Favorite Small Stadium (- 20,000)

[SouthBank]

Originally Posted by Benjuk

I remember Danny Baker complaining once that the New Den had started to fall apart after 3 or 4 years because the builders had used cheap materials... Is that true?

Nice little ground. Back in the heady days of Championship Manager (version 2 I think), I had a lovely picture of the ground that I had amended to fill in the corners. Looked very nice. At that point I had a bit of a soft spot for Millwall (took them to 2nd in the Premiership too). I've grown out of it now though, and hate them like the rest of the world. I think Denis Wise had something to do with it, and Mark McGhee.

Well I've been going to the ground since it opened in '93 and it did go through a dodgy patch after about 5 years because the club seemed to assume that as it was new they didn't need to spend any money on maintainance... luckily this is no longer the case, and the ground is arguably looking largely better than when it opened, with less exposed breeze blocks and a bit more soul..

The stadium was also designed to have the corners filled in without the need to demolish anything else, as well as for the West stand being built strong enough to handle a third tier if needed, though with our current form this seems unlikely for now..

Glad you no longer have a soft spot for Millwall - wouldn't sit well with our 'no-one likes us' mentality! This happened when we played Man Utd in the FA Cup final a few years ago and everyone wanted Millwall to win - felt so wrong!

Originally Posted by NeilF

I always thought that something like The Den is what the IFA should have tried / be trying to do with Windsor Park. It's a simple design, doesn't require a lot of space and is about the right capacity.

Agreed - from what I remember one of Windsor Park's stands looks remarkably similar to those at The Den anyway, so it would have worked well. Are there any plans to mirror the 2 newer stands on the other sides of the ground for a bit of uniformity?

[Benjuk]

Originally Posted by SouthBank

Glad you no longer have a soft spot for Millwall - wouldn't sit well with our 'no-one likes us' mentality!

I still think that the "no one likes us, we don't care, we are Millwall..." etc., is the best football chant to come out of the South of England.

[NeilF]

Originally Posted by SouthBank

Agreed - from what I remember one of Windsor Park's stands looks remarkably similar to those at The Den anyway, so it would have worked well. Are there any plans to mirror the 2 newer stands on the other sides of the ground for a bit of uniformity?

The North Stand at Windsor Park is almost a replica of the stands at The Den and the new Alex Russel stand is very similiar, only it is a one tier stand, with an upper and lower section divided by a wall, rather than by a tier split.

The IFA is current discussing two main options for the future of international football in Northern Ireland, niether of which involve Windsor Park;

The first is the proposed stadium at the Maze, but with a proposed capacity of 42,000 and with a lower deck with filled corners, it seems utterly useless as a national stadium for the IFA - capacity is too large and segregation, due to the problems in Northern Irish football, would be incredibly difficult.

The other more logical option is another proposed stadium in the Ormeau Park, just across the river from central Belfast - with a proposed capacity of between 20,000 and 25,000 and four main stands, this seems a much more realistic prospect and would like bring Ulster Rugby on board, as they are slowly outgrowing the limitations of their ground, Ravenhill, which only has a capacity of 12,500, but routinely has much greater demand for tickets.

However, given the fact that The Maze stadium seems to be floundering and losing considerable support, especially given a recent comparative study between it and other white elephants (mostly, Del Alpi), and the relative uncertainty about whether or not the Belfast City stadium will go ahead, I think the IFA should be looking at replacing the two remaining stands at Winsdor, given increasingly stringent UEFA controls reducing the capacity all the time. With appropriate plans, this could easily be completed with no real drop (about 200 seats and no more) in capacity - with three developed ends, Windsor would have a capacity of about 17,000 (as opposed to 14,000 now) allowing the south stand to be demolished and corporate hospitality built into it.

Stadium at Ormeau Park




If the 20,000 capacity option is followed, the Ormeau Stadium would surely have to be added to the best small stadia in the world.

[SouthBank]

Seems to make sense that rugby and football share a ground in Northern Ireland seeing as they both seem to need it as much as each other - great opportunity.

Hadn't considered the segregation issue in NI in relation to stadium design - shame that it has to be like that, but I suppose it's only similar to what most teams face in league football around the world, just worse. To use The Den as an example since it's been discussed here; one of the main reasons it was made four seperate stands rather than a single bowl was due to the fact that Millwall has that well-publicised hooligan element that don't seem to take too well to sitting or even walking alongside their opposite numbers...

[NeilF]

It certainly makes more sense than the Maze development; the one big beef is that the city council are proposing a dog track around the pitch - but there are rumours of retractable stands at each end (the main reason for 4 seperate stands on the bottom tiers) to compensate for this. For all three sports proposed to be played at the Maze, the City of Belfast is a better option - it allowed the GAA to expand the facilities and increase profits from Casement Park and it would enable Ulster Rugby and Northern Ireland to play in front of larger crowds, as per demand, when expansion of their own homes is difficult or impossible.

[legslikeaspider]

somebody bung a picture of Tynecastle in edinburgh up. its a great wee stadium. three sides are very nice and modern although the old main stand needs attention to say the least, although it was designed by Archibald Leitch who built among others, Highbury, Villa Park, Ibrox and Goodison.

[Benjuk]

Originally Posted by legslikeaspider

somebody bung a picture of Tynecastle in edinburgh up. its a great wee stadium. three sides are very nice and modern although the old main stand needs attention to say the least, although it was designed by Archibald Leitch who built among others, Highbury, Villa Park, Ibrox and Goodison.

Och aye, ahl dee it for yee ya lazy wee bairn...

