Favourite quirks of Scottish stadiums.

[itzdrk]

38 minutes ago, CityDave said:

Aye looks a bit tight for space.

I don't know where they originally got some of the seats for the stadium as many were sun bleached. They had been yellow at some point in their life, maybe discarded from another football stadium, don't know many that would have a large number of sun bleached yellow ones. Shrewsbury, Watford, Cambridge Utd, Boston Utd???

And they are all over the place.  One of the rows only goes 3/4 of the way down as well. It's a fucking riot. 

Edited September 2, 2016 by itzdrk
Aso is not a word.

[CityDave]

1 minute ago, itzdrk said:

And they are all over the place.  One of the rows only goes 3/4 of the way down as well. It's a fucking riot. 

There should be no difference between either corner. one should be a mirror image of the other but it looks like someone had real trouble figuring this out.

[itzdrk]

3 minutes ago, CityDave said:

There should be no difference between either corner. one should be a mirror image of the other but it looks like someone had real trouble figuring this out.

The other corner appears to be even worse.  They probably shouldn't have bothered 

Edited September 2, 2016 by itzdrk

[AyrshireTon]

6 hours ago, GordonD said:

Does anybody have photos of Ibrox during the reconstruction? I remember seeing it on TV, with the area opposite the main stand fenced off and big JCB excavators digging the foundations of what's now the Govan Stand.

Here's a clip of it, with both ends built and the Govan stand still a shell.

[Caley fan]

Am I right in saying that Caley's ground isn't/wasn't that far away from Clach's? Never got the chance to visit either Caley or Thistle's grounds sadly.

Caleys park was on Telford st, about a 5/10 min walk from Clach's ground. So pretty close yes. Only born in 92 myself so unfortunately never got to either ground myself.

[Jimboyjones1976]

9 hours ago, CityDave said:

No, don't think they're allowed to build there as it would be too close to a gas pipe running along side the A9. And shivering is sometimes the right word to use in the winter time.

Thanks btw

 

 

 

I got some footage with my drone earlier this year up at ICT's stadium. You can see it in this film from 1.20 onwards. Was a great day. ICT were playing Celtic away so I parked in the car park in front of the stadium. I went over to the main door to ask if it was ok to park there and an old gentleman was locking up and going to his car. Turned out to be Kenny Cameron the Chairman. He then offered to take me round the ground for a tour so unlocked the doors and off we went. Proper nice guy. Spent an hour inside the ground chatting to him and finding out about running a football club. Also got told some interesting stories about the game but what was really interesting was his view on the fallout from the death of Rangers and how it affected all the other Scottish clubs. Top guy.

 

[Caley fan]

There is this site

http://www.invernessthistlefc.co.uk/

 

The ground was between Broadstone Avenue and Kingsmill Road where there is now the Kingsmills Care Home. The houses in the same block where the ground was stand out as new builds in among much older buildings that make up this part the Crown/Kingsmills area.

Thanks, will look out for it next time I'm in the area. not sure why but I always thought of Thistle as having a crap little park without any stands. No idea why. Gutted I could make it to either of the old grounds especially Telford st.

[The Mantis]

2 hours ago, jagfox99 said:

 

Not sure about location.

I took that one 

there's another photo was doing the rounds with flames coming out the roof 

[The Mantis]

1 hour ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Am I right in saying that Caley's ground isn't/wasn't that far away from Clach's? Never got the chance to visit either Caley or Thistle's grounds sadly.

If you look hard enough there's plenty about both of them in my Caley Nostalgia Page. Caley's last cup final was played at Kingsmills. The bad news is, it was designed back in the good old days of html and the mouseovers don't show properly on a tablet or phone. I doubt if I'll be doing any updates. 

[GordonD]

34 minutes ago, AyrshireTon said:

Here's a clip of it, with both ends built and the Govan stand still a shell.

Cheers for that, that's exactly what I remembered. Didn't think it was as late as 1980 though. Good job Morton scored that day or you wouldn't have kept the clip!

