O/T:- Lost Football Grounds

[Lullapie]

Missing old football grounds is akin to missing the slum housing of St Anns and Sneinton. I miss neither.

The Den was a schithole and hell on earth - likewise the Baseball Ground. Old Roker Park was a decent ground but like everything else, was unprofitable and in need of huge amounts of money to update.

Football used to be a predominantly working class sport. Most of the paying public were working class people. Then Sky and the Prawn Sandwich Brigade came along and money was the main driver behind football.

It is a much more spectator friendly game nowadays, but some of the atmosphere, in my opinion, has been lost. However, we've had to pay for it, financially.

[Elite_Pie]

I like the traditional four stand grounds from my early years, the new bowl type stadiums are not for me because I would hate to watch a game from behind the corner flag. The worst place I have been is when Rotherham played at the Don Valley stadium, the best newish ground was Burton Albion. It seemed like a smaller version of Meadow Lane.

[maddogslater]

Missing old football grounds is akin to missing the slum housing of St Anns and Sneinton. I miss neither.

The Den was a schithole and hell on earth - likewise the Baseball Ground. Old Roker Park was a decent ground but like everything else, was unprofitable and in need of huge amounts of money to update.

Yes but they had character, fortunately I didn't have to live in them, but I do remember visiting an aunt just off St Ann's well road and the neighbour wringing
a birds neck in the back yard, he was struggling a bit,then a little old lady appeared, I think his mum with an axe to dispatch it. Also Mancini's ice cream deppo which was like stepto's yard. Going back to the 60s here.

[upthemaggies]

In a sense, Meadow Lane as we knew it is a lost ground and I do miss it, that was the real Meadow Lane experience for me, it's never been the same since. Every top flight home game I ever watched was at the old ML. For a few more seasons beyond - when we were still decent (beating Fword, Leicester, Derby), you could forget you were in a new stand looking across at the old main stand most of the game.

We had to rebuild the ground, no question. The two goalmouth ends only dated as far back as 1980, but a lot of the spirit of the club disappeared with the demolition of County Road and the main stand. It wouldn't have been such a difficult transition to make had the new stands included safe standing. Sitting down never felt right at all. Probably would have helped a lot had we not been relegated out of the top 2 tiers forever as well.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I like the traditional four stand grounds from my early years, the new bowl type stadiums are not for me because I would hate to watch a game from behind the corner flag. The worst place I have been is when Rotherham played at the Don Valley stadium, the best newish ground was Burton Albion. It seemed like a smaller version of Meadow Lane.

The Don Valley was an awful ground and is certainly up there for me as well as one of the worst. Another one that's sprung to mind is Brighton's Withdean Stadium. Temporary stands, a racetrack around it like the Don Valley and completely devoid of any atmosphere and so far removed from the action it's easy to lose interest.

One of the worst bowls for me was Darlington's. A 25,000 seater stadium yet they only got crowds of a few thousand. In terms of % full compared to capacity it must have been one of if not the lowest in the football league. No atmosphere whatsoever.

Having said that great memories of us going in the Munto season when beat Darlington 5-0 and secured the league two title.

[Lullapie]

Yes but they had character, fortunately I didn't have to live in them, but I do remember visiting an aunt just off St Ann's well road and the neighbour wringing
a birds neck in the back yard, he was struggling a bit,then a little old lady appeared, I think his mum with an axe to dispatch it. Also Mancini's ice cream deppo which was like stepto's yard. Going back to the 60s here.

Sounds more like a scene from the Godfather than St Ann's Well Road .

[Lullapie]

In a sense, Meadow Lane as we knew it is a lost ground and I do miss it, that was the real Meadow Lane experience for me, it's never been the same since. Every top flight home game I ever watched was at the old ML. For a few more seasons beyond - when we were still decent (beating Fword, Leicester, Derby), you could forget you were in a new stand looking across at the old main stand most of the game.

We had to rebuild the ground, no question. The two goalmouth ends only dated as far back as 1980, but a lot of the spirit of the club disappeared with the demolition of County Road and the main stand. It wouldn't have been such a difficult transition to make had the new stands included safe standing. Sitting down never felt right at all. Probably would have helped a lot had we not been relegated out of the top 2 tiers forever as well.

It's a much better experience now and I agree, for those that remember the 'old ground', the two are like chalk and cheese.

Looking back at old footage when the 'pens' were in place, it looked a lot more scary and I remember games against Yorkshire clubs during and after the miner's strike, they were pretty hairy too.

It's hard to say this, but it is more of a family atmosphere now inside the ground and is easier to sell the club to prospective supporters than it used to be. I think the gates reflect this also.

[Lullapie]

The Don Valley was an awful ground and is certainly up there for me as well as one of the worst. Another one that's sprung to mind is Brighton's Withdean Stadium. Temporary stands, a racetrack around it like the Don Valley and completely devoid of any atmosphere and so far removed from the action it's easy to lose interest.

One of the worst bowls for me was Darlington's. A 25,000 seater stadium yet they only got crowds of a few thousand. In terms of % full compared to capacity it must have been one of if not the lowest in the football league. No atmosphere whatsoever.

Having said that great memories of us going in the Munto season when beat Darlington 5-0 and secured the league two title.

Field Mill away end in the 1990s - crumbling stands held up by scaffolding. Burnden Park, with a supermarket obscuring the view of part of the pitch from the away end. Filbert Street, home fans in the top tier pouring beer and I think somethings worse on the away fans below. There's been some doosies.

[Jampie]

I have a weird interest in lost football grounds and found out yesterday that the current Hampden Park in Glasgow is the third incarnation of the ground.

The first had a railway built through it and the second still has games played on it. The terraces are also still there.

I also read somewhere that the first Hampden Park was the first venue to charge football supporters to watch the game - I stand to be corrected though.

I'm interested to hear anyone else's stories about 'lost grounds'.

[IMG][/IMG]

They shoulda kept the ground with the railway running through the middle. Would've made for some extremely interesting football IMO

[lunaspie]

Yes but they had character, fortunately I didn't have to live in them, but I do remember visiting an aunt just off St Ann's well road and the neighbour wringing
a birds neck in the back yard, he was struggling a bit,then a little old lady appeared, I think his mum with an axe to dispatch it. Also Mancini's ice cream deppo which was like stepto's yard. Going back to the 60s here.

Doesn't sound very kosher to me.
Perhaps it was that Hal,Al fellow - whatever he calls himself.