Sussex by the Sea

On my way to the coast, I decided to visit Crystal Palace FC. They are situated deep in South London, a difficult ground to reach at the best of times, but through the Saturday morning traffic and road works, it is a nightmare. At least the Forest game at Brighton had been moved to a 1730 kick off because of a university open day, so I had time on my side. When I last visited Selhurst Park, the Holmesdale Road end was a giant terrace, now it is a giant stand.  And from the outside, that is really the only improvement made since that time. Of course, it isn't the only improvement to the ground; every aspect of the stadium has been improved, but these changes are only visible from the inside and, sadly, I could not get inside. From the outside it still looks run down and in need of a coat of paint, not Premier League at all. Even the player's entrance is protected by a chain-link fence.

The Holmesdale Road stand gives a clue to the improvements made. From the road, it does not look like a football stand at all, more like a block of flats. And, as it is in a predominantly residential area, that is probably what it is supposed to look like. After a brief tour of the exterior, it was onwards to the seaside.

The last game before the latest international break took Forest to the American Express Community Stadium (or the AMEX) at Falmer, home of Brighton and Hove Albion.
We expected a tough game here because Brighton had shown strong form last season, getting to the playoffs, though their form this season has been much more patchy. This may be due to injuries suffered by key players, most notably Ulloa, their influential free-scoring forward.

The AMEX is a new build, bowl-type ground completed in 2011, with various interior additions made during the intervening years. The design concept is based on the roll of the South Downs and the stadium is built into a hillside which necessitated removing vast quantities of chalk during the build. This design concept no doubt accounts for the slope of the roof of the stadium as the West Stand has one more tier than the facing East Stand. Anything would be an improvement on the Withdean Stadium (really just an athletics track) which Brighton used after leaving their old Goldstone Ground in the late 1990s and ground-sharing with Gillingham for a couple of seasons.

The AMEX is no doubt a fine stadium, but access for the visiting fan is difficult. Probably the best approach is to come by official club coach, because these are parked (nose to tail) in a car park just above the away fans South Stand. The problem of access comes because of the isolated site and the fact that the ground is plumb in the middle of the campuses of two Universities, those of Sussex and Brighton. There is nowhere adjacent to find parking space, so fans, both home and away, must use public transport. The club and town have gone to great lengths to provide a variety of links to the ground; park and ride, bus and/or trains being the main transport, with tickets to games marked "Free travel included". However, our game was attended by over 27,000 fans and getting that number away from the ground after the games is a problem.

I parked in Lewes and, as the game was late on Saturday, I parked for free, and travelled to the AMEX by train. Coming back to Lewes we waited for the train in a vast queue in the open air for about half an hour. It was a dry balmy evening. That wait on a cold winter's day or in driving rain would, I guess, take the edge off the enjoyment of any game, win or lose. I heard that the park and ride queues can take even longer to dissipate.

Prior to the game I was wandering around the ground taking my usual photos and videos and noticed a group of VIPs coming down the hill towards me. Didn't take much notice of the group as I was rather distracted by the young lady leading the party! Only as they passed me, did I realise that it was Fawaz al Hasawi, the Forest owner, and his family. No doubt more extrovert members of the travelling fans would have called out to him, but I am too shy for that and just allowed them to proceed unmolested.

The game itself was a classic "game of two halves".  We did not play well in the first half, but, even so, were unlucky to go one down on the half hour mark. Their right winger mishit a shot which went straight across the goal to Crofts and he dived forward and headed in from close range. In the second half we scored almost from the kick off. The ball was put out for a corner and Lansbury scored with a fine header. Shortly afterwards Cox pushed a ball back to Henderson and he scored with an instinctive left foot shot. Finally Cox again turned provider, only this time it was winning a penalty for a trip in the box. Lansbury got his second, with an unstoppable penalty which nearly bust the net. Cue hysteria from the visiting fans. We went down to ten men for the last 20 or so minutes, but saw  the game out quite comfortably.

Eventually I was on the road again and heading for Crawley in order to visit my third ground of the weekend. On a misty, but mild October morning I made my way to the Broadfield Stadium of Crawley Town FC. This is a relatively new stadium (built 1997) made up of 4 separate stands, with additional facilities, such as ticketing, away travel etc, in portacabins set about the site. The ground is difficult to miss as on the roundabout outside is a giant red and white football. 

