Terry Gibson's perm
Well-Known Member
Hillsborough is a nice old stadium
Another 2 stadiums which would suit us imo and have capacities of around 23000, The Swedbank Stadion home of FC Malmö and Children's Mercy Park home of Kansas City. Both teams colours are Sky Blue and both have a single tiered low level stand behind one goal for standing.
My favourite will always be Goodison Park, A proper traditional football ground. I went there around 1966 for a fifth round FA cup-tie gate of around 60000 the massive terrace that ran the length of the pitch was packed and the Gladdys Street, the noise deafening. Everton are moving soon be a sad day when it closes.If you were going to name three grounds which sum up what English football 'used' to be and summed up what 'going to the football' was all about, I thnk they'd be: Upton Park third, just for sheer noise & intimidation, like you're an unwelcome guest at an East End party, the old Villa Park for the grandeur, eccentric nature of the 4 different stands & the scale of the Holte, and (don't laugh)... the baseball ground. Crammed into a tiny space, stands right up to the pitch & boxed in, really individual & 'traditional' stands, and nowhere for the sound to go apart from up so it sounded like there were 40,000 in there when there were barely half that.
Yes definitely- you're right. Got to be the last truly great traditional English football ground left (you could also argue for Hillsborough). 97/98 when they almost went down & we drew 1-1, the noise was incredible. Always preferred Goodison to Anfield, Anfield wouldn't have been half as daunting if it weren't for the team that played there.My favourite will always be Goodison Park, A proper traditional football ground. I went there around 1966 for a fifth round FA cup-tie gate of around 60000 the massive terrace that ran the length of the pitch was packed and the Gladdys Street, the noise deafening. Everton are moving soon be a sad day when it closes.
WHL was very good yes. Was never really a fan of Highbury as much though- brilliant architecture but not as good for atmosphere (may also have been something to do with seeing us win once and get battered every other time, including a deeply demoralising 6-1 watching them celebrate the championship, whereas I never saw us lose at WHL!) Weirdest 'big ground' was the old Stamford Bridge- desolate, totally atmosphere free and crumbling beneath your feet. I saw us play there with 9,000 in the ground and it felt more like 900.The old old White Hart Lane was also a great traditional stadium and definitely agree about Goodison such a shame to see that go.
Of course and Anfield was initially Evertons ground .Yes definitely- you're right. Got to be the last truly great traditional English football ground left (you could also argue for Hillsborough). 97/98 when they almost went down & we drew 1-1, the noise was incredible. Always preferred Goodison to Anfield, Anfield wouldn't have been half as daunting if it weren't for the team that played there.
Never liked Anfield myself either, other grounds I liked the Old White Hart Lane with that incredible shelf terracing they had, the old Highbury with its Clock End, Stokes City’s Victoria Ground with its tiered Bootham End and another favourite terrace was the massive South Bank at Molyneux. Not a fan of the new type of ground, of the ones I’ve been on I think MK Dons is best of a bad lot.Yes definitely- you're right. Got to be the last truly great traditional English football ground left (you could also argue for Hillsborough). 97/98 when they almost went down & we drew 1-1, the noise was incredible. Always preferred Goodison to Anfield, Anfield wouldn't have been half as daunting if it weren't for the team that played there.
You know I was going to mention Stoke- before Hillsborough happened that was kind of the model ground for clubs like us- standing available on all 4 sides, everyone under cover, seats on 3 sides and a good noisy home kop. Then Hillsborough changed all that and they knew that converting the ground would have only given them 17k seats or so, so that was the end.Never liked Anfield myself either, other grounds I liked the Old White Hart Lane with that incredible shelf terracing they had, the old Highbury with its Clock End, Stokes City’s Victoria Ground with its tiered Bootham End and another favourite terrace was the massive South Bank at Molyneux. Not a fan of the new type of ground, of the ones I’ve been on I think MK Dons is best of a bad lot.
Used to think Molineux was pretty good and intimidating before they expanded that stand and made it pretty soulless. Southbank still pretty good though.
You're right actually. Right ground, badly managed & nothing worth watching there for over a decade.
Did he celebrate when we scored?I remember that squash at Stoke ridiculous police decision, shades of Hillsborough. Not a lot of grey matter between a Lot of cops ears at times.
I sat behind the goal that day next to Alan Brazil.
