Best/Worst Premiership Stadiums

[Blaze]

The old main stand at Love Street was done and would cost too much to replace. The deal from Tesco came at the right time to clear debt and move to a modern stadium.

It really did save the club.

[PauloPerth]

11 minutes ago, GAD said:

 I couldn't really care less about away fans.

And rightly so.

I just think the ground was half done, they could have done the side stands over time and stayed at their spiritual home in a better location. Seems a waste of money spending millions developing it over a 10-15 year period, the just tearing it down.

But I guess if st Mirren fans prefer it then that's all that matters.

[PauloPerth]

3 minutes ago, Blaze said:

The old main stand at Love Street was done and would cost too much to replace. The deal from Tesco came at the right time to clear debt and move to a modern stadium.

It really did save the club.

I posted before I saw your comment, fair enough if the finances were that desperate.

[Munoz]

12 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

And rightly so.

I just think the ground was half done, they could have done the side stands over time and stayed at their spiritual home in a better location. Seems a waste of money spending millions developing it over a 10-15 year period, the just tearing it down.

But I guess if st Mirren fans prefer it then that's all that matters.

Didn't St Johnstone not go down a similar road to us ?

[Vancouver_Don]

1 hour ago, GAD said:

St Mirren's new ground is far better for home fans. The views from the Main Stand and the West Stand are far than what was available at Love Street, where the choice was pillar in the way, or wet. The facilities are much better as well, such as being able to take a pish without being rained on and wash your hands afterwards. I couldn't really care less about away fans.

Maybe in the minority but I actually quite like the new St Mirren stadium. Its a decent atmosphere and like you said the facilities are much better than Love Street.

I know through one of the architectures who helped design the stadium that there are plans in place to eventually fill in the corners and increase the current capacity to 12,500. Not sure if that will still be in the works given the current climate of football.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

Tynecastle pre Main Stand redevelopment was by the far the best ground in the Premiership certainly and possibly the country full stop. Since then? Not for me. Boring, identikit ground. Yeah it keeps the atmosphere in but most of the time - what atmosphere?

That's not meant as a dig at Hearts specifically, it's the same at every ground in the top flight. The Green Brigade bounce away while 95% of Parkhead sit on their hands.

 

The general air of nihilistic fatalism and ennui that settled around the place since it was built can't be blamed on the new stand. 

 

Indeed for all the complaints about the restricted view at Celtic Park there were many times I'd rather have been staring at a pillar.

 

 

 

[DA Baracus]

1 hour ago, Vancouver_Don said:

Maybe in the minority but I actually quite like the new St Mirren stadium. Its a decent atmosphere and like you said the facilities are much better than Love Street.

I know through one of the architectures who helped design the stadium that there are plans in place to eventually fill in the corners and increase the current capacity to 12,500. Not sure if that will still be in the works given the current climate of football.

Why? That would be a very stupid move.

[PauloPerth]

2 hours ago, Munoz said:

Didn't St Johnstone not go down a similar road to us ?

No.  St Mirren went down a similar road to St Johnstone who moved 20 years earlier.

As common as new out of town grounds are now, we were the first club in Scotland for a few generations to move,  so we had nothing to base our new ground on.  On the other hand, there had been many clubs move by the time the Mirrens built their new ground, so i tend to feel they should have nailed the design perfectly.

[djchapsticks]

2 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

And rightly so.

I just think the ground was half done, they could have done the side stands over time and stayed at their spiritual home in a better location. Seems a waste of money spending millions developing it over a 10-15 year period, the just tearing it down.

But I guess if st Mirren fans prefer it then that's all that matters.

I don't think you'll get many St. Mirren fans who prefer it but there was a few major issues that meant Love Street's time was unfortunately up.

We had a level of debt that we simply couldn't clear and the bank were no longer willing to let us chip away at it on the never never, so I believe they remove our credit facility if memory serves.

Another issue that was definitely there but rarely mentioned is that the Main stand was absolutely finished as well. It was over 100 years old and very much at the end of it's life. It was ancient and tiny inside (hospitality generally ended up with loads of small groups in individual rooms....we were in a directors office one time and it didn't exactly feel like we were part of the hospitality party. The club knew they were missing out with this but had nowhere else to put folk)

Add to that, the fact that the main stand was in a fucking horrid spot that would have made rebuilding it difficult or impossible.There was no space for large vehicle access at the front of the stand and we couldn't build backwards due to the residential houses over the wall and we would have probably resulted in ground sharing for a period as any large vehicles would've had to use the pitch for access.

