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Ten Best and Ten Worst Stadium Moves of the New-Build Era

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    British reserve! I suffer from it myself.

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      Originally posted by E10 Rifle View Post
      If you've seen a game somewhere, you can count it, friendly, youth game or whatever.

      Though my attempts to count the London Stadium as ticked off, for 91 club purposes, when I went to the 2017 World Athletics Champs got short shrift from The People Who Care About These Things.
      I also went to those World Champs, which is thus far my only visit to that stadium too.

      On a similar note, I've only been to Firhill once, and that was for a Glasgow v. Edinburgh rugby match, which somehow feels closer to a legitimate tick as it's still a team sport, but I generally don't count it.

      Until 2015 I had only ever been to the Etihad to watch that band with brothers in it who support Man City, and that definitely didn't feel tickable.

      It's not something I expend a huge amount of thinking time on though if I'm honest, and I wouldn't presume to take issue with anyone else's counting criteria...
      Last edited by Jobi1; 19-11-2020, 14:44.

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        I've only been to Twickers to watch Cas play proper rugby...

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          Originally posted by pebblethefish View Post

          People who did that made me sick. If you'd done that, you'd have been shunned in the primary school playground round our way.
          I had to get my Mum to write a cheque for about 4p for the Reuben Agboola sticker so I could complete Football 85. I regret nothing.

          My big regret is that I never ticked off the big old grounds now lost. And that I only got to see Leeds Road as part of some forced church collective celebration that I had no absolutely no interest in. At least I got to stand behind the goal and see the old ground.

          Now I'm traipsing around the Isthmian leagues thoroughly enjoying myself and flummoxing the locals when I tell them that I don't have a favourite football team, which always makes them look at me like I'm a wrong 'un. I don't go to friendlies or county cups but, but do count 0-0 games whatever time of day they're played, so I'm not as peculiar as I feared. Phew.

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            I was expecting to hate the Ricoh but actually quite liked it - seemed to have steeper more atmospheric stands than a lot of new-builds. Canal aside, location hideous though

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              Originally posted by Jobi1 View Post

              One of the most entertaining aspect of matches at Hull City in the last few seasons has been when the resident hawk has captured and dismembered a pigeon up in the rafters of the stand, sending a snowstorm of feathers (and I daresay a few entrails) down onto the fans below.

              Speaking of Hull, don't think they've been mentioned on this thread yet but I'd say they're well worth their place in a list of best new builds – it's not one of your identikit designs, and the wrap-around outer shell makes it feel nicely enclosed and is conducive to a great atmosphere (potentially). Also, bucking the trend of many others, it's closer to the city centre than their old ground was (helpfully meaning as an away fan you no longer have to walk past those terrifying pubs on Anlaby Road).

              But again on the make-up of those lists in the original articles, given Hull's current league position and off-field issues it's hard to see why they're in the best category and Sunderland are in the worst.
              Yeah, a definite bucking of the main trend for new builds, putting the ground within walking distance of several areas with decent pubs, and avoiding the aforementioned rough pubs further away from town (although if you come the wrong way out the train station, you'll walk straight past Horner's which is a well known hangout for meatheads, nazis and general unpleasant folk)

              Only issue was when we were in the PL/doing well in the Championship was a full ground led to horrific traffic problems all around the city, but that ceased to be an issue well before the virus kicked in. Atmosphere wise, we've had a few games when it's been absolutely amazing, hairs on back of the neck type stuff, but more often than not it's not the greatest, and the last game I went to at the ground (Everton in 2014) I remember the genuine lack of soul being a nail in the coffin for my decision to walk away from watching City at the stadium.

              As for others previously mentioned, I know that when we went to the Deva Stadium a few times in the 90's, it was as debilitating an experience as explosive diarrhoea. Boothferry Park was on its arse by then, but the conversations about potential replacements always had us genuinely worried that we'd end up with something similar.

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                Originally posted by E10 Rifle View Post
                I was expecting to hate the Ricoh but actually quite liked it - seemed to have steeper more atmospheric stands than a lot of new-builds. Canal aside, location hideous though
                I've been three times (two football and one Springsteen concert) and thought it was alright. My first visit was a rare drinking day with WFD and others by car and we found some little social club that doubled up as a supporters club bar and was very welcoming. I got suitably pissed and we won, what's not to like? Subsequent visits were sober but at least I'd worked out the parking by then and was back on the motorway in no time, a definite plus point when you've a two hour drive ahead of you.

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                  Back on the sub-topic of watching from different away sections on visits to the same ground, away fans could have gone in all the stands at Edgeley in four successive seasons.

                  94/95 the away section was a few steps at the Cheadle End during building work.
                  95/96 the away end reverted to the Railway End as usual, plus the nearest block of seating of the main stand.
                  96/97 same as 95/96.
                  97/98 still the Railway End, but the seating option for away fans switched over to one block of the pop side.

                  The only team we played in all four seasons was Crewe so there could've been an Alex supporter who watched them from a different stand for each match.

