I have been to all 92 Soccer League grounds – that is the definitive record from worst to finest and the place YOUR membership ranks, writes OLIVER HOLT

Some grounds are stunning. Some grounds usually are not so stunning. Some grounds take you to the guts of the English sport. And a few go away you feeling such as you’re on the periphery.

However every of them holds the soul of their neighborhood and the hopes and goals of the 1000’s of people that make the pilgrimage there each weekend. 

I’ve accomplished the journey of a lifetime and I’m rating all 92 English Soccer League grounds for Mail Sport. It is one thing I’ve wished to do for so long as I can bear in mind and on April 1, 2025, I did it. I accomplished the 92. 

I gained’t give an excessive amount of away simply but, however why are grounds like AFC Wimbledon and Barrow in my prime 20? What about Anfield, Outdated Trafford and Stamford Bridge?

The place is the perfect grub within the Premier League and the place did Tyson Fury as soon as threaten to have my jaw damaged?

That is my love letter to English soccer. Learn on to search out out who comes out on prime, the place your crew ranks and all the things else in between – then let me know what you consider my information to the 92 grounds of England. 

92. The Den, Millwall

Division: Championship Opened: 1993 Capability: 19,369

I’m banned from The Den in the mean time, in knowledgeable capability anyway. I may nonetheless go in a private capability however, on stability, I believe I’d reasonably not.

The Every day Mail has been informed our reporters usually are not welcome on the membership as a result of we had the temerity to report on the horrendous problem by Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts on Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta through the FA Cup tie at Selhurst Park a number of weeks in the past.

Let’s be trustworthy about this: there are worse locations to be banned from. Being banned from The Den is the soccer equal of being banned out of your native abattoir.

You don’t need to be a racist, misogynistic, homophobic bloke with anger points and a penchant for tragedy-chanting to really feel at residence at The Den. But it surely helps.

And, sure, I do know Millwall are attempting to rebrand themselves a ‘household membership’ now and the odd Tarquin and Tabitha stray throughout the county strains from Blackheath and Clapham to maintain it actual however that simply makes The Den expertise even worse.

The final time I went as a supporter was 15 years in the past to observe Stockport County play there and the stroll from South Bermondsey station to the away turnstiles was an eye-opener.

Not that there have been any issues: even at Millwall, soccer has moved on for the reason that 70s. However this nonetheless felt deeply dystopian: for their very own security, away followers stroll to the bottom by means of an extended wire mesh cage that appears to don’t have any finish.

It felt like embarking on a tour of Jurassic Park: you understand that if the fences fail, the dinosaurs are going to take a run at you.

Inside the bottom, which is fashionable and neat and comparatively characterless, the extent of hatred for visiting supporters feels unusually visceral.

It’s loud. I’ll give it that. It’s primeval. It’s unreconstructed, which is usually a good factor, too, and it breeds a way of togetherness.

If medievalism is your factor, you’re in for a deal with. If not, give it a miss.

91. Stadium MK, MK Dons

Division: League Two Opened: 2007 Capability: 30,303

I do know it’s a delicate goal however I actually don’t care a lot for Stadium MK. Or for MK Dons themselves for that matter, even when they’re inviting supporters to revamp their membership crest and rethink their identify.

The membership was born beneath a nasty signal when it was jemmied out of Wimbledon and moved to Milton Keynes in 2003 and it has by no means been in a position to shake the stigma since. The stadium suits the membership.

It’s a soulless, faceless, gloomy place. Greater than that, there’s something reasonably forbidding about it.

Its 30,000 capability is simply too huge for the membership it hosts and, other than the fun of the native KFC and McDonald’s, there’s little to suggest in its speedy surrounds.

Its black seats lend it a sinister air, too. It’s the type of stadium solely its mom may love. And it doesn’t have a mom.

Until you need to do the 92, give it a miss.

90. Kassam Stadium, Oxford United

Division: Championship Opened: 2001 Capability: 12,537 

I really feel ashamed to say it, provided that it’s my native membership, however the perfect expertise I’ve had on the Kassam Stadium was getting my Covid jab there through the pandemic.

After they moved, across the flip of the century, abandoning the chaotic appeal of the Manor Floor in Headington and swapping it for an remoted plateau exterior town, they solely accomplished three sides, abandoning the fourth due to rising prices. 

A very bitter wind blows in off the automobile park behind one of many targets and, from the principle stand – in actual fact, from each stand – there’s a magnificent and uninterrupted view of the Frankie and Benny’s within the mini retail park that abuts the bottom.

The empty finish kills plenty of the environment, too, though the Oxford followers are to be counseled for the noise they do generate given they’ve endured a era of being caught right here.

Firoz Kassam nonetheless owns the stadium however not the membership. That type of separation all the time spells bother.

Oxford are hoping to maneuver to a brand new stadium to the north of town in a few years’ time. It may possibly’t come quickly sufficient.

89. London Stadium, West Ham United

Division: Premier League Opened: 2012 Capability: 62,500

I don’t even like calling it the London Stadium. It’s the Olympic Stadium, nevertheless it fits the David Sullivan-Karren Brady rebrand of the membership to offer it the capital’s identify.

It was a fantastic athletics area and residential to an entire host of golden reminiscences at London 2012 nevertheless it’s a canine’s dinner of a soccer floor.

It’s additionally a monument to a lot that’s flawed with the highest flight of the English sport: a give up of identification and custom as collateral harm within the homeowners’ pursuit of revenue.

Strolling to it, sadly, feels a bit like strolling by means of a wasteland and its odd configuration inside harms the environment despite the fact that the followers are proper up there with the perfect within the nation.

The outdated stadium at Upton Park was intimate and raucous and intimidating. The London Stadium is nothing like that.

The homeowners spent plenty of time congratulating themselves on the deal they did to maneuver to the brand new floor: they’re the archetypes of soccer homeowners who know the worth of all the things and the worth of nothing.

88. Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday

Division: Championship Opened: 1899 Capability: 34,945

I used to think about Hillsborough as one of many cathedrals of the English sport however since the catastrophe that claimed the lives of 97 Liverpool followers in 1989, it’s laborious to get previous its affiliation with a lot dying and despair and heartbreak and betrayal of supporters.

I do know, clearly, that this might punish Wednesday followers who don’t need to be punished for one thing that had nothing to do with them however Hillsborough, and its Leppings Lane Finish particularly, has such a cursed legacy that a part of me thinks it ought to have been demolished and that the membership ought to have moved elsewhere.

Even within the final couple of years, followers of Newcastle United and Leeds United have reported severe security issues within the Leppings Lane Finish.

I recognise the issues in my argument about demolishing the stadium, or a part of it, and the feelings it provokes on all sides so maybe it’s simply sufficient to say I’ll by no means really feel the identical in regards to the stadium as I as soon as did.

Visiting it now appears like an intrusion.

87. Sixfields, Northampton City

Division: League One Opened: 1994 Capability: 8,203

Sixfields is a blighted stadium.

It’s a soulless floor anyway however its points have been compounded by redevelopment delays and questions on lacking cash.

It has the identical type of deracinated really feel as so most of the new-build stadia pushed to the peripheries of cities. Its supporters deserve quite a bit higher.

86. Broadfield Stadium, Crawley City

Division: League One Opened: 1997 Capability: 6,134

Not an terrible lot to relish in regards to the Broadfield Stadium, to be trustworthy.

Respectable followers, after all, identical to at each membership, however Crawley City’s house is a little bit of a contemporary monstrosity, subsequent to a roundabout exterior city on the A23.

The place has had a nasty vibe because it was acquired by Wagmi United LLC, a bunch of US cryptocurrency traders. Wagmi, by the best way, stands for ‘We’re All Gonna Make It’.

In the event you go to the Broadfield Stadium, I believe you may doubt even when they’re in League One.

I had enjoyable after I visited as a result of I used to be within the away finish with Stockport followers however I’m not in any hurry to return.

85. Coventry Constructing Society Area, Coventry Metropolis

Division: Championship Opened: 2005 Capability: 32,609 

When it was referred to as the Ricoh Area, I had little interest in visiting what’s now the Coventry Constructing Society Area as a result of it felt like a logo of the callous manner through which followers of the membership had been being handled by SISU, the hedge fund that owned it on the time.

However SISU offered up ultimately and I went alongside final season and noticed Coventry dismantle Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham Metropolis after which, within the press room beneath the stadium, watched as my colleague Neil Moxley received into a good old style row with Rooney about his stewardship of the Blues.

The environment inside the bottom was vigorous sufficient, partly as a result of the sport was a derby of types, however it’s a soulless, deracinated type of stadium abutting the M6.

It’s soccer in an city wasteland however it’s soccer, nonetheless, and Doug King, the brand new proprietor has introduced with him the promise of higher occasions forward.

84. JobServe Neighborhood Stadium, Colchester United

Division: League Two Opened: 2008 Capability: 10,105 

The workers on the membership are nice, the stewards are pleasant, there’s loads of parking, there’s a Wendy’s subsequent door and the house followers, largely ranged in a stand behind one of many targets, make an excellent fist of making an environment.

However this stadium on a roundabout on the A12 in the course of a retail park continues to be reasonably a bleak place to observe soccer.

It most likely didn’t assist that I went on a dank March evening a number of weeks in the past when a wispy fog lingered within the dim floodlight glare however there was one thing ethereally gloomy in regards to the JobServe Neighborhood Stadium.

The empty corridors and the cavernous suites lent it a slight really feel of the Overlook Lodge on the within. On the skin, the 4 corners of the stadium are open, which makes for particularly bitter nights within the winter.

House is residence and there was nonetheless loads of drama and keenness in Colchester’s 1-0 victory over Chesterfield – the match I noticed – nevertheless it got here regardless of the stadium, not due to it.

