The world of fizzy pop

No really, I mean it.

Speaking as somebody who has visited their share of rubbish grounds (step forward Kitkat Crescent, with its open air toilets/wall with a trough at the bottom) I can safely say Layer Road is the worst ground I have ever visited.

Not only is it an hour walk from the nearest train station, it is also practically impossible to find by car unless you have a Duke of Edingburgh Gold Award.   Even if you do manage to find said dump by car, you then have to find somewhere to park.  In my experience, this often led to a hyper extended detour around town, which usually ended when you realised you were back at the train station and 5 miles from the stadium.

If you did manage to find the ground, and obtain a ticket for the huge away terrace that holds 16 people, you then had to put up with obstructed views from a terrace that somehow managed to place your eyeline below the pitch? Go figure.  Not only that, but you had to then use the toilet (note, singular, not plural)  I am not going to attempt to describe it; those that have visited said hole in ground will know just how bad it is.

That said, despite, in fact BECAUSE of all this, it was one of my favourite grounds.  Why? Easy. Because it was FUN. 

Yes you couldn’t find it, but then meant liaising with local randoms and offering students 10p to escort you to the ground.  Yes the toilets were rank, but it was always fun engraving your teams name in what, I presume, was once a door but has long since become merely a few splinters of wood, such were the volume of the aforementioned engravings. Yes the home end behind the goal looked like the Dell. Remember? that stand that was only 3 rows deep at one side because of the road behind the ground?  Well, I say Layer Road was like that, except it never actually got above being 3 rows deep.

And what do ‘they’ give the fans to replace this stadium?  This;

That’s right.  A nice symmetrical, all covered, all restricted view free, soulless, husk of a stadium located just off a major road in the carpark of a newly spawned retail park.  Credit must also be given to the planners who managed to locate the stadium even further from the nearest train station.  I for one will not be paying £26 to stand what feels like a mile from the pitch to sit and watch a league 1 game next season there, despite living no more than 20 miles from the stadium. 

Why? Well, give me one reason why I should? I’ve been to the JJB, so whats the point.

So, will this stadium be a ’success.’  Well it may bring in more money for the club.  Tickets have jumped by around 20% in price for next season, despite the clubs relegation.  Of course, if the developers had any sense they will have bought the blueprints for the Ricoh Arena/JJB Stadium/Walkers Stadium/St Mary’s/ Stadium MK (how long did that marketing meeting take?) and saved on costs.

Will the fans like it? Ask the fans of Wigan, Oxford, Coventry, Doncaster, The MK Carparkdwellers, Darlington etc what it’s like trying to create an atmosphere in an open ground with only half its capacity.  I can guess at their answers. 

It, for me, is a sad day. Personally, I do not look forward to the day when we travel each weekend to one identikit stadium after enough, along dual carriageways that take us right to the front door a stadium where you can only drink at the sponsors bar in the away end due to the fact you are 5 miles from the nearest conurbation.

Now I know I may be in the minority, but I love these ‘crap’ stadiums. The likes of Kenilworth Road, The Memorial Ground (another we are about to lose to the clutches of the ‘…Football Club Limited’ disease) Whaddon Road are all different from one another. They have their own character and create their own experience.  I just hope there are enough of them around to make travelling the country following your side enjoyable for as long as my legs/wallet/misses allows me to do it.

Fin