Highfield Road and the Ricoh Arena (4 Viewers)

[bringbackrattles]

Following on from the are you proud of the Ricoh thread ? I'd like to know from fans on here do you miss Highfield Road more than not playing at the Ricoh ? To me Highfield Road is and always will be our spiritual home,it's our clubs history and where the majority of us started our lifelong support of the team.But to younger fans they may not know about that as the Ricoh is the ground where they started their journey so to speak. Personally I miss Highfield Road more but that is where my best memories come from.

 

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[thaiskyblue]

i lived in Catherine street , hr was home, well allmost.

 

[bringbackrattles]

Handy then for home games ?

 

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

HR by a country mile.....

the pubs around the ground, the pre-game build up, standing, smoking, not having to watch my language....

...then there was the football, the great escapes, the cup runs

and the players......Wallace, Hutch, Thomas, Speedie, Regis, Bennett, Gallagher, Whelan, Hucks, Dion etc. etc.

God I'm old!

 

[thaiskyblue]

Handy then for home games ?

my mate was on the turnstyles at the west end very handy ( know what i mean ).

 

[italiahorse]

It was okay once you got there. Parking was a nightmare for fans and I also know it was for residents.
I guess the stadium was built when nobody had a car.
My sister lived in a terraced house (Typical for the area) and if she ever went out on a Saturday she could not park within a mile of her house.
Driving back to Bedworth was a nightmare.
In addition over the years I had radios stolen on 3 occasions during night matches with windows smashed on each occasion.
Also the facilities behind 3 of the 4 stands were awful.

Typically if we were loosing there was no atmosphere.

The Ricoh is world class but just needs the team to start winning regularly to fill the place. (Like this year!!)

 

[bringbackrattles]

my mate was on the turnstyles at the west end very handy ( know what i mean ).

I miss Highfield Road and the Ricoh the former for the great memories,and the latter as it's just down the road. like your mate very handy !

 

[Moff]

I miss playing at the Ricoh, as I no dont go to home games now, but I miss Highfield Road far more and wish we were still there as at least we would be playing in our home city and this whole stadium fiasco would never have happened. I just have happier and longer memories of Highfield Road than the Ricoh

 

[Covlad65]

Agree with all that...........HR was a great place for atmosphere when it was full and even in our League 1 / Prem days that was few and far between. Can remember going to a game against Man U with 12,00 fans there

It was okay once you got there. Parking was a nightmare for fans and I also know it was for residents.
I guess the stadium was built when nobody had a car.
My sister lived in a terraced house (Typical for the area) and if she ever went out on a Saturday she could not park within a mile of her house.
Driving back to Bedworth was a nightmare.
In addition over the years I had radios stolen on 3 occasions during night matches with windows smashed on each occasion.
Also the facilities behind 3 of the 4 stands were awful.

Typically if we were loosing there was no atmosphere.

The Ricoh is world class but just needs the team to start winning regularly to fill the place. (Like this year!!)

 

[Ashdown1]

Fantastic memories of HR, great games, great crowds, great players. I was young, carefree and life was all about football. By the same token the world keeps rolling on and HR had become run down and antiquated. Squeezing in seats where they didn't belong, the smoking ban, piss poor facilities behind the stands and the pitch that was prone to turning into a sand pit by February could all be improved upon. The Ricoh has a few faults but became a fantastic replacement if you know where to go around the area for a drink and a bite to eat. It's certainly not going to be topped by SISU's LEGOLAND 12,000 seater somewhere in the Coventry area { not that I believe the B/S for a moment} !

Time to come home to the Ricoh
SISU OUT !!

 

[bezzer]

HR by a country mile.....

the pubs around the ground, the pre-game build up, standing, smoking, not having to watch my language....

...then there was the football, the great escapes, the cup runs

and the players......Wallace, Hutch, Thomas, Speedie, Regis, Bennett, Gallagher, Whelan, Hucks, Dion etc. etc.

God I'm old!

Not as old as me!!! - Glazier, Stein, Alderson, Cartwright, Dugdale, Catlin, Craven, Mortimer, Carr.......

I miss HR so much. Later in my supporting days I lived in Stoke. Would walk up to The Old Ball for a couple and then walk with the lads along Clement Street, Villiers Street..... to the ground.

My son has only ever known the Ricoh as 'home' I wish he'd experienced his first CCFC game at HR with his Dad, like I did with mine.