83. Poundland Bescot Stadium, Walsall

Division: League Two Opened: 1990 Capability: 10,863

The Bescot Stadium was the primary of the era of identikit new-build arenas I went to and there’s not, frankly, a lot to suggest it other than the loyalty of the followers.

It’s near the M6 and it’s a seven-minute stroll to Walsall station, so you may get away from it shortly, which some would say is a bonus.

82. Brick Neighborhood Stadium, Wigan Athletic

Division: League One Opened: 1999 Capability: 25,133

I stood on the terraces at Springfield Park as a Stockport fan.

As soon as once more, it is not going to come as a shock to study I most popular it to its successor, the JJB Stadium, which later grew to become the DW Stadium and is now the Brick Neighborhood Stadium.

The identify adjustments are irrelevant to some however they betray an absence of look after the identification of a soccer membership.

There have been some nice days and nights there when Wigan had been promoted to the Premier League and I bear in mind, particularly, the heady feeling of watching Wigan’s first residence sport within the prime flight, towards Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2005.

The limelight has moved away once more now and Wigan are left with a stadium that’s completely ample and likewise completely unremarkable.

81. The Croud Meadow, Shrewsbury City

Division: League One Opened: 2007 Capability: 9,875 

Homosexual Meadow, the previous residence of Shrewsbury City, was among the finest grounds in our prime 4 divisions.

It may need flooded on occasion due to its place on the banks of the River Severn nevertheless it was a positive outdated floor and the custom of a boatman taking to a coracle to fish wayward photographs that cleared the roof of the stand out of the river was one of the vital cherished peculiarities in our sport.

The Croud Meadow is altogether extra prosaic. Abutted by a McDonald’s and a TK Maxx on the outer fringes of the city, it appears like a disembodied place, separated from its neighborhood, useful however uninspired.

80. Choose Automotive Leasing Stadium, Studying

Division: League One Opened: 1998 Capability: 24,376 

I used to be persona non grata for some time on the Choose Automotive Leasing Stadium after I took exception to Studying taking out two Chelsea goalkeepers in a single match again in 2006, when Steve Coppell and Wally Downes had been in cost on the Madejski Stadium. 

Individuals referred to as it the Mad Stad again then and I bear in mind Neil Warnock telling me about being chased to his automobile exterior the principle entrance when he was supervisor of Sheffield United.

And Wally took a swing at me at a Soccer Writers’ Affiliation dinner a few years later. 

Anyway, I’ve made up with Stephen Hunt, who was one of many gamers concerned within the tumult towards Chelsea, and with Downes since then.

Even when the Mad Stad doesn’t have an terrible lot of persona, I’ve solely respect for the Studying followers who’ve endured a lot beneath the possession of Dai Yongge and are preventing for his or her membership.

79. Pleasure Park Stadium, Derby County

Division: Championship Opened: 1997 Capability: 32,956

Pleasure Park is the standard-bearer, sadly, for what’s missing in most of the new era of English soccer stadia.

English soccer grounds needs to be in regards to the North Financial institution and the Stretford Finish and the Kop and the Gallowgate Finish and the Shelf.

They’re imagined to be about outlined areas that give a stadium character and persona and even rivalry amongst residence followers about who sings loudest.

Too most of the fashionable bowls have misplaced that character as a result of the followers simply merge into one.

This isn’t a criticism of Derby County followers in any manner. They nonetheless make loads of noise inside their stadium however the place shouldn’t be a patch on the Baseball Floor, which witnessed so many momentous days and nights.

Pleasure Park is bland and featureless, a logo of its crew’s present wrestle for identification because it languishes close to the foot of the Championship.

78. Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea Metropolis

Division: Championship Opened: 2003 Capability: 20,996 

My in-laws used to stay in Swansea and after I wasn’t out strolling to Worm’s Head at Rhossili or having fun with the delights of Mumbles and the Wales Coast Path, I’d make the occasional pilgrimage to what was left of the Vetch Area.

I stood within the away finish there with Manchester United followers within the early 80s however after I visited later in my life, the Vetch was locked up and derelict. In the event you peered by means of the gates, you can see small timber and shrubs rising on the pitch.

The Swansea.com Stadium lacks the identical character, clearly, however it’s a tight stadium the place the followers can nonetheless generate a rousing environment if their crew’s shows enable it.

For the time being, sadly, that isn’t fairly often however they’ve had some positive groups and positive managers within the post-Vetch period.

I did a telephone interview with Mike Tyson from the press field right here a few hours earlier than a sport. I couldn’t hear him very nicely due to varied bulletins being revamped the loud-speaker system and shortly, his tone grew to become reasonably impatient however nonetheless, a dialog with Mike Tyson within the press field at Swansea shouldn’t be simply forgotten.

77. Pirelli Stadium, Burton Albion

Division: League One Opened: 2005 Capability: 7,088

The primary entrance of the Pirelli Stadium appears to be like just a little like a automobile showroom. The remainder of it struggles for character, too.

Burton’s a positive membership with a distinguished non-League historical past that may boast Neil Warnock and Nigel Clough as former managers and which has nailed down its place within the Soccer League.

It has been a membership to be admired for a very long time, notably beneath the previous stewardship of Ben Robinson, who not too long ago offered his majority stake to the Nordic Soccer Group.

They’ve punched above its weight for a lot of that point and their stadium is constructed for practicality, not for creative advantage.

76. Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth

Division: Premier League Opened: 1910 Capability: 11,307

The membership is without doubt one of the success tales of recent English soccer and the Vitality Stadium displays its enthusiasm and, sure, vitality.

It’s a little bit of a Lego area, certain, nevertheless it’s constructed for its viewers and its catchment space. It’s a League Two stadium that received overtaken by the success of its facet.

Its character comes from its small measurement and the environment it generates due to it. 

Abutting King’s Park and never removed from the ocean entrance, it’s a floor that nearly manages to really feel quaint. However not fairly.

75. Eco-Energy Stadium, Doncaster Rovers

Division: League Two Opened: 2007 Capability: 15,148

It’s, a minimum of, a nice stroll to the Eco-Energy Stadium on the outskirts of Doncaster. 

I parked on the property grouped round Lakeside Lake and strolled round its shores till I got here to the stadium. Issues go barely downhill from there.

It’s a wonderfully presentable stadium however there’s little to differentiate it. It’s a uniform fashionable bowl caught on the skin of city that’s rescued by the membership’s glorious assist.

74. St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton

Division: Premier League Opened: 2001 Capability: 32,384

Southampton’s former floor, The Dell, was a splendidly quirky stadium, full of strange tiers and cabinets.

It doesn’t really feel as if St Mary’s Stadium has any quirks, sadly.

Squatting on the fringe of a barely murky industrial property, it falls squarely into the class of recent builds largely devoid of character.

That doesn’t imply that the house followers are incapable of making environment there and the renditions of When the Saints Go Marching In are part of the cultural material of soccer on this nation.

Sight strains are good and it might get loud however its design has little to suggest it.

73. King Energy Stadium, Leicester Metropolis

Division: Premier League Opened: 2002 Capability: 32,259

One of many few occasions I used to be genuinely scared at a soccer stadium after I was a supporter was throughout a go to to Leicester Metropolis’s former stadium at Filbert Avenue.

Within the crush to get out of the away finish on the closing whistle, I used to be lifted off my ft within the surge.

So I’m conscious that there are limits to how a lot one ought to mourn the passing of that era of stadia however I nonetheless discover it laborious to heat to arenas just like the King Energy Stadium.

It’s comfy and it’s useful and the Leicester followers could make loads of noise nevertheless it’s a bland, featureless bowl that has little to differentiate it from most of the new era of stadia.

Even then, it offered me with one of many nice reminiscences of the final decade when Andrea Bocelli stood subsequent to Claudio Ranieri and sang Nessun Dorma the sport after Leicester had pulled off the shock of the century by profitable the Premier League in 2016.

72. Lamex Stadium, Stevenage

Division: League One Opened: 1961 Capability: 7,426

Broadhall Manner, now formally the Lamex Stadium, is a good little floor with environment.

It’s a positive membership, too, that has constantly achieved greater than most anticipated of it and has held down its place within the Soccer League.

The followers create greater than their share of noise nevertheless it’s a pleasant membership with nice workers and stewards.

It’s not spectacular nevertheless it’s a stunning day trip watching soccer.

71. EV Charger Factors Stadium, Cheltenham City

Division: League Two Opened: 1927 Capability: 6,923

It’s a excessive bar in nowadays when cash counts much more than heritage and funds are fraught on the flawed finish of the EFL however the EV Charger Factors Stadium might have probably the most chequered naming rights previous of any stadium within the nation.

We should always simply follow Whaddon Street actually nevertheless it was renamed the Abbey Enterprise Stadium in 2009, then it grew to become The World of Smile Stadium, then the LCI Rail Stadium in 2016–17, then the Jonny-Rocks Stadium in 2018–19, and the Fully-Suzuki Stadium in 2022 and now its present superb and evocative identify. 

I hope they received some huge cash for these sponsorships as a result of they make the membership look silly and low cost and rip chunks of its identification away from it.

Once more, I do know it’s most likely not financially viable to eliminate them however I hate stadium naming rights. I’d ban them if I may. Soccer survived for a century with out them so why not now?

It’s a disgrace as a result of it’s a positive little floor that gives a special focus in a city dominated by horse racing.

70. Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham

Division: League Two Opened: 1893 Capability: 11,582

I bear in mind the journey as a lot as something.

Kent is perhaps the county I’ve been to least and so it felt barely unique driving down the M2 and seeing the Priestfield Stadium not removed from the River Medway.

Some might rattling Priestfield however Gillingham have performed right here for greater than 100 years and that weight of historical past counts as a lot as something once you go to a stadium. 

