Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 11:12:00 GMT
In which case we should applaud Lansdown for developing a big ground on the original site. Absolutely. He may have wanted to move to Ashton Vale, but if I was a City fan, I would be delighted the way things turned out. There is a 'however' though. It's quite risky leaving your house unattended for 2 hours in Withywood. Take a look Here The DSS Arena site is smaller than The Mem site. If Wael was serious he would have made a start on plans to develop already. Back on topic. I agree, you can be sat in St Mary's, The Riverside, Stadium of Light, you can't tell one from the other, no 'soul' no atmosphere. Occasionally, if you go to something like Arse Vs Spurs you'll get a bit of something from the crowd, but it never has that 'raw' feeling that the old grounds used to generate. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 12:50:48 GMT
Absolutely. He may have wanted to move to Ashton Vale, but if I was a City fan, I would be delighted the way things turned out. There is a 'however' though. It's quite risky leaving your house unattended for 2 hours in Withywood. Take a look Here The DSS Arena site is smaller than The Mem site. If Wael was serious he would have made a start on plans to develop already. Back on topic. I agree, you can be sat in St Mary's, The Riverside, Stadium of Light, you can't tell one from the other, no 'soul' no atmosphere. Occasionally, if you go to something like Arse Vs Spurs you'll get a bit of something from the crowd, but it never has that 'raw' feeling that the old grounds used to generate.While I'd agree they are boring, there's plenty of examples on the continent of pretty similar stadiums creating fantastic atmospheres. The removal of terracing and pricing out of younger supporters is what I'd mainly put this down too. Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion as an example is a pretty standard, bland design holding around the same as St Mary's for instance. Chuck in ticket prices of €9 to stand on a terrace with a capacity of 11,000 and...
The atmosphere is a construct of a mixture of the Taylor Report and Premier League pricing.
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Feb 14, 2019 13:54:17 GMT
Absolutely. He may have wanted to move to Ashton Vale, but if I was a City fan, I would be delighted the way things turned out. There is a 'however' though. It's quite risky leaving your house unattended for 2 hours in Withywood. Take a look Here The DSS Arena site is smaller than The Mem site. If Wael was serious he would have made a start on plans to develop already. Back on topic. I agree, you can be sat in St Mary's, The Riverside, Stadium of Light, you can't tell one from the other, no 'soul' no atmosphere. Occasionally, if you go to something like Arse Vs Spurs you'll get a bit of something from the crowd, but it never has that 'raw' feeling that the old grounds used to generate. I agree - I think City lucked into something although I suppose to some extent Ashton Gate already had a lot of the qualities of an 'out of town stadium' anyway. Many City friends of mine moan that the 'New Gate' doesn't have the same atmosphere but it looks like a good set up to me. To some extent most of us are prone to that sort of nostalgia I suppose but there is something uninspiring about many of these grounds.
I think what the US experience showed, and the German approach too, is that the idea that you can either have a modern/safe/accessible stadium that is likely to be a bit sterile and dull or you have an old fashioned/atmospheric/characterful stadium that is also likely to feel intimidating and alienating to casual fans and families is clearly a false dichotomy. We're stuck with that binary debate in this country - bring up the issue of safe standing at English grounds and someone will always slap you down with 'do you want another Hillsborough?' or 'Families don't want it'. Talk about the need to provide more seating and someone will accuse you of 'destroying the atmosphere' but clearly Rovers do need a lot more seating to improve the matchday experience for many. It's quite possible to achieve all of these things if you apply just a little bit of imagination and get out of that either/or mentality -it should be genuinely possible to keep everybody happy here.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 14:27:20 GMT
There is a 'however' though. It's quite risky leaving your house unattended for 2 hours in Withywood. Take a look Here The DSS Arena site is smaller than The Mem site. If Wael was serious he would have made a start on plans to develop already. Back on topic. I agree, you can be sat in St Mary's, The Riverside, Stadium of Light, you can't tell one from the other, no 'soul' no atmosphere. Occasionally, if you go to something like Arse Vs Spurs you'll get a bit of something from the crowd, but it never has that 'raw' feeling that the old grounds used to generate.While I'd agree they are boring, there's plenty of examples on the continent of pretty similar stadiums creating fantastic atmospheres. The removal of terracing and pricing out of younger supporters is what I'd mainly put this down too. Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion as an example is a pretty standard, bland design holding around the same as St Mary's for instance. Chuck in ticket prices of €9 to stand on a terrace with a capacity of 11,000 and...
The atmosphere is a construct of a mixture of the Taylor Report and Premier League pricing.
