Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

Crap Grounds from the Observer .......



Jul 24, 2003
2,289
Newbury, Berkshire.
Whilst looking for pictures of Withdean on the net I came across this and found it mildly amusing.......

1. Priestfield, Gillingham

Capacity 10,952, Built 1892, Prices £15-30

New research shows that Gillingham is the biggest dump in English football. Priestfield topped an Observer poll, and this fan's view is typical of many: 'Never fails to live down to expectations. Used to be nothing more than a couple of cowsheds knocked together but after redevelopment it resembles a 1970s garage forecourt. The away end has two Portakabins for toilets and the worst catering outside Selhurst Park. The walk from the train station is like walking through the Shangri-La Caravan Park just after closing time.'

Another contributor offered the view that Gillingham 'is the place that makes Middlesbrough look like Monte Carlo'. The Observer sent reporter Jamie Jackson to investigate further. Here's his view:

'I'm going to smash you in the mouth and run off!' Gillingham High Street, Tuesday 28 September. An angry teenage lad with a crewcut is threatening a girl outside the railway station before the match. As a welcome to a town described by a football club spokesman as 'a dump', it is about right. The 'town centre' is a street of kebab houses, cheque cashers, branches of Iceland and Woolworth's, dilapidated buildings, and at least seven charity shops and discount stores. The street is book-ended by the derelict Prince Albert pub and the still-open Southern Belle. If you want to make a night of it, there's the bingo hall around corner.

The route to the stadium passes Costcutter and along a winding street of terrace houses. Apart from a newsagent, and Hair Sandra at number 189, the only sign of prosperous retail life is a branch of the drain cleaners,Dyno Rod. If the houses are not boarded up or run-down, they have rubbish and bin liners spilling on to the pavement. Along Priestfield Road there are more deserted businesses, and children fighting over bits of cardboard and swearing at each other.

An unalluring alleyway takes you on to Linden Road and the main entrance into the stadium. There is the ticket office, the club shop and the Blues Rock Café, which offers 'Karaoke at the bar for £1.50'.

In the stadium the food is poor and £26 is a bit steep for a seat. It's not the football club's fault that their town is so grotty. Chairman Paul Scally is keen to move them four miles out of town. Given what happened with Wimbledon we shouldn't be in favour of any such move, but in this case...

2. Kenilworth Road, Luton

Capacity 9,975, Built 1904, Prices £12-£21

'The whole area surrounding the ground is run-down and dreary; it feels more like going to your local prison than a football match. To enter the away end you have to walk through a house - you go through the front door, up some stairs and from the top you can see all the other terraced houses along the road, and it's not a pretty sight. The seats are falling apart and packed so tightly that you can barely breathe. Too many large pillars, 'executive boxes' that look more like flats, horrible food, too many police...'
· 'Luton will never, ever be forgiven for the David Evans ID card nonsense and the plastic pitch. That dreary netherworld walk from the station to the "stadium" - it's unrelenting misery. God, what a dump.'

3. Millmoor, Rotherham

Capacity 11,514, Built 1906, Prices £19

'Being a Rotherham fan, I dare not criticise anybody else's ground. Ours must be one of the worst - a wooden main stand that is in desperate need of bulldozing, no legroom in any of the seats... Coming to Millmoor isn't all bad, though. You'll find a friendly reception and some decent pubs around the ground. And the pies are fantastic.'
· 'Having previously seen the ground in the film ID , I didn't think it would actually be that bad. It was. The only good thing was the pies. We left in a hurry and to see Rotherham disappear in the distance was a huge relief.'
· 'Visiting Millmoor was like entering another world, the land that time forgot. The stand at the away end is a huge tin can with water dripping everywhere. It's good to hear that the club are considering reshaping Millmoor but these updates should have been done 10 years ago.'