I mean, it's a dreadful shame. We'd spent a fortune on the ground relatively recently to get it into a good shape. We spent £1.5m to build the Caley stand in 1992 and kitted it out with a pretty state of the art gym for it time, a wee bar and 2 good indoor 5s pitches, £500k to do the Express stand behind the other goal in 2000 (a shameful thing as we had our arm twisted by SPL 10,000 seat rules at a time where we were pulling about 5,000 per match) and then £150k on USH in 2007.

I don't think moving was ever really in the bigger plan, even as late as the early to mid 2000s until it became a very pressing issue very quickly and the cost of having further improvements coupled with the bank's insistence forced us to make moves.

 

[djchapsticks]

22 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

No.  St Mirren went down a similar road to St Johnstone who moved 20 years earlier.

As common as new out of town grounds are now, we were the first club in Scotland for a few generations to move,  so we had nothing to base our new ground on.  On the other hand, there had been many clubs move by the time the Mirrens built their new ground, so i tend to feel they should have nailed the design perfectly.

Unfortunately, not really our fault, that one. Tesco ponied up nothing more than whatever money was needed for the land on the following conditions:

a) Clear club debt to zero

b) Purchase piece of land in Ferguslie to build a new stadium

c) Build said new stadium to point it is functional for what we need and has a minimum of 8,000 seats (as per SPL rules at the time)

d) They pony up for improved road infrastructure (such as traffic lights at certain junctions) around the new ground and love street.

All in all, the bill came to about £8m IIRC but we never actually saw a penny of it to do what we wanted with it. Tesco funded the stadium fully (rather than just pay us up front and give us money to do it ourselves). I presume they would have given us a few prefab choices to pick from to keep price down as much as possible. No frills.

We'd have definitely built a better stadium but if Tesco had gone, 'here's £X million as agreed, do what you want', the risk would have been going over budget and it ending up a pointless exercise as we'd still be in debt only for a new ground. Or ending up with 2 or 3 stands and a big bit of spare ground. At least this way, there was no risk as they footed the bill whatever it was but this was the expense of us not having a bit of cash at the end to play with (which typically isn't a bad thing. We don't historically trade well with cash in hand).

I mean, 10 years on, it's finally developing a wee bit of character. Bits of wall art etc inside the stands, the scoreboard in the corner, the Paisley pattern wall coverings in the main stand but for a long time, it was a bit of a soulless box.

Edited May 14, 2020 by djchapsticks

[Lebowski]

Maybe in the minority but I actually quite like the new St Mirren stadium. Its a decent atmosphere and like you said the facilities are much better than Love Street.
I know through one of the architectures who helped design the stadium that there are plans in place to eventually fill in the corners and increase the current capacity to 12,500. Not sure if that will still be in the works given the current climate of football.

It's one of those things during times like this though that if you've got cash you'll be able to fund more with it than you usually could. Hibs built our east stand for a relative pittance because we built it following the 2008 recession. That meant materials such as steel was very cheap, and building companies were bidding basically at cost to stay in business for a bit.

[PauloPerth]

6 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

Unfortunately, not really our fault, that one. Tesco ponied up nothing more than whatever money was needed for the land on the following conditions:

a) Clear club debt to zero

b) Purchase piece of land in Ferguslie to build a new stadium

c) Build said new stadium to point it is functional for what we need and has a minimum of 8,000 seats (as per SPL rules at the time)

d) They pony up for improved road infrastructure (such as traffic lights at certain junctions) around the new ground and love street.

All in all, the bill came to about £8m IIRC but we never actually saw a penny of it to do what we wanted with it. Tesco funded the stadium fully (rather than just pay us up front and give us money to do it ourselves). I presume they would have given us a few prefab choices to pick from to keep price down as much as possible. No frills.

We'd have definitely built a better stadium but if Tesco had gone, 'here's £X million as agreed, do what you want', the risk would have been going over budget and it ending up a pointless exercise as we'd still be in debt only for a new ground. Or ending up with 2 or 3 stands and a big bit of spare ground. At least this way, there was no risk as they footed the bill whatever it was but this was the expense of us not having a bit of cash at the end to play with (which typically isn't a bad thing. We don't historically trade well with cash in hand).

I mean, 10 years on, it's finally developing a wee bit of character. Bits of wall art etc inside the stands, the scoreboard in the corner, the Paisley pattern wall coverings in the main stand but for a long time, it was a bit of a soulless box.

