A Happy New Year?

On New Year's Day we played away at Reading at their Madejski Stadium. Reading used to play at Elm Park, but after the Hillsborough tragedy it was decided that grounds for clubs in the top divisions would have to be all-seater. Reading could not rebuild Elm Park to the new specifications, so in 1998, moved to a new stadium just off the M4 Motorway to the South of Reading on the site of an old household waste disposal dump. The ground is still surrounded by methane vents. (I have resisted all jokes).


When moving to a new location, club's often agonise long and hard about an appropriate name for their new ground. Reading avoided all these problems, John Madejski named it after himself.

The stadium is of a bowl-type construction, with three of the stands being of single tiered and the Main Stand (or West Stand) is two tiers with a row of executive boxes dividing the tiers.
This stand is also connected to the hotel/conference centre which also forms part of the Madejski. The ground is surrounded by retail and commercial premises, and is shared by a rugby union club, London Irish.


Reading had not been in good form, sliding down the table to ninth position. So it looked good for Forest to notch a third straight festive win. Reading came to the CG at the end of November, catching us cold in the first few minutes by going 2-0 up. Eventually we pegged them back to 2-2, but then, despite our domination of the second half, they snatched a breakaway third goal to win the game. Revenge would have been nice.


Forest made two changes to the side for this game. Nate Chalobah was selected ahead of Radi Majewski and Jamie Paterson came in for the 'injured' Abdoun (apparently he tweeted later that he was fatigued after a run of games!). So Greg Halford continued to deputise for our strikers and, blow me, on the 36th minute he scored again. Again with a header and again from an Andy Reid free kick. The match had been pretty poor until then and continued in that vein until the break.


In the second half, the Reds should have been out of sight. Misses from Derbyshire (twice when clear on goal), Lichaj and Lansbury were to be regretted. Because with 5 minutes of injury time nearly up, Reading scored with a header from a free kick to earn a point their general play did not deserve, but it's goals that win matches and we spurned several good chances.


The match was most notable for me because of the appalling weather both before and during the match. The country had been ravaged by a series of depressions sweeping in from the Atlantic bringing both high winds and damaging rain. There were flood alerts all over the country. Before the match the weather was so bad, for the first time this season, I had been unable to photograph the exterior of the ground before the game. Fortunately the stadium construction meant the wind was not a factor during the game and we were protected from the rain throughout.


Disappointing, that game was definitely two points dropped. Feeling slightly deflated, I made my way to see my friends who live in Reading. They had been friends of ours for years and have been most supportive since my wife died. I spent a very pleasant evening catching up with them, then in the morning set out to visit several more grounds.

First on my agenda was Adams Park, home of Wycombe Wanderers FC. This is another ground shared with a rugby union club, in this case Wasps RFC. Wycombe were founded in the 19th century, but retained amateur status for many years and it was only during the latter part of the 20th century that they embraced professionalism and began to make their way up the football pyramid. Their previous home Loakes Park was sold in 1990 to the local health authority, finance which enabled Adams Park to be built. The freehold of Loakes Park was purchased by Frank Adams, a former player for Wanderers, in 1945 and donated to the club, and Adams Park was so named in his honour. The gates at Loakes Park were transferred to Adams Park and now open out onto a beautiful verdant area of ground adjacent to the ground. In fact the whole area around the ground is fine open country, except for the approach to the ground, which is through the commercial architecture of the Sands Industrial Estate.


I sought entry to the ground by chatting to the young man in charge of the Information Desk. He could not have been more helpful, obtaining permission for me to enter the ground and then directing me to the correct gateway. There are four separate stands round the pitch.
The biggest and most impressive is the Frank Adams stand on the far side of the pitch, which almost seems built into the wooded hillside. Despite the Frank Adams stand dominating the ground, the Main Stand is actually opposite, housing the changing rooms and the dugouts. At one end of the ground is the Dreams Stand, a fine single tier all-seater stand which houses away fans. Behind the far goal is the Greene King IPA Terrace.


There have, apparently, been plans to move from Adams Park because of the insistence of the local council  on a cap on attendance figures at Adams Park, but there seems little movement on these proposals at present.


I continued on my sweep around the Thames Valley and the Cotswolds as I made my way to Oxford United FC. The team were original called Headington United, but no one knew where that was, so they changed the name to the more internationally known Oxford United in 1960. Oxford have been up and down through the leagues since being elected to the Football League in 1962. They suffered financial problems, too, and once, at the whim of Robert Maxwell, almost being merged with Reading to become the Thames Valley Royals. Possibly a sound business idea, but a no-go idea to football fans. Oxford United won the League Cup in 1986 and when they were relegated from the Football League in 2006 they were the first former winners of a major trophy to lose their league status. They have a bitter rivalry with Swindon Town.

Their ground is odd in that there are only three stands round the pitch. The West End remaining open with a fine view of the bowling alley and cinema complex also owned by the present owner of the Kassam  Stadium, Firoz Kassam. Mr Kassam was the owner and chairman of Oxford, but sold the club in 2006 whilst retaining the ownership of the ground. Thus United are only tenants at the ground. The stands look fairly uniform except that the main stand is double tiered with a row of executive boxes along the middle. The plain concrete facia above these boxes is decorated by yellow and blue plaques with dates denoting the major events in the history of Oxford United. The club colours are yellow and blue. There is a statue of an ox outside the west end of the ground.