Yes big time, he was well into it, I was with some “likely lads” so he had proper company shall we say. He had his mop of hair then, has to be one of the noisiest games I ever went to.Did he celebrate when we scored?
That’s great to hear, he’d have been a Man Utd player at that time?Yes big time, he was well into it, I was with some “likely lads” so he had proper company shall we say. He had his mop of hair then, has to be one of the noisiest games I ever went to.
No I think it was QPR sure he left us the previous season and went to QPR but did his back in and had to pack inThat’s great to hear, he’d have been a Man Utd player at that time?
Yes you’re right, he was hardly gonna go onto Man Utd was he.No I think it was QPR sure he left us the previous season and went to QPR but did his back in and had to pack in
Sky blue is an awful colour for seats, unless every seat is filled its glaring & obvious there are big swathes of sky blue seating around the place. The darker the seat the better for 'hiding' the perception that there isn't a big crowd, you are right. Its also why some newer grounds deliberately have multicoloured seats- black, brown, yellow etc all mixed up, that is designed to break up the pattern of rows of seats and give the perception there are people in those seats and hide the impression that the stand is in fact half empty. Not saying we should do it and I don't know what we should do, but atmosphere-wise darker seats are better.
If you didn't want so many sky blue seats and didn't want multicoloured easiest thing to do is just reverse the colours. Have most of the seats dark blue and the lettering in sky blue.Sky blue is an awful colour for seats, unless every seat is filled its glaring & obvious there are big swathes of sky blue seating around the place. The darker the seat the better for 'hiding' the perception that there isn't a big crowd, you are right. Its also why some newer grounds deliberately have multicoloured seats- black, brown, yellow etc all mixed up, that is designed to break up the pattern of rows of seats and give the perception there are people in those seats and hide the impression that the stand is in fact half empty. Not saying we should do it and I don't know what we should do, but atmosphere-wise darker seats are better.
Yep, that does the trick.If you didn't want so many sky blue seats and didn't want multicoloured easiest thing to do is just reverse the colours. Have most of the seats dark blue and the lettering in sky blue.
I went to the FA cup replay at the Baseball Ground after that Sunday 0-0 game, we won 1-0 after extra time but I remember the ground was behind a row of houses sandwiched between smelting works and every so often a cloud of smoke would bellow out and engulf the pitch, you could hardly see God knows what it was like for the players. Good old fashioned ground though.Talking old grounds I can't help but think that nostalgia clouds people's judgement. If you really believe that Highfield road was better than the Ricoh to watch a game of football i can't agree with you. Better located yes but a better stadium no.
There are Leicester fans that go misty eyed about Filbert Street, Ayresome Park is nirvana to Boro fans and who can forget the wonderful Dell in Southampton? These grounds were poor and the modern incarnations are much better to watch a game.
My personal favorite ground was the baseball ground. Better than pride park? No way.
This is like saying medicine was better before anesthesia and penicillin.
I don’t go back that far, but I went every year from 88/89 to 90/91 and again when they came back up, and the cup game where they came back from 2-0 to win in the last minute, it was my favourite away day. Pride Park isn’t so bad really, but that may be down to their support, I have lots of respect for Derby fans, not a big town but proper football traditions & pretty loyal. And they were an absolute credit at the last HR game as well.I went to the FA cup replay at the Baseball Ground after that Sunday 0-0 game, we won 1-0 after extra time but I remember the ground was behind a row of houses sandwiched between smelting works and every so often a cloud of smoke would bellow out and engulf the pitch, you could hardly see God knows what it was like for the players. Good old fashioned ground though.
You are correct really especially when it was mainly terracing, can’t really remember the old covered end but we built the West Stand in 1968 and there were supporting columns end to end every so many yards and if you got behind them they obscured your view and you could hardly see the West End goal, best on the corners then there was the Sky Blue terrace opposite where the players tunnel which a bit flat if you were under six foot view was poor. Spion Kop was the best but open to the elements especially the old crows nest good view but it always seemed to be bloody windy.Talking old grounds I can't help but think that nostalgia clouds people's judgement. If you really believe that Highfield road was better than the Ricoh to watch a game of football i can't agree with you. Better located yes but a better stadium no.
There are Leicester fans that go misty eyed about Filbert Street, Ayresome Park is nirvana to Boro fans and who can forget the wonderful Dell in Southampton? These grounds were poor and the modern incarnations are much better to watch a game.
My personal favorite ground was the baseball ground. Better than pride park? No way.