Nonetheless laborious golf equipment might attempt to replicate custom with pressured rituals, you may’t cheat historical past.

69. Hayes Lane, Bromley

Division: League Two Opened: 1938 Capability: 5,000 

Hayes Lane is a kind of stadiums that feels huge open to the weather. It’s the other of a decent, enclosed floor like Loftus Street nevertheless it’s nonetheless a pleasure to go to.

I went with Stockport when Bromley had been within the Nationwide League and stood on the open terrace, which was reserved for away followers.

It was a wild night in February 2022 and it felt as if the wind was blowing horizontal however County gained 3-1 and a steward went out of his strategy to deliver me a programme from the place they had been being offered within the residence finish, so it felt like a golden evening all spherical.

68. Peninsula Stadium, Salford Metropolis

Division: League Two Opened: 1978 Capability: 5,032

The gamers who comprise the Class of 92 had been the gamers on the coronary heart of one of many biggest tales I ever coated – the Manchester United Treble of 1998-99 – so maybe it shouldn’t be a shock that I loved my go to to Moor Lane, now rebranded because the Peninsula Stadium.

Many dislike and mistrust the best way Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and the remaining took over a non-League membership and oversaw its rise to the Soccer League however I like what they’ve executed at Salford.

It’s a neat little floor and it’s been properly modernised with out dropping all its character. 

I went to a League Two play-off semi-final there a few years in the past when Salford performed Stockport and the environment was glorious.

Stockport misplaced the primary leg however made the ultimate. In order that helped.

67. Area Mill, Mansfield City

Division: League One Opened: 1861 Capability: 9,376

My solely go to to Area Mill was on Saturday, November 20, 1982.

I do know this as a result of I’ve all the time been a soccer stadium nerd and my 16-year-old self logged all of the matches I went to in a King’s College Macclesfield train e-book.

I didn’t know then that Area Mill was, and is, the oldest regularly used stadium within the league however I stood on an open terrace behind one of many targets that housed the away followers and watched Stockport lose 3-2 in an FA Cup first-round tie.

Perhaps that was why I’ve by no means been again. The environment was just a little bit misplaced as a result of it appeared so open however there’s a stand now the place that open terrace was. So possibly issues have improved.

66. Vicarage Street, Watford

Division: Championship Opened: 1921 Capability: 22,200

I’m going to indicate my age once more: the primary time I went to Vicarage Street, Graham Taylor was the supervisor, in his first spell on the membership, and Ross Jenkins was taking part in up entrance in a match towards Manchester United.

Perhaps I’ve misremembered this however I appear to recall the prepare dropping us away followers proper exterior the stadium.

I’ve all the time related Vicarage Street with drama for some motive. Although it’s not tight and compact, it’s a spot that may nonetheless generate a terrific environment and I’ve seen a slew of upsets there.

The final one was when Liverpool visited in the course of their runaway title-winning season in 2019-20.

They had been nonetheless unbeaten in mid-February and on an extended profitable run and Watford took them aside and beat them 3-0. It was the type of event that Vicarage Street excels at.

65. Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough

Division: Championship Opened: 1997 Capability: 33,931

The placement of the Riverside Stadium on the banks of the Tees, set towards the backdrop of the area’s industrial heritage in metal and chemical substances, makes it really feel as if the stadium is on the coronary heart of its neighborhood.

Everton’s new floor is the most recent to make use of its metropolis’s waterway as a backdrop however the disadvantage to Middlesbrough’s house is its featureless inside.

It’s a pleasant, passionate place to observe a sport however its design is unimaginative and bland.

The bitter wind blowing in from the North Sea could make the stroll to the stadium a problem for the efficacy of your winter garments, too.

64. bet365 Stadium, Stoke Metropolis

Division: Championship Opened: 1997 Capability: 30,089

There was a time, when Tony Pulis was supervisor of Stoke Metropolis, {that a} go to to the bet365 Stadium was thought to be the last word take a look at of fortitude.

That was when the Sky pundit Andy Grey prompt Lionel Messi ‘would wrestle on a chilly evening on the Britannia Stadium,’ the bottom’s former identify.

A go to to the stadium is a take a look at for followers, too. It generates a good environment however the design of the stadium means the wind blows by means of the gaps between the stands and chills supporters to the bone on chilly days and nights.

A bit manner away, on the opposite facet of the twin carriageway that runs down in direction of the M6, you used to have the ability to see the contours of the Victoria Floor, the membership’s former residence, etched into the patch of wasteland the place it as soon as stood however they’ve constructed a housing property on it now.

Even when their new floor lacks character in its structure, the followers have breathed life into it with their raucous vitality.

63. Blundell Park, Grimsby City

Division: League Two Opened: 1899 Capability: 9,031

I’m not saying that Metal’s Cornerhouse fish and chip restaurant is the perfect factor about Cleethorpes however consuming fish contemporary from the North Sea definitely made my go to to Blundell Park extra memorable.

Floor experiences are about much more than the sport. They’re about going together with your mates, they’re about getting a way of the area people, they’re about embedding your self in custom they usually’re in regards to the sport, too.

I cherished Blundell Park for all these causes.

62. Cardiff Metropolis Stadium, Cardiff Metropolis

Division: Championship Opened: 2009 Capability: 33,280

I used to be a journalism scholar in Cardiff so Ninian Park was the primary floor the place I ever sat in a press field. From that day to this, it’s by no means misplaced the joys.

Rob Phillips, Cardiff’s South Wales Echo reporter on the time, was nonetheless commentating for the BBC till this season. He was the primary instance I got here throughout of a journalist who was brave sufficient to inform the reality even when it meant being banned by his native membership.

That destiny befell him for a spell throughout my yr in Wales.

Anyway, Ninian Park was a drive of nature stadium and its successor was all the time going to wrestle to copy its depth.

It’s nonetheless place to observe soccer as a result of they’re such a passionate group of supporters however the stadium is unappealing from the skin – really it’s downright ugly – and unremarkable on the within.

Until, after all, it’s a South Wales derby or Bristol Metropolis are on the town after which the environment takes your breath away.

61. MKM Stadium, Hull Metropolis 

Division: Championship Opened: 2002 Capability: 25,586

I’ve received a delicate spot for Hull Metropolis however not for his or her stadium.

The followers are sensible, among the finest and most devoted within the nation in a metropolis the place they need to battle towards the facility of rugby league, however the stadium has too typically change into a battleground between the supporters and homeowners who’ve too typically adopted a heavy-handed strategy to their followers.

It’s a good-looking stadium on the within however there have been occasions when I’ve visited when sections of it had been shut down due to ticketing points.

It’s an area that has been made ugly by division.

60. Carrow Street, Norwich Metropolis

Division: Championship Opened: 1935 Capability: 27,359

There’s one thing particular about golf equipment that don’t share their cities with rivals. It strengthens their regional character, particularly, and it’s that manner with the tradition at Carrow Street.

It’s a gem of a stadium, a spot filled with ardour and with loads of enmity for Ipswich City however a fraction faraway from among the uglinesss that may blight the trendy sport.

The loving stewardship of Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones pervades the environment on the floor. They are going to be missed now that they’ve stepped down from the board.

59. Ashton Gate, Bristol Metropolis

Division: Championship Opened: 1887 Capability: 26,459

Ashton Gate is without doubt one of the stadiums that has slipped by means of the gaps for me.

I’ve solely been as soon as and that was for work nevertheless it’s a good-looking stadium in an exquisite metropolis with a wealthy historical past.

Richard Scudamore, the previous chief govt of the Premier League, is a fan, which all the time struck me as barely unusual given the harm the highest flight did to the decrease leagues throughout his time on the helm.

58. Memorial Floor, Bristol Rovers

Division: League One Opened: 1921 Capability: 9,834

A unusual mish-mash of a floor whose structure betrays its origins as a rugby stadium, the Memorial Floor continues to be a good place to observe soccer.

Fairly the type of visible chaos you get at this place with the Standard Insulation Stand remoted like a widow stand on a part of the one touchline and the West Stand wanting extra like a cricket pavilion than the monotonous uniformity you get at so many new-builds.

Homeowners are all the time threatening to maneuver to a brand new website however the Memorial Floor, successor to Eastville, nonetheless survives.

57. Brisbane Street, Leyton Orient

Division: League One Opened: 1937 Capability: 9,253

From the skin, the trendy Brisbane Street appears to be like as if it might’t make up its thoughts whether or not it’s a high-rise housing property, a convention centre or a soccer floor. 

Perhaps that’s the purpose. Perhaps the longer term for some golf equipment is to be all three.

In Orient’s case, they’ve nonetheless managed to retain the character and the satisfaction of the well-known outdated floor.

The East Stand, with the beautiful outdated gable bearing the membership’s identify, is without doubt one of the finest stands within the 4 divisions and, regardless of all of the adjustments, the place oozes with the native character that makes the perfect soccer golf equipment so distinctive.

I took my son to observe his first Stockport County sport right here when he was three. He didn’t catch the bug.

56. Sincil Financial institution, Lincoln Metropolis

Division: League One Opened: 1895 Capability: 10,780

I haven’t been to Sincil Financial institution for greater than 30 years nevertheless it stays considered one of my favorite grounds.

The reason being that it’s the house of considered one of English soccer’s extra eccentric traditions, the sounding of an air-raid siren each time Lincoln get a nook.

It was deserted for some time upon the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict however I’m informed it’s been restored now.

The English sport is stuffed with odd histories. It’s what makes it so treasured.

55. Oakwell, Barnsley

Division: League One Opened: 1888 Capability: 23,287

They had been heady days for Yorkshire soccer within the late 90s. Leeds United had been within the Champions League and Barnsley spent a season within the Premier League.

It was a deal with to go to Oakwell in these days and watch Barnsley’s underdog story play out. However there’s another excuse why a go to to Oakwell continues to be particular.

