West End. (1 Viewer)

[Ring Of Steel]

Nail on head

It must also be said however that HR was not even in the same league as those grounds.

 

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[Ring Of Steel]

I just don’t see it with the old grounds personally. Speaks to a time before I was into football.

I’m not saying the Ricoh is some amazing stadium, like others I think they’re made through experiences the Ricoh has lacked. I was more curious as to whether the proponents of the “soulless bowl” stuff were against all stadium bowls, or if there was something specific about the Ricoh design they didn’t like.

After all, I’d expect us to end up as a bowl at the new ground, even if not straight away. It’s just the most efficient use of space.

In these mythical magical old days, Old Trafford was by some distance the loudest, most intimidating & hostile ground in the country, nothing came close- and apart from one corner it was a bowl. Seating v standing has more impact than the shape of the ground. When they first converted places like Goodson to all seating it was a way bigger drop in atmosphere than the drop clubs had between an old ground and new one.

 

[Broken Hearted Sky Blue]

Exits weren’t such a huge problem when the west stand was built. There was a huge exit onto the pitch if needed. It wasn’t until the introduction of ‘hooligan fencing’ in the 70’s that safety would become a real issue. Yes, it took ages to get out, but that isn’t any different to large crowds in any stadium even today.

Oh I don’t know Old Trafford emptied very quickly last time we were there one minute they were there next minute they were gone.

 

[Liquid Gold]

I just don’t see it with the old grounds personally. Speaks to a time before I was into football.

I’m not saying the Ricoh is some amazing stadium, like others I think they’re made through experiences the Ricoh has lacked. I was more curious as to whether the proponents of the “soulless bowl” stuff were against all stadium bowls, or if there was something specific about the Ricoh design they didn’t like.

After all, I’d expect us to end up as a bowl at the new ground, even if not straight away. It’s just the most efficient use of space.

I actually like the new Spurs stadium, in the main it's jut a bowl but what they've done with the south stand being one big single tier ready to be converted into safe standing is great. They've also taken advantage of new technologies to mean the stands are steeper and closer to the pitch. It's also on the site go WHL meaning it has all the infrastructure around it. It's possible to make good new stadiums we just wen't through a period of 20 years or so only building shite in this country.

 

[Broken Hearted Sky Blue]

I disagree, Highfield Road was a football stadium, the ricoh arena is an events arena.. I prefer brammel Lane, Portman Road, goodison Park, Upton Park (before knocked down), fratton Park much more than I prefer our generic bowl

I actually find the ricoh to be one of the worst generic bowls too, such a boring, soulless mundane stadium.

Sorry Craig all those grounds are fucking crap same as that shithole we play at now

 

[Old Warwickshire lad]

Never give to much thought to Highfield Rd. Rather remember the great players I had the good fortune to watch.
The climb up the leagues to the 1st div. will always be how I remember my best times following city.

 

[ccfcway]

highfield road will always be home to me in my youth
ricoh will always be home to me in past 15 years
birmingham will never be home
sisu's move next.......

 

[theferret]

I just don’t see it with the old grounds personally. Speaks to a time before I was into football.

I’m not saying the Ricoh is some amazing stadium, like others I think they’re made through experiences the Ricoh has lacked. I was more curious as to whether the proponents of the “soulless bowl” stuff were against all stadium bowls, or if there was something specific about the Ricoh design they didn’t like.

After all, I’d expect us to end up as a bowl at the new ground, even if not straight away. It’s just the most efficient use of space.

I think it is the early 00s vintage that people have an issue with. Those mentioned and also Cardiff and one or two others. They got them completely wrong. For me, if you are going to build a new stadium you should try to tick as many of the following boxes as possible. 1. Central location or as close to former ground as possible. 2. Some asymmetry and variation to the elevations. 3. Creation of an identifiable 'end' for fans to adopt and create new memories in. 4. Fans should be as close to the pitch as possible. The Ricoh failed to tick any of those boxes really. Some manage it, the new WHL is decent.

Give me HR, the Dell, Victoria Ground, Baseball Ground, Roker Park, Ayresome Park and Ninian Park over their replacements any day.

