Six Great British Grounds

[BobbyBiscuit]

from the Guardian:

 

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/01/11/the_joy_of_six_great_british_g.html

 

1) The City Ground, 1935 - present

 

Why on earth Nottingham Forest's board want to move away from the City Ground is be££££££££££££££££££££££yond m£££££££££y k£££££££££££££££££££££en, sorry, a key on my computer got stuck for a moment there. There's more than enough space for paying customers as it is, and in any case, the place is a magnificent reminder of the glory days. Forest might be a third-tier club now, but the shining modernity of the Trent End Stand, overhanging the river, is positively top-class and qualifies the ground as the most idyllic of any in the country. Meanwhile take a walk round the other side of the ground past the souvenir hut - club shop it ain't - to the cramped car park, and the place positively reeks of the 1970s; you can almost see the ghosts of Brian and Peter unloading crates of ale to feed the squad before a big match. And across the river ... Meadow Lane. To move from here would be sheer lunacy, and madness to boot.

 

2) Pittodrie Stadium 1899-present

 

Regular patrons of Oldham Athletic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle may have something to say about the matter, what with Boundary Park teetering on the side of the Pennines and the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium practically bobbing up the Moray Firth, but Aberdeen's Pittodrie Stadium must surely be the coldest ground in Britain. Only ICT and Ross County are further north, and neither Inverness nor Dingwall gets battered relentlessly by winds coming in from the North Sea a mere 300 yards away. No matter: there's an easy remedy to this problem, and it's 43.7%ABV. In any case, the towering Richard Donald Stand does its best to buffer most of the breeze, and the hot atmosphere inside the 22,000-capacity stadium usually compensates (take the recent 4-0 Uefa Cup romp over Copenhagen, for example, or whenever Rangers come to town). And you can always warm yourself up with a walk around the ground before or after the match, to take in - anoraks on! - the granite gates of the Merkland Road Stand, surely the most beautiful entrance to any ground in the country (if you ignore the rest of the typically grey Aberdonian street).

 

3) The Dell 1898-2001

 

Southampton's old ground was small, rickety, an odd shape crammed in between houses, a church hall and a pub, held few supporters, possessed some of the strangest stands ever seen, and was barely fit for the purpose of top-flight football. What's not to love? From the days of the Chocolate Boxes (concrete boxes on stilts above an end terrace) to the Milton Road Stand (shaped like a wedge of brie, at one end the seats were a mere five rows deep), the Dell always created a thunderous atmosphere (much like the one currently generated at the equally ramshackle Fratton Park, home of arch rivals Portsmouth, but that's another story). Was it coincidence that during the 1980s and 90s, your Liverpools, Manchester Uniteds and Arsenals would suffer terrible humiliations on the Dell's small pitch, stands hugging the touchline? Nope. And was it coincidence that after 27 years in the top flight, Saints finally dropped out of the division a mere four years after moving to St Mary's, a perfectly serviceable new stadium but with the best will in the world simply yet another identikit hanger? Well, yes, probably. But then again ...

 

4) Arsenal Stadium 1913-2006

 

OK, so the old Highbury Library never had that much of an atmosphere, but then that's not really the point: Arsenal have, historically, never been about entertainment (readers under the age of 20 will just have to go with that). While on its day Highbury could crackle with the best of them - the opening day of the 1987-88 season as George Graham's new-look side went head to head with Kenny Dalglish's new-look Liverpool, the incendiary FA Cup tie with Manchester United the same season, any game against you-know-who - the place was really always about the architecture. Not a single ground in England has ever been so grand: the art-deco West Stand, the marble halls (incorporating Chapman's bust and a postbox), the Clock End, the AFC logos peppered about. True, in its later days, the place lost some of its lustre - those executive boxes which scarred the Clock End wouldn't have looked out of place in Basingstoke town centre - but by then time was running out. Of course, the all-new Emirates is grand in its own modern way - but just like at Southampton, there's the nagging feeling that something integral to the club has been forever lost.

 

5) Craven Cottage 1896-present

 

The likes of the Dell and Highbury may now be lost to developers and bijou flats, but at least one famous ground escaped the bulldozers. During the 1980s, it looked like the gig was up for Craven Cottage, as an attempt was made to railroad Fulham into a merger with Queens Park Rangers, then a groundshare with Chelsea. Luckily, after years of boardroom machinations, that threat was averted, and what remains is one of the most welcoming grounds in the country: stands which hug the pitch, views (albeit not brilliant) of the river, a section for neutrals - and a cottage, for goodness sake. Although technically it's a pavilion, and not the original cottage either, but let's not split hairs here.

