his decades of devotion.

"I knew there was something going on, but I wasn't expecting what actually happened. It shocked me, to be quite honest," he told BBC Radio Sussex.

Mr Todd recalled his first match against Blackburn Rovers at home in 1977.

"I was only about nine. I remember going down there, it was always the green pitch that got me," he said.

From then, Albion became a cornerstone of Mr Todd's life, allowing him to meet fellow fans like Andy Stonestreet, who was part of the group who nominated him.

After first meeting about 40 years ago, their friendship was a slow burn, Mr Stonestreet said.

"About 15 years ago we started travelling together, home and away, every game pretty much," he added.

Mr Stonestreet said he was "over the moon" to learn that his friend had won the accolade.

Mr Todd said the strength of those friendships, built through football, was helping him through a "really strange time".

"I'm ill, but I don't feel like I'm going to die tomorrow," he said, adding that it felt "surreal".

Given his prognosis, the 58-year-old said he was increasingly aware that there were certain things he was doing "for the last time".

"That's a bit of a choker to say," he added.

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