 

[joemercersaces]

The old west end had issues: poor views because of the pillars, terrible toilet facilities, non-existent refreshments, dodgy acoustics, but by God it was thrilling in the early 70s when the away fans were a gangway away. The dodgy acoustics that meant we could hardly be heard at the other end of the ground meant that the noise under the stand was so deafening you could hardly hear yourself think. As a younger kid on the Kop I longed to join the older lads with the cool docs and silk scarves behind the west end goal and eventually I did. I loved that end, absolutely loved it and almost 50 years later I still miss the west end.

 

[Sick Boy]

It'd have us back there in an instant but it's easy to romanticise about it was ours and the sight of the floodlights for a night game and the same of grass and the cigarette smoke...got something in my eye

 

[speedie87]

I only went in the west terrace once and we won 8-0!

I remember not exactly being sure of way in and just followed a steward through a gate next thing I know I’m in the top tier by myself with no lights on (top tier wasn’t open that night) had to break my way back out the ground to then get back in the bottom tier!

 

[matesx]

Still.... we are getting a brand new stadium fit for the Premier league at Warwick Uni eh lads?

 

[wingy]

highfield road will always be home to me in my youth
ricoh will always be home to me in past 15 years
birmingham will never be home
sisu's move next.......

Warwick Uni.

 

[wingy]

Still.... we are getting a brand new stadium fit for the Premier league at Warwick Uni eh lads?

Well Warwick Uni will have a stadium,we mabe piggy back onto that.

 

[BornSlippySkyBlue]

It must also be said however that HR was not even in the same league as those grounds.

Well, it was for 34 years

 

[Magwitch]

I think it is the early 00s vintage that people have an issue with. Those mentioned and also Cardiff and one or two others. They got them completely wrong. For me, if you are going to build a new stadium you should try to tick as many of the following boxes as possible. 1. Central location or as close to former ground as possible. 2. Some asymmetry and variation to the elevations. 3. Creation of an identifiable 'end' for fans to adopt and create new memories in. 4. Fans should be as close to the pitch as possible. The Ricoh failed to tick any of those boxes really. Some manage it, the new WHL is decent.

Give me HR, the Dell, Victoria Ground, Baseball Ground, Roker Park, Ayresome Park and Ninian Park over their replacements any day.

Best ground...Goodison Park, still is. Just something about it, steeped in tradition alas soon to be vacated, bloody shame.

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

Just think , if we had gone ahead with the plans in the late 1960s for a huge capacity spion kop and an eventual ground capacity of over 65,000 we may never have had to move to the Ricoh. We'd have an all seater stadium probably approaching 30,0000 in all likeliness

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

Best ground...Goodison Park, still is. Just something about it, steeped in tradition alas soon to be vacated, bloody shame.

It most certainly is. In the same way , the demolition of Upton park was an absolute tragedy .

 

[Ring Of Steel]

It most certainly is. In the same way , the demolition of Upton park was an absolute tragedy .

Upton Park was unique- people in the media talked about Millwall constantly, and referred to West Ham as the Academy, where you went to be entertained- do me a favour, that place was dangerous and you were made to feel incredibly unwelcome. It’s the only ground I went to where there were as many home fans in the away end as there were away fans.

The baseball ground was very atmospheric too, loved going there. And of course our neighbours Villa, Villa Park was the perfect balance of grandeur, personality and atmosphere, I loved going there (until the match started)

 

[Covkid1968#]

Been to Everton a few times with family as family with season tickets. Hate PL football and go as rarely as I can.... but seriously shite view. Call it the pillar box view. All the blues moan but when they move their love will grow like ours has for HR.

 

[Johhny Blue]

Some people like the pre match pints, some people like the post match pints, some people like the tension that builds on the walk up to the stadium, the singing at away fans along the way, some people like the memories of the place: 50,000 vs Wolves, watching your all time favourite player, being small and overwhelmed but feeling safe because your Dad's huge hand is crushing yours, returning the gesture years later when your old man is too frail to get up there on his own. Highfield Road had all of that because of it's central location, the length of time we were there, and that our best periods as a team were at that location.

As a stadium the Ricoh is fine and if it was built on the same site as HR there would be a lot less arguing. Not many people enjoy a drive to an out of town stadium, to watch Newport, with 5000 other people who will all go their separate ways as soon as the final whistle goes. Win or lose the bars around HR would still have plenty of people in after a game and even though it would only need a few 100 to fill them, it would give the impression of community close the stadium.