One thing you see all the time is that PL clubs away support is more vocal than they manage at home, as you say, it's the all seater format, chuck in a load of tickets sold via agencies for every game so you always get 'tourists' in every area and it's difficult to get any atmosphere going at all. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 14:33:19 GMT
There is a 'however' though. It's quite risky leaving your house unattended for 2 hours in Withywood. Take a look Here The DSS Arena site is smaller than The Mem site. If Wael was serious he would have made a start on plans to develop already. Back on topic. I agree, you can be sat in St Mary's, The Riverside, Stadium of Light, you can't tell one from the other, no 'soul' no atmosphere. Occasionally, if you go to something like Arse Vs Spurs you'll get a bit of something from the crowd, but it never has that 'raw' feeling that the old grounds used to generate. I agree - I think City lucked into something although I suppose to some extent Ashton Gate already had a lot of the qualities of an 'out of town stadium' anyway. Many City friends of mine moan that the 'New Gate' doesn't have the same atmosphere but it looks like a good set up to me. To some extent most of us are prone to that sort of nostalgia I suppose but there is something uninspiring about many of these grounds.
I think what the US experience showed, and the German approach too, is that the idea that you can either have a modern/safe/accessible stadium that is likely to be a bit sterile and dull or you have an old fashioned/atmospheric/characterful stadium that is also likely to feel intimidating and alienating to casual fans and families is clearly a false dichotomy. We're stuck with that binary debate in this country - bring up the issue of safe standing at English grounds and someone will always slap you down with 'do you want another Hillsborough?' or 'Families don't want it'. Talk about the need to provide more seating and someone will accuse you of 'destroying the atmosphere' but clearly Rovers do need a lot more seating to improve the matchday experience for many. It's quite possible to achieve all of these things if you apply just a little bit of imagination and get out of that either/or mentality -it should be genuinely possible to keep everybody happy here.
Look at the parcel of land that stadium is squeezed into, we have more space. I wonder if that bloke is still maintaining the pitch at the old Rotherham ground? |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 15:13:49 GMT
I agree - I think City lucked into something although I suppose to some extent Ashton Gate already had a lot of the qualities of an 'out of town stadium' anyway. Many City friends of mine moan that the 'New Gate' doesn't have the same atmosphere but it looks like a good set up to me. To some extent most of us are prone to that sort of nostalgia I suppose but there is something uninspiring about many of these grounds.
I think what the US experience showed, and the German approach too, is that the idea that you can either have a modern/safe/accessible stadium that is likely to be a bit sterile and dull or you have an old fashioned/atmospheric/characterful stadium that is also likely to feel intimidating and alienating to casual fans and families is clearly a false dichotomy. We're stuck with that binary debate in this country - bring up the issue of safe standing at English grounds and someone will always slap you down with 'do you want another Hillsborough?' or 'Families don't want it'. Talk about the need to provide more seating and someone will accuse you of 'destroying the atmosphere' but clearly Rovers do need a lot more seating to improve the matchday experience for many. It's quite possible to achieve all of these things if you apply just a little bit of imagination and get out of that either/or mentality -it should be genuinely possible to keep everybody happy here.
Look at the parcel of land that stadium is squeezed into, we have more space. I wonder if that bloke is still maintaining the pitch at the old Rotherham ground? Snuck in to have a look before Rotherham (A) last season, a Sunday league side plays there. Was quite haunting tbh.
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Feb 14, 2019 15:54:50 GMT
Look at the parcel of land that stadium is squeezed into, we have more space. I wonder if that bloke is still maintaining the pitch at the old Rotherham ground? Snuck in to have a look before Rotherham (A) last season, a Sunday league side plays there. Was quite haunting tbh.
That's amazing, is that what it looks like now?! Cos it must mean someone is maintaining the stands to an extent as well....
Does it get used for films/tv?
I remember that Ninian Park stood for a fair few years after Cardiff moved out too.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2019 20:59:24 GMT
Snuck in to have a look before Rotherham (A) last season, a Sunday league side plays there. Was quite haunting tbh.
That's amazing, is that what it looks like now?! Cos it must mean someone is maintaining the stands to an extent as well....
Does it get used for films/tv?
I remember that Ninian Park stood for a fair few years after Cardiff moved out too.
Took thay photo when I was there, honestly it’s only a Sunday league team that apparently play there now. The ground is tended too and wouldn’t take a lot to get up to football league standard. It’s just utterly bizarre. |
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Rex
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Post by Rex on Feb 15, 2019 7:46:52 GMT
There is a 'however' though. It's quite risky leaving your house unattended for 2 hours in Withywood. Take a look Here The DSS Arena site is smaller than The Mem site. If Wael was serious he would have made a start on plans to develop already. Back on topic. I agree, you can be sat in St Mary's, The Riverside, Stadium of Light, you can't tell one from the other, no 'soul' no atmosphere. Occasionally, if you go to something like Arse Vs Spurs you'll get a bit of something from the crowd, but it never has that 'raw' feeling that the old grounds used to generate.While I'd agree they are boring, there's plenty of examples on the continent of pretty similar stadiums creating fantastic atmospheres. The removal of terracing and pricing out of younger supporters is what I'd mainly put this down too. Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion as an example is a pretty standard, bland design holding around the same as St Mary's for instance. Chuck in ticket prices of €9 to stand on a terrace with a capacity of 11,000 and...