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                    Stockport is a fine away trip. I stood on the Railway End on both my visits and enjoyed it, even if Albion lost both times. It helped that both were fine spring days, as I recall. The ground is very near the station, and there is a street with three or four good pubs a couple of blocks away from the main stand. I hope those have kept going.

                    Coventry might not be so bad if you don't go by train. If you do, I struggle to see how it's anything but a ball-ache. Walking there via the canal sounds like a reasonable alternative though. This is also true of Stoke's ground. There used to be (probably still is) a canal boat selling snacks and drinks quite nearby, then there's a footbridge into the car-park behind the main stand. Unlike Coventry, Stoke also have public transport from and to the station/city-centre quite well-organised. I don't like Stoke's ground itself very much, but I've never felt the whole experience is designed to put you off going again, which is what I felt at Coventry.

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                      When I went to Stockport as an away supporter -
                      ​about sixteen or seventeen years ago, I think - we were in the stand along the side with the open end (which was closed) to our right.

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                        Originally posted by jameswba View Post
                        Stockport is a fine away trip. I stood on the Railway End on both my visits and enjoyed it, even if Albion lost both times. It helped that both were fine spring days, as I recall. The ground is very near the station, and there is a street with three or four good pubs a couple of blocks away from the main stand. I hope those have kept going.

                        Coventry might not be so bad if you don't go by train. If you do, I struggle to see how it's anything but a ball-ache. Walking there via the canal sounds like a reasonable alternative though. This is also true of Stoke's ground. There used to be (probably still is) a canal boat selling snacks and drinks quite nearby, then there's a footbridge into the car-park behind the main stand. Unlike Coventry, Stoke also have public transport from and to the station/city-centre quite well-organised. I don't like Stoke's ground itself very much, but I've never felt the whole experience is designed to put you off going again, which is what I felt at Coventry.
                        I went to Stockport in March 1997 en route to both clubs being promoted to the second tier. As we drove away from where we’d parked on a lovely early Spring day, I remember thinking how lovely the area around Edgeley Park seemed. Nine years later I was living in one of those same streets having followed my heart there, and I hated it. Though that was maybe to do with the reason I’d moved there.

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                          Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                          Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid's stadium changes have by and large been positively received whereas there are many Espanyol fans who still pine for Sarria.
                          I'm not sure if time and resignation have cooled attitudes but when Atletico moved to the Wanda Metropolitano it didn't go down well with a huge swathe of their fans. The season before the move I lived about 300 meters from the Estadio Calderon and for at least the last ten home games there were passionate anti-move demos around the ground - not that these could influence a done deal of course.

                          There is no doubt the Calderon was in need of substantial imorovement and by all accounts the new stadium is impressive and perhaps fans have now warmed to it. However the initial reaction that the club was being moved out of its natural, humble 'barrio' and moving upmarket railed against how the fans see the club and themselves. They still like to portray themselves as the working class grafters in stark contrast to the wealthy, arrogant elitists of the Bernabeu.

                          Of course the distance between the stadiums is about 20k so that may have been the cause of some local dismay, too.
                          Last edited by Tony C; 20-11-2020, 10:16.

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                            Stockport is a fine away trip when you're winning 7-2, less though when you're on the open terrace and the heavens open just after you've conceded your third on the night of Valentine's Day. Fortunately the then future Mrs H has a sense of humour.

                            Edgeley Park was my first ever away game in January '88. The 2 no.9's that day were Frank Worthington and Dean Walling. I don't think Worthington moved more than a few yards from the centre circle all game but his gravitational attraction for the ball was remarkable and his ability to fire it off through gaps unseen by mere mortals was dazzling. TrL will, I imagine, remember Dean Walling as a rock of a centre back. Dale fans remember him as the original Bambi on ice who was no more likely to make it as a professional footballer than any of us watching him were. The catalyst for the sale was presumably the towering header from Walling at Brunton Park which cannoned off the bar and went in off the keeper. Quite what Carlisle did to him to effect such a dramatic transformation will I suspect remain forever a mystery but personally I have no doubt some sort of pact with devil was involved.

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                              Originally posted by Tony C View Post

                              I'm not sure if time and resignation have cooled attitudes but when Atletico moved to the Wanda Metropolitano it didn't go down well with a huge swathe of their fans. The season before the move I lived about 300 meters from the Estadio Calderon and for at least the last ten home games there were passionate anti-move demos around the ground - not that these could influence a done deal of course.

                              There is no doubt the Calderon was in need of substantial imorovement and by all accounts the new stadium is impressive and perhaps fans have now warmed to it. However the initial reaction that the club was being moved out of its natural, humble 'barrio' and moving upmarket railed against how the fans see the club and themselves. They still like to portray themselves as the working class grafters in stark contrast to the wealthy, arrogant elitists of the Bernabeu.

                              Of course the distance between the stadiums is about 20k so that may have been the cause of some local dismay, too.
                              Very fair points.

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                                Originally posted by Crystal Staples View Post
                                Back on the sub-topic of watching from different away sections on visits to the same ground, away fans could have gone in all the stands at Edgeley in four successive seasons.

