Stadium nick names

[Gawpus]

Anyone who calls Old Trafford 'The Theatre of Dreams' is a fucking nob.

This is what I was hoping to hear from an actual fan viewpoint tbh.

[EIM]

He's a ticket tout and miserable old bastard, so I wouldn't put it past him.

You're right about pun threads, PPV. This is the first thing you've been right about since 2007ish.

[ad hoc]

Nottarf Krap is clever*. I like it. (and had never heard it before)

(*By the standards of football fan bantz anyway)

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

He's a ticket tout and miserable old bastard, so I wouldn't put it past him.

You're right about pun threads, PPV. This is the first thing you've been right about since 2007ish.

You're wrong. About a decade. 1997ish.

[Third rate Leszno]

All those 'theatre of dreams', 'school of science' type names give me flashbacks to Stuart Hall doing his 5 live radio summaries.

Even if he didn't coin the nicknames, that sort of association probably isn't what the clubs are hoping for if they encourage or perpetuate their use.

[tee rex]

One clear trend in the UK (albeit over generations) is the reduction of Streets, Roads, etc. Half a dozen or so have been lost to the 92 since the Premier League began, and when a new ground opens it is obviously less likely to be in terrace-town and in any case the marketing people will insist that it's a Stadium (cool), not a Street (cold).

Apart from Ashburton Grove (which I imagine few people call it) when was the last time a club of any size moved into somewhere with a name on a road map?

[Giggler]

Before you start with 1p5wich, Whorewhich and the likes.
Pun threads on OTF generating 5 pages about something like "Food and Football players" with tweaks to the max to fit in such as "Ian Rushushi" or whatever, is only one baby step away from "1p5wich" or "Whorewhich"

There, I've said it.

You're right. The thread I put on the Bury message board about my next book - that took me three painstaking years to put together after persuading so many key figures to be interviewed - that descended into a series of puns on what a book about Stewart Day's time as chairman could be called.

[Kevin S]

One clear trend in the UK (albeit over generations) is the reduction of Streets, Roads, etc. Half a dozen or so have been lost to the 92 since the Premier League began, and when a new ground opens it is obviously less likely to be in terrace-town and in any case the marketing people will insist that it's a Stadium (cool), not a Street (cold).

Apart from Ashburton Grove (which I imagine few people call it) when was the last time a club of any size moved into somewhere with a name on a road map?

The Wikipedia page (I know) for the Abbey Stadium says it was the only Football League ground called "Blah Stadium" for decades.

[Ray de Galles]

Talking of nicknames, I saw someone on twitter yesterday refer (without irony, it seemed) to the top flight as "the Barclays".

I thought it impossible to come up with a worse term than "the Prem" but this manages it, is it in common use? Its awfulness is exacerbated by it's inaccuracy, as the bank don't seem to sponsor the PL anymore.

[Capybara]

Apart from Ashburton Grove (which I imagine few people call it) when was the last time a club of any size moved into somewhere with a name on a road map?

And by the time they moved in, Ashburton Grove was no more, as it was obliterated to build a football ground.

[Snake Plissken]

Boll-ewood Park always raises a snigger.

[ursus arctos]

Highbury's official name was Arsenal Stadium, as it said on the tin.

[wittoner]

Talking of nicknames, I saw someone on twitter yesterday refer (without irony, it seemed) to the top flight as "the Barclays".

I thought it impossible to come up with a worse term than "the Prem" but this manages it, is it in common use? Its awfulness is exacerbated by it's inaccuracy, as the bank don't seem to sponsor the PL anymore.

It works well as rhyming slang though.

[Ray de Galles]

No sorry, you've lost me.

[nmrfox]

Apart from Ashburton Grove (which I imagine few people call it) when was the last time a club of any size moved into somewhere with a name on a road map?

Scunthorpe and Glanford Park possibly?

[Kevin S]

Highbury's official name was Arsenal Stadium, as it said on the tin.

A good point well made. Silly old Wiki.

[Fearful Symmetry]

Towards the end of our tenure at our previous stadium, many fans coined it 'Fer Ark' purely because most of the lights on the North Stand sign had stopped working, and this was what was spelt out.

As WFD pointed out up thread, our current home is generally termed The Circle, as that was the name of the cricket ground that sat on the site previously. Interestingly enough, the original ground that City played on up til the outbreak of WWII was literally next door, and was known as both Anlaby Road and The Circle.

As for other grounds, Scarborough's now defunct McCain Stadium had the nicknames Estadio Chip Pan and also Stadium Of Chips.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

I can't get it out of my head now that Theater of Dreams was nicked from somewhere down Mediterranean, and I have other shit to do here.

[Capybara]

The Wikipedia page (I know) for the Abbey Stadium says it was the only Football League ground called "Blah Stadium" for decades.

Gillingham's ground was always the Priestfield Stadium in my recollection as confirmed by this 1955 OS map.

[ursus arctos]

Quite.

I'm sure that there are others.

Perhaps the Wiki should be clarified to refer to the only football ground called "Stadium" in East Anglia that shares its name with the national theatre of Ireland.

[cantagalo]

One clear trend in the UK (albeit over generations) is the reduction of Streets, Roads, etc. Half a dozen or so have been lost to the 92 since the Premier League began, and when a new ground opens it is obviously less likely to be in terrace-town and in any case the marketing people will insist that it's a Stadium (cool), not a Street (cold).

Apart from Ashburton Grove (which I imagine few people call it) when was the last time a club of any size moved into somewhere with a name on a road map?

Brentford’s emerging new ground is still referred to as Lionel Road, though I think that’s being changed to the Brentford Community Stadium.

And then probably something like The <insert name of betting company> Hive.

[Alderman Barnes]

Gillingham's ground was always the Priestfield Stadium in my recollection as confirmed by this 1955 OS map.

It was changed from Priestfield Road to Priestfield Stadium in 1947, I think as part of the marketing push to get the club back into the league. Everyone always just called it Priestfield, anyway.

What really is annoying is that nowadays most reporters insist on calling it "The Priestfield", as if it were one of these new-fangled sponsored abominations.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

What really is annoying is that nowadays most reporters insist on calling it "The Priestfield", as if it were one of these new-fangled sponsored abominations.

This objection, I struggle with. Isn't "the" in front of it quite great?
No one would say that about "The Smithsonian", or "The Globe" (not the paper, the one where the playwrite did his thing)
Why shouldn't a ground be held in as much esteem?
"The" in front of it, it makes me think that no matter how many sponsor names for the stadium come along over the decades, it will always be known as "The..." locally.

[JVL]

when a new ground opens it is obviously less likely to be in terrace-town and in any case the marketing people will insist that it's a Stadium (cool), not a Street (cold).

A lot of new grounds (or ones that have had a lot of work done to them as the teams climb up the leagues) in Germany over the last decade get christened the 'xyz Arena', where xyz is either the name of the town or a sponsor. I think it all started with the Arena Auf Schalke (now the VELTINS-Arena) and a lot of clubs have aped that naming style, regardless of how far down the pyramid they play. You have the Voith Arena (Heidenheim, 2. Liga), Schüco-Arena (Bielefeld, 2. Liga), but also the Schaumaplast-Arena (SC Reilingen, Kreisliga Mannheim):

[Patrick Thistle]

On Groundhopper Gresty Road is apparently the Alexandra Stadium. Well la-di-da.