The West Stand is considered one of few remaining examples in our league of a stand designed by the well-known soccer architect Archibald Leitch and it’s a factor of magnificence.

There was one thing stunning about Leitch’s designs. Most have been demolished now however I’ve sat within the stand designed by him at Raith Rovers’ Starks Park stadium and it’s the perfect a part of any floor I’ve been to in Scottish soccer.

Oakwell is treasured due to that and due to different nods to the heritage of the membership like the unique altering rooms.

Barnsley’s Premier League standing got here and went however the membership have by no means misplaced their sense of historical past.

54. Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers

Division: Championship Opened: 1882 Capability: 31,363

The primary time I went to Ewood Park was October 1991 after I reported on the return of Kenny Dalglish to soccer administration for Liverpool’s Every day Put up.

I went quite a bit over the following 10 years as the nice occasions rolled and it was a stunning alternative to discover among the Lancashire countryside across the city.

I cherished it at Ewood Park. I preferred having the ability to look out from the principle stand on the hole between the stands reverse and see folks standing on the hillside behind them, staring down into the stadium because the match unfolded.

I don’t know if that vantage level nonetheless exists. It does sound as if the supporter expertise has worsened beneath the present homeowners.

The times when Dalglish led them to a league title appear an awfully very long time in the past now.

53. New York Stadium, Rotherham United

Division: League One Opened: 2012 Capability: 12,088

There’s one thing daring in regards to the New York Stadium that elevates it above the usual new-builds.

The glamour of the identify – a suburb of Rotherham, not simply one of many biggest cities on this planet – helps, as does the charisma and the imaginative and prescient of the chairman and proprietor, Tony Stewart. It’s daring as brass and it carries it off.

52. Emirates Stadium, Arsenal

Division: Premier League Opened: 2006 Capability: 60,704

If Arsenal had been nonetheless at Highbury, it might be in my prime 5 grounds.

Certainly one of my finest mates owns a flat within the Highbury house improvement, within the spot closest to the place his season ticket was.

It sends a shiver down my backbone each time I am going and go to. The respect Arsenal have proven to their outdated floor is a template for the best way different stadiums needs to be preserved.

There’s nonetheless plenty of class at Arsenal. Proper from Lynne on the entrance desk on the Emirates to the individuals who work within the media division and the higher echelons of the membership so, in that regard, it’s all the time a pleasure to go to.

However the environment turns toxic right here extra shortly than some other stadium I do know and it’s laborious for me to disassociate coming right here with the reminiscence of the vitriol that rained down on Arsene Wenger in his closing years on the membership.

After all of the glories of Highbury, all of the historical past and the custom, the Emirates has been a spot of ache.

The stadium shouldn’t be as bland as among the new era nevertheless it nonetheless lacks actual character and there’s such a way of entitlement and bitterness among the many supporters that I’ve one buddy, who’s a season ticket holder, who solely goes to away video games.

51. London Street, Peterborough United

Division: League One Opened: 1913 Capability: 13,513

I like London Street. A well-run membership with a terrific proprietor in Darragh MacAnthony and a stadium that’s a positive mixture of outdated and new, custom and modernity.

This can be a place with a correct identification and followers that make plenty of noise and switch London Street right into a cauldron for giant video games.

It’s the type of stadium the place you may really feel respect for the previous in addition to an embrace of the longer term.

50. Bloomfield Street, Blackpool

Division: League One Opened: 1899 Capability: 16,616

Bloomfield Street is in want of just a little love nowadays however any stadium the place stands bear the identify of Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen and the place these two legends of the English sport as soon as graced the turf needs to be a pilgrimage for any soccer fan.

The primary time I went was to observe Stockport in April 1983 so I bear in mind the best way the place used to look within the days when the greats ran out at Bloomfield Street.

I used to be there in 2011, too, when Blackpool had been again within the prime flight, to see gamers like Charlie Adam and Marlon Harewood taking over Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United on a bitter January afternoon by the Irish Sea.

The stadium had modified by then and far of the character of the outdated floor was misplaced within the redevelopment. These days within the prime flight look like a very long time in the past now however whereas they nonetheless play at Bloomfield Street, the echoes of historical past will make it a magical place.

49. John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield City

Division: League One Opened: 1994 Capability: 24,329

Probably the greatest of the lower-division new-builds, the John Smith’s Stadium is a traditional of recent soccer structure.

Nestled within the lee of a hillside, its elegant, hanging structure with its curved trusses makes it a worthy successor to the outdated Leeds Street floor.

Final yr, the Twentieth Century Society referred to as for the stadium to be listed and named it among the finest new buildings within the nation within the final 30 years.

They’re completely proper. Extra stadiums needs to be listed. Extra ought to have been protected. Too many have been misplaced nevertheless it’s not too late to safeguard the perfect of those that stay.

48. Adams Park, Wycombe Wanderers

Division: League One Opened: 1990 Capability: 9,558

I do know plenty of followers have Adams Park a lot decrease on their record of stadiums to go to however I’ve all the time preferred it.

Perhaps it’s the bucolic setting, within the lee of a wooded hill on the sting of the Chilterns, that does it for me.

The stadium is perhaps modest however the crew has a behavior of punching above its weight. It’s a fantastic place to go and really feel the underdog spirit that’s a part of the drive that drives English soccer.

47. Meadow Lane, Notts County

Division: League Two Opened: 1910 Capability: 19,841

The primary time I went to Meadow Lane, it was to see Manchester United play a top-flight sport there.

The away part was uncovered and the stadium had quirks and character. It’s nonetheless an exquisite floor to go to and it has advanced into a powerful fashionable area that has loads of nods to its wealthy historical past and its standing as one of many founder members of the Soccer League.

Its location, on the opposite facet of the River Trent to the Metropolis Floor, shouldn’t be fairly as spectacular as Forest’s, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a venue that blows the breath of soccer historical past throughout your face.

46. Highbury Stadium, Fleetwood City

Division: League Two Opened: 1939 Capability: 5,137

Like Leeds, Morecambe and Grimsby City, going to observe Fleetwood is enhanced by native fish and chips.

In the event you can’t get good fish and chips in Fleetwood, you’re not attempting laborious sufficient and I dined royally within the Granada Fish Bar earlier than heading to the Highbury Stadium.

The bottom is probably not fairly as august as Arsenal’s outdated stadium nevertheless it has a chic, fashionable foremost stand and a fierce native identification.

The membership’s nickname is The Fishermen and the followers chant quite a bit in regards to the Cod Military. It’s a fantastic day trip by the seaside.

45. College of Bradford Stadium, Bradford Metropolis 

Division: League Two Opened: 1886 Capability: 24,433

It’s inconceivable to think about Valley Parade with out considering of the tragedy that befell Bradford Metropolis in 1985 when its foremost stand was engulfed by flames and 56 folks misplaced their lives.

I attempt laborious to think about joyful reminiscences there as a substitute and the College of Bradford Stadium holds the excellence, in my soccer supporting life, of being the one stadium the place I received chased by residence followers.

I used to be there with Stockport within the early 80s and I may nonetheless really run at sooner than waddling tempo then so I received away.

Valley Parade nonetheless has its character, it’s nonetheless a positive stadium to go to. Each journey there’s a likelihood to recollect those that had been misplaced.

44. Brunton Park, Carlisle United

Division: League Two Opened: 1909 Capability: 17,030

Brunton Park holds the excellence of being the one floor I’ve ever been kicked out of. And banned from.

An over-officious press officer refused to permit me into the tunnel to talk to gamers after an FA Cup third-round tie towards Arsenal after which objected to my objections and gave me my marching orders.

That was 24 years in the past. I haven’t been again since however I hope the ban’s over now. 

Aside from that, I’ve received plenty of affection for the bottom. It’s old style. It’ll be a tragic day in the event that they fall out of the league this season however the odds are towards them surviving.

43. The Valley, Charlton Athletic

Division: League One Opened: 1919 Capability: 27,111

The Valley has modified out of all recognition from the glory days when greater than 75,000 crammed into it within the Thirties.

However there’s nonetheless one thing magical in regards to the residence of Charlton Athletic. Maybe, for these of us who’re sufficiently old, it’s the reminiscence of the outdated East Terrace rising up in direction of the South London sky.

Even when it was crumbling and condemned, there was one thing majestic about it, one thing that recalled nice days.

Maybe, too, there’s something in regards to the data of how laborious the followers fought, for seven years within the late 80s and early 90s, to return to the stadium when it appeared it had been ripped away from them.

And even when solely that reminiscence of the outdated East Terrace stays now, the stroll down into the valley the place the revamped stadium nestles nonetheless appears like a journey to the guts of the English sport.

42. Mornflake Stadium, Crewe Alexandra

Division: League Two Opened: 1906 Capability: 10,109

I’ve received plenty of affection for Gresty Street. On a Friday evening on the finish of September 1983, it was the place I noticed Micky Quinn rating a hat-trick for Stockport County on the residence of our bitter rivals.

It was considered one of my finest soccer experiences, seeing Quinn leaping on to the railings on the Gresty Street Finish after scoring his third, shaking his fists at us in triumph as we leapt about on the terracing.

If there was footage of the followers’ wild celebrations now, the caption may say ‘limbs’. 

Gresty Street is a greater stadium now than it was then, which isn’t a excessive bar, and it has a greater proprietor than it did then. However it might’t be straightforward dwelling within the shadow of such mighty neighbours.

41. SMH Group Stadium, Chesterfield

Division: League Two Opened: 2010 Capability: 10,400 

I used to have a little bit of a vendetta towards the SMH Group Stadium. Maybe not a vendetta, however definitely a prejudice.

I cherished the outdated floor at Saltergate however when the membership moved to the brand new stadium and referred to as it the b2net Stadium, it felt as if it had offered its soul.

