Best/Worst Premiership Stadiums

[PauloPerth]

3 hours ago, Marshmallo said:

As an away fan (many years ago for many sadly), this is The Definitive List

1. Tynecastle

2. Easter Road

3. Almondvale (I wish we'd used this as a model for our new stadium)

4. New St Mirren Park

5. Rugby Park

6. Victoria Park

7. McDiarmid Park

8. Fir Park

9. New Douglas Park

10. Pittodrie

11. Ibrox

12. Celtic Park

Think I'd be similar, but with Rugby Park and st Mirren park numbers 8 and 9. And Pitttodrie at 11 I'm afraid.

[FTOF]

18 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

I don't think you'll get many St. Mirren fans who prefer it but there was a few major issues that meant Love Street's time was unfortunately up.

We had a level of debt that we simply couldn't clear and the bank were no longer willing to let us chip away at it on the never never, so I believe they remove our credit facility if memory serves.

Another issue that was definitely there but rarely mentioned is that the Main stand was absolutely finished as well. It was over 100 years old and very much at the end of it's life. It was ancient and tiny inside (hospitality generally ended up with loads of small groups in individual rooms....we were in a directors office one time and it didn't exactly feel like we were part of the hospitality party. The club knew they were missing out with this but had nowhere else to put folk)

Add to that, the fact that the main stand was in a fucking horrid spot that would have made rebuilding it difficult or impossible.There was no space for large vehicle access at the front of the stand and we couldn't build backwards due to the residential houses over the wall and we would have probably resulted in ground sharing for a period as any large vehicles would've had to use the pitch for access.

I mean, it's a dreadful shame. We'd spent a fortune on the ground relatively recently to get it into a good shape. We spent £1.5m to build the Caley stand in 1992 and kitted it out with a pretty state of the art gym for it time, a wee bar and 2 good indoor 5s pitches, £500k to do the Express stand behind the other goal in 2000 (a shameful thing as we had our arm twisted by SPL 10,000 seat rules at a time where we were pulling about 5,000 per match) and then £150k on USH in 2007.

I don't think moving was ever really in the bigger plan, even as late as the early to mid 2000s until it became a very pressing issue very quickly and the cost of having further improvements coupled with the bank's insistence forced us to make moves.

 

Wasn't some of the Tesco money used to build the Ralston training ground and youth academy?

£500K if I remember correctly.

I'm sure it was Gus MacPherson who pushed for such a sizeable amount to be spent on the training ground. It has proved to be a splendid investment.

So, that might account for certain features that were missing in the ground initially.

Edited May 15, 2020 by FTOF

[djchapsticks]

1 minute ago, FTOF said:

Wasn't some of the Tesco money used to build the Ralston training ground and youth academy?

£500K if I remember correctly.

I'm sure it was Gus MacPherson who pushed for such a sizeable amount to be spent on the training ground.

So, that might account for certain features that were missing in the ground initially.

Ralston is owned by council and we have 99 year let on it.

Doesn't mean Tesco didn't fund it but I didn't think so.

[killiepiemuncher]

Ralston is owned by council and we have 99 year let on it.
Doesn't mean Tesco didn't fund it but I didn't think so.

Did Tesco ever build their supermarket? I can’t think of one being at Love Street.

[djchapsticks]

22 minutes ago, killiepiemuncher said:

Did Tesco ever build their supermarket? I can’t think of one being at Love Street.

No, they paid £8m for the site and then another site in the North end of the town opened up about 3 or 4 years later (closer to the Motorway and the town centre). It was essentially bought by Tesco to stop Sainsbury's buying it as they were looking to open a store in Paisley.

Tesco then redeveloped the second site for their supermarket instead.....then pulled out of that late on in the process as well with everything flattened and ready to start building.

In the end, the Love Street site was sold to a local housing association for about half the price Tesco paid for it (in last year, all houses have been completed which is a sad sight) and they sold the second site to a new developer where a Lidl and Dunelm later opened. They opened a big store in Linwood instead.

So they paid probably in the region of £12m all in to keep other supermarkets from opening stores in the area and ended up with no superstore in Paisley themselves. Mental the money they pissed away.

[Blaze]

Ground was cleared and lay empty for years. Houses built on it now. All streets named after St Mirren legendsvoted for by the fans.

Did Tesco ever build their supermarket? I can’t think of one being at Love Street.

[FTOF]

Ralston is owned by council and we have 99 year let on it.

Doesn't mean Tesco didn't fund it but I didn't think so.

It's a 60 year let and it was mostly paid for by Tesco money.

 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/st-mirren-agree-ralston-training-2606446

 

[The Golden God]

Tynecastle was, first time I went there was when Lennon got attacked and it was the best atmosphere at any game I’ve ever been to, you can’t beat 90 minutes of sheer hatred. The away stand is terrifying aswell, extremely steep, I remember being like 5 rows from the front at the main stand side during that game and after the guy tried to hit Lennon I never watched a second of the game it was just concentrating on the riot building because of fans of both sides trying to get to the opposition. Was some night.

