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Away grounds


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interesting debate on MoTD podcast of the ten worst places to go to in football, from unlucky grounds to intimidating atmosphere to travel nightmares. 
 

What are your thought? For me:

Ninnan Park , really good old style atmosphere, such a shame the games against them have gone slightly flat atmosphere. The game when Murrary scored two there - what a day!

Loftus Road - awful ground, cramped, shit view

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  • The title was changed to Away grounds

Reading: soulless and just rubbish. More atmosphere on the moon.

QPR: as above.

Luton: How could I forget, awful, awful, awful. Crap ground, crap town.

I've got to be honest, I can't remember a recent real good awayday (Didn't go Man city).

West Brom in the cup maybe...Always liked it there.

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Tend to agree with much of what has been said. Like Fulham, Charlton and Brentford but that might also reflect the ease of getting to them for me. Dislike QPR, Luton, Reading and the last time we went to Gillingham with a large rickety temporary stand completely open to the elements. Also not keen on Watford, a combination of cramped space behind the stand and a longish walk from the station after which one night game I got lost!

There is though only one real winner in the worst category - and we all know where that is :gasmask:

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Love Fulham away tend to get decent results there aswell, went to Burnley years ago and we won and virtually relegated them to Div 4, that was very hostile that day. Boro at Ayrsome Pk could be unwelcoming and as others have said Ninian Pk was on another level of intimidation.

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The old Home Park in the early to mid nineties was always enjoyable. I remember one game down there where city were scaling the fencing believing they were clambering into the away end. 

Sadly not ?

I never found grounds intimidating as we always had numbers. 

wandering round towns, isolated, was always worse. I remember a tiny group of us youngsters lost in Reading of all places and we stumbled upon a decent mob of theres. Thought we get it, only for city to chance around the corner and see them off.

Being rumbled in the home stand at Swindon (I say rumbled, we were hardly  inconspicuous), again just as numbers looked unfavorable, it was a cue for a load of older city at the back to come wading down.

Fun times.

 

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For me some of the older crappy grounds are ones I enjoy visiting, I guess they give me a reminder of old times.

Having said that there aren’t many left now, Luton being the last old style I went to that still had terracing.

I can remember going to Rotherham before they moved and everything about it was both wrong and brilliant at the same time. A right s***hole, scrapyards everywhere, toilets with no roof but parking about 100 meters from the ground, pub even nearer with a delicious pint costing little more than a quid, terracing close to the pitch, perfect 

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Away at Halifax in 1984 defied description. One of shittest grounds I've been to, although we won that day, the pubs were fun and we got the wrong train home (!)

Earthen "terracing" and a crappy speedway track. Stands looking like they had been repainted before the relief of Mafeking.

(It looks a decent ground now, mind)

 

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Fratton Park & Ninian Park were intimidating. I suppose its the shallow paddock on the side where they put the lunatics and tell them to just stare all match at the away fans.

For dumps, well the old Springfield Park and Saltergate where the home fans were allowed to walk around to be near the side they're attacking was a bit weird. Kenilworth Road is an out and out 5hit hole. Cramped seating, the first rows below ground level and the general run down nature of the area all adds to the "attraction"

Obviously QPR's ground leaves a lot to be desired. A death trap like narrow concourse with poor lighting, seats that decapitate you at the knees and dreadful views all add to the "experience" 

For atmosphere, always enjoyed the Hawthorns. I think they got the balance right there between atmosphere and all seater stadiums. 

 

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All of the places mentioned, except for Halifax, were / are luxury grounds compared to a place I visited in the 60s. For some obscure reason I was staying with relatives near Workington and went to Borough Park to see them play City. Even by the standards of the day it was an awful dump. In those days City and Workington were, obviously, in the same division. Some people have led an exotic life visiting football grounds in Barcelona and Milan etc, but to really live you’ve got to go to places like Workington 

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I did most grounds through the 80s and 90s with City and there is only one away ground where I can honestly say I felt intimidating and that is the old Cold Blow Lane where Millwall played before moving to the new ground. Only time I have seen home fans try to actually climb the fence to get into the City away end. That ground was on another level.

