Having completed the 92 this week I have been thinking about some of the old venues which did not survive and make it to my final list and see how others felt the old venues compared to the new ones .
There were some like Doncaster,Hull,Stoke,Walsall and Wigan where I never got to the old ground and I would be interested in other people's view .
Previously I had always thought I would always go for the old ground against a new ground,but my purely personal view surprised me in some instances.
Arsenal Old ground Highbury was one of the iconic old stadiums although I do like the Emirates.
Bolton Old ground,before the supermarket was built on half of the away end
Brighton New ground. Really enjoyed Falmer which is a massive upgrade on both the Goldstone and Withdean
Bristol Rovers New ground never went to Eastville but I thought the Memorial Ground was better than Twerton Park
Cardiff New ground I liked Ninian Park,although the atmosphere the other night has probably swayed me.
Chesterfield Old ground one of Saltergate's last acts was to 'play' the Baseball Ground in the film Damned United,the B2net although pleasant did not have much character.
Colchester New ground.Although quite uninteresting the Community Stadium is better than Layer Road which was possibly the worst league ground I ever visited.
Coventry New ground.Very impressed with the Ricoh, excellent Casino bar next door.Highfield Road seemed quite functional although was better located for the railway.
Derby Old ground The Baseball Ground was a classic old football ground and unique,I like Pride Park but not as much.
Huddersfield Old ground liked Leeds road although the new stadium was good
Leicester Old ground probably because the Kings Power Stadium is so similar to Derby and Southampton
MK Dons New ground another example where I liked neither,but the Hockey Stadium was particularly bad.
Manchester City New ground I surprise myself here ,but I think the City of Manchester Stadium edges it.
Middlesbrough Old ground,the 66 connnection wins it for Ayresome Park
Spanners Old ground.The Toolbox is quite bland and uninteresting,the Old Den at least had character.
Northampton New ground , the cricket ground never worked as a football venue for me,Sixfields is a smart modern stadium.
Oxford New ground although three sided I liked the Kassam better than the Manor which was quite ramshackle.Plus every time I went we always got stuffed there.
Reading New ground,it would be very difficult to put Elm Park which was pleasant but quite boring above the Mad Stad.
Rotherham New ground , unlike a lot of the new grounds the New York Stadium is in the town centre and quite distinctive,Millmoor always felt like a northern version of the old Den with its scrap yards and railway sidings.
Shrewsbury Old ground,the town setting and River Severn made this a favourite away trip of mine back in the day
Southampton Old ground , the Dell was unique although much too small for the modern era
Sunderland Old ground .Like Middlesbrough Roker's place as a 66 World Cup ground swings it for me.
Swansea Old ground ,the Vetch was quite distinctive and had charm.
Wimbledon Old ground Kingstonian's ground is essentially a Conference venue, a bit like the old Den,Plough Lane at least had character.
4
Comments
What about also comparing old and new versions of the same ground, like old Valley v New Valley, or old Oakwell v new Oakwell, etc?
;~)
2 grounds I loved going to the were shite holes but the tradition running through them was amazing you could feel the age and history
I seem surprised you chose the mad stad over the elm park
I got to Hull and Stoke's old grounds only- not bothered with many new ones actually. I have clearer memories of Stoke (a freezing cold 0-0), than Hull (1-1, Flanagan late equaliser) probably because Stoke's Victoria Ground used to get on tv a fair bit more.
The ground was basically in a state and the toilets were awfull. 3 parts of the ground were open, 1 of the ends behind the goal i seem to remember was grass so not in use, i was on the terrace stand opposite the main stand.
Good job they moved. Probably in the top 5 of worst grounds in the league at the time.They were bottom of the league after 10 games with only 3 points,all draws.
Went to park view road,Wigan Athletic March 1997, Home game against Cambridge United.
£9.00 To sit in the main stand, wooden structure with restricted view, rest of the ground was terracing, home and away fans switched ends at half time,nice pies and a Wigan home win.