 

[bezzer]

It was okay once you got there. Parking was a nightmare for fans and I also know it was for residents.
I guess the stadium was built when nobody had a car.
My sister lived in a terraced house (Typical for the area) and if she ever went out on a Saturday she could not park within a mile of her house.
Driving back to Bedworth was a nightmare.
In addition over the years I had radios stolen on 3 occasions during night matches with windows smashed on each occasion.
Also the facilities behind 3 of the 4 stands were awful.

Typically if we were loosing there was no atmosphere.

The Ricoh is world class but just needs the team to start winning regularly to fill the place. (Like this year!!)

Can you not post anything positive??

 

[torchomatic]

Always loved HR. Not just for the many good memories but the ease of access. The majority of time we came by car and parked easily. Sometimes we came on the train and walked to the ground. The size was about right for us, not too big. The place had character too.

 

[SkyBlueHomer]

It was okay once you got there. Parking was a nightmare for fans and I also know it was for residents.
I guess the stadium was built when nobody had a car.
My sister lived in a terraced house (Typical for the area) and if she ever went out on a Saturday she could not park within a mile of her house.
Driving back to Bedworth was a nightmare.
In addition over the years I had radios stolen on 3 occasions during night matches with windows smashed on each occasion.
Also the facilities behind 3 of the 4 stands were awful.

Typically if we were loosing there was no atmosphere.

The Ricoh is world class but just needs the team to start winning regularly to fill the place. (Like this year!!)

Correct, don't forget the double parking if the attendance was anything more than 15,000.

We had some good times there, it was our spiritual home but there were a lot of very bad days as well.

 

[bringbackrattles]

I started this thread as in the past few weeks have walked past the Ricoh and where Highfield Road stood.
To be honest felt sad standing looking at flats where our ground used to be,and again looking at a modern but now unused arena.

 

[Hobo]

Proud of both

 

[RFC]

I started this thread as in the past few weeks have walked past the Ricoh and where Highfield Road stood.
To be honest felt sad standing looking at flats where our ground used to be,and again looking at a modern but now unused arena.

Have never been back to Highfield Road (the pain would be far to great) so for me it has to be Highfield Road.

To be perfectly honest the Ricoh has never felt like home and is either cursed or jinxed?

Hopefully our new ground will at least feel like home.

 

[Otis]

I'd been going up HR since the late 60's, but I miss the Ricoh more.

HR changed so much. New stands, seating, standing, more new stands etc. It became a totally different stadium on a number of occasions.

Much prefer the Ricoh.

 

[ollyservetta]

highfield road ,the day out ,the pubs the clubs ,fishymoores ,live bands at tiffanys,

 

[blueflint]

highfield rd i was born king richards st so was home

 

[bringbackrattles]

Going back to Highfield Road now is a weird and surreal thing as it's all full of houses and flats.
You may be right about the curse thing as things haven't improved but got worse !

 

[Kingokings204]

Have never been back to Highfield Road (the pain would be far to great) so for me it has to be Highfield Road.

To be perfectly honest the Ricoh has never felt like home and is either cursed or jinxed?

Hopefully our new ground will at least feel like home.

You have to be a major WUM or a sisu employee or just a simple thick person? which one is it as im not sure.

 

[Nick]

You have to be a major WUM or a sisu employee or just a simple thick person? which one is it as im not sure.

Because he has a different opinion to you?

 

[RPHunt]

As others have said, the walk through the streets to Highfield Road, the smoky pubs and the Kop - these are now, sadly, gone.
Going with my father, my brother and my mate that never came back from the Falklands - these are now, even more sadly, gone.

Going to the Ricoh could never replace those memories, but it stood a better chance of doing so than some low cost structure in a barren and god-forsaken corner of the W Midlands.

 

[oscillatewildly]

HR over Ricoh every time for me. However, one is gone forever whilst the other still remains. I hate the place and know it will never be 'home' (regardless of ownership etc) but I'd be back like a shot if we were to return.

 

[Gynnsthetonic]

I think the trouble with the Ricoh is the deign and the location, CCFC history has always been the Stoke/Gosford area and when we moved it ripped the heart and soul from the club. Moving was the way forward but to a new stadium in the same area. Humber Rd the old Stoke plant would of been perfect and gone for an arena with a bit of uniqueness instead of a bowl.