The whole setup is  in a wooded area and seems spacious because there is a car park around two sides and a artificial turf five-a-side pitch to the rear, where there is also a bar "The Redz".

Whilst I was there one of the Crawley Town girls sides was gathering for a Sunday morning fixture. More evidence that clubs at all levels of football get themselves involved in the community.

On this trip I was really mixing the ancient and modern in stadium design. Because my next ground was Fratton Park, home to Portsmouth. From the ultra modern AMEX to Fratton Park is a journey in time. Pompey were founded in 1898 and have been at their present ground all that time. In my young days, just after WWII, they were a power in the land, twice winners of the Div 1 title. Recently, however, they have suffered severe financial troubles, are currently owned by a supporters trust and have been relegated in short order from the Premier League to League 2.

Their ground is old and, frankly, tatty, but shows the obvious love of the fans. For instance, the whole way down the outside of the North Stand is graffiti which is, to my eyes, artistic and suited to the ground.

During my walk around the ground, I started chatting to a bloke who obviously had knowledge of and affection for the club. It turned out that he is their CEO. He promised to give me a tour of the ground later as the players were, at that moment, training on it. Sadly I had to move on.

My trip now took me just a few miles along the coast, but miles up the football pyramid. For I travelled to St. Mary's  Stadium, home of Southampton FC currently in the Premier League and housed in a brand new stadium, opened in 2001. This is of the familiar bowl type plan and, I must admit, the in reception area at the front of the ground looks grand.

However, despite this effort to differentiate the ground from all other new 'bowls', it is rather bland, with it's rather plain exterior and spiky protruding metalwork, necessary for strength, but with attempts by the architect to make it something of a visual feature to offset the functionality.

Actually, I wasn't able to 'case the joint' as thoroughly as I had the other grounds because my planning had let me down. I had originally found that there was no game on the day I decided to visit, but because of the success in Europe of Swansea City, the visitors, the game had been put back a day. Thus I was rather surprised to arrive in the area along with hordes of fans and stewards and, worst of all, traffic wardens. I attempted to explain the purpose of my visit and pleaded for just five minutes  to take my photos and wander round the ground, then I would be off out of their hair. No go. As I passed the same couple of stewards on 'traffic management duties' for the fifth time, they took pity on me and allowed me to park in a small layby opposite the main entrance of the ground, whilst at the same time assuring me that if there was any official intervention, they knew nothing about anything.

This was good enough. I raced around the ground; well, not all around it, but the bits that looked interesting and took my pictures. Statues are becoming very popular outside grounds. St Mary's ( the stadium name derives from the fact that the club were originally named Southampton St Mary's because of the association with the local St Mary's church) has one of Ted Bates, who filled almost every position at the club from manager to president during his time at the club, from his 1937 transfer from Norwich City to his death in 2003.

Not wishing to outstay my welcome, I soon left and headed home.

South to Charlton

I'm a country boy and visits to the Capital are viewed with distaste. To some it is vibrant and alive, to me it's crowded, dirty and unfriendly. Plus, I'm never quite sure how to get to where I'm going. So it proved. My carefully planned route led me along the crowded roads almost to my destination then let me down, so that I went too far along the road, under the Thames and up on the wrong side of the river!! I promptly went back under the water and managed to find my destination, a parking spot within easy reach of The Valley, home to Charlton Athletic FC.

The last 30 years or so have been turbulent ones for the Addicks fans. In 1985 because of poor financial planning, Charlton had to leave their ground and share with other clubs, notably Crystal Palace and West Ham. After much work by all associated with the club, including political skirmishes with Greenwich  Council, the club moved back to their home in 1992. More work remained to be done, but this was the major step. More progress of note was the opening of the North Stand in 2002, a fact commemorated by a large plaque on the wall of that stand.

The Valley now has three sides of the ground enclosed, forming a giant U-shape, with the open end bottled up by the stand-alone, single tiered South Stand, which houses the away fans.

Probably Charlton's greatest ever player was Sam Bartram, a fine goalie, who played out his entire professional career with the club. He was certainly one of the first professional footballers of whom I have memories, though he was never selected for England. I still have my copy of the 1954 "FA Book for Boys" with an article by Sam Bartram on goalkeeping and a photo of him cutting the cake, with Jimmy Dickinson in close attendance, presented to him celebrating his 500th appearance for Charlton. There is a statue of the great man outside the club reception in the West Stand. I have to say it does not look remotely like the Sam Bartram I remember, but then memories can be deceptive.