4. Withdean Stadium, Brighton

Capacity 6,960, Built 1930, Prices £22

· 'Has to be the worst in the Football League. A three-sided athletics stadium, not a football ground, and the track makes the pitch seem miles away. The fourth side is a sandpit for the long jump and a hammer-throwing area, which utterly ruins the atmosphere. Despite being the worst by a mile, it's among the most expensive.'
· 'Probably a great place to hold a minor county athletics meeting, and maybe some day they can get back to doing exactly that. You can't help but feel sorry for the Brighton fans.'
· 'Brighton is unarguably a cracking place to go out - full of excellent boozers, eateries and clubs. Unfortunately the Withdean isn't in Brighton. It's out in the suburbs. It's dreadful.'
· 'I went there once to watch Withdean v East Grinstead in the Sussex County League. The attendance was 38. Says it all.'

5. Fratton Park, Portsmouth

Capacity 19,973, Built 1897, Prices £26-£30

· 'Portsmouth drum up a fervent atmosphere for every home game, but there the potential positives end. From the barbed-wire-topped walls to the sprawling wasteland, it's an unwelcoming venue. You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a prison. The toilets were clearly designed for no more than two fans at any one time. The seats are bolted directly on to the old-style terracing, offering zero leg room. Then there's that bloody non-stop bell-ringing.'
· 'Portsmouth should not have been allowed to play Premiership football at such an ancient stadium. Tradition is one thing, but £30 for being exposed to the elements, with miniature toilets supplemented by a handful of Portaloos, and a coffee bar the size of my old mum's larder... it's nothing short of a disgrace.'
· 'On the walk from the station you'll find the bars shut before the match because locals have tried to fight the away fans, themselves, or the nearest aggressive lamp-post.'


6. Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace

Capacity 26,400, Built 1923, Prices £28-£35

· 'A grimy, joyless place... it's only the other side of London, but could be on the moon. Boasts its own microclimate... it can be sunny and bright as nearby as East Croydon railway station but Selhurst Park is invariably grey, cold and drizzly. The Arthur Wait stand to which away supporters are condemned is shallow and ugly, and both Crystal Palace and the pre-mutation Wimbledon saw fit to charge £20 for entry long before it approached the norm.'
· 'Grey, gloomy, and I've never found a decent pub near the ground, despite many attempts. Too far from the station, whichever one you choose, and too close to Croydon. I suppose we should at least be glad that Croydon itself doesn't have a League team. Just imagine that...'

7. Blundell Park, Grimsby

Capacity 10,033, Built 1898, Prices £14-£16

· 'Grimsby has the worst seating imaginable, with unbelievably bad views from some areas in the away end. Blundell Park has no redeeming features. It looks a complete tip, and they even increased the cost of a pie in the away end.'
· 'If Grimsby are in your division and you're going to miss an away trip, make it this one. The fish and chips are good, though.'
· 'It's a bit of a con. Blundell Park isn't in Grimsby at all, it's in Cleethorpes. You entertain notions of an attractive seaside town with a sandy beach, and candyfloss - but it's a ghost town where all the dogs in Lincolnshire congregate to make a mess on the seafront walk.'

8. Ninian Park, Cardiff

Capacity 19,000, Built 1909, Prices £22-£27

· 'Away fans have a small area near the corner flag with a pillar obstructing most of the pitch, and fencing for segregation. The slightest bit of banter directed at the home support and you're threatened with eviction by unfriendly stewards. Giant queues for food. A dreadful experience.'
· 'They hate the English, and they hate Swansea even more. Whoever you are, you won't get a friendly welcome. What a prehistoric contrast to the Millennium Stadium.'

9. National Hockey Stadium, Milton Keynes Dons

Capacity 9,000, Built 1990, Prices £10-£20

· 'The word 'hockey' sums up why it's a bad ground - it's just not a football stadium. When I went last year there was no atmosphere from either set of supporters because Norwich fans were split up into two sections of the ground, with a huge gap in between them.'
· So many reasons to hate this place. The Franchise's Theatre of Dreams is a craphole in a retail park: it's exposed, the toilets are in Portakabins and stewards tell you not to jump up and down in case you knock the stand over. The pre-match drinking venue sums it all up: an anonymous hell hole called Chicagos. Stay away.