 

6) Ibrox Stadium 1899-present

 

The only site in the country to have had two great stadia built on it (and anyone who ever went to the old Wembley will know why that statement stands up). Ibrox's first was a sweeping Hampdenesque bowl, its centrepiece the South Stand, a huge red-brick affair nixing even Highbury in terms of pomp and grandeur. At one point it fitted in 118,567 spectators (in 1939 for a match against ... now then ... who could it be?) but the ground was doomed by an appalling safety record: 26 fans were killed in 1902, two more in 1961, and most infamously 66 people were crushed to death after the Old Firm game at the beginning of 1971. Bravely - albeit not before time - Rangers decided to completely rebuild the stadium: while the listed South Stand remained, the rest of the ground was replaced by modern all-seater stands, turning a once-oval ground rectangular. Much of the fabled old atmosphere seems to have remained - well, on particular match days, at least - but there's still work to do: nowadays the ground, which still holds the British domestic attendance record for that 1939 fixture, is only the third-largest in Glasgow, behind Celtic Park and Hampden. Which may explain why Rangers have just announced plans to bump attendance up to 70,000. What Celtic plan with Parkhead could be interesting; this constant oneupmanship isn't going to stop there, either, is it?

 

[Superstar Tradesman]

I thought an Aberdeen vs Celtic cup final was the biggest gate with around 130k/160k.

 

Or does that not count as it was at Hampden?

[Madbadteacher]

137K methinks

 

(No, not old enough to have been there before you start!)

[Guest BTR]

Ooft, on a similar note, I paid a visit to Somerset Park, Ayr this morning.  What an utter ramshackle that place is.

[TheChimp]

I thought an Aberdeen vs Celtic cup final was the biggest gate with around 130k/160k.

 

Or does that not count as it was at Hampden?

 

Not to be a picky bastard or anything, but the Celtic v Aberdeen game was a cup game, while the forces of evil were involved in a league game.

 

[Superstar Tradesman]

Well I thought that but then it says it "holds the British domestic attendance record".

 

I thought that meant as opposed to an international game.

 

Not that I'm overly concerned.

[TheChimp]

Well I thought that but then it says it "holds the British domestic attendance record".

 

I thought that meant as opposed to an international game.

 

Not that I'm overly concerned.

 

Neither am I.

 

Where's the beer?

[Ajja]

Would have put Gayfield up there as the coldest gaff in Scottish Football. That cup tie a few years back was baltic.

[Sharpie]

I played a bit of Juvenile and Junior football in Arbroath and I can't remember one game when it wasn't windy as fuck.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

Would have put Gayfield up there as the coldest gaff in Scottish Football. That cup tie a few years back was baltic.

 

Aye, when Steve Tosh kicked his own arse and the keepers were having to howitzer the ball just to get it out of the 18 yard box.

 

That fish supper that night at the harbour was just the finest thing in creation, for a bit anyway.

[Millers Tache]

Would have put Gayfield up there as the coldest gaff in Scottish Football. That cup tie a few years back was baltic.

 

I was almost back in Aberdeen before i could feel my fingers after that game. Hailstones coming sideways into the stand, howling wind, the sea right behind you. I'm shivering just thinking about it.

[Ajja]

I was almost back in Aberdeen before i could feel my fingers after that game. Hailstones coming sideways into the stand, howling wind, the sea right behind you. I'm shivering just thinking about it.

 

Could have been worse, you could have had your mobile phone battery robbed by an over-excited plod 

[ptkdon]

2) Pittodrie Stadium 1899-present

 

Regular patrons of Oldham Athletic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle may have something to say about the matter, what with Boundary Park teetering on the side of the Pennines and the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium practically bobbing up the Moray Firth, but Aberdeen's Pittodrie Stadium must surely be the coldest ground in Britain. Only ICT and Ross County are further north, and neither Inverness nor Dingwall gets battered relentlessly by winds coming in from the North Sea a mere 300 yards away. No matter: there's an easy remedy to this problem, and it's 43.7%ABV. In any case, the towering Richard Donald Stand does its best to buffer most of the breeze, and the hot atmosphere inside the 22,000-capacity stadium usually compensates (take the recent 4-0 Uefa Cup romp over Copenhagen, for example, or whenever Rangers come to town). And you can always warm yourself up with a walk around the ground before or after the match, to take in - anoraks on! - the granite gates of the Merkland Road Stand, surely the most beautiful entrance to any ground in the country (if you ignore the rest of the typically grey Aberdonian street).

 

 

What about Peterheid?

[baggy89]

Surprised Shrewsbury's ground isn't in that list, that really was like going back in time pissing up against a stone wall, aye, it was the actual bogs.

Have to agree with the City Ground as well. It is a proper ground you can feel the history of the place walking round it. Even said to my mate it has the same feeling as Pittodrie has when you go in. Love how the main stand exit is the end to a street of terraced houses.

[Madbadteacher]

What about Peterheid?

 

and Elgin?

[mizer]

and Elgin?

 

Aye, Elgin is further North than Peterheid and Inverness

 

*edit- And Dingwall - therefore the most Northerly league team. Still a bunch o tinks!

[Millers Tache]

Could have been worse, you could have had your mobile phone battery robbed by an over-excited plod 

 

I dunno, i was there with 4 of them myself. My mate invited me to "come along with some of my mates". Cue me getting into the car that was to take us down the road, 8 pack in a carrier bag, and found i was the only one drinking in a car full of polis. That was a long day.