Another feature around this area is a memorial walk of stones commemorating Addicks fans who are no longer with us. A nice touch, which I have noted at several grounds.


The game was nerve-wracking for Forest fans. Injuries and tactics meant that Billy Davies selected a team quite different from that which faced Derby. Once again Andy Reid was our saviour, scoring direct from a free kick way out on the right touchline in the first few minutes. However, this was not the signal for a complete demolition of a Charlton side which was short of recent form. In fact, the home side completely took over the game, playing delightful football. Half time could not come soon enough for the Forest fans or the team and, luckily, it was still 1-0 to us at the interval.

Second half was more of the same, desperate defending by us with Charlton continuing to play pretty well.  They soon scored and played for the winner. As is our wont, we came into it strongly towards the end, but neither side could find a winner. Forest being far the more relieved to claim one point than Charlton.

Derby Day

This was a Derby with a difference, the change from the usual razzamatazz coming after the game had finished.

The game was pretty much a sell-out, with the away fans, as is usual now, being limited to about 2,000 fans in one corner of the Lower Bridgford stand. I think this new arrangement for the fans in this part of the ground is beginning to work well. Normally 'our' section of the Lower Bridgford is quite sparsely populated, but I hear from those who have moved there that they like it and so it is to be hoped that the idea catches on and more folk are tempted move. The proximity to the away fans is the attraction for some and for others it is chance to gather many of our more vocal fans in one area to add to the noise of A Block.

The game itself was the usual high-tension affair. Not because there were lots of bad fouls and cards of all colours, but because these games are so important to the fans of both clubs. In fact the game was fairly insipid. Forest dominated the first 15 minutes or so, then Derby started to come into it with some pleasant midfield moves which, however, hardly threatened Darlow's goal. Then we scored with a goal straight off the training ground. Reidy hit a hard, low corner to the near post and Jack Hobbs raced in, unmarked, to score with a powerful header. After that we played out the remaining 10 minutes to half time with no problem.

Second half was much of the same. Derby trying to play passing football,  but not making any real impression on the Forest rearguard. Their only effort of note was a shot on the turn by Sammon coming just a few minutes from the end. This was, probably, during Derby's best spell of the game, which was surprising as they were down to 10 men, Keogh having been sent off for a second yellow card gained after a tackle in the box on Chris Cohen. The resultant penalty was saved by Grant, who went the correct way to palm Henderson's shot out for a corner. Reid also had a shot during a breakaway, but that was also saved. I think he just ran out of puff for that one.

Not one of the most memorable derbies, but the result is far more important than the style of victory.

The big event of the day came some hours after the game, Nigel Clough, son of Brian and the Derby manager, was sacked. A fine player for us during the time his father managed the club, Nigel had a spell of ten years at Burton and then moved to Derby County five years ago. With little money to spend, many considered him to have done a good job, trimming the wage bill and building a pretty useful team. However, sentiment has little place in football today and the board obviously considered he had done as much as he could for the club.

The new man, with strong links to Derby, is Steve McClaren. He was not a great success during a short spell as Forest manager, but has been welcomed with open arms at our rivals. 

North to Doncaster

Yet another trip up the A1, this time to Doncaster Rovers. In addition, I visited Scunthorpe United and Hull City.

Rovers have a new build stadium, completed in 2007. It is a bowl type stadium with nothing of interest at all. The seating runs around the ground with corners in-filled and each stand looks like all the others. Like all newly built stadiums, it does what it needs to do and has all facilities, but it is just so bland. The ground is set in a parkland type setting to the front with beautifully manicured grassy areas and a more or less circular lake surrounded by hotels and walkways. Just across the main road is the famous Doncaster Racecourse.  The walkway running round the ground is named Alick Jeffery Way in tribute to the Donny player of some years ago. A bright young prospect, he broke his leg badly in a England U23 game (that was the age limit in those days). Medical science then was not what it is these days and it looked as if his career was over before it had properly begun. However, he fought back and played many times for Doncaster Rovers again.

At the rear of the stadium are an assortment of other pitches used for football (both soccer and American football) and a well equipped athletics stadium, all being enthusiastically used whilst we assembled for our match. Also close to the Keepmoat Stadium is an indoor sports and fitness facility. Altogether a pretty good sporting set up.