10. Stamford Bridge, Chelsea

Capacity 42,420, Built 1904, Prices £38-£48

'One of the most mean-spirited,unfriendly and scruffiest stadiums in the land.Not scruffy in a wholesome way,like Goodison Park for example,but in a an extremely tacky,cheap,classless way - a £2-for-a-Mars-bar way.Where do this mob get the brassnecked spivvery to charge visiting fans £52 (Manchester Utd) and £48 (Newcastle)for a view not dissimilar to watching the match through a letterbox? Standing is a necessity.Truly a cesspit of everything that is crass about twenty-first century football.'
· 'You can't enjoy a game there because you're overwhelmed with the sensation of being ripped off. Foul people.'
 




mikeyjh

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2008
4,645
Llanymawddwy
Slightly unfair I think, excluding Withdean and the National Hockey stadium, all of them have redeeming features - Says a lot for the modern sanitisation of football that places like Blundell Park, Millmoor, Fratton are on that list. Have had brilliant times at all of them. Still prefer it to sitting down being interrupted by flow of people getting their chips, pie etc etc....
 


Mr Banana

Tedious chump
Aug 8, 2005
5,512
Standing in the way of control
3. Millmoor, Rotherham

Capacity 11,514, Built 1906, Prices £19

'Being a Rotherham fan, I dare not criticise anybody else's ground. Ours must be one of the worst - a wooden main stand that is in desperate need of bulldozing, no legroom in any of the seats... Coming to Millmoor isn't all bad, though. You'll find a friendly reception and some decent pubs around the ground. And the pies are fantastic.'
· 'Having previously seen the ground in the film ID , I didn't think it would actually be that bad. It was. The only good thing was the pies. We left in a hurry and to see Rotherham disappear in the distance was a huge relief.'
· 'Visiting Millmoor was like entering another world, the land that time forgot. The stand at the away end is a huge tin can with water dripping everywhere. It's good to hear that the club are considering reshaping Millmoor but these updates should have been done 10 years ago.'

Utter bollocks - Millmoor might have been decrepit but it definitely had (has) character. The Tivoli was a classic terrace with a North Stand feel to it. Apart from Selhurst and Ewood - both of which have four sides barely discernable from one another, which gives the grounds a kind of centrifugal force, pulling everyone in to their black hole at the centre of hell - none of the traditional grounds should ever be considered worse than the new age of generic ones, anyone with a pulse can forgive the failings of a hundred-year-old building, but identikits can be horrible. MK Dons has got to be the worst of those.
 


deletebeepbeepbeep

Well-known member
May 12, 2009
22,315
Harsh on a lot of counts, mostly because the Stadiums can be considered 'old' but Withdean would surely be in there in anycase.

It would be better if the focus was on the number of soulless bowls that have cropped up across the country rather than old grounds with a bit of character.
 


Seagull27

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2011
3,391
Bristol
Fratton Park, Portsmouth

On the walk from the station you'll find the bars shut before the match because locals have tried to fight the away fans, themselves, or the nearest aggressive lamp-post.

:lolol:
 




Drumstick

NORTHSTANDER
Jul 19, 2003
6,958
Peacehaven
I remember standing in the away end at Milmoor and Dick Knight was in the stand and we all put money in thier buckets so they could buy a new roof. Those were the days.
 


Tubby Mondays

Well-known member
Dec 8, 2005
3,211
A Crack House
Who remembers the shop in between Gillingham train station and the ground, Guptas it was called, that sold only tramps beer? special Brew, Tennents Super, Kestral Super Strength etc etc, not a hint of you wussy Fosters or carling rubbish.

Must have known his market well.
 


Braders

Abi Fletchers Gimpboy
Jul 15, 2003
29,224
Brighton, United Kingdom
Millmoor and Ninian Park were two of my favourite awaydays , sadly gone :(
 




Curious Orange

Punxsatawney Phil
Jul 5, 2003
10,511
On NSC for over two decades...
By my reckoning, given the grounds in that list that are either no more, no longer in the football league, or simply aren't used (Millmoor), that makes Fratton Park and Selhurst Park the 2nd and 3rd worst grounds in the League!!