Great wee (18008 capacity) stadium...


Very nice and modern...


In need of attention...


Leitch did a lovely job on the main stand at Roker Park too - they kept some of the lattice work and still have it in the car park at the Stadium of Light.

[basket23]

My vote goes to Craven Cottage. Saw a game there about a year ago, and it is just a special place!

[legslikeaspider]

Originally Posted by Benjuk

Och aye, ahl dee it for yee ya lazy wee bairn...


Leitch did a lovely job on the main stand at Roker Park too - they kept some of the lattice work and still have it in the car park at the Stadium of Light.

Cheers, thanks for putting those up. I really need to learn how to use photobucket...

I've been reading a great book called 'Heartfelt' about a Hibs fan who decides to see if he can become a hearts fan for a year. His descriptions of the Tynecastle atmosphere are what made me think of it for the best small stadium thread. He also did a bit of research about the Archibald Leith stand, saying that its not a classic by his mighty standards as he was too busy building Goodison at the time.

[patroeski]

Originally Posted by basket23

My vote goes to Craven Cottage. Saw a game there about a year ago, and it is just a special place!

It got style written all over it:

[Wezza]

Craven Cottage has got a certain charm to it alright!

[Scarecrow]

He also did a bit of research about the Archibald Leith stand, saying that its not a classic by his mighty standards as he was too busy building Goodison at the time.

Good on Archie. His stands were built to last. With a few alterations (new roof, floodlights and seating) his Bullens Road and Gwladys Street stands are still in use.

[skaP187]

eh 20 000 limit? looks bigger!

[Scarecrow]

I didn't post it as a 'small stadium' pic, just an example of Archibald Leitch engineering.

[Benjuk]

Leitch was a legend - surely one of the busiest stadium architects of all time - designed part or all of over 20 major stadiums, including:

Ibrox, Glasgow
Anfield, Liverpool
Celtic Park, Glasgow
Craven Cottage, London
The Den, London
The Dell, Southampton
Fratton Park, Portsmouth
Goodison Park, Liverpool
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Highbury, London
Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield
Leeds Road, Huddersfield
Maine Road, Manchester
Molineux,Wolverhampton
Old Trafford, Manchester
Roker Park, Sunderland
Selhurst Park, London
Stamford Bridge, London
Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Villa Park, Birmingham
White Hart Lane, London

Any club that covers up his old lattice work with advertising (as my beloved Sunderland did for years at Roker Park) deserves a good hard kick in the teeth.

[Mo Rush]

Originally Posted by NeilF

The North Stand at Windsor Park is almost a replica of the stands at The Den and the new Alex Russel stand is very similiar, only it is a one tier stand, with an upper and lower section divided by a wall, rather than by a tier split.

The IFA is current discussing two main options for the future of international football in Northern Ireland, niether of which involve Windsor Park;

The first is the proposed stadium at the Maze, but with a proposed capacity of 42,000 and with a lower deck with filled corners, it seems utterly useless as a national stadium for the IFA - capacity is too large and segregation, due to the problems in Northern Irish football, would be incredibly difficult.

The other more logical option is another proposed stadium in the Ormeau Park, just across the river from central Belfast - with a proposed capacity of between 20,000 and 25,000 and four main stands, this seems a much more realistic prospect and would like bring Ulster Rugby on board, as they are slowly outgrowing the limitations of their ground, Ravenhill, which only has a capacity of 12,500, but routinely has much greater demand for tickets.

However, given the fact that The Maze stadium seems to be floundering and losing considerable support, especially given a recent comparative study between it and other white elephants (mostly, Del Alpi), and the relative uncertainty about whether or not the Belfast City stadium will go ahead, I think the IFA should be looking at replacing the two remaining stands at Winsdor, given increasingly stringent UEFA controls reducing the capacity all the time. With appropriate plans, this could easily be completed with no real drop (about 200 seats and no more) in capacity - with three developed ends, Windsor would have a capacity of about 17,000 (as opposed to 14,000 now) allowing the south stand to be demolished and corporate hospitality built into it.

Stadium at Ormeau Park




If the 20,000 capacity option is followed, the Ormeau Stadium would surely have to be added to the best small stadia in the world.

I hope that blue roof portion has some sort of exhibition/convention space beneath it...otherwise its a complete waste of material

[Benjuk]

Originally Posted by Mo Rush

I hope that blue roof portion has some sort of exhibition/convention space beneath it...otherwise its a complete waste of material

It will provide much needed shelter from the blistering Belfast sun.

[rilham2new]

Geez, it looks like european and latinamerican make many good small stadium. Love it all. It's quite comfy to look btw. love it preety damn much ...

[NeilF]

Originally Posted by Mo Rush

I hope that blue roof portion has some sort of exhibition/convention space beneath it...otherwise its a complete waste of material

The original plan was to use the blue area as a means of segregating fans leaving the ground - as mentioned before, Northern Irish football, especially domestically, has certain problems and fans need to be divided. Initially, I think it was a lavish way of doing that, rather than the usual metal cages around grounds in Belfast.

I'm not sure what it's current usage or purpose is planned to be, but apparently, the city council weren't too pleased about building such an OTT segregation device outside of the ground.

[Llanfairpwllgwy-ngyllgogerychwy-rndrobwllllanty-siliogogogoch]

UPC Arena Graz,Austria
15.400 seats



Toyota Arena, Prague
18.800 seats


Jules Deschaseaux, Le Havre
16.400


Molde, Norway
11.200


Sheriff stadium in Moldova
13.000 seats