The atmosphere is a construct of a mixture of the Taylor Report and Premier League pricing.
That is some seriously impressive support! |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2019 9:19:17 GMT
While I'd agree they are boring, there's plenty of examples on the continent of pretty similar stadiums creating fantastic atmospheres. The removal of terracing and pricing out of younger supporters is what I'd mainly put this down too. Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion as an example is a pretty standard, bland design holding around the same as St Mary's for instance. Chuck in ticket prices of €9 to stand on a terrace with a capacity of 11,000 and...
The atmosphere is a construct of a mixture of the Taylor Report and Premier League pricing.
That is some seriously impressive support! It's not out of the ordinary, especially for bigger games. In fact to a greater or lesser extent you'll see this in all four top levels of German football. It does just show that new boring stadiums can and will create atmosphere if they're fairly priced and include areas specifically built to cater for more vociferous support. The Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion isn't much different to many English "bowl" stadiums of the 90's and 00's but was built with supporters in mind.
Also worth noting most German grounds away sections also have terracing and seats (you can see the away section in the above photo).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2019 13:48:37 GMT
In a rather disappointing turn of events Dynamo Kyiv vs Olympiakos has been horribly priced with the cheapest seats being £1.40 and most expensive £14.00. Don't know if I can afford to go now... First leg ended 2-2 last night so the tie is nicely poised for the 2nd leg, quite looking forward to next Thursday now. On Friday we're going to an international basketball match between Ukraine and Montenegro on the Saturday night, and then onto Sunday with Arsenal-Kyiv vs Desna.
Next month is another trip to Germany with a revisit of Borussia Monchengladbach and new visits to SC Bonner and Eintracht Frankfurt with a couple of Gasheads. Now looking at maybe doing Middlesborough and Newcastle over Easter to make it 88/92.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2019 16:11:23 GMT
In a rather disappointing turn of events Dynamo Kyiv vs Olympiakos has been horribly priced with the cheapest seats being £1.40 and most expensive £14.00. Don't know if I can afford to go now... First leg ended 2-2 last night so the tie is nicely poised for the 2nd leg, quite looking forward to next Thursday now. On Friday we're going to an international basketball match between Ukraine and Montenegro on the Saturday night, and then onto Sunday with Arsenal-Kyiv vs Desna.
Next month is another trip to Germany with a revisit of Borussia Monchengladbach and new visits to SC Bonner and Eintracht Frankfurt with a couple of Gasheads. Now looking at maybe doing Middlesborough and Newcastle over Easter to make it 88/92.
For Middlesbrough you can just go to Southampton but board up all the local shop windows, ask everybody you talk to if they could reply using incoherent mumbles and arrange to have the wheels stolen off of your car. The experience will be identical. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2019 9:10:48 GMT
First leg ended 2-2 last night so the tie is nicely poised for the 2nd leg, quite looking forward to next Thursday now. On Friday we're going to an international basketball match between Ukraine and Montenegro on the Saturday night, and then onto Sunday with Arsenal-Kyiv vs Desna.
Next month is another trip to Germany with a revisit of Borussia Monchengladbach and new visits to SC Bonner and Eintracht Frankfurt with a couple of Gasheads. Now looking at maybe doing Middlesborough and Newcastle over Easter to make it 88/92.
For Middlesbrough you can just go to Southampton but board up all the local shop windows, ask everybody you talk to if they could reply using incoherent mumbles and arrange to have the wheels stolen off of your car. The experience will be identical. Ah, but have to get them all. What’s the point otherwise? Quite looking forward to it actually, Meeting a pal who’s an author there and we’ll get to shoot s**t about football and I’ll argue on my Dad’s behalf that Archie Stephens is Gas not Boro. |
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Rex
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Post by Rex on Feb 16, 2019 18:44:46 GMT
For Middlesbrough you can just go to Southampton but board up all the local shop windows, ask everybody you talk to if they could reply using incoherent mumbles and arrange to have the wheels stolen off of your car. The experience will be identical. Ah, but have to get them all. What’s the point otherwise? Quite looking forward to it actually, Meeting a pal who’s an author there and we’ll get to shoot s*** about football and I’ll argue on my Dad’s behalf that Archie Stephens is Gas not Boro. It was my 91st just after we had Sunderland away. I liked it, short walk from the town centre, with decent, friendly people in proper pubs. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2019 11:19:49 GMT
Trying to find a Saturday game in Kyiv and google translate is brilliant;
"The situation in group "B" intensified to the brink after "Meliorator" in nature literally tore victory in the Grinchintsev, and "Dinaz" expected to defeat "Kudrivka"."