Since 2009, it has additionally been referred to as the Proact Stadium and the Approach Stadium. 

However attending to know a membership typically adjustments your view of a spot. I spent a little bit of time there earlier this season after I went to observe Kieron Dyer, who’s a coach on the membership, and Paul Cook dinner, the supervisor, at work.

I met the homeowners, who’re native businessmen and clearly have the membership’s finest pursuits at coronary heart, and took in a sport and all of the sudden the SMH Group Stadium had new life and character and soul breathed into it for me.

It’s a membership on the up and it’s a membership that cares about its followers, and so my prejudice towards the SMH Group Stadium is not any extra.

40. Mazuma Cellular Stadium, Morecambe

Division: League Two Opened: 2010 Capability: 6,241

Typically, the perfect soccer stadium experiences are about rather more than the stadium.

I drove as much as the Mazuma Cellular Stadium with my eldest daughter in December 2023 to observe Stockport play there.

It was a bitterly chilly day on the Lancashire coast however we buttoned up and walked down the seafront, ate fish and chips within the automobile after which ran to the stadium by means of a torrential downpour.

The away finish was a bit like a cowshed nevertheless it was filled with County followers who by no means stopped singing and there was a roof that stored us dry.

The wind blew so laborious off the Irish Sea that there have been occasions when the nook flags in entrance of the neat, fashionable foremost stand had been nearly horizontal to the pitch.

I admired each single fan who confirmed as much as watch that League Two sport in that climate at that outpost of soccer. I cherished that day. 

39. Vale Park, Port Vale

Division: League Two Opened: 1950 Capability: 15,036 

I’ve received a delicate spot for Vale Park.

It was the primary away floor I ever went to and I nonetheless bear in mind the joy of planning the prepare journey from Stockport, making it to Burslem and getting a thrill out of the solely completely different expertise – the additional camaraderie – that being an away fan at one other membership’s floor brings.

Vale Park felt uncooked and actual to me again then and it received even higher on my subsequent go to when, in Stockport’s closing yr within the Soccer League earlier than relegation to the Nationwide League, Anthony Elding received the winner for County within the 87th minute in entrance of the away finish.

It was stunning mayhem. County had been relegated a number of weeks later however I’ll always remember these days at Vale Park.

38. Toughsheet Neighborhood Stadium, Bolton Wanderers

Division: League One Opened: 1997 Capability: 28,018

When it was the Macron Stadium, considered one of its a number of earlier incarnations, I interviewed Tyson Fury in a room on the lodge that was a part of the Toughsheet Neighborhood Stadium within the build-up to his world title battle with Wladimir Klitschko. 

After he’d claimed the Klitschkos had been a part of a devil-worshipping ring, Fury made some reasonably disagreeable feedback about his views on hyperlinks between homosexuality and paedophilia.

When the interview was printed, he didn’t appear finest happy with the outcomes.

He stated his brother, Massive Shane, was going to interrupt my jaw ‘utterly’ with a straight proper hand.

‘See huge Shane there?’ Fury stated. ‘Take a look at huge Shane. He’s 6ft 6in and 25 stone. He’s going to interrupt (your) jaw utterly with one straight proper hand.

‘I ain’t going to do it, ‘cos I’ll get in bother. However the huge fella, there – he’ll annihilate (you), gained’t he? So Oliver, take have a look at him, ‘cos that’s the face you’re going to see earlier than you hit the deck.’

Enjoyable occasions. I’ve by no means discovered fairly the identical degree of pleasure in watching Bolton Wanderers there, though it had some nice days when it was referred to as the Reebok and Sam Allardyce was the supervisor.

It is without doubt one of the earliest, and finest, of the brand new era of stadiums, and even whether it is on the outskirts of the city, its daring design makes it a neighborhood landmark.

37. Fratton Park, Portsmouth

Division: Championship Opened: 1899 Capability: 20,899

Since their transient sojourn within the Premier League, everybody has change into conscious of the entrances to Luton City’s Kenilworth Street floor which can be accessed on what seems to be the bottom ground of a terraced home.

However the outdated manner in to Fratton Park, beneath a half-timbered gable, is much more charming.

One of many outdated establishments of English soccer, the stadium has been renovated however has not misplaced the depth and the raucousness that makes it such a hostile place to go to for opposing groups.

36. Portman Street, Ipswich City

Division: Premier League Opened: 1884 Capability: 29,813

The matchday hospitality of the Cobbolds, the previous homeowners of Ipswich City, was legendary amongst journalists. I missed out on these days however a go to to Portman Street continues to be a deal with.

It’s nonetheless an exquisite floor, a floor on the centre of its neighborhood, a floor the place you may breathe within the legends of Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson, nice soccer males who did nice issues of their time in control of the membership.

Just a few years in the past, I went to the the launch of Kieron Dyer’s autobiography in a collection on the stadium and it was an evening that underlined how necessary the membership is to town.

It’s a pleasure to see that the present hierarchy worth the significance of the stadium and have lavished care and cash on it. It is without doubt one of the nice outposts of the English sport.

35. Molineux, Wolverhampton Wanderers

Division: Premier League Opened: 1889 Capability: 31,750

After I first began going to Molineux, it was dominated by a peculiarity.

One of many stands, the John Eire Stand because it was then, was about 100ft from the touchline, a matter of a lot mirth for visiting followers.

It has been renamed the Steve Bull Stand now and the pitch has been repositioned in order that the trendy Molineux is a stadium that is smart.

It’s an area to be pleased with once more for Wolves followers, a stadium whose 4 stands are named after membership legends and former proprietor and benefactor Sir Jack Hayward and which takes care to respect its superb previous.

34. Turf Moor, Burnley

Division: Championship Opened: 1883 Capability: 21,744

Turf Moor is a superb place to observe soccer.

Sit within the North Stand, reverse the Bob Lord Stand, and you’ll gaze out over the city and its mills, which don’t look fairly as darkish and satanic any extra, and bear in mind that you’re within the conventional northern heartlands of our sport right here.

I’ve a buddy from Burnley who insists that extra folks per head of inhabitants put on the jersey of their hometown membership in Burnley than in some other soccer centre in England.

This can be a membership, in any case, that could be within the Championship now however which gained the league title in 1921 and 1960 and was as soon as a large of the sport right here.

Stoke appears to have been placed on a pedestal for its capability to supply a hostile surroundings for visiting groups however Turf Moor can serve up the climate and the environment to run it shut.

33. The Hawthorns, West Bromwich Albion

Division: Championship Opened: 1900 Capability: 26,688

I’ve seen a number of crackers at The Hawthorns.

The 5-5 draw between West Brom and Manchester United in Might 2013 that was Sir Alex Ferguson’s final sport as a supervisor might be prime of the record.

I used to be within the press room there in Might 2017 when Chelsea sealed the title beneath Antonio Conte and the gamers invaded his press convention to bathe him in champagne and usually tough him up. Conte didn’t look finest happy.

The best league floor in England, sitting on its perch above the M5, it is usually considered one of soccer’s nice theatres, a floor the place the assist exudes a love for the sport and a heat that survives the vicissitudes of the membership’s fortunes on the pitch.

32. Abbey Stadium, Cambridge United 

Division: League One Opened: 1932 Capability: 8,024

I made it to the Abbey Stadium for the primary time on Boxing Day final yr for the sport towards Studying.

I walked to the bottom down Lower Throat Lane and stood on the terraces on the Newmarket Street Finish the place the singing is at its loudest and the place the names and shirts of the celebrated early Nineties crew of John Beck that included Dion Dublin are painted on the wall behind the stand.

Cambridge is perhaps preventing relegation to League Two however the noise inside would have put loads of Premier League grounds to disgrace.

31. Deepdale, Preston North Finish   

Division: Championship Opened: 1878 Capability: 23,404

I like going to Deepdale only for the historical past of the place.

Simply to gaze down from the stands and know that this was the place the place Tom Finney as soon as performed is sufficient to make it a memorable expertise.

And the sense of it being a pilgrimage is simply enhanced by the truth that among the finest statues in soccer sits exterior the bottom.

Taking its inspiration from the 1956 sports activities photograph of the yr, which confirmed Finney aquaplaning by means of an enormous puddle at Stamford Bridge, the sculpture, often called The Splash, immortalises Finney exterior his residence city membership.

It’s an exquisite tribute exterior an area redolent with reminiscences of considered one of England’s biggest gamers.

30. Kenilworth Street, Luton City

Division: Championship Opened: 1905 Capability: 10,265

The primary time I went to Kenilworth Street was 42 years in the past. I stood on the open terrace that hosted the away followers for an FA Cup fourth spherical tie that Manchester United gained 2-0.

The latest time I went was in November 2021, to see Neil Warnock break the document for probably the most video games managed in English soccer however unable to cease his Middlesbrough crew falling to a 3-1 defeat.

Throughout these many years, the environment on the outdated stadium has endured. The Fundamental Stand, which is greater than 100 years outdated, shook that evening Luton took Boro down and the stadium grew to become a bear pit.

It attained a type of fame once more when the membership’s return to the highest flight not too long ago targeted consideration on the quirky Oak Street Finish entrance that goes straight by means of the center of a row of terraced homes.

Luton will transfer to a brand new stadium at Energy Court docket within the metropolis centre in a number of years however Kenilworth Street will likely be missed.

29. Etihad Stadium, Manchester Metropolis

Division: Premier League Opened: 2002 Capability: 52,900

I’d most likely have Maine Street within the prime three on this record if Manchester Metropolis nonetheless performed there. I cherished that floor.

I cherished the benches within the Platt Lane, I cherished standing on the Kippax, I cherished the cantilever Fundamental Stand and the alleyways across the floor and strolling throughout Platt Fields to the sport.