[AyrshireTon]

39 minutes ago, GordonD said:

Cheers for that, that's exactly what I remembered. Didn't think it was as late as 1980 though. Good job Morton scored that day or you wouldn't have kept the clip!

That clip (and the full highlights) have gone from an original Betamax recording to VHS to DVD to digital and finally YouTube!

[CityDave]

9 hours ago, itzdrk said:

The other corner appears to be even worse.  They probably shouldn't have bothered 

I don't mind flaws as long as they aren't dangerous. This would qualify Livingston's ground as quirky. I wonder if any other ground has flaws like that and I mean proper one not due to someone's taste.

 

[Salvo Montalbano]

Weren't Livingston's corners done to just creep over the crazy 10,000 seat rule? I'm sure their capacity was given as 10,004 - although given you'd need segregation in the stand opposite the Main Stand, the actual working capacity must have been a bit less?

[GordonD]

19 minutes ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Weren't Livingston's corners done to just creep over the crazy 10,000 seat rule? I'm sure their capacity was given as 10,004 - although given you'd need segregation in the stand opposite the Main Stand, the actual working capacity must have been a bit less?

10,004 or 10.050 if Mr. Blobby wasn't there.

[CityDave]

On the 10,000 SPL seat rule - For a football club the size of Airdrieonians at the time it was crazy to build a stadium of that size without a strong financial foundation and a support to fill at least a half of it (I know they were good for one season but they were living beyond their means to do that, had they gone up they would have still gone out of business), its the same for few like that in those crazy years from when the SPL was formed up until they relaxed the rule.

The Shyberry Excelsior probably the worst example from that era. Its a decent stadium on its own, but devoid of any character which is a shame because on past memory the Airdrie fans have a reputation for making a lot of noise (and the occasional shenanigans). There is also plenty of rivalry and history with fans of other clubs which would have made a slightly intimidating edgy home crowd atmosphere which is what you want if they had built a stadium to suit that club and where they were at the time. One stand and some terracing opposite and behind the goals (with an option to upgrade) would have been sensible.

 

 

[johnnydun]

2 minutes ago, CityDave said:

On the 10,000 SPL seat rule - For a football club the size of Airdrieonians at the time it was crazy to build a stadium of that size without a strong financial foundation and a support to fill at least a half of it (I know they were good for one season but they were living beyond their means to do that, had they gone up they would have still gone out of business), its the same for few like that in those crazy years from when the SPL was formed up until they relaxed the rule.

The Shyberry Excelsior probably the worst example from that era. Its a decent stadium on its own, but devoid of any character which is a shame because on past memory the Airdrie fans have a reputation for making a lot of noise (and the occasional shenanigans). There is also plenty of rivalry and history with fans of other clubs which would have made a slightly intimidating edgy home crowd atmosphere which is what you want if they had built a stadium to suit that club and where they were at the time. One stand and some terracing opposite and behind the goals (with an option to upgrade) would have been sensible.

 

 

Whats your story then CityDave? Why the huge interest in football grounds and large library of pics? 

Very interesting and informative! 

[itzdrk]

5 minutes ago, CityDave said:

On the 10,000 SPL seat rule - For a football club the size of Airdrieonians at the time it was crazy to build a stadium of that size without a strong financial foundation and a support to fill at least a half of it (I know they were good for one season but they were living beyond their means to do that, had they gone up they would have still gone out of business), its the same for few like that in those crazy years from when the SPL was formed up until they relaxed the rule.

The Shyberry Excelsior probably the worst example from that era. Its a decent stadium on its own, but devoid of any character which is a shame because on past memory the Airdrie fans have a reputation for making a lot of noise (and the occasional shenanigans). There is also plenty of rivalry and history with fans of other clubs which would have made a slightly intimidating edgy home crowd atmosphere which is what you want if they had built a stadium to suit that club and where they were at the time. One stand and some terracing opposite and behind the goals (with an option to upgrade) would have been sensible.

 

 

[CityDave]

1 hour ago, johnnydun said:

Whats your story then CityDave? Why the huge interest in football grounds and large library of pics? 

Very interesting and informative! 

