Morning all, I have many times seen some of the Pompey lads criticise our lovely stadium as "an Ikea flat pack". Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? But as someone who doesn't go to the away games, and let's leave Nottarf out of this for the moment, is there a grain of truth? Are "Grounds" better than stadiums in any way? This is not intended as a bash Fratton thread, so those who do travel might have an opinion worth sharing.
There is a sameness about many of the new stadia especially where clubs have gone for a low cost development. My all time favourite ground was Highbury as it made me feel I was back in my childhood as the design was reminiscent of my early years. The Emirates is iconic and in a way I wish we had made an effort to make St Marys special in some architectural way. Having said all that I loved the Dell but I would not swap St Mary's for it now and I feel that if the Pompey fans had a new stadium like ours and several other clubs they would be pleased and would not want to go back to Fratton Park. In their heart of hearts they know they need to move on but in the meantime when you are struggling and your old adversary is on the up you have to find ways of knocking them and making yourself feel better so don't take the comments about our stadium from the Pompey fans too seriosly as it is about envy which they cannot cope with so they pretend to mock us.
The term 'ground' conjures up imagery of the somewhat halcyon days of supporting one's team standing on the terraces. Unfortunately many grounds are now rather dated and/or dilapidated such as FP with limited capacity. A ground is a rather dated concept now and the footballing world has moved forward. For economic and commercial reasons, it is in the interests of a club to have a stadium (like Pride Park or St Marys), if the local infrastructure and fan base warrants it. Ideally this would translate into further investment and make the club a more attractive proposition and we all know the happy story of Markus...
I watch football with a decent view of a beautiful pitch. There are lots of ladies loos with working hot water taps. What's not to like!
It's a mixed bag in my opinion. Some of the modern stadiums are quite generic and have little character in their appearence, dare I say it, St Marys could well feature in that category. Other modern stadiums such as Wembley, The Emirates and the Etihad Stadium (Man City) are fantastic and interesting to look at. On the other hand, some of the older grounds like Craven Cottage, Hillsborough and Villa Park (although modified) are very interesting grounds also, full of character and charm. Other old grounds are grotty and dull like Selhurst Park (no disrespect intended) for example.
I think that SMS was cheap because we didn't go for any ground-breaking designs. It kept costs down to go for the tried and tested. Using saintgreg's examples, we were never in the same market as England, Arsenal or Man City. And look at the problems and high costs they had with Wembley. SMS is functional..it's what on the pitch that counts. Pompey fans may mock but most would kill for a stadium like ours...though their fans would have to keep moving to make the ground look full!
I think the only problem with St Marys and possibly all new stadiums is that the fans are not closer to the pitch. Pompey fans like other fans before, don't like the idea of change, move ground and Change name, Its part of the clubs history. I used to be like that when there was talk of moving from the Dell but i wouldn't change anything now except fans should have been closer to the pitch to make it a little more intimidating for home advantage.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but with regard to St Marys; I think the distance between the edge of the pitch and the first row of seating is determined by UEFA criteria in order to make sure the stadium is 4 star standard. At least there aren't many stadiums with an olympic track around the edge like there are in Europe, i'd hate to be that far from the action!
Agree with all the former comments really. The old style grounds were better however that was when it was terracing. As soon as it became sit down they lost that feel and of course numbers too. I remember beiing in the Lincoln end with my mates at the Dell in 97 and the stewards telling the Lincoln fans through megaphones to sit down. Not just a few times. It was virtually 90 minutes of it and it somewhat made me long for the old days. Even when I go to the 'might Imps' (or not so mighty. lol) I would always head straight for the back of the stands so I could stand. I don't like sitting. Too much Up and Down etc So yes stadiums are better
I have to go with Stadium.. but then again i do have a strange obsession with stadiums. There's just something about stadium design and capacity that gets me interested, i guess I'm strange like that. On the subject of stadiums, if Saints were to go up and we eventually extended our stands like Cortese hoped i reckon a design similar to Lang Park would be neat. please log in to view this image Bottom tier kind of looks similar to Saint Marys with the tunnels moved to the corners, and the roof cut off
I like st marys,unrestricted views and no bloody pillars getting in the way.Don't care if anyone calls it a flat pack stadium,especially pompey fans whos ground started off as a flat packed shed!
I guess trainspotting lost its charm with the demise of steam Have to say I saw some nice grounds (from the outside) whilst holidaying in Spain and Portugal. Braga was lovely.
The only real criticism I have is the quality of the acoustics, no attempt has been made to improve the tannoy which is completely useless in the Kingsland South, you simply cannot understand what is being said at all, this has safety connotations too.
There is one ground in the Portuguese L1 that only has 3 stands. One end is the rock face of a cliff so the ground has only 3 sides to it. Similar to Monaco having that open arched end. Must be strange but quite cool and eccentric. EDIT: It is Braga and it isn't 3 sided it is 2 sided. Long time ago I saw it please log in to view this image
Hear hear to that. I can see every inch of the pitch, it is easy to get to my seat & I can easily get out of the ground at the final whistle. Furthermore, with the decent crowds we are getting the atmosphere is very good indeed. I think stadia should be of a certain standard to play in the top two divisions - a move that would see a few clubs excluded (no names mentioned) With memories of the tragedy at Bradford City old stadium I would think the old wooden stands present more than a small risk of fire.
If you want to see some weird football stadiums, check this link: http://www.footbo.com/Blogs/37057-12_Worlds_Weirdest_Stadiums