However the Etihad isn’t Maine Street. It’s this excessive on the record as a result of it’s in Manchester and it’s witnessed among the finest groups in English soccer historical past taking part in on its turf, marshalled by one of many sport’s nice managers.

Metropolis have executed their finest to breathe persona into it nevertheless it’s laborious to disguise the actual fact it’s a characterless, identikit fashionable stadium.

The company denizens of the Tunnel Membership, traipsing again to their seats nicely after the whistle has blown for the beginning of the second half, don’t assist, both.

28. Rodney Parade, Newport County

Division: League Two Opened: 1877 Capability: 8,722

A Cardiff taxi driver as soon as informed me that the perfect fights in Wales occur exterior Newport railway station late on Saturday nights. He stated he typically took a break simply to go and watch the motion.

Rodney Parade’s a positive place to observe sport, too. Not removed from the banks of the River Usk, it’s a contemporary stadium with remnants of character that come into its personal when the giants come to play for the FA Cup.

I used to be there a number of years in the past when Manchester Metropolis visited within the fifth spherical and after the sport, the best way out for followers took them previous the open home windows of the small altering rooms behind one of many targets the place you can hear the celebrations of Pep Guardiola’s crew booming out into the South Wales evening.

Just like the railway station, it’s not a spot for the faint-hearted.

27. County Floor, Swindon City

Division: League Two Opened: 1892 Capability: 15,547

There have been greater than 20 years between my first go to to the County Floor and my most up-to-date, a 0-0 draw with Accrington Stanley in direction of the tip of March. It wasn’t the perfect sport however I had the perfect time.

I’d had per week of being abused on social media by Newcastle followers (which is a part of the job and, sure, I agree, I don’t need to learn it) and going to Swindon felt like an exquisite breeze blowing on my face.

For a begin, there have been greater than 7,000 supporters there, for a fourth-tier sport which meant nothing to each groups when it comes to promotion or relegation. The environment was vigorous and passionate and the bottom has character and heat, even when one of many ends was closed.

At half-time, I watched a DS Lively match between lads with Down Syndrome representing Swindon and Bristol Metropolis and it was a pleasure. It was a pleasure to see their uncomplicated pleasure in the great thing about soccer and the best way they celebrated their targets and their talent and the best way they seemed for his or her dad and mom within the stands after they scored and the best way they supported their team-mates.

The match was a reminder of what it means for a soccer membership to be on the coronary heart of its neighborhood. A stadium is about greater than only a sport.

26. Amex Stadium, Brighton & Hove Albion

Division: Premier League Opened: 2011 Capability: 31,876

Perhaps it’s the data of the place Brighton & Hove Albion got here from to get right here that makes a go to to the Amex Stadium such an uplifting factor.

I bear in mind seeing them on the Goldstone Floor, which I cherished, but additionally on the Withdean Stadium, which is a glorified parks pitch inside a small athletics stadium. 

When you’ve commuted to ‘residence’ video games at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium for 2 years as nicely, it’s little marvel the Amex nonetheless feels just like the promised land.

Neat on the within, daring on the skin, it’s a becoming residence for an exceptionally well-run membership and a fanbase that by no means gave up on its crew.

25. Gtech Neighborhood Stadium, Brentford

Division: Premier League Opened: 2020 Capability: 17,250

It’s not typically one of many new-build era of English soccer stadiums has extra character than a membership’s former floor however the Gtech Neighborhood Stadium is a cheerful exception.

Griffin Park was a lot beloved, after all, and its peculiar characteristic of boasting a pub at every of the 4 corners of the bottom was a part of the sport’s folklore.

However Brentford pulled off an architectural marvel with the Gtech, squeezing it right into a parcel of land within the shadow of the raised part of the M4 in west London.

The membership has among the finest residence information within the Premier League this season, which is testimony not simply to the excellence of the gamers and supervisor Thomas Frank however to the tight confines of the bottom and the environment it creates.

It’s no shock it’s attracting supporters who beforehand thought-about themselves with out an affiliation. It’s the kind of stadium, and membership, that makes followers really feel they belong.

24. Racecourse Floor, Wrexham

Division: League One Opened: 1801 Capability: 10,500

I went to plenty of video games in Wrexham within the late 70s and early 80s. My finest mate, Bryn, was from the city so when his mum and pop took him to go to household there, I went alongside and we headed for the Racecourse Floor.

I’m not a kind of who regards the Ryan Reynolds/Rob McElhenney takeover of the membership with distaste, though I’m conscious that my buddy and colleague Ian Herbert, a Wrexham fan and a membership scholar, is beginning to have some misgivings in regards to the course issues are taking.

Nothing in soccer is ever fairly as healthful because it appears however to date, it feels as if it has been good for the membership and for the city.

I don’t know what their long-term motives are however they’ve poured some huge cash into the crew and into the infrastructure, and the membership is rising and rising by means of the leagues. It’s bringing extra mild right into a neighborhood that has had its share of laborious occasions. 

I used to be on the Racecourse, by the best way, when Mark Hughes scored his spectacular overhead kick towards Spain in 1985. It’s nonetheless one of many prime 5 targets I’ve ever seen stay.

The others: Angel di Maria for Argentina on the Lusail Stadium on the 2022 World Cup closing, Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Sweden towards England on the Mates Area in 2012, Dennis Bergkamp for the Netherlands towards Argentina on the Stade Velodrome at France ’98 and Norman Whiteside for Manchester United towards Everton at Wembley within the 1985 FA Cup closing.

23. St Andrew’s, Birmingham Metropolis

Division: League One Opened: 1906 Capability: 29,409

Down the winding stairs from the press field, although the principle reception space the place workers are attempting to kind ticket requests, by means of the lobby, down one other set of steps and right into a tunnel beneath the Fundamental Stand the place 4 backyard forks hold on the wall exterior the groundsman’s room – St Andrew’s continues to be an exquisite stadium that mixes old style parts and fashionable stands.

It’s a fantastic place to observe a sport. If it will get overshadowed by Aston Villa and West Brom, it nonetheless feels as if the soul of the Second Metropolis is alive on this place.

There are new homeowners now, after all, and massive plans, however St Andrew’s continues to be on the coronary heart of all the things.

22. Stadium of Mild, Sunderland

Division: Championship Opened: 1997 Capability: 48,095

I cherished Roker Park. Like Maine Street, I’d have it in my prime 10 grounds if Sunderland had been nonetheless taking part in there now and I really feel fortunate to have stood within the away finish there and been handled to the total drive of the Roker Roar.

I’ve by no means been fairly certain what to make of its successor, the Stadium of Mild. I’m not even certain in regards to the identify, which is dramatic, definitely, however can also be an apparent copy of the unique Benfica floor in Lisbon – which opened in 1954 and held 120,000 at its peak.

The design is reasonably uninspiring for such an evocative identify, too. It’s uncomfortably near identikit new-build, however I’ve buddies who say it’s their favorite wherever. 

The stadium does sit proudly atop the bluffs of the River Put on and it’s fantastic to see the crew on the up once more and dreaming of a return to the Premier League.

These are among the finest supporters within the nation and the noise the followers make when the most important events current themselves is up there with anybody.

21. Bramall Lane, Sheffield United

Division: Championship Opened: 1855 Capability: 32,050

Bramall Lane continues to be the one floor the place I’ve sat within the dugout throughout a league sport.

Neil Warnock is a buddy of mine and when he was in cost at Sheffield United, he let me sit subsequent to him in an end-of-season Championship sport towards Ipswich City.

I received a entrance row seat for Rob Kozluk, one of many sport’s nice sledgers, doing his finest to wind up then-Ipswich boss Joe Royle.

I can’t consider many higher grounds to have had the privilege. Bramall Lane is a cauldron of noise, filled with historical past and keenness, within the coronary heart of town.

Its Kop singing the Greasy Chip Butty track is without doubt one of the iconic experiences in English soccer.

20. Stamford Bridge, Chelsea

Division: Premier League Opened: 1877 Capability: 40,173

All stadiums change and modernise with the years however there are few stadiums which have modified as dramatically as Stamford Bridge.

It was as soon as an intimidating place, dominated by the Shed, a sprawling, boisterous semi-circular terrace behind one of many targets that was synonymous with the gang issues of the Seventies and early 80s.

Going to observe a Chelsea sport now’s a wholly completely different expertise. The transformation was begun by Ken Bates, considered one of a bunch of visionary businessmen who modified the best way we watch soccer, after which continued beneath Roman Abramovich.

And now, for a lot of, going to Chelsea, with its towering West Stand and opulent company containers, is a boutique expertise not misplaced with the massively prosperous space through which it stands.

You possibly can nonetheless really feel the historical past of the place once you go to, although. To its credit score, the membership preserved the unique wall that stood behind the Shed and it stays in place, used to show footage of Chelsea legends.

Perhaps I ought to declare a sure bias right here, too: the meals within the press room on the Bridge is the perfect within the Premier League.

19. Train Stadium, Harrogate City

Division: League Two Opened: 1920 Capability: 5,021

Perhaps there’s a little bit of recency bias in placing Harrogate within the prime 20.

Wetherby Street, now often called the Train Stadium, was the bottom that accomplished my 92 after I went to observe them beat Tranmere Rovers there final Tuesday evening and so I’m all the time going to really feel nostalgic about being right here.

It’s an enthralling, quirky floor, cobbled collectively in a manner which may not fulfill an aesthete however I had an excellent evening right here.

My buddies and I stood on the raucous, seething Kop behind one of many targets within the first half. It was solely six or seven rows deep however there have been sufficient surges to make it really feel like being again within the 80s.

We moved to a extra sedate spot in seats behind the opposite objective after the interval. There have been solely simply over 3,000 followers there nevertheless it felt like 10 occasions that.

Tranmere introduced 500 of these supporters from Merseyside for a midweek bottom-of-the-table sport in League Two, which was an amazing effort.

