whilst there is no denying the sol is a fantastic ground, what about the position? ok for most folks from the area its not a problem, how do you think away fans find the location, coming of the a19 and thinking god where am i going. and the parking etc. do you think its a shame permission was denied on the nissan land or are you happy where it is? that being said roker park was probably the hardest ground for anyone to find, often wondered how away fans got there by themselves. or do you know of a harder ground to find than roker park im not complaining i was born in fulwell, so from my view they are ideal
I'm probably going to get flamed for this but so what? I really don't like the SOL at all. I never have. I know that we had to leave Roker to progress as a club etc. In fact it isn't the SOL I don't like. It's modern stadia per se that just leave me cold. Too far away from the players who can no longer hear individual voices in the crowd. The intimacy has been lost. I don't think that the location of the SOL is great either, but it would have been a real mistake to move away from the traditional area for football in Sunderland. The characterless stadium would have been even more soulless on the A19 IMHO.
SOL was when the whole seating instead of standing came in, which really is a big negative imo, not that its sunderland's fault, just the whole nanny state thing. Just was never going to match up to the times experienced in the fulwell end. (that and i worked the opening year in a wonderfully exploitative 2.50 an hour job, yea negative connotations lol, graduated there too which was a bit in the plus column lol)
a lot of this was mentioned yesterday in the standing v terraces post sol cracking ground, but roker athmosphere not there
because you know where it is mate, what about roker park couldn't see that from anywhere, just how did anyone find it, must be the worst place ground ever
The thing about the SOL is that it looks bloody great and as the last post says you can see if from a long way away. I don't know how old some of the posters are on here. Younger fans won't have experienced anything else. When I take the kids I always wish that they could have experienced Roker. To go to that now they'd probably have hated it. My youngest went to his first game when he as 4. That would have been difficult at Roker if you weren't in a seat of course (and I never used to want to sit). I know that times have changed lads and I'm just an old fart now. Gan canny!
You couldn't see it but you could hear it. I was born over the river in Hendon and can still remember as a young kid the noise when Sunderland scored.
Totally agree about the new stadia, the atmosphere is zero, the SOL is bad enough but Sid James' is even worse. I think also its because its like tea on the vicar's lawn these days, the days of drunken singing and shouting and swearing are frowned upon, its more family orientated now.
Used to love Roker Park, started off as a bairn in the Clock Stand Paddocks, ÃÆÃââââ¬à ¡ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã7 to get in for a Junior (nod and a wink on the turnstiles) then when I was 17 graduated up to the Fulwell End. Being lifted bodily in the air and moved 20 yards when Marco scored, meat pies and bovril but most of all the noise and the atmosphere. After a fair few years away I have to say like other posters the SOL leaves me cold in many ways. It can be very sterile and soulless like all modern Stadia. The nearest I have ever seen to the old Roker noise was the Arsenal game earlier this season when the mercenary scored in injury time to equalise. Everyone raved about that atmosphere but it was like that for most of the match every week at Roker. Oh and you'd never see scenes like this at the SOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU8Lwixj6mk
Commachio - did you ever visit Millwall's old ground, the Den. Really tucked away in the back streets. What culinary delights for you tonight, by the way?
I think the location of the SoL is great. It would have been crap moving up to the Nissan site with hardly any pubs within walking distance... The SoL is also a very atmospheric stadium when fans can actually bother their arses and get behind the lads...
yes i did mate and the new den, used to live in surrey, and can honestly say these were trips i didn't look forward to. once there it was ok, but the journey to and from was a different matter. and tonight, WHEREWEREYOU im having a spicy tom yam (a spicy thai soup with prawns and squid) fried chicken with chilli and garlic, seafood fried rice, and a chicken penang (curry) all washed down with leo beer hope thats wetted your appetite for your tea tonight
Love Thai food me! Doing a Chilli tonight, washed down with a few cans. I was born and bred in south east London, and used to walk to the Den when I was a kid. Never in a red n white top, though!
Location wise the SOL is great, excellent for trains, buses and Metro and IMHO football grounds are much better for being in the centre of town instead of being dumped in a trading estate on the outskirts like the Britannia. A doddle to drive to as well - I drive in from Durham, use the excellent FREE park and ride then a couple of pints in The Colliery and on to the game. Queing for the free bus after the game can be a chore but then again at Roker you used to sit in a traffic jam for 40 minutes afterwards to get away from the match so it is all relative.
Like it or not for SAFC to move forward we needed a ground like the SoL and that is what we have got. I never went to a game at Roker (I'm quite a bit younger than you guys) but from what you say and my dad say it sounds great but times have changed I would not swap the SoL At the end of the day its the fans who make the atmosphere not the ground, you watch the champions league and europa league and especially the turkish fans such as Besiktas can make noise in anyground its just now as already been said a family orientated sport
As per the sitting v standing post, startd by Mr Cummins....Bring back terraces - behind the goals as in Germany. works a treat. North stand = the new 'fullwell', SWC is already a good progress on clock-stand paddocks.I'd like to see Titus or big Johnny Mensah throttle the modern day equivalent of David Speedie in there (the SWC) one day - who would that be? That would get the crowd going.