The old Ninian Park was sketchy but you were always with a big mob of City there so no worries.

The second most intimidating for me was the old Ayresome Park one year when Boro were out for City that night due to what happened at Ashton Gate earlier in the season.

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Atmosphere and recollections change hugely over time as does the definition of 'atmosphere' Where we do well, we tend to create more 'away atmospher'. Under LJ we always won at Bramhall Lane, Fulham, Riverside (sterile compared to Ayresome) but over a longer period the grounds where you keep an eye out were Elland Road, The Old Den, Ninian Park. I also loved the old Highbury and think Goodison is now possibly the last of the old, traditional grounds, but havent been for decades!

Other than the easy grounds to get to, Cardiff, Swindle, Hawthorns, West London (Griffin Park, Cottage and Loftus) we have, in recent years taken numbers to Brum, Villa and Cov.

As for rubbish facilities for the modern away fans, Villa Park is suprisingly poor as are Gresty Road adn Kenilworth Rd

Of the grounds where we could really make a good atmospher would be a Cup game (decent allocation) I look forward to The New White Hart Lane.

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13 minutes ago, GasDestroyer said:

I did most grounds through the 80s and 90s with City and there is only one away ground where I can honestly say I felt intimidating and that is the old Cold Blow Lane where Millwall played before moving to the new ground. Only time I have seen home fans try to actually climb the fence to get into the City away end. That ground was on another level.

The old Ninian Park was sketchy but you were always with a big mob of City there so no worries.

The second most intimidating for me was the old Ayresome Park one year when Boro were out for City that night due to what happened at Ashton Gate earlier in the season.

Was the Millwall game the one where Andy Llewellyn scored to put us one up (never been so relieved when they equalised!) and the coaches got bricked after the game? Darts, coins, snooker balls and all sorts coming over the fence - I`m glad I had a donkey jacket on and could just pull it over my head! You used to have to walk to the ground over an old bombsite that was in a hollow and their lot just stood at the top lobbing bricks down at you.

What got me in the ground was that the ones climbing the fence weren`t kids they were mostly middle aged men!

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I’ve always enjoyed going to grounds in London (even QPR) because it’s a decent away day with lots to do. 

Newcastle is a great away day - their ground is right in the centre and it’s a nice city.

Reading is awful - absolutely nothing to do around the ground. 

Port Vale is the coldest ground I’ve ever been to.

I hated Villa Park the only time I’ve been there (2-0 defeat) - the faculties in the away end (top tier) were absolutely awful and I got stuck in terrible traffic coming home. Got back home at about 2.30 am. I still shudder thinking about it. 
 

 

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1 hour ago, 22A said:

Somerton Park, Newport - rainy day and only the first three steps of the terracing were solid.

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Springfield park Wigan wasn't much better.

Is somerton park the athletics track? 

Blackpool would be the shout for me, was a case of standing on a temporary stand with no cover in the pissing rain on the opening day of the season, we worked out after it would have been cheaper to book a room in the travelodge that overlooked one end of the ground 
 

 

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15 minutes ago, Offside said:

I’ve always enjoyed going to grounds in London (even QPR) because it’s a decent away day with lots to do. 

Newcastle is a great away day - their ground is right in the centre and it’s a nice city.

Reading is awful - absolutely nothing to do around the ground. 

Port Vale is the coldest ground I’ve ever been to.

I hated Villa Park the only time I’ve been there (2-0 defeat) - the faculties in the away end (top tier) were absolutely awful and I got stuck in terrible traffic coming home. Got back home at about 2.30 am. I still shudder thinking about it. 
 

 

that was up there with the worst ever away day for me too O ....roadworks sent me to coventry goin up.....parking space right by ground pre booked was taken up so had to park in one of them give a bloke a tenner places...then it started pissing down so sat in top tier soaking wet all game an freezing cold.....city lose as per norm at villa then  3 hours to get to M5......then gets a speeding ticket 2 30 in morning at almondsbury ......still wet and cold too 

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