It's a real pity about the lack of rental agreement and then BHCD for this season as there would have been many good memories created this season adding soul to the Ricoh bowl. 20k in there week in week out, playing Robinsball and getting results and people would slowly start to fill up the 'on the pitch' memory banks. Not sure there's too much that can be done about the peripheral bits because of the location though.

Love it.
I was at the wolves game and no football memory ( including ‘87) will ever top that.
I relate to the “old man” reference. I flew in from Canada without telling my Dad and phoned from outside his house at 2:15 on a Saturday and asked if he was going to the game” (West Ham in the prem) He said “No” I told him to get his arse out ‘cause I had a ticket for him.
I showed up unannounced once because Mum had cancer. I arrived at the house and she said “What the hell are you doing here City kick off in 20 minutes.
Great memories.

 

[Brylowes]

Try this:

Georeferenced Maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland

maps.nls.uk

View attachment 17111

So Swan lane at the back of the Spion Kop hampered all attempts at stadium redevelopment and expansion at that end of the ground for decades, resulting in at least two odd shaped stands being built to accommodate the road out the back for no real reason.
If they’d just picked it up and moved it 30 yards back then, we could have built a Kop like the one at Anfield

 

[JimmyHillsbeard]

Do Leicester fans still pine for Filbert Street?

serious question by the way, I genuinely don’t know the answer. I didn’t care for the Crisp Bowl whenever I’ve been there but wasn’t fond of Filbert St either.

 

[Peter Billing Eyes]

So Swan lane at the back of the Spion Kop hampered all attempts at stadium redevelopment and expansion at that end of the ground for decades, resulting in at least two odd shaped stands being built to accommodate the road out the back for no real reason.
If they’d just picked it up and moved it 30 yards back then, we could have built a Kop like the one at Anfield

That‘s a great idea in theory but space wasn’t in abundance at the west terrace end, either. Moving the pitch 30 yards in that direction would have reduced capacity at the west end and ruined sight lines. Swan Lane is probably wider than traffic necessitates, the best solution in my opinion would have been to pinch around 4 metres from Swan Lane and build further back on the Main Stand end of the terrace. A pedestrian walkway could have been provided under the stand on that side. The issue of space only affected a 25-30% section of that end as Swan Lane arced away from the ground towards the Mercer’s anyway. I guess even in those days the club’s relationship with the council wasn’t great enough to achieve what other clubs like Wolves have in redirecting traffic to benefit stadium development.

 

[Peter Billing Eyes]

Do Leicester fans still pine for Filbert Street?

serious question by the way, I genuinely don’t know the answer. I didn’t care for the Crisp Bowl whenever I’ve been there but wasn’t fond of Filbert St either.

I know some Leicester fans who remember the “double decker” or spion kop with fondness but still ridicule Filbert St for being a 2 sided ground. I remember visiting there in the 90’s and apart from the new main stand, it was run down. I don’t think Highfield Rd was as hemmed in or restricted as far as potential was concerned.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

I think it is the early 00s vintage that people have an issue with. Those mentioned and also Cardiff and one or two others. They got them completely wrong. For me, if you are going to build a new stadium you should try to tick as many of the following boxes as possible. 1. Central location or as close to former ground as possible. 2. Some asymmetry and variation to the elevations. 3. Creation of an identifiable 'end' for fans to adopt and create new memories in. 4. Fans should be as close to the pitch as possible. The Ricoh failed to tick any of those boxes really. Some manage it, the new WHL is decent.

Give me HR, the Dell, Victoria Ground, Baseball Ground, Roker Park, Ayresome Park and Ninian Park over their replacements any day.

