Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

Relocation or Renovation: Football?s Big Question

As the stadium debate is topical at Everton, I figured I?d base it around the club I love. I tried my best to be as unbiased as I could, so any references to Anfield in a positive manner are only to avoid being too biased! Any feedback both positive and negative is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading.

It?s 2.35 pm, Saturday afternoon. The blue half of Liverpool leave their chosen drinking dens and descend on what the natives call ?The Grand Ol? Lady.? A more fitting description of Goodison Park would be hard to find. It is, after all, a dying breed. An old fashioned football stadium, steeped in tradition and history. Without visiting these stadiums it?s difficult to put into words just what I?m talking about. They just feel right. Goodison is not alone; across Stanley Park, Anfield is the same to Liverpudlians, whilst Aston Villa?s Villa Park rises like a beacon as you enter Birmingham via the famous ?Spaghetti Junction? as if welcoming you to England?s second city. Then there?s Elland Road in Leeds; a mountain of a steel home to Yorkshire?s biggest club. All famous venues and former FA Cup Semi-Final stadiums before the new Wembley Stadium was completed.

Then there are stadiums of the like that have been consigned to the scrapheap, bulldozed and flattened without second thought to the memories of the past, often to make way for housing or a new ASDA. Ask an Arsenal fan do they miss the old Highbury despite sitting on the Premier League's comfiest seats? ? and in some ways they?d probably say they do.

?Football has changed? though, the corporate boffins say... and it would seem they?re correct. Corporate sponsorship and Sky television rights have hammered the final nail in the coffin for Football as we know it. Man City?s ?Etihad Stadium? has replaced Maine Road; Arsenal have 'The Emirates? and Newcastle United?s world famous St James? Park is known as ?The Sports Direct Stadium?. Time doesn?t stand still.

And it?s no longer match-day revenue that pays for the majority running of a Football Club. On a personal note, I would be horrified if my beloved Goodison Park changed its name to earn the club a few extra pounds, yet income streams generated from the sale of stadium naming rights can provide crucial revenue to struggling football clubs.

But it?s not just possible naming rights that are sucking the life out of the tradition and heritage of English football stadiums; many of the newer grounds are built in the American ?Bowl? style, which can drain the life out of any atmosphere the fans can generate. The bear-pit-like noise that many of the older grounds can produce is spine tingling. Every breath, every sigh and every swear word reverberates off the beams and rivets and bounces round the stadium, intimidating opposition players as fans are literally within spitting distance.

Famous ?Kop? stand designs, synonymous with Anfield, Elland Road and Sheffield Wednesday?s Hillsborough, are dwindling, whilst the double-decker ?Gwladys Street? and the vast ?Holte End? (both designed by Archibald Leitch in the late 1800s) at Everton and Aston Villa are known around the country as their club's ?home? end. It would be such a travesty if these lasting symbols of how football used to be were replaced by the dome and bowl designs that represent the modern face of the game.

The facilities at the older stadiums are questionable to say the least: queuing times at half-time are a nightmare as you cram shoulder to shoulder in order to buy your ?pie and a pint for a fiver?. And often the toilets are dirty, and the smell of tobacco (and sometimes other types of smoke) rises from the cubicles as men and underage teenagers alike sneak off for a crafty fag away from the view of the stewards. To some people, these would be considered reason enough to knock down the dated stadiums and start a fresh, yet to many (me included) these are all part of the wonderful, almost spiritual experience that brings you back for more, week-in and week-out.

Indeed there is a very fine line between traditional and dilapidated; one that many clubs, especially Everton, are straddling. Often, restricted views keep fans away ? fans who with good reason aren?t willing to fork out upwards of £30 to only see half the pitch for 90 minutes. At Everton, there are three stands with restricted views, and the rear of the ?Anny Road? end of Anfield has some of the worst views in the Premier League. Yet Villa Park, which is equally as old, suffers from no restricted views.

I?ve been in the away end of Villa Park and the view and atmosphere were nothing short of superb. Like Goodison Park and Anfield, Villa Park is situated in a mainly residential area of Witton, Birmingham, and is a prime example of redevelopment as opposed to relocation being the answer. With the right minds in place, work can be done to even the most landlocked stadium in order to retain that matchday feel.

These are the types of grounds away fans enjoy visiting the most; the proper stadiums with proper fans and a proper atmosphere. Walking through the housing estates, past the pubs painted blue, red or claret... through the throngs of home fans, discussing everything from the starting line-ups to who let them down on last week?s coupon. Past the mounted police, and into the away section of the stadium finally surrounded by their own. It sure as hell beats strolling through a Tesco car park and a bowling alley with no ale house in sight to reach a stadium!

At Bolton especially, there?s no pub within half a mile of the ?Reebok?. There is an ASDA, a JD, a Boots and a Clark's shoe shop? but no public house for love nor money. I don?t know about you, but to me that?s not what a matchday experience is about.

The away-days out, on the train there with a crate of Carlsberg and 20 Richmond in a dark carrier bag to avoid the-on looking British Transport Police, mingling with home and away fans alike in the streets outside the ground, and discussing the rights and wrongs of the 4-5-1 formation over a beer with the lads. Then taking my seat at the back of the Gwladys Street End for home games, standing up with a sharp intake of breath as Royston Drenthe beats his full back and whips a ball into the 18-yard box. Belting out the hymns my Dad and his Dad before him sang in the same ground, by the same beam of the same stand.

Tradition is something that cannot be taken for granted; it is what keeps us going as football fans, thriving on tales of glories past. Don?t replace that local chippy you?ve been buying spam fritters from all these years for a KFC... Don?t lose that social club or pub that?s been serving up ?shite? lager for seasons gone by to a 24/7 Tesco... And don?t lose that walk to the ground you do every week; you know the one. The same route, past the same houses and cars, seeing the same faces to the same old ground.

That is football, that is the game I love, that is my Saturday afternoon.

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