This is like saying medicine was better before anesthesia and penicillin.
Oh this is 100% correct. It’s not a popular view but HR was dead before it was knocked down. The acoustics of the West End were all wrong so you couldn’t hear anything from the opposite side of the ground, you just saw hands in the air. The roof also didn’t extend all the way over the West End so the sound all filtered away into the breeze. And the replacement Sky Blue Stand roof looked cheap & nasty, again not extending over the terrace so the sound escaped instead of ‘bouncing back’ into the stadium. Then the final upgrade where we were the only club to build a new stand with supporting columns, it was a cheap & cheerful option. It was also not really an old ground, it was a 60s ground which meant prefab, not wood which meant less echo and reverberation of noise all round. For me at least it wasn’t ever hugely atmospheric and a buoyant Ricoh would make more noise and atmosphere than HR ever could. And I agree about nostalgia, there aren’t too many I’d look back at overly fondly, the ones I’ve mentioned really. That’s why the best new stadiums are trying to combine the best of both worlds- we had the cramped, close up, loud & intense old grounds which had few facilities and little comfort, then we had the spacious, corporate, luxurious.. but much quieter newer grounds from the 90s, now the ‘new generation’ of stadiums are trying to keep the comfort but also keep the atmosphere, not been to the new Spurs ground but that’s what they’ve tried to do for example. Only problem is one of those will cost you upwards of £100m!You are correct really especially when it was mainly terracing, can’t really remember the old covered end but we built the West Stand in 1968 and there were supporting columns end to end every so many yards and if you got behind them they obscured your view and you could hardly see the West End goal, best on the corners then there was the Sky Blue terrace which a bit flat if you were under six foot view was poor. Spion Kop was the best but open to the elements especially the old crows nest good view but it always seemed to be bloody windy.
Oh this is 100% correct. It’s not a popular view but HR was dead before it was knocked down. The acoustics of the West End were all wrong so you couldn’t hear anything from the opposite side of the ground, you just saw hands in the air. The roof also didn’t extend all the way over the West End so the sound all filtered away into the breeze. And the replacement Sky Blue Stand roof looked cheap & nasty, again not extending over the terrace so the sound escaped instead of ‘bouncing back’ into the stadium. Then the final upgrade where we were the only club to build a new stand with supporting columns, it was a cheap & cheerful option. It was also not really an old ground, it was a 60s ground which meant prefab, not wood which meant less echo and reverberation of noise all round. For me at least it wasn’t ever hugely atmospheric and a buoyant Ricoh would make more noise and atmosphere than HR ever could. And I agree about nostalgia, there aren’t too many I’d look back at overly fondly, the ones I’ve mentioned really. That’s why the best new stadiums are trying to combine the best of both worlds- we had the cramped, close up, loud & intense old grounds which had few facilities and little comfort, then we had the spacious, corporate, luxurious.. but much quieter newer grounds from the 90s, now the ‘new generation’ of stadiums are trying to keep the comfort but also keep the atmosphere, not been to the new Spurs ground but that’s what they’ve tried to do for example. Only problem is one of those will cost you upwards of £100m!
Oh the last day at HR was one of the best days of my life, once in a lifetime, I won’t start on about that or I’ll be here all night, but I agree with you on that.Well Spurs cost 1 Billion and if you read my post above HR did create an atmosphere, not always but what ground does?, The last game at HR was like something out of a magic box. The result, the way we played etc the place rocked for one last time. Players always expected HR to be a tough place to go, many ex players have said that, great old ground with a great history. We would not be where we are now if HR was still our ground!!!!
I’m ok with us moving, in fact it was the right thing to do, it’s how it was planned, the running of it and the abysmal management from start to finish that I have a problem with. We didn’t get a single thing right apart from end up with one of the best ‘new’ grounds of all of them.With hindsight it is easy to see that the move from HR was a huge mistake. For all it’s faults, I wish we had never moved.
I agree. It’s not that the Ricoh is a bad ground. It is the mess that has gone on for the past 15 years that I am on about.I’m ok with us moving, in fact it was the right thing to do, it’s how it was planned, the running of it and the abysmal management from start to finish that I have a problem with. We didn’t get a single thing right apart from end up with one of the best ‘new’ grounds of all of them.
Oh yeah, no denying that.I agree. It’s not that the Ricoh is a bad ground. It is the mess that has gone on for the past 15 years that I am on about.
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