[Desp]

On 14/05/2020 at 19:59, djchapsticks said:

There was always a bit of a groundswell of opinion to open it to home fans. Best seat in the house going to away fans etc. I only remember it being open to home fans once, when we beat Raith 3-0 to win the league.

I was at the last game at Love Street (a drab 0-0 against Motherwell) and we only had half of the away end (Main Stand side) with St Mirren fans taking the other side. 

[MacGafraidh]

Top three for me

1) Tynecastle - on it’s day it can be a great atmosphere
2) Easter Road - depends where they seat you but can also be a great atmosphere. Also decent pubs.
3) Rugby Park - decent away stand, can see the game, good pubs.

worst three all for the same reason

Ibrox/Parkhead/Pittodrie - stuck in a corner with the worst views in the stadium.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

Tynecastle is a steep death trap with narrow seats. I damn near killed myself there during the semi against the Fermers. 

By far the best ground for away fans in Easter Road, especially if you get in the top tier of the away stand. Brilliant sight lines, a good atmosphere (we normally win there) and pubs within 5 minutes walk. 

The worst is a toss up between the windswept B&Q shitholes in Perth and Hamilton. I hate both of them, they're worthy joint winners. 

[A96]

5 hours ago, MacGafraidh said:

worst three all for the same reason

Ibrox/Parkhead/Pittodrie - stuck in a corner with the worst views in the stadium.

Highly debatable as to whether the away section at Pittodrie is the worst view  , although it’s certainly not the best.  For most visiting teams , their fans can usually be housed comfortably in the upper parts of sections Q and R (or as often as not , just section R).  So, in effect no worse a view than section W (where many Dons fans, including myself , have their season ticket) or much of section V.

Also not much , if any worse than the sections at each end of the Main stand , which has the added possible obstruction of the old pillars supporting the roof.

I would conced though that the away section bears the brunt of the icy blast from the North Sea....(heh , heh, heh!!!)

Edited May 17, 2020 by A96

[A96]

Meant to attach this stadium plan with my last post

[RandomGuy.]

On 15/05/2020 at 20:56, The Golden God said:

The away stand is terrifying aswell, extremely steep

Has nothing on the stand behind the goal at Love Street.

Celebrated a goal by jumping out my seat and felt like I was about to land on the pitch.

Horrifying experience if you dont like heights.

[ScoRoss]

Easter Road and Tynecastle are by far the best overall away days in the Premiership. 

[Flybhoy]

On 12/05/2020 at 16:15, RandomGuy. said:

Hamiltons ground isnt horrendous, tbf. You get cracking sight lines from each stand, and even when you're queuing for a pie.

Pittodrie is probably becoming one of the worst, abysmal facilities, dreadful to sit in and loses a lot of atmosphere. 

Edinburgh sides clearly have the best stadiums.

Surprised at Pittodrie getting several votes, can only imagine it is the Dandies voting for it, bar the relatively new Richard Donald stand it is, by and large a crumbling shitehole, if the away section is full and you are near the back of it forget trying to get any kind of decent view of the goal to your left.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

46 minutes ago, Flybhoy said:

Surprised at Pittodrie getting several votes, can only imagine it is the Dandies voting for it, bar the relatively new Richard Donald stand it is, by and large a crumbling shitehole, if the away section is full and you are near the back of it forget trying to get any kind of decent view of the goal to your left.

Without a hint of irony from Sir David of Coachshire.

Hows the lockdown going Mags?

[Flybhoy]

50 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Without a hint of irony from Sir David of Coachshire.

Hows the lockdown going Mags?

Got my Covid test on Friday as I'm a service industry worker, in people's houses every day repairing boilers etc, got my all clear text this morning, probably got umpteen other viruses though

[MacGafraidh]

4 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Has nothing on the stand behind the goal at Love Street.

Celebrated a goal by jumping out my seat and felt like I was about to land on the pitch.

Horrifying experience if you dont like heights.

I had some friends who were Thistle fans who nicknamed it “the ski slope stand”

[PauloPerth]

1 hour ago, Flybhoy said:

Surprised at Pittodrie getting several votes, can only imagine it is the Dandies voting for it, bar the relatively new Richard Donald stand it is, by and large a crumbling shitehole, if the away section is full and you are near the back of it forget trying to get any kind of decent view of the goal to your left.

If you click on the number who voted for Pittodrie as the best ground it tells you all the voters. I think all bar one were Aberdeen fans surprisingly enough.  A few other clubs will probably be the same.

I think the opening comment on the same thread for the lower leagues said something along the lines of avoid voting for your home ground.  Would make it a more interesting set of results if it was the case here.