:D
 


Storer 68

New member
Apr 19, 2011
2,827
Who remembers the shop in between Gillingham train station and the ground, Guptas it was called, that sold only tramps beer? special Brew, Tennents Super, Kestral Super Strength etc etc, not a hint of you wussy Fosters or carling rubbish.

Must have known his market well.

good heavens yes. and the quantities they sold them were massive none of this 330ml "sensible drinking" poncey nonsense - huge plastic 2 litre jobs. as you say - knew their market!

and can I just say that the sentence "New research shows that Gillingham is the biggest dump in English football" is a bit rich. We could have told them that in 1997!
 


Lankyseagull

One Step Beyond
Jul 25, 2006
1,860
The Field of Uck
Who remembers the shop in between Gillingham train station and the ground, Guptas it was called, that sold only tramps beer? special Brew, Tennents Super, Kestral Super Strength etc etc, not a hint of you wussy Fosters or carling rubbish.

Must have known his market well.

Didn't you have a loyalty card there?!
 




Lady Whistledown

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
48,425
Utter bollocks - Millmoor might have been decrepit but it definitely had (has) character. The Tivoli was a classic terrace with a North Stand feel to it. Apart from Selhurst and Ewood - both of which have four sides barely discernable from one another, which gives the grounds a kind of centrifugal force, pulling everyone in to their black hole at the centre of hell - none of the traditional grounds should ever be considered worse than the new age of generic ones, anyone with a pulse can forgive the failings of a hundred-year-old building, but identikits can be horrible. MK Dons has got to be the worst of those.

I disagree. MK Dons, while it has many faults (stupid, clueless supporters who mainly use MK as a second team when Chelsea or Man United aren't playing/on TV), an atmosphere akin to a recording of Gladiators, giant foam hands everywhere, dreadful entertainment (David Van Day!) and horrendously humourless stewards, it's also designed to be a bit different to many new stadiums and could look reasonably impressive once finished. Plus the seats are wide and comfortable, with plenty of legroom...and...well that's about it. The new flatpack stadiums I consider the worst are probably Middlesbrough (just dull and pointless, and mostly empty) and St Mary's (equally dull and uninspired, might as well be a branch of B&Q when you approach it from the outside). Leicester is more or less the same, saved only by a slightly artistic glass frontage. Derby has vaguely interesting corner boxes and a higher main stand which just about elevates it from the rest.

Yes, many of the old grounds were atmospheric, and bring back happy (or not) memories, but equally, that doesn't mean we have to be all nostalgic at having to queue for the one toilet that's available at half time, or standing in someone else's piss because the rusty old pipework can't cope with two thousand away fans all wanting to use the toilet at half time, or having a roof and pillars that obstruct your view of the pitch. All for over thirty quid, which is what Pompey charge for their appalling away end, or what Palace expect for the "privilege" of viewing the inside of the Arthur Wait stand roof (and a portion of the pitch). That's not "character", it's just shit.
 


perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,467
Sūþseaxna
Reporter must have been a good day at Withdean and Selhurst Park. Positively glowing reports. My hate above all of them is the Priestfield though. It dates from about 2004 ?
 


seagullsovergrimsby

#cpfctinpotclub
Aug 21, 2005
44,109
Crap Town
Must be an old report , the capacity at Blundell Park is now 9,051 after the temporary seats in the corner of the away end were removed.
 


Arthur

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
8,894
Buxted Harbour
Been to all of those grounds and the worst three by a country mile are Withdean, Hockey Ground and the Chelsea Hotel.

The rest are fine examples of British stadia. Not surprised it was in the Observer though, the writer was probably sat in knitting yoghurt whilst watching channel 4 in her (yes her!!) sandles and has probably never been near a "soccer" stadium in her life.
 


Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top
Link Here