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Rex
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Post by Rex on Feb 24, 2019 10:27:50 GMT
Off to Truro City v Woking on Tuesday. I went down there last year, but the snow put paid to the match. Then they moved to groundshare with Torquay, so I thought I had lost my chance. Delighted they are back home- albeit their future looks a little up in the air. Only a fiver to get in as well- bargain!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2019 13:39:05 GMT
Well, that was a fantastic weekend. Football aside Kiev is stunning, a beautiful mix of brutalist and beautiful with golden domes and Soviet architecture. Really can't recommend it enough. Oh and the beer and food was incredibly cheap. Wonderful. We got to Kiev on Thursday and had a mooch around near our hotel. As our hotel was next the railway station, Lokomotiv Kyiv's ground was just across the road. We headed over and heard the easily recognisable shouts and whistles of a football match. We stumbled in an under 18's match that had just started between Lokomotiv Kyiv and FCOK, in temperatures pushing -10 Lokomotiv ran out easy winners 4-0 in an entertaining game where both sides tried to play good football.  We then headed about half a mile down the road to CSKA Kyiv's ground for a look around, the ground next to the Ministry of Defence has seen a lot better days. The pitch was marked and goalposts were up but pitch was struggling after the long, cold Ukrainian winter. In its day it must have been a fantastic ground.  After a lovely bit of scran, we headed to the Olympic Stadium for Dynamo Kyiv against Olympiakos. The first leg ended 2-2 and we managed to pick up "posh seats" for only £14 (the cheapest seats on the night were only £1.40). The Olimpiyskiy is a beautiful stadium and of course held the Champions League Final in May, to start off with the stadium was pretty empty but soon packed out to an attendance of 50,000 (20,000 under capacity). Temperatures of -7 (feeling like -12) greeted us so we decided to have some beers to warm up. An end to end game ended 1-0 to the hosts, until the last five minutes the game could have gone either way but the Greeks seemingly threw their hat in after the 85th minute.    On Sunday it was off to the historic Dynamo Stadium now named after legendary Dynamo coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi. With Dynamo now playing games at the Olympic Stadium the old stadium now hosts Arsenal-Kyiv and exiled Olimpik Donetsk. The stadium is what you want when think of Eastern European football, an athletics ground, no roof and absolutely monstrous floodlights. In this game bottom Arsenal host mid-table Desna, Desna raced into a 1-0 lead within the first minute. The floodgates didn't open but Desna grabbed one in the second half and the game petered out. It wasn't the best but that's not the reason we went.    |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2019 9:19:22 GMT
After all of that a wholesome weekend in Devon awaits with a trip to Torquay - Weston. A nice little reminder of how bad it could have been.
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Rex
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Post by Rex on Mar 1, 2019 7:18:33 GMT
After all of that a wholesome weekend in Devon awaits with a trip to Torquay - Weston. A nice little reminder of how bad it could have been. I saw Torquay lose at Oxford City this season (I think it was their first defeat) half (or maybe more) of the crowd were Torquay, I get the feeling a few of them are enjoying what they hope will be a brief stay in that division much the way a few of us enjoyed our conference season. I saw Truro lose at home to Woking this week, again there were a large number of away fans, which was pretty impressive for a nigh on 500 mile round trip on a Tuesday night, and both sets of fans were joining in with a chant of how they 'f**king hate Torquay'. There were also a couple of people wearing Torquay colours at the game, strange night all round  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2019 10:33:18 GMT
Quiet couple of weekends, saw Weston beat Torquay at Plainmoor whilst down in Devon. Top vs bottom and a big upset, Weston played well in a game that had a feel like it was their cup final. Weston went 1-0 up early on, Torquay then threw everything and the kitchen sink at them eventually winning a penalty to make it 1-1. Torquay kept pushing and we caught on the break by a frankly brilliant goal late on.
Saturday saw a trip down to Bitton for their match against Bridgwater. The game ended 1-1 and was really entertaining, Bridgwater looked like they'd nicked it with a scruffy goal reasonably late on. Bitton however came back with a goal in injury time after a good cutback and finish from the edge of the box.
Next weekend it's another trip to Germany with a couple of Gasheads, off to Gladbach (I've already ticked it), Bonner and Eintracht Frankfurt. Lots of beer and plenty of wurst await.
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