Also at the rear of the stadium is a brown field site ripe for redevelopment, but which at the moment is rather scruffy. Part of this area is covered in cinders and used as an away supporters car park. As Forest brought a large following (over 4000 of us) this was useful for parking many of the coaches used. I parked in a residential area close to this site and found parking easy . Some of the area is very run down, but efforts have been made to completely redevelop a few of the streets and houses and I have no doubt that there is an on-going plan to sort out the whole district.

Before the game the MC did the usual chat on the microphone for the benefit of the Doncaster fans then wandered over to chat to the assembled Forest supporters. Rather amusingly he gave us a potted history of our club (whilst looking rather sheepish [no reference to D***Y there!] thinking that, no doubt, we might know those facts well enough). I couldn't hear too much of what he said, because the PA , as usual, was garbled/muffled.

As to the game itself, let's just say Forest had the lion's share of possession, gave away two goals because of shocking defensive lapses and in the end managed to salvage a point. Two points lost at this game.

It was a beautiful late summer day and I drove, as planned, up to the hotel in Scunthorpe in order to be in position to visit my first stadium of the next day, Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park. I used to copy local maps off the computer to take with me (not being conversant with mobile devices), but the sat nav, although being rather old, has been operating very efficiently, so I have recently dispensed with many of the printed maps. Bit of a mistake! The address I had was simply Glanford Park, Doncaster Road with a postcode. My sat nav found this a bit difficult, but I thought, find the right area and there is bound to be a sign to Glanford Park. Wrong. I headed up the long Doncaster Road in the wrong direction. Stopped to ask a group of lads about to start work at the local Sainsbury's store. They very kindly gave clear directions and informed me that, in fact, the store was built on the site of the old Scunthorpe ground, the Old Show Ground. I thought they might be pulling my leg, but when I got home, I entered the Old Show Ground address in Google maps and, sure enough, they were right.

Glanford Park is set in it's own area of ground, but close to many other inhabitants of a retail park. In fact I had a job to take a photo of the entrance gate without including 'Frankie & Benny's' local outlet.

The ground apparently was the first new build league stadium since WWII, in 1988, and is now showing it's age. It is totally enclosed in a sort of bowl, breeze blocks up to head height and aluminium shuttering the rest. There is plenty of car parking area which allows the club extra revenue by holding regular car boot sales. There was one taking place at the time of my visit, which was a bit of luck, because members of the club were on hand to allow me into the ground to walk down the tunnel and out onto the pitch. Well, not actually the pitch, because clubs jealously guard the pitch itself and I never take liberties in this direction. The lovely young lady and steward who allowed me in (after checking with their boss) were helpful and proud of their club, like so many of the people I have encountered during the first few months of my quest.

Scunthorpe have honoured an ex-player by naming one of their lounges "The Sir Ian Botham Executive Lounge". Botham played for Scunthorpe during the late 70s/early 80s for a few games, but, of course, is better known as a great cricketing all-rounder.

I bade farewell to Scunthorpe and travelled the short distance, via the Humber Bridge, an imposing structure, to Hull City and their home, the KC Stadium. This is a new build in a pleasant parkland setting housing both Hull City FC and Hull FC, one of the local rugby league clubs. The club moved from their former ground Boothferry Park the short distance to the KC in 2002.

The ground is of the usual bowl appearance outside. Despite efforts by architects to force some individuality on these new grounds they all seem to be in one or two distinct styles and, quite frankly, to me appear a bit boring, if functional. There is the 'bowl' style favoured by the bigger clubs or wannabe bigger clubs (KC Stadium and Stadium MK) and the 'four stands' style ( Northampton and Colchester). Older grounds with their piecemeal additions are much more atmospheric and interesting, in my opinion. I was not able to get into the ground and found only the entrance area to the KC Stadium to be worth photographing and that is quite tricky because of all the mature trees surrounding it. Also because of the sun shining low in the sky on that magnificent autumnal day. Nevertheless, it is a fine ground and I'm sure every fan and player of Hull City is pleased to be associated with such a modern stadium.

The ground is a community stadium which is very clearly noted several times in and around the stadium. Notably by the granite obelisk outside the main entrance which lists the name of every council member who sat on any committee involved in the setting up of the stadium.

Then it was homeward bound to await the visit of Derby County for our home version of the East Midlands derby with the winner receiving the Brian Clough Trophy. Nice to win the trophy, but gaining three points against Derby is infinitely better.