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Author Topic: doug ellis/witton lane stand  (Read 15791 times)

Offline DesBremner

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2019, 09:27:29 PM »
My late father uncle and his father in law had season tickets in the old Witton Lane just to the left of the halfway line about a dozen rows back
As a kid I loved it
the strange thing I remember was the wooden flooring under the seats
Made a great noise when you stamped your feet
Dad cancelled his season ticket when it was renamed and never went back into the stand

Happy Days

Offline wally58

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #16 on: March 20, 2019, 09:34:18 PM »
My mate and myself have always called it the Charlie Aitken Stand.
We told him once at a player of the year awards night. He was chuffed at the idea.

Offline Pat McMahon

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #17 on: March 20, 2019, 10:17:29 PM »
Some great photos there, thanks.

I love the fact that the picture from the Holte End has a milk crate down towards the front on the tight side.

But the Trinity, labelled as “The West Stand” - tut tut.

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #18 on: March 20, 2019, 11:47:58 PM »
The lower tier is the old stand and the upper was squashed into the space allowed. By all accounts the upper tier is dire and one of the poorest away ends going.

When I'm up there I always like sitting in the corner by the control box, get a brilliant cross view of the Holte filling up and then celebrating when a goal is scored.

For a newish build the concourse is very tight when it's busy so can imagine that's a main complaint of the away fans.

Probably already been covered but wasn't there some asbestos issue which meant the lower tier had to be redone just after it opened?

Offline Mister E

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #19 on: March 21, 2019, 01:34:46 AM »
In many ways the name of that particular stand is very appropriate.
what? Tight-arsed?

Offline Dave P

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #20 on: March 21, 2019, 06:11:57 AM »
Witton Upper is fine.The view is great, but the concourse is tight and the food/drink thingys are not very good.

I’ve only been in the upper twice, most recently the Albion game last month, but I found the leg room to be fine. Agree 100% with the lack of Concourse space though.

Offline Rigadon

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #21 on: March 21, 2019, 07:34:03 AM »
Sat in the Upper once.  The amount of leg room was dire.

The concourses are dangerously cramped upstairs.

I've been up in there a couple of times this season and I must admit I wondered how safe it would be in an emergency.  So claustrophobic, especially at HT. 

Offline Dazvillain

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #22 on: March 21, 2019, 08:58:01 AM »
Brilliant old pics 👌. I remember my dad taking me to a wba game in upper north on the day it opened.... Alex cropley horrifically had his leg broken that day. Could be heard all around the ground.

Was that as long ago as mid to late 70’s ?

Offline andrew08

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #23 on: March 21, 2019, 09:18:01 AM »
It is a poor stand but the real contentious build was the Trinity Road Stand. It was in the early days of either this site or the old mailing list and people really fell out. The Trinity Road Stand is a stunning stand and had it been just built as new, replacing say a stand like they had/have at the  Hawthorns or The Sty it would have been fine, but because we knocked down our iconic external facade to build it people went mad.

I was called a man ‘without a soul’ at the time by someone because I described the stand as just a viewing platform as I was more interesting in the view of the pitch rather than the view from Aston Park😀.

All good stuff really.

Online Nev

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #24 on: March 21, 2019, 09:41:50 AM »
I remember watching Rod Stewarts gig from the North Stand in the summer of '95 and the whole bottom tier of the Witton Lane had been removed making it look rather incongruous, the road crew had used the space to store all the empty flight cases.

As for the Trinity Road stand, like many, I consider the way it was demolished as an act of vandalism. It was much more than a viewing platform. It defined our club, it had style and panache, told you that within lay an organisation that wasn't just an ordinary football club, that set the pace and standard in the fledgling days of league football in Britain, it demonstrated pride, attention to detail and an overwhelming sense that something very special lay behind the mosaic's, sweeping stairs and stained glass windows. Topped off with that beautiful gable, it was designed and built by the foremost architect of the time, Archibald Leitch. At Glasgow Rangers they took this into account when they rebuilt their main stand, at Villa Park it was dismissed with little thought.

And talking of little, wasn't it Brian Little who stated that as he approached the ground and caught sight of the Trinity Road Stand that he made his mind up that this was the club for him?

I may be romancing it a bit but sometimes our game needs a little romance and we lost some of that to the bulldozers as they ground that history into the dust.

Offline Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #25 on: March 21, 2019, 09:50:59 AM »
I have a certain fondness for the Witton side as I sat there from my first game in September 1966 up until the end of season 68/69. 
The only things I remember from my first game is Jack Charlton at the back for Leeds (we won 3-0) and the smell of stale tobacco and bovril beneath the stand.
At the time it was only known as the Witton Lane stand, unsurprisingly it was never called the Norman Smith stand nor previously called the Bruce Normansell stand. When Doug finally got his hands on his ultimate prize, someone on this site suggested calling it the Sir Witton Lane stand.

Offline Damo70

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #26 on: March 21, 2019, 09:57:44 AM »
Some great photos there, thanks.

I love the fact that the picture from the Holte End has a milk crate down towards the front on the tight side.

But the Trinity, labelled as “The West Stand” - tut tut.


My earliest days on the Holte in the late seventies and early eighties were spent perched all game on a claret Aston Manor beer crate. I must ask my old man what happened to it. Knowing him it will still be knocking around in the loft, garage or shed.

For years afterwards as I got older the lads we always stood with would occasionally ask "Where's your crate"? I was getting a bit fed up of hearing that same old line by the time I was eighteen!
« Last Edit: March 21, 2019, 10:00:29 AM by Damo70 »

Offline Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #27 on: March 21, 2019, 10:03:35 AM »
I know it only an honourary position, but has the club thought about a new Club President ?

Offline DB

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #28 on: March 21, 2019, 10:31:46 AM »
My first match as a nipper was in the Witton, late 70s vs the Boggies. Same here, remember the smoke. Also, the vivid images of the back of the Trinity being lit up by the lighting of ciggies

Online London Villan

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Re: doug ellis/witton lane stand
« Reply #29 on: March 21, 2019, 12:48:24 PM »
Every time I look at the entrance to the current Trinity Road stand there is a pang of sadness. From the outside, even it it was replacing a run of the mill stand, it's terrible, but this is magnified a million times by the quality and uniqueness of what it did replace.

 


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