And it was a positive match, a 3-2 win for the house facet that nearly definitely assured their security from the specter of relegation.

A few outdated buddies got here with me to make the event even higher and despite the fact that there have been no fish and chips, I had breakfast at Betty’s the following morning, and an eclair for dessert, to make the expertise full.

18. Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace

Division: Premier League Opened: 1924 Capability: 25,194

I was postpone by what I noticed, pathetically, as the issue of attending to Selhurst Park in south London. Troublesome to drive to, laborious to discover a parking house, not on the Tube. Et cetera, et cetera.

I received over that a while in the past. A visit to Palace is without doubt one of the finest experiences within the English sport.

The environment generated by the Holmesdale Street stand, particularly, makes Selhurst Park among the finest grounds in England to observe soccer.

Different golf equipment have seen the quantity of their assist dim because the demographic of their followers has modified however that has not occurred at Selhurst Park. It is without doubt one of the few locations left that has the facility to intimidate and it’s all the higher for that.

17. MATRADE Loftus Street, Queens Park Rangers

Division: Championship Opened: 1904 Capability: 18,193

One of many nice surviving neighborhood grounds, an exquisite, steep-sided gem of a boutique stadium in Shepherd’s Bush, Loftus Street is a spot to cherish.

When Bernie Ecclestone was a part-owner of the membership, I sat within the administrators’ field with him a number of occasions and received shushed by Flavio Briatore for speaking an excessive amount of when my neighbour stored asking me questions. Which will have been the primary time anyone has ever been accused of speaking greater than Flavio.

The soccer wasn’t the perfect throughout their time there however the hospitality was: that they had Mayfair restaurant Cipriani doing the catering.

They’re lengthy gone now however the stadium nonetheless stays, an exquisite anachronism in a altering world.

16. Metropolis Floor, Nottingham Forest

Division: Premier League Opened: 1898 Capability: 30,404

Typically, simply the stroll to a stadium is a part of what makes it particular.

My favorite was all the time the stroll by means of Queens Gardens in Perth to the WACA. The stroll down from town centre to the Adelaide Oval is gorgeous, too, and the stroll alongside the Thames to Craven Cottage is a part of what makes that floor particular. 

It’s the identical with the Metropolis Floor. I all the time park in the identical spot, close to the River Trent, and stroll alongside the river path till you may see the Forest followers streaming down in direction of the entrances on the Trent Finish.

If you get nearer, you see the majesty of Trent Bridge subsequent to the Metropolis Floor, too, and you are feeling you’re proper on the coronary heart of British sport.

There’s a lot historical past on the Metropolis Floor, a lot achievement, a lot custom and such a surprising location. It’s an exquisite place to observe a sport.

15. House Park, Plymouth Argyle

Division: Championship Opened: 1901 Capability: 17,904

My affection for House Park was nicely entrenched even earlier than I took my seat within the pretty Mayflower Grandstand and watched one of many biggest FA Cup shocks of latest years unfold there at the start of February when the Pilgrims beat Liverpool.

That was a day to cherish all the things about House Park and the Inexperienced Military and the proud native identification enshrined there.

The Mayflower Grandstand, which was renovated not too long ago, stays an exquisite piece of stadium structure, the workers and stewards are uniformly pleasant and welcoming, and the bottom occupies a good-looking spot in a park on a hill not too removed from Plymouth Hoe. It’s among the finest soccer experiences within the league.

14. Prenton Park, Tranmere Rovers

Division: League Two Opened: 1912 Capability: 15,012

Prenton Park grew to become a beloved second residence for me for some time.

Like Stockport, they used to play their residence video games on a Friday evening at one time and that provided an opportunity to go and watch them beneath the lights.

I cherished Prenton Park and its sense of neighborhood and its noble outdated stands from the beginning and after I began work as a trainee on the Every day Put up and the Liverpool Echo within the early 90s, I received to cowl Tranmere within the glory days beneath Jonny King when John Aldridge, who had returned from Actual Sociedad, was scoring for enjoyable.

The environment inside the bottom on a few of these nights on the Wirral was electrical. After I was a information reporter on the Echo, I even needed to go spherical to the home of Tranmere’s midfielder Kenny Irons in Norris Inexperienced to take a look at a narrative.

Kenny had been taking part in soccer in his entrance backyard and kicked a ball over a hedge into subsequent door’s backyard. His neighbour was an outdated woman and she or he wouldn’t give Kenny his ball again.

After I pitched up on his doorstep, he noticed the humorous facet.

13. Craven Cottage, Fulham

Division: Premier League Opened: 1896 Capability: 24,500

Craven Cottage is without doubt one of the jewels of English soccer heritage, and Fulham’s stadium on the banks of the Thames has achieved the tough process of modernising the bottom with out dropping its character.

The presence of the Cottage, probably the most superb eccentricity remaining in our 92 stadiums, in a single nook of the bottom, is central to that, after all, and helps to make watching a match there so particular.

This can be a membership that has taken care to protect its historical past and worth a stadium that’s completely different. Even the stroll to the bottom by means of Bishop’s Park and alongside the trail by the river, provides to the pleasure of the expertise. It’s a pleasure to go to.

12. Wham Stadium, Accrington Stanley

Division: League Two Opened: 1968 Capability: 5,278

For as soon as, I can flip a blind eye to the renaming of the bottom because the Wham Stadium. 

That’s as a result of I understand how a lot love and dedication and money and time the Stanley proprietor, Andy Holt, has put into the resurrection of his native crew since he cleared its money owed in 2015 when it was on the point of folding.

Andy doesn’t get a lot thanks for it and is planning to go away the operating of the membership on the finish of the season however he’ll bequeath an enduring legacy on this a part of Lancashire. 

The bottom has improved out of all recognition since he grew to become concerned and any go to to it’s a go to to the guts of the distinction one man could make to a soccer membership and a neighborhood.

Visionaries like Andy are few and much between in soccer and the sport will likely be poorer for his absence.

11. Villa Park, Aston Villa

Division: Premier League Opened: 1897 Capability: 42,918

As soon as one of many nice architectural jewels of the English sport, Villa Park misplaced the great thing about Archibald Leitch’s magnificent authentic Trinity Street Stand in 2000 when it was demolished.

Its loss was an indication of how shabbily we deal with the thought of defending our soccer heritage on this nation.

Regardless of that, Villa Park stays one of many nice arenas within the English sport. I stood on the outdated Holte Finish in 1983 to see Villa, then European Cup holders, play the mighty Juventus and final yr, I used to be there once more when Unai Emery’s facet beat Bayern Munich, the crew they conquered within the 1982 European Cup closing, of their residence return to the Champions League.

The environment that evening final October, with the Holte Finish in full voice, was an exquisite reminder of the good events of the previous at a floor that appears like stadium aristocracy.

10. Outdated Trafford, Manchester United

Division: Premier League Opened: 1910 Capability: 74,197

Sure, the roof leaks and, sure, Outdated Trafford may do with a bit of affection and a focus however there’s a magic about this stadium that may by no means fade. (Not less than not till Sir Jim Ratcliffe knocks it down and builds the vacationer attraction that’s his imaginative and prescient of the soccer of the longer term).

A lot of that comes from the glories it has witnessed. Sit within the Stretford Finish and gaze down at a pitch the place Duncan Edwards as soon as strode throughout the turf, George Finest danced by means of the mud and the place Bobby Charlton and Denis Regulation and Bryan Robson and Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney have performed.

It’s nonetheless an impressive stadium, redolent of so many triumphs. Outdoors, on the forecourt, the Holy Trinity statue, a tribute to Finest, Charlton and Regulation, is a spot of pilgrimage. As is the Munich Clock, a poignant reminder of the lack of so most of the Busby Babes in 1958.

I used to be standing on the terraces there when United beat Diego Maradona’s Barcelona 3-0 within the Cup Winners’ Cup in March 1984 and it was among the finest atmospheres I’ve ever felt at an English league floor.

It’s an exquisite place, one of many stadiums that may lay declare to nurturing a bit of the guts of the English sport. They simply want a crew to be worthy of it once more.

9. Goodison Park, Everton

Division: Premier League Opened: 1892 Capability: 39,414

I’ve all the time cherished Goodison Park and its pretty Fundamental Stand and its fierce, fierce depth.

Some may say it has fallen into disrepair and, sure, it’s not as shiny and vibrant as among the new era of stadia nevertheless it appears like nearly probably the most genuine stadium and passionate crowd there’s within the prime flight.

I’ve been going to sit down in its cramped press field amid the wood seats of that Fundamental Stand for greater than 30 years. And I consider it as a blessing that what may need been my closing go to got here in February to see what turned out to be one of the vital tumultuous endings to a match even in Goodison’s lengthy, lengthy historical past.

There was one thing stunning about Everton’s gamers and followers that evening and their utter refusal to let the final Merseyside derby at Goodison finish in a Liverpool win.

Even earlier than James Tarkowski’s last-gasp equaliser, deep into stoppage time, the environment was so passionate, so full of abandonment, that it was nearly feral. And I positively imply that as a praise.

It was a throwback to the type of environment you used to get at English grounds earlier than the introduction of all-seater stadia and the advance of company tradition. 

Lengthy after Everton have moved on to their magnificent new residence at Bramley-Moore Dock, the reminiscence of that match towards Liverpool will stay on as a tribute to considered one of English soccer’s biggest grounds.

8. Elland Street, Leeds United

Division: Championship Opened: 1897 Capability: 37,608

I like Elland Street. Even earlier than I get into the bottom, I like Elland Street.

The statue of Billy Bremner, which is often festooned with scarves and surrounded by tributes to Leeds followers who’ve handed away, needs to be a place to begin for any go to.

