What makes a good stadium

applehunter

Waching the Premiership tonight Dunphy and Giles talked about how Frattan Park is a old fashioned English ground and it has great tradition.

What makes a good ground for you?

el rabitos

my biased opinion would be anfield. lots of history, well known and legendary kop end, relatively small stadium, built like a fortress ie. no gaps in the stadium at the corners and whatnot. it holds in a good atmosphere.

thats my very biased opinion anyway. i love anfield

A Dub in Glasgo

On a European night, I would say Celtic Park. Great singing and great togetherness.

On a normal game, I would say Tynecastle. Good and tight stadium where everyone enjoys it.

BillyBoy

Fortress fratton, its gotta be. I reckon the stadiums that the pitches are right next to the stands, and fans, have the best atmosphere, thus the best stadiums to go to (if ur into exciting footie, if not then Old Trafford or Anfield for the history I suppose). Pompey fans got voted best in the Prem last season cause we sing whether were winning or losing!

PHB

The best stadiums are smaller imo. It's tough to fill any ground that holds 60k+ with die hard fans week in week out, but 40k is definally doable. Whenever taems move into bigger stadiums there is always a drop in atmosphere.
40k is my ideal size

mike65

Tight and full makes a good stadium. No more than 3 tiers and no exposed corners. No running track!

Mike.

KdjaCL

Close to the pitch with a low roof for accoustics.

Running track a big no no. Also practically vertical seating ala san siro or even worse the satelite view Nou Camp Old Trafford in that looking left or right and you can see Satelites, too high.


kdjac

godtabh

I think the fans is what makes a stadium.

I've been to the Amsterdam ArenA twice. Once to see Ajax - Lyon in the CL and the other to watch Ireland - Holland in 2002. The Ireland - Holland match was possible the best game I've ever been to. The stadium was unreal and the buzz there I wouldnt know how to describe. But on the other hand the Ajax game didnt have the same atmosphere.

I've been to the Stadio Gusepper Meazza a few times. Once for the Milan derby and second to see Inter- Ajax. Again the atmoshpere in the first game was unreal while the second game was a let down.

I agree as well that you have to be up close the the game. Look at the Stadio Stadio delle Alpi. Holds one of the worlds most supposted teams in Juve but is rarely half full (bug games like the Derby of Italy or against AC)

I've been to a few Major League Soccer games. THe stadiums are unreal but have tiny crowds and it isnt the same as seeing 80000 fans good mad when your team wins

Mr_Roger_Bongos

What kearnsr says is right, it depends on the occasion, who's playing and when.

Im a Manchester United fan. I've been to the ground for matches 12 times, and the atmosphere has varied hugely. I've been to 2 european matches and 1 mid-week match and on these occasions and the place was absolutely rocking. The reason being that, the majority of the people who go out of there way to go to a match during a working week are true fans, and obviously there would be a higher presence of fans from manchester.

Saying that, i've been to league matches mid season and come away disappointed that the away fans nearly made more noise, and they were losing!!

I suppose all venue's have their days, what makes a stadium really great is the fans who make it great every week. That's why i'd like to see places like Fratton park and Celtic park, i'd say they're consistently good. Another thing i notice is that you always get areas of the ground that never sing, normally the stands behind the goals provide all the atmosphere (anfield, villa park, old trafford, even the stadio olympico in rome!), i suppose a magic ground would be where everyone sings!

MrJoeSoap

BillyBoy wrote:

Fortress fratton, its gotta be. I reckon the stadiums that the pitches are right next to the stands, and fans, have the best atmosphere, thus the best stadiums to go to (if ur into exciting footie, if not then Old Trafford or Anfield for the history I suppose). Pompey fans got voted best in the Prem last season cause we sing whether were winning or losing!

It helps to leave your opposition fans with no roof over their head!

I don't really mind what a ground is like so long as it has decent enough shelter, a good atmosphere and good football!

Thats the Carlisle Grounds ruled out so!

Dr Galen

http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/wc2006/stadiums/hamburg-stadium.html

i like this one and look at the price.....we should get some Germans to build a stadium for us. God sake 100 mil isn't that much anymore in financing terms.

Anfield is amazing btw, on a derby game etc the atmosphere is amazing

cournioni

The Dell.

MrJoeSoap

PORNAPSTER wrote:

The Dell.

So tight and claustraphobic that Mark Hughes once scored a goal and the ball hit the ad boards, bounced back and hardly anyone noticed! I remember Michael Owen ending up about 6 rows back after falling into the crowd as well.

Still, it only held 15,250 odd and clearly Saints had a much bigger fanbase.

Zebra3

A quality terrace makes a good ground. Look at Dortmund's ground. A 25,000 triple tier terrace!!!

At least in Italy when they put seats in, they don't have any backs on them and the stands are almost as good as terracing to the fans behind the goal.

Big problem in Britain for atmosphere is that fans are stuck in a designated seat and the hardcore can't meet up together. While the British grounds don't have running tracks, too many footie 'tourists' and bandwagoners have destroyed the atmosphere at most top division games. Even Sky acknowledged a long time ago how poor the atmosphere at Premiership grounds are by artifically increasing the noise (if any) made by fans at their live games.

Really looking forward to Drogheda United opening their new ground. Should be a big boost to the LoI.

Fitzo

MrJoeSoap wrote:

So tight and claustraphobic that Mark Hughes once scored a goal and the ball hit the ad boards, bounced back and hardly anyone noticed! I remember Michael Owen ending up about 6 rows back after falling into the crowd as well.

Still, it only held 15,250 odd and clearly Saints had a much bigger fanbase.

mark Hughes did that against leeds and the ref didnt allow it cause he didnt think it went in!

blu_sonic

what makes a good stadium?
good fans

Kingp35

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Thats the Carlisle Grounds ruled out so!

Harsh, you sometimes see good football

My favourite stadium is Croke Park. Your right close to the pitch, amazing view wherever you sit and top class facilities. Also the atmosphere in the hill is something else.

Celtic Park would be my favourte football stadium for the passion of the fans.

Pigman II

Modern stadia are rubbish.

Before the "stadia revolution" in England in the late 1990'sI used to be a great advocate of the "unified" stadium style but now I miss ones that were done in piece-meal fashion over generations as they actually had character. You can actually see their architectural history by the in ground variation from section to section. It will be unfortunate when Liverpool and Arsenal leave their current homes and move into their into their new charmless 'bowls' imho.

Architecturally speaking what I like is...

1. terraces
2. old-style flootlight pylons (as opposed to ones integrated into the roof)
3. stands/terraces as close as possible to the pitch .

(basically the closer it looks like the classic 'subbuteo stadium' from the 80's the better )

Don't change a thing Fratton Park!

MrJoeSoap

Pigman II wrote:

Don't change a thing Fratton Park!

Might be too late!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Fratton_Park#Future_development