Favorite Old Ground

MSE7

I don't know if its just me but don't you just love an old school ground? None of this new rubbish that's been built in the last decade. I am talking old school. One of my favourite old skool grounds is Griffin Park. Whats yours? These old grounds will never be replaced, I remember going to the old Victoria park - Stoke. That was another ground which again had loads of character. The heart and sole of stoke that ground was...

LenGlover

I quite liked Filbert Street.

No idea why.

shirty5

Highbury with the vast terraces on the north bank and the clock end.

AddickUpNorth

LenGlover said:

I quite liked Filbert Street.

No idea why.

Seconded Len. Close to the pitch and always a proper atmosphere in my experience.

newyorkaddick

Baseball Ground

AddickUpNorth

Not strictly an old ground but Ewood Park before it was redeveloped. Stadia at it's finest.

Stig

I liked the old Manor Ground. It amused me that the stand was built in about five sections all completely different.

uncle

Upton Park

swords_alive

Gay Meadow. Was a lovely little ground, near station and town centre

MSE7

I can still smell the coal fires from the terraced houses at the Prestfield Stadium

EdgeleyAddick

MSE7 said:

I don't know if its just me but don't you just love an old school ground? None of this new rubbish that's been built in the last decade. I am talking old school. One of my favourite old skool grounds is Griffin Park. Whats yours? These old grounds will never be replaced, I remember going to the old Victoria park - Stoke. That was another ground which again had loads of character. The heart and sole of stoke that ground was...

The kop behind the goal at Stoke's Victoria Ground was always impressive when full. The large terraces at Leeds Road, the Long Side Turf Moor and the Kippax Maine Road were also magic.

Burnden Park used to make me laugh with the super market built over half the away end.

Bedsaddick

swords_alive said:

Gay Meadow. Was a lovely little ground, near station and town centre

This

iainment

I liked White Hart Lane, when there was standing on the terraces and Old Trafford and Fratton Park and the City Ground.

But not as much as the Valley.

TEL

Playing 50 a side football in the car park at Gay meadow....lovely little ground with the little old guy collecting footballs from the river in a little coracle

AddickFC81

Elm Park Reading. Only ever stood on the away terracing but I heard it said that the away seats were often covered in bird shit.

creepyaddick

Fratton Park & West Ham

Leroy Ambrose

I'll second Gay Meadow. Lovely little ground, lovely town.

ChicagoAddick

Good question. My favourites were Highbury, Goodison & The Victoria Ground (cracking atmosphere behind that home goal).

Of the smaller clubs - always had a soft spot for Aldershot's Rec.

PeterGage

Northampton's old ground with just three sides - the fourth side "housed" the county cricket area.

BIG_ROB

Plough Lane, the pitch was worse than Bostal Heath!

BDL

The Manor Ground and THAT alleyway.

Roker Park and The Dell deserve honourable mentions

Simonsen

Craven Cottage, Maine Road, The Den, Baseball Ground, Hillsborough, St James Park.

Really all of the old grounds before all-seater, were good in their own way (well, maybe not Luton....). As well as terraces, they all had proper floodlight pylons and proper goal-nets, where the ball actually stayed in the goal rather than bouncing all the way back to the half-way line!

chazza

Roker Park and Filbert Street.

Viewfinder

Stig said:

I liked the old Manor Ground. It amused me that the stand was built in about five sections all completely different.

My sentiments entirely, Stig. The Manor Ground was as far from Oxford's dreaming spires as you could get, both physically and spiritually. It was three miles from the city centre, at Headington: down a narrow alley off the street, wedged between terraced houses and gardens. And as Stig says: ramshackle old stands, each different from the rest. I was there on Boxing Day 1980 when we lost 1-0 to end a 15-game unbeaten run in our Division Three promotion season.

Friend Or Defoe

Maine Road, Highbury and the Baseball ground.

Viewfinder

TEL said:

Playing 50 a side football in the car park at Gay meadow....lovely little ground with the little old guy collecting footballs from the river in a little coracle

Yes, a quaint little ground in a beautiful town. But Shropshire can be bitterly cold in winter: I recall freezing my nuts off at a 1-1 draw (Robinson) in November 1983. In December 1981, Shawbury, not far from Shrewsbury, recorded the lowest temperature ever recorded in England: minus 25.2 degrees Centigrade.

MSE7

Anyone ever go to Salter Gate?

Viewfinder

MSE7 said:

Anyone ever go to Salter Gate?

Yes, did that in January 1981, won 1-0 (Hales): a characterful old ground just off the main street. Chesterfield is an interesting town with the famous crooked spire on the parish church.

AddickUpNorth

Standing on the Kop at Anfield as a 15 year old is a football memory I'll always smile at.

ValleyGary

Hillsbrough and Elland Road

Amos on the wing

Highbury and Upton Park before the redevelopment