Went to Fellows park Wallsall Vs Charlton August 1972/73, wallsall won 3-2, was your average ground for that era, nothing special. Can't remember tto much, if any one on here went did the players come out from the corner of the main stand?, also think behind one of the goals was a railway siding.
Went to Brittania stadium,Charlton Vs Stoke 1998 we won 2-1 and stoke manager was Chris Kamara, small crowd , haven't been to the new one so can't compare
I loved going to scunny when we first came down and bringing my boy there to show him the difference of real football to the emirates
Great thread!
To answer NLA I liked Elm Park, but felt the vastness of the Mad Stad gave it the edge.I know in part this is a contradiction because I picked the Dell above St Marys.
In terms of Layer Road, my negativity is probably because of an extremely wet day in 80/81 when our promotion push was hampered by Colchester. Another example again of my inconsistency.I am sure I would always choose Underhill (which hosted its last game yesterday) over any other Barnet ground partly influenced by the classic 5-3 win I saw for Welling United on my first visit there.
I also think I choose the City of Manchester over Maine Road partly because I was treated to hospitality there.
Most new grounds that I have been to (Brighton, Colchester, Middleborough,Coventry, Leicester, Man City, Southanpton & Sunderland) are all "out of towners" or "park & ride" and are a nitemare to get & out of. Colchester being the obvious one. It was easy to park near Layer rd and usually only a 5min walk to the ground. Their new stadium, even having less than 10,000 fans in it , takes ages to get out of and is miles from the station, pubs etc. - M'boro is the same -anyone going next week expect a long walk to the middle of nowhere.
I agree that the new stadiums look better, have better facilities and better viewing - I just wish the most weren't built 5 mins out of town with just one access rd in & out.
Elm park although in the middle of some of the most violent scenes I have witnessed in a Charlton day out is one of my fav old grounds
Same as roker park I mean if the noggin serves me right that was a pile but wow A stadium full of tradition and history and atmosphere I loved it
Wembley the same a shit hole of the finest shit holes but I loved it the seating the appalling facilities
Even the old den you must admit it matched the team in it it was an intimidating and horrible old place but it was real
The thing with new grounds they are sterile and soulless and all seem to have come from the same mechano kit
I would rather piss in a guttering in the floor like elm park than the standard toilets in the mad stad
I would rather eat a proper pie from the Tin hut in scunny
Than a pie in the emirates
I would rather watch the game getting peed on in the open end at Yeovil
Than under cover at the stadium of light
Agree with most of what NLA says above. How things have moved on and the chief drivers have perhaps been money and surveillance- not purely advances in materials or architecture or design techniques. Simplifying greatly here i know but prices have risen astronomically. All seaters have meant ticketing schemes have become easier, and policing is easier too. The justification may be improved comfort, but atmosphere (and specifically loss of atmosphere) is never a selling point. Coupled with the rise of the car over public transport this past 20-30 years we end up with souless shells for grounds in the middle of nowhere.
I lost my 92 tag during the pandemic but have a few more examples to add to the list.
West Ham. Old ground. Although impressive the Olympic Stadium is not a proper football venue although I would be interested to see other sports played there. By contrast Upton Park was iconic .
Wimbledon. New Plough Lane. I prefer the Old Plough Lane ground. The new stadium is reasonable but bland. It is shoe horned into a housing estate. An improvement on Kingstonian though.
Brentford. Old ground. The new stadium ( like Wimbledon above) is inside a modern housing development. It resembles a mechano set. Not very interesting. The lack of space led to a ten minute delay in getting in. Griffin Park had traditional charm.
I am at Spurs tomorrow ( which I do not regard as a new groind because it is on the same site) and will report on my findings.
Old me loves a seat on the half way line.
it was though they had started to try to improve/modernise parts of the ground but each separate project ran out of money leaving what seemed quite modern (for the time) parts that stopped dead next to old sheds.
Some of my perspective is based around the stewarding . I got sent the wrong way a couple of times . How are they going to cope with massive attendances ?
Like a lot of new builds there only seemed to be one way in (and out) .