All fair points. And you're right, as impressive as the stands are at Falkirk, for example, the ground loses most of the positives by only having 3 sides done.  Basically, would you want a NDP or a SMP?

Theres a reason McDiarmid, Broadwood, Airdrie, StMirren are all built with the 4 identical stands only on the sides, and it's that it's obviously the most cost effective method of building a ground.  But then I look at Tynecastle with 4 very similar stands only along the sides as well, and just feel st Mirren surely could have pushed to have it modelled it on something like that in terms of closeness to the pitch, steeper stands etc which surely wouldn't have added to the cost.

Anyway, its done now, but I hope any clubs that move in future consider the view/ atmosphere etc when planning.

[djchapsticks]

17 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

All fair points. And you're right, as impressive as the stands are at Falkirk, for example, the ground loses most of the positives by only having 3 sides done.  Basically, would you want a NDP or a SMP?

Theres a reason McDiarmid, Broadwood, Airdrie, StMirren are all built with the 4 identical stands only on the sides, and it's that it's obviously the most cost effective method of building a ground.  But then I look at Tynecastle with 4 very similar stands only along the sides as well, and just feel st Mirren surely could have pushed to have it modelled it on something like that in terms of closeness to the pitch, steeper stands etc which surely wouldn't have added to the cost.

Anyway, its done now, but I hope any clubs that move in future consider the view/ atmosphere etc when planning.

Don't disagree on the height part. 

The stadium is fine in size and function but if the stands were a bit higher and felt on top of the pitch it would be a fantastic wee ground. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Wonder how the “best away day in Scotland” will be like  next season when the likes of Dumbarton and Alloa roll into Edinburgh?

Spoiler

 

[Mr Waldo]

17 hours ago, Andy_K_97 said:

Motherwell: I like Fir Park. Given that most grounds now have at least 2 stands that look very similar I like that all the stands look different. I've sat in 3 of the 4 stands and the away end is excellent, especially with a big crowd inside it. A big downside is coming from the train or parking at the civic centre and having to walk all the way round to get to the away end as you never think it'll take that long but then ten minutes later you're still walking. 7.5/10

Google Burnside Court. Park there and walk up Dalzell Avenue. But don't tell everyone.

[Sergeant Wilson]

11 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

And rightly so.

I just think the ground was half done, they could have done the side stands over time and stayed at their spiritual home in a better location. Seems a waste of money spending millions developing it over a 10-15 year period, the just tearing it down.

But I guess if st Mirren fans prefer it then that's all that matters.

As @Blaze said, building new grounds is about clearing debt, downsizing, reducing maintenance costs and improving corporate and non football facilities.

Tradition and supporter comfort are well down the list of priorities.

[AberdeenHibee]

I absolutely love the trips to Tynecastle - not missed one of the past 8 games there.  You can't deny it is a cracking atmosphere and right on top of the players.  Key criticisms though are that three of the stands are now very old/dated and the pitch is not a proper size, so stifles actual football which turns it into more of a battle.  The entrance is also a total joke and you are guaranteed to miss half the game if you aren't 40 minutes early. 

Also love the trips to Ibrox - when you are in that god-awful corner and winning, there are no better places to be in Scottish Football.

Enjoy my away days to McDiarmid Park.  The Steak and Chorizo pies are worth the trip on their own.

Edited May 15, 2020 by AberdeenHibee

[topcat(The most tip top)]

 The entrance is also a total joke and you are guaranteed to miss half the game if you aren't 40 minutes early. 

Getting in to Easter Road takes us ages as well. I’d previously thought this was because of the new turnstiles but if you’re getting the same thing then this might be as much a derby day policing issue as anything structural

[Aim Here]

41 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

Getting in to Easter Road takes us ages as well. I’d previously thought this was because of the new turnstiles but if you’re getting the same thing then this might be as much a derby day policing issue as anything structural

The new QR-code reading turnstiles at ER were terrible when they were first introduced and I still think the one in gate 26 isn't properly calibrated. When we had the old-fashioned barcode readers, getting into the ground wasn't a problem.

[Marshmallo]

As an away fan (many years ago for many sadly), this is The Definitive List

1. Tynecastle

2. Easter Road

3. Almondvale (I wish we'd used this as a model for our new stadium)

4. New St Mirren Park

5. Rugby Park

6. Victoria Park

7. McDiarmid Park

8. Fir Park

9. New Douglas Park

10. Pittodrie

11. Ibrox

12. Celtic Park