Jump to content

The New Stadiums Thread


jamamafegan

Recommended Posts

One of the many things I hate about McDiarmid is its location. I wish they had built it closer to town. I think they should have built it on Perth's South Inch, the inferior inch of Perth. It would have been a short walk from town and the railway station. I can guarantee crowds would be bigger now if it was there. Alas, this is not the case - we will have to make do with our legoland ground that sits among a Tesco and B&Q. Tragic.

ETA: my mate, for a laugh, sketched a new stadium situated on the Moncrieffe Island called "the Birds Nest" :lol:

There would be a railway station for fans to get off on the bridge. "This is Moncrieffe Island. Change here for services to - The Birds Nest." :lol:

Agreed, it's a fucking pain to get to from the best side of Perth. Imagine they knocked down the City Hall/shitey St Johns centre and built a Sir Stevie May stadium in its place. Dream come true.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

291009-gateshead.jpg

Gateshead FC's proposed new stadium on Prince Consort Road. The club were very unjustly thrown out of the league back in 1960 and are determined to return. Leaving their fly blown, atmosphereless void at the International Athletics stadium and moving into their own home is a must if that is to happen.

It's meant to be a bit like Burton Albion's new Pirelli stadium.

Edited by Ivo den Bieman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

dartford-fc_princes-park_kent-.gif

Dartford's new stadium at Princes Park. Dartford were nomads for 15 years or so after losing their old home at Watling Street and going bust (their fate was tied up with Maidstone Uniteds, Dartford's tenants, who at that stage were being thrown out of the football league, haemorrhaging money).

Dartford dropped a long way down the pyramid but are now in the Conference and a lot of optimism was generated around the team when they moved in here and won successive promotions. I've seen a game her, even with only 1200 in there's a really good atmosphere and it's a decent ground.

One thing though- "THIS FACILITY WAS BUILT BY A CONSERVATIVE COUNCIL" runs in massive letters behind one of the terraces. :D

Edited by Ivo den Bieman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And speaking of Maidstone...

MaidstoneUnited9.jpg

...this is their new Gallacher Stadium, opened at the beginning of last season. There is a decent new stand and a brand new 4G pitch, with plans for further expansion as the club rises back up the leagues.

That may take time though as, in a disappointingly conservative move, the conference banned 3 and 4G pitches during a recent vote- a decision that will leave Maidstone stuck at Ryman league level for a while at least. The club used to be a mainstay of the conference league in the 80s and I'm sure they will get back there eventually. Promotion to the league actually killed the old Maidstone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is where all the "modern out of town stadium" stuff started, in the UK anyway...Scunthorpe United.

show3.jpg

This was the Old Show Ground, acquired by Sainsbury's and now a major supermarket. The likes of Ian Botham and Kevin Keegan turned out here; future England manager, Graham Taylor, was the son of a journalist who used to file his copy from the red telephone boxes at the back of the main stand.

The bulldozers moved in once Sainsbury's had fulfilled their part of the deal, building the new Glanford Park away on the outskirts of the town:

scunthorpe_aerial2.jpg

It was the first out of town "bowl" and apparently atmosphere wise it is not too bad for a modern ground, although traffic can be a nightmare at kick off and final whistle. It's a ground that was good enough for Championship football in the last few years, although the Iron are too small a club to survive at that level for long.

This ground opened in the summer of 1988. MacDiarmid hosted its first game in 1989, if memory serves. And, after that, it became chain reaction, the new ground building, with mixed results; Walsall, Chester, Clyde, Airdrie, Huddersfield, East Fife..and so on.

enough from me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has there ever been one of those "design" photos of a stadium, and the actual stadium built is completely different? Would be interesting to see the failed concept designs

The original plans for the Olympic Stadium at Stratford were very ambititous:

OlympicStadium1000x511.jpg

They were then very quietly dropped when someone was handed the bill:

120727064405-olympics-begin-7-27-05-hori

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Olympic stadium is ming. Such a dull stadium.

It was odd that out of all the venues, the one that should be the showpiece was the most underwhelming. The swimming pool and the velodrome were works of art, and even the some of the simple temporary ones like the equestrian and beach volleyball venues were spectacular because of the locations they were in (Royal Naval College and Horseguards Parade). The Olympic Stadium was just a bit sh*t.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't think the Gateshead one is going to happen. Going to struggle to attract decent crowds between Newcastle and Sunderland despite going well this season. Although if the disillusionment at sjp continues it could help the heed. It's my place of birth and I've never attended a game, try to avoid the place as much as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is where all the "modern out of town stadium" stuff started, in the UK anyway...Scunthorpe United.

They're looking to do it all again too. They're trying to sell Glanford Park for retail space and move not too far away from it. Discussions are ongoing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't think the Gateshead one is going to happen. Going to struggle to attract decent crowds between Newcastle and Sunderland despite going well this season. Although if the disillusionment at sjp continues it could help the heed. It's my place of birth and I've never attended a game, try to avoid the place as much as possible.

Yeah i saw their chairman recently complaining about lack of support somewhere, he must have deep pockets as they have a full time wage bill on average crowds of about 700.

Hard to tell if the ground will go ahead or not, it would transform the club if it did though. Without it, Gateshead will always be a fluctuating non league side with a small support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. Seems barking mad to demolish a stadium less than 30 years old, but money talks.

It does in theory but it looks a lot older than that and has old fashioned pillars holding up all the stands impeding views. It appears to have been built on the cheap,£2.5m according to wiki, which was virtually half of what McDiarmid cost a few months later. Looks like permanency was never on the agenda.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...