I started taking photos of the grounds I have been to from 2006 onwards. I had been ground hopping for about 3 years previously before so unfortunately no photos from these. Finally completed all the Scottish League grounds in 2010 when I visited Annan Athletic. I've done the Highland League grounds except Turriff, Formartine Utd and Strathspey Th. I haven't done any Lowland or EoS or SoS. About half the grounds in the North Juniors and a good few in the West and East Juniors, many of these were in (the big) Scottish Cup. I've also been down to Hartlepool Utd. I tend to count grounds where I've seen a game rather than just standing outside, so I don't count Exeter City, Crewe or Carlisle Utd.......or the Meadowbank Stadium. I also collect souvenirs from the grounds, pin badges, scarves and pennants. They did take up too much room, so its just pin badges now.

In April 2010 I managed three games in three days. Annan Athletic on the Saturday, Blackburn Rovers on Sunday and Newcastle Utd on the Monday, just using public transport and only carrying around the clothes I was wearing, a change of socks and underwear in a bag in my jacket pocket and a toothbrush and toothpaste . That was quite an adventure since I had nowhere to stay and had to go looking for a hotel. It wasn't uncommon back then to go off for the weekend or for midweek, base myself in Glasgow and take in a couple of games.

Its been about 2 and a half years since I visited a new ground and I like the traveling as much as reaching the destination and watching the match. I would really to get back to doing this, but its difficult at the moment. Edinburgh City would be top of my list at the moment. I kind of regret not learning of the Pie & Bovril forum until about 2007 and then not joining until 2010, it would have been good to get the craic with supporters on here who were at these games.

Have you been to most of the grounds around Scotland on your travels?

Edited September 3, 2016 by CityDave

[johnnydun]

49 minutes ago, CityDave said:

I started taking photos of the grounds I have been to from 2006 onwards. I had been ground hopping for about 3 years previously before so unfortunately no photos from these. Finally completed all the Scottish League grounds in 2010 when I visited Annan Athletic. I've done the Highland League grounds except Turriff, Formartine Utd and Strathspey Th. I haven't done any Lowland or EoS or SoS. About half the grounds in the North Juniors and a good few in the West and East Juniors, many of these were in (the big) Scottish Cup. I've also been down to Hartlepool Utd. I tend to count grounds where I've seen a game rather than just standing outside, so I don't count Exeter City, Crewe or Carlisle Utd.......or the Meadowbank Stadium. I also collect souvenirs from the grounds, pin badges, scarves and pennants. They did take up too much room, so its just pin badges now.

In April 2010 I managed three games in three days. Annan Athletic on the Saturday, Blackburn Rovers on Sunday and Newcastle Utd on the Monday, just using public transport and only carrying around the clothes I was wearing, a change of socks and underwear in a bag in my jacket pocket and a toothbrush and toothpaste . That was quite an adventure since I had nowhere to stay and had to go looking for a hotel. It wasn't uncommon back then to go off for the weekend or for midweek, base myself in Glasgow and take in a couple of games.

Its been about 2 and a half years since I visited a new ground and I like the traveling as much as reaching the destination and watching the match. I would really to get back to doing this, but its difficult at the moment. Edinburgh City would be top of my list at the moment. I kind of regret not learning of the Pie & Bovril forum until about 2007 and then not joining until 2010, it would have been good to get the craic with supporters on here who were at these games.

Have you been to most of the grounds around Scotland on your travels?

Nowhere near it! Although I have been to Formartine and Turriff, only because Dundee played them both in a couple of pre season friendlys a few years ago and they are in close proximity to where I live. 

I find it difficult to travel to games on a weekend, I played Saturday  amateurs for years and then when I finished playing I already had kids and its hard to justify the cost to the wife. I will always take in the Dundee games if its Aberdeen, ICT or Ross County and I try to get to Dens as often as I can but the price ends up being about £80 - £100 if you include fuel etc.. 

Great pics and storys though mate! This thread has been an excellent read!

[mrcat1990]

Digging this thread alot. Part of me is tempted next season to ditch the season ticket for Thistle and tick off the 20 stadiums I've not visited yet. Imagine it gets a touch lonely without having a travel partner though.