On the different finish of the emotional spectrum, fish and chip outlets are a good element of a matchday expertise and Graveley’s, on Elland Street itself, which has an extended queue snaking as much as its door from two hours earlier than kick-off, is without doubt one of the finest soccer chippies within the nation.

The stadium is a correct cathedral of our sport, too. One-club cities typically generate that type of ardour and it’s evident at Elland Street.

I like the actual fact the stands are named after Don Revie, Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton and John Charles, not an IT firm or an airline or a waste administration service. 

And I like the singing of Marching On Collectively, a membership anthem that dates again greater than 50 years, not one of many manufactured membership songs you hear at some stadiums nowadays that mark a beauty try at authenticity.

You’re feeling the warmth of English soccer at Elland Street, you’re feeling the depth of it and what it means. At plenty of huge golf equipment, that feeling has been misplaced. But it surely’s alive right here.

7. St James’ Park, Newcastle United

Division: Premier League Opened: 1892 Capability: 52,258

Plenty of stadiums are known as cathedrals however St James’ Park is the one that matches the outline finest.

Each time I arrive within the metropolis and see St James’ Park staring down from its vantage level above it, it sends shivers down my backbone.

Its place is a logo of its significance to town. Inside, it generates among the finest atmospheres within the nation, its followers are amongst probably the most loyal and the Gallowgate Finish is without doubt one of the most revered sections in our soccer historical past.

Newcastle are leaning in direction of constructing a brand new stadium adjoining to the present website and shifting to that. Please don’t.

6. Holker Avenue, Barrow

Division: League Two Opened: 1909 Capability: 6,500

There’s a frontier really feel about Barrow and about its Holker Avenue floor that makes it particular to go to.

It’s not for everybody. I do know away followers complain, with some justification, about restricted views however I’d reasonably take restricted views and a floor with character and love and keenness than one of many identikit tin bowls which can be nearer to the norm within the decrease leagues.

Holker Avenue was my ninetieth floor out of the 92 and I cherished all the things about it from the friendliness of the membership workers and the followers and the steak pie I purchased from the Farm Store inside the bottom.

I used to be there in late February for the Cumbrian derby towards Carlisle United and the environment was magnificent.

It was uncooked and loud and industrial and actual. It felt like a throwback to the best way soccer was earlier than the invasion of vacationers and corporates and it was all the higher for that.

5. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur

Division: Premier League Opened: 2019 Capability: 62,850

The most effective of the brand new era of English soccer stadiums.

My favorite new stadium wherever is RB Leipzig’s Pink Bull Stadion due to the best way it was constructed contained in the bowl of the outdated Zentralstadion however in England, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium stands out.

There may be an ambition about it that so many different new-builds lack, notably the steepling finish behind one of many targets that’s stated to be modelled on the Yellow Wall on the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.

I like the nods to the membership’s historical past, notably the duplicate of the cockerel that sits above the South Stand and the black and white images that line the corridors exterior the press room.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will get loads of criticism for the failures of the membership on the pitch however the brand new stadium continues to be a surprising legacy.

4. Cherry Pink Information Stadium, AFC Wimbledon

Division: League Two Opened: 2020 Capability: 9,150

I by no means made it to the outdated floor at Plough Lane, which is a remorse, however I had among the finest of soccer days after I lastly made it to the Cherry Pink Information Stadium, close to to the location of the outdated floor, after they performed the crew that almost drove them into oblivion, MK Dons, in September final yr.

Simply setting foot on this stadium is to really feel what it’s wish to assist a crew that’s on the coronary heart of its neighborhood and to be amongst a fanbase whose crew means extra to it than simply wins and losses.

Love for the sport and the crew and reverence for the historical past of the membership, the membership that was stolen from them and the membership they rebuilt, is all over the place, from the kitsch statue of Dave Beasant on the entrance of the stadium to the illustration on the partitions.

It appears like a stadium the place all people is aware of one another, like neighbours in a avenue, like a large, loving, proud household that refuses to be torn aside.

The great thing about the structure right here shouldn’t be within the stadium buildings. It’s within the data that that is one thing constructed by followers.

If I lived in London, and Stockport weren’t taking part in, that is the place I’d watch my soccer.

3. St James Park, Exeter Metropolis

Division: League One Opened: 1904 Capability: 8,714

It was the summer time of 2010 when Exeter Metropolis ahead Adam Stansfield died of most cancers on the age of 31.

‘Stanno’, the daddy of present Birmingham striker Jay Stansfield, was a hero on the stunning St James Park stadium, nestled in a nook on the foot of a steep hill and bordered by neat, densely packed terraced streets and a railway slicing.

I drove down there with my elder daughter to take a look at the tributes to Stansfield and we wandered among the many bouquets of flowers and the keepsakes left by heartbroken younger followers and the emotional messages that had been left of their 1000’s on the Massive Financial institution.

It was inconceivable to not be moved by the profound emotional connection between a metropolis and its membership and because the years have handed, St James Park has come to embody for me all the things {that a} soccer floor needs to be: filled with character and care and camaraderie and neighborhood and keenness and satisfaction in what it stands for.

I used to be there once more on the weekend to see Stockport County play and there was a notice subsequent to the away turnstile – a turnstile made in one other age on the Albion Works in Patricroft – saying: ‘Hatters Followers: Thanks for travelling 474 miles to assist your membership right now.’

Each away fan additionally received a voucher providing a free cup of tea. The membership has been owned by its supporters for greater than 20 years and it’s a mannequin of how profitable it may be.

The Massive Financial institution has been prolonged and is now the most important terrace in English soccer. So the locals inform me, anyway. There’s a membership museum, a stall promoting farm produce and a supporters’ membership bar with huge screens.

They constructed a brand new stand a number of years again, too. It’s referred to as the Adam Stansfield Stand.

2. Anfield, Liverpool

Division: Premier League Opened: 1884 Capability: 61,726

Rising up in Manchester, Anfield was a spot I grew up fearing.

The tales of The Kop and what they’d do to you in the event that they heard your accent had been fearsome and after I lastly plucked up the braveness to go and watch Manchester United play there, I purchased a ticket among the many residence followers and didn’t communicate a phrase for greater than two hours.

However that didn’t cease me being in awe of the place after I first visited. I’ve by no means been wherever prefer it for the fervour and the noise it has generated.

Sure, possibly its environment has been barely diluted by the homeowners’ makes an attempt to draw a brand new, high-yield breed of informal fan however the ferocity of the emotion the place can nonetheless muster will be extremely shifting.

The 2005 Champions League semi-final second leg towards Chelsea was most likely the noisiest and probably the most spine-tingling I’ve ever witnessed it though the tie towards Barcelona, on the identical stage of the competitors in 2019, is seared on my mind for related causes.

A love for a stadium is about reminiscences, too. My first jobs in journalism had been on the Every day Put up and the Liverpool Echo and I spent many wide-eyed afternoons within the outdated press field at Anfield and within the press conferences afterwards, listening to Kenny Dalglish and, later, Graeme Souness, two of the perfect British footballers who’ve ever lived.

As soon as, on my first go to to the press field, I made the error of sitting in Tommy Smith’s seat and was all of the sudden conscious of the hulking presence of the Anfield Iron looming silently above me and a colleague telling me to stand up sharpish. I by no means sat in that seat once more.

Some rival followers say the Anfield environment is a fantasy. It wasn’t and it isn’t. Company incursions have altered it nevertheless it nonetheless has the facility to make the hairs on the again of your neck stand on finish.

1. Edgeley Park, Stockport County

Division: League One Opened: 1891 Capability: 10,800

My household didn’t have any historical past with Stockport County.

I can’t boast a grandfather or an uncle who as soon as performed for them. My dad was by no means a lot of a soccer fan and was extra prone to ask me ‘how did United get on’.

However he was from Heaton Chapel and his grandfather made, and misplaced, a fortune within the hatting trade within the city within the late nineteenth century, and he was fiercely pleased with Stockport Viaduct and its historical past and he took me to my first sport at Edgeley Park on Monday, April 9, 1979.

We sat in Block A of the Fundamental Stand, now the Danny Bergara Stand, and I breathed within the scent of cigar smoke that drifted up from the person within the sheepskin jacket sitting a few rows in entrance of us and thrilled on the noise coming from the terraces reverse and gazed as much as my left on the males working away on their typewriters within the press field, males whose faces I recognised as a result of I had seen their photograph bylines within the Manchester Night Information.

I’ve talked about elsewhere the curious marvel I felt when individuals who had been strangers to me greeted my dad by identify as we walked up the steps to our seats.

I didn’t suppose my dad had ever been to Edgeley Park earlier than however these folks knew him anyway as a result of they had been from Stockport and he was from Stockport and people moments made me realise for the primary time that soccer grounds are locations that maintain the soul of a neighborhood. Not for everybody, however for a few of us.

And so even when he wasn’t a fan, I nonetheless really feel linked to my dad each time I exploit considered one of my season tickets, that I purchased in a row subsequent to the press field, and gaze over on the place we sat that first time.

I’m not a correct fan just like the supporters who go week in and week out however I like that floor.

I’m not a member of any London golf equipment however Edgeley Park is my membership and now, identical to my dad, I do know folks after I go.

I really feel lucky, too, that after the membership kissed its justifiable share of frogs, it has among the finest homeowners throughout the entire 92.

Mark Stott has not simply invested within the first crew and dragged County again up into the Soccer League however he has purchased a brand new coaching floor and lavished plenty of love on upgrading amenities for followers within the Cheadle Finish.

The Danny Bergara Stand nonetheless oozes character, it’s nonetheless much like the best way I bear in mind it from that first sport in 1979 and far of the remainder of the stadium has been renovated and improved.

I haven’t been but this season as a result of I spent my spare weekends attempting to finish my 92.

I’m longing to get again. Each fan will know that feeling, the sensation of going residence.