I wish that we had stayed at Highfield Road, but that is mainly because of all of the fall out with the Ricoh resulting in us not having a ground and having to play at St Andrews, something that would have been unbelievable had you spoken to a City fan in 2005.
As mentioned on here, I think that one of the main problems with the Ricoh has simply been the often terrible standard of football, resulting in poor results, poor attendances and a poor atmosphere. If we had got of to a flying start that first season and achieved promotion back to the top flight, I don’t think that there would have been a problem. People would still have been nostalgic about Highfield Road but I don’t think the Ricoh would be viewed so badly. We have had games there where the atmosphere has been electric. The Gillingham return obviously stands out but so do games such as Preston in the JPT (only 12k there) and Blackburn in the Cup.
The old grounds were atmospheric places and you could always tell which ground was which because they all had their own individual architecture, much better than today when you have to look at the colour of the seats. The Baseball Ground in the early seventies had a fantastic atmosphere but as a place to watch football it was hopeless. One of the side terraces was so far below pitch level that you were looking up at the players feet and watching the game was a real problem. I think Highfield Road was a far better place to watch football than many of these old places. The Baseball Ground, Filbert Street and Ninian Park to name just three didn’t compare.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Do Leicester fans still pine for Filbert Street?

serious question by the way, I genuinely don’t know the answer. I didn’t care for the Crisp Bowl whenever I’ve been there but wasn’t fond of Filbert St either.

We're a nation of nostalgists, the national psyche is "it was better in the old days". They probably do in the same way that Man City fans pine for Maine Rd

 

[Ring Of Steel]

Here's why Everton are moving- view from three sides

Goodison Park, section Lower Visitors, row Q, seat 56 - Everton vs Sunderland A.F.C., shared by Dazzler

Photos and reviews of seats at Goodison Park for Everton games.

aviewfrommyseat.com

Goodison Park, section Gwladys Street Lower 7, row OO, seat 186 - Everton vs Newcastle United, Shared Anonymously

Photos and reviews of seats at Goodison Park for Everton games.

aviewfrommyseat.com

Goodison Park, section MS2, row LL, seat 92 - Everton vs Manchester City FC, shared by clp1000

Photos and reviews of seats at Goodison Park for Everton games.

aviewfrommyseat.com

 

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

I've also been Goodison on many occasions...... 6 or 7 visits as an away fan, but i've also been in all the stands including the family enclosure for various games with mates & family etc.

Whilst obviously there are some shit views, about 39,000 folk have no obstruction whatsoever.

Back in the 90's I went in the naughty Gladys street end a couple times....the only restricted view there was due to the massive thick clouds of weed smoke.....

....and when they sing, that place rocks......its no wonder the red shite call them the noisy neighbours.....no flag waving chinese & irish tourist fans in that place.

Its a fantastic ground.

 

[Ring Of Steel]

I've also been Goodison on many occasions...... 6 or 7 visits as an away fan, but i've also been in all the stands including the family enclosure for various games with mates & family etc.

Whilst obviously there are some shit views, about 39,000 folk have no obstruction whatsoever.

Back in the 90's I went in the naughty Gladys street end a couple times....the only restricted view there was due to the massive thick clouds of weed smoke.....

....and when they sing, that place rocks......its no wonder the red shite call them the noisy neighbours.....no flag waving chinese & irish tourist fans in that place.

Its a fantastic ground.

Yes it is, but there are 4,000 'restricted view' seats meaning you have a post between you and a goal, and a lot more when you include seats that have the 'pillar box' view or where you can't see some of the pitch. In 2020, rightly or wrongly, thats not sustainable and you can see why they need to move.

 

[Brylowes]

That‘s a great idea in theory but space wasn’t in abundance at the west terrace end, either. Moving the pitch 30 yards in that direction would have reduced capacity at the west end and ruined sight lines. Swan Lane is probably wider than traffic necessitates, the best solution in my opinion would have been to pinch around 4 metres from Swan Lane and build further back on the Main Stand end of the terrace. A pedestrian walkway could have been provided under the stand on that side. The issue of space only affected a 25-30% section of that end as Swan Lane arced away from the ground towards the Mercer’s anyway. I guess even in those days the club’s relationship with the council wasn’t great enough to achieve what other clubs like Wolves have in redirecting traffic to benefit stadium development.

I was just pointing out that on that old map there are no buildings shown on the other side of Swan Lane,
so it probably wouldn’t have been to big a deal to move the road further from the stadium, once buildings
were built there that option was lost.
Its a lighthearted take and I’m obviously simplifying matters as land ownership and borders would have dictated everything.

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

Wasn't there ever an attempt to buy up the houses behind the west stand ?