dows Stadium, as a revenue raiser, but absolutely nobody refers to our home ground as such. My first visit was way back in 1978. a pre-season friendly against W.B.A. a game we lost 1-0 to a goal by a youngster by the name of Bryan Robson (if memory serves, I know he definitely played that night). Back then it was an absolute dump. A big wooden main stand, that caught fire in 1985 killing 56, was surrounded by a crumbling Kop at one end, and a similarly decrepit away end at the other, with a weird little stand that rose no higher than 15 feet running opposite the main stand. Of course the previously mentioned fire resulted in extensive redevelopment, that improved the ground no end, including a roof on the kop for the first time, and a two tier stand replaced the garden shed along Midland Road. Then came the glorious promotion season of 1998/99, which little did we know at the time was the beginning of the downward spiral that eventually returned us broke, to the bottom tier of the English professional league. The seeds were truly sown, when after a miraculous last day reprieve to remain in the top flight, our then chairman, one Geoffry Richmond undertook to redevelop the ground to an all seater stadium of over 25,000, in the mistaken belief we were ready to cement our position in the Premie
r League. After relegation the following season, and our failure to immediately return, coupled with some ludicrous transfer dealings saw our proud team go into financial meltdown. Two brushes with administration later, we have returned to the division where I first travelled to watch the boys. The club have done a good promotional deal, the cheapest season tickets in England, so match days usually see an attendance of around 13,000, which is better than the previous seasons, when we were lucky to draw 7,000. As for the ground now? It is still close enough to the city centre to have a pint and walk to ground (my personal favourite is the Beehive, a listed Georgian ale house that serves Erdinger on draught), and with the afore mentioned ticket deal, a healthy atmosphere can be found most match days, particularly as there seems to be a surfeit of local teams that always bring a good support. On the down side, the lovely chicken and mushroom pies are long gone, replaced by the God awful Balti. I also miss the Cornish Pasties. As with all grounds in the UK, you cannot drink in your seats, but at least you can be held up for a Carlsberg by a masked highwayman at half time.Statistics
- Capacity-25,136
- Concessions-Average. Symptomatic of what passes for grub at most English grounds. The pies are bland and overpriced, and the stands seem to manned slow moving lobotomised idiots. The beer is cold, but scandalously overpriced. Always double check your change.
- Built-1886
- Did You Know?- The movie I.D., a 1995 movie about football hooligans was filmed on the Kop, and if you look really closely, you can spot a certain Patty as an extra in a crowd scene.
- Visited By-I can't think of one Bender Squad member who hasn't been at least once.
- Rating-Field of Dreams-I may be being a little bit generous with my rating, it is my team, but not even the most one eyed supporter could make a case for a higher rating. It is close to town, and a derby game between either Huddersfield Town or Leeds United does give the ground a lively atmosphere. It feels like a proper ground, and that can't be said for a lot of the anti-septic out of town grounds I have visited on my travels.
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