                                94/95 the away section was a few steps at the Cheadle End during building work.
                                95/96 the away end reverted to the Railway End as usual, plus the nearest block of seating of the main stand.
                                96/97 same as 95/96.
                                97/98 still the Railway End, but the seating option for away fans switched over to one block of the pop side.

                                The only team we played in all four seasons was Crewe so there could've been an Alex supporter who watched them from a different stand for each match.
                                We had the Cheadle End for the 1993/94 play-off semi-final, but I don't recall there being any building work going on. Was that just because they wanted the home fans to have the bigger terrace for that game, perhaps? Anyway, here's 13-year-old me (in the red top) making an offensive gesture at Jim Gannon just after he'd missed a practically open goal. He obviously had the last laugh that night though...

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                                  Just a glimpse of those kits inspires a proustian rush of memory from the mid-nineties; Big Kevin Francis, Endsleigh sleeve badges, goalkeepers jerseys composed of abstract splodges of random colours and with thick, thick padding, perhaps the last appearance of the plain white ball. Marvelous, isn't it?
                                  Last edited by Ray de Galles; 20-11-2020, 12:14.

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                                    I visited Highbury only once, for a wedding, just a few weeks before it was demolished. We got to play on the pitch and I even scored a goal, a penalty. It was the only time I've played football in a real stadium, but probably it wouldn't count as a tick in "the 91 club".

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                                      Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                                      Just a glimpse of those kits inspires a proustian rush of memory from the mid-nineties; Big Kevin Francis, Endsleigh sleeve badges, goalkeepers jerseys composed of abstract splodges of random colours and with thick, thick padding, perhaps the last appearance of the plain white ball. Marvelous, isn't it?
                                      The amazing proximity of that stand to the pitch (I could practically touch the goal net) led to some fun interactions with the players. At one Stockport corner, our vertically challenged left-back Wayne 'Ginner' Hall was on the post just in front of me, and Big Kevin Francis came and stood next to him. The bloke next to me shouted 'Go on Ginner, nut him!' Hall turned to us and said 'What, in the bollocks?!'

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                                        Kevin bloody Francis was our nemesis back then, seemingly always grabbing a couple whenever we played Stockport.

                                        I'm sure I've recounted my first visit to Edgeley Park back on a Friday evening late 1992 when at half time one of the locals leapt from the stand to our right and proceeded to run along the front of our end tearing down our flags and calling us all Fenian bastards.

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                                          Originally posted by jameswba View Post
                                          Coventry might not be so bad if you don't go by train. If you do, I struggle to see how it's anything but a ball-ache... I don't like Stoke's ground itself very much, but I've never felt the whole experience is designed to put you off going again, which is what I felt at Coventry.
                                          I concur with this. When I lived in Worcester it was, for a season, Rovers' closest away trip to me, but it might has well have been a home game for the faff of getting two trains, and then trying to find the right bus stop, before sitting on a bus for an age on a ring road. I had to convince a Rovers fan who lived in the South West to give me a lift back from a midweek game there, otherwise I'd have missed my return train.

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                                            Originally posted by Greenlander View Post
                                            Kevin bloody Francis was our nemesis back then, seemingly always grabbing a couple whenever we played Stockport.

                                            I'm sure I've recounted my first visit to Edgeley Park back on a Friday evening late 1992 when at half time one of the locals leapt from the stand to our right and proceeded to run along the front of our end tearing down our flags and calling us all Fenian bastards.
                                            This has made me laugh more than it probably should.

                                            Slightly O/T, but Francis was a regular notcher against us in the early 90's, and we could only ever dream of having a player like him in our team. So when he came to us in 00/01 most of us didn't care that his knees were as good as Arthur Askey's, it was a joy to watch him. Until he trod on the ball at Brisbane Road in the play offs, at least.

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                                              Francis had a great strike rate for Stockport, better than a goal every two games (wiki credits him with 18 goals in 25 "Continental Europe" games. I presume this is actually Auto Windscreens Trophy and the like) but never managed anything like that for any other club. Though I'm sure he was still useful as a target man.

                                              The only time I ever saw Cardiff really negate him was one away game where we dropped grizzled old centre forward Garry Thompson back to play at centre half during an injury crisis. He didn't really have any defensive positional sense or ability at all but just jumped against Francis every time the ball was in the air and put him off sufficiently to disrupt Stockport's game plan and get a 2-2 draw.

                                              I don't know if I already knew Francis went on to become a copper (in Canada) after his playing career or if it just seems so right that he did it's like some kind of eternal truth.
                                              Last edited by Ray de Galles; 20-11-2020, 15:45.

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                                                I was about to join in with the "ah yeah Francis used to torment us too" stuff before being reminded of his role in one of the finest of Brisbane Road nights, in 2001

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                                                  I think that the best we ever dealt with Francis is when Paul Hurst man-marked him...

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                                                    A mate of mine snuck a tour round York's new ground last night courtesy of another friend working on the site. Apparently there are about 10 seats at the back of the main stand at one end from which you can see the Minster, so that's something to look forward to...

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