This is another ground shared with a rugby club, in this case London Welsh. Oxford United have the walls from the dressing rooms to the pitch tunnel lined with plaques decorated with a record of every player who has ever played for the club in the Football League. I was given a personal guided tour of the ground by a member of staff, another friendly gesture which was very much appreciated. In fact, this friendly personal approach was noticeable on my tour round these grounds.


The first three grounds of my latest odyssey were relative new builds, named after an individual and shared with a rugby club. My next ground is older, has a name derived from sponsorship naming rights, but does share with a rugby club. Whaddon Road or, to give it the latest name, Abbey Business Stadium is home to Cheltenham Town FC, known as the Robins, and shared with Gloucester City RFC. It has a four separate stands, with a mixture of terracing and seating, which were built between 1963 (the Main Stand) and 2005.

The Main Stand built down one side of the pitch doesn't extend the length of the pitch, but nevertheless houses the changing rooms, the directors box and other hospitality areas. It has seating in the upper tier and terracing on the lower. There are four floodlight pylons, the two at either end of the LMI Stand being notable because they also support mobile phone aerials. The ground was first developed in 1927, but didn't play host to League football until the Robins gained promotion to the FL in 1999.


As usual, I hunted round the ground for help. No one was to be found in the main stand offices, but I chanced upon a very nice gentleman tending to the ticket office, located in a portable building next to a locked gate. He very kindly sought out the key for this gate and let me into the ground with instructions to report back when I exited the pitch area. I had a pleasant wander round the ground in the sunshine.

Like pretty much all grounds these days, Whaddon Road, though with a capacity of only about 7,000, is very neat and tidy and the pitch is very well-kept. Not at all like the grounds I knew as a youngster;  dangerous terraces covered with, if they had a roof at all, rusty corrugated iron  surrounding a thick, muddy pitch. I remember going to Carrow Road, home of Norwich City,  in the late 1950s and standing on the terracing in the area which is now the fine Jarrold/South Stand. The weather was fine at the start of the game, but when the rain began to pour down, it became obvious that there was a hole in the corrugated iron roof and I got soaked.  Today's grounds have family enclosures, decent food outlets, safety stewards and a welcoming atmosphere. I looked around Whaddon Road, took my photos and left after reporting to the kind gentleman in the ticket office.


Final stop of the trip (actually, not quite) was the County Ground, home of Swindon Town FC, also known as the Robins because for many years they have played in variations of red and white kit. One of the joys of getting to the County Ground is negotiating the Magic Roundabout. This is a roundabout consisting of five mini-roundabouts, one at each of the roads entering/leaving it. Quite off-putting until you get the hang of it all; I, of course, took time to adjust which meant I had to have three attempts to find the County Ground car park!! Mind you, it wasn't altogether clear where the car park was in relation to the rest of the ground.



The ground has been home to Swindon since 1896, when Thomas Arkell (of the brewery) financed the erection of a stand on what was then known as the Wiltshire County Ground. The ground has been modernised since then, of course, particularly since the Taylor report on the Hillsborough disaster which in fact influenced many clubs to rebuild their stadiums or to move home entirely. The Main Stand is the Arkell's Stand, built in 1971 with extra seating added in 1992, which houses club offices, changing rooms, players tunnel etc. Facing this is the Don Rogers Stand, built in 1994 and named after probably the club's most famous player. He scored two goals in the League Cup win in 1969 against the mighty Arsenal, 3-1. I had the pleasure of meeting him just after he was transferred to Crystal Palace in 1972 when we had a few memorable evenings together in Teheran, but that's another story.

The stands at either end of the pitch are small single tier stands. The Town End is notable for having one of the floodlight pylons rising through it's roof and the Stratton Bank is notable for not having a roof at all. The Stratton Bank has a small electronic message board at the rear and also a Rolex timepiece, said to be the only one at a football ground.


I wandered round the ground and was unable to find anyone to show me the pitch area. Eventually I found a couple of young ladies sorting out some kit in the club shop. I asked how I could contact someone with a view to getting a few photos of the ground. To my delight, I was ushered through a door at the rear ( a bit like Alice Through the Looking Glass) and found myself in the ground!! Oh, joy. I pottered around taking my videos and snaps whilst the young lady shivered in a corner determined not to let me out of her sight. It was a beautiful sunny day, but frosty with it. I thought it best not to prolong her agony and soon retired back into the shop. This example of kindness was outstanding. She had no need to help, but wanted me to see her club. I have come across friendly, helpful people time and again during my journey and it is uplifting to find so many willing to go that extra mile to accommodate me.


I'm truly thankful to all who make my trips so memorable.


I left the County Ground feeling happy at having fitted so much into my day, particularly as the day before in Reading the weather had been so foul. In fact, Swindon was not my last stop. I was driving home on the M4 past Reading and planned to divert to the Madejski Stadium to take the photos of the exterior the rain had prevented me from taking the day before.

This I did and then set sail for Suffolk and home. A terrific couple of days, marred only by that late, late goal preventing another away win for the Reds.