Villa Park Redevelopment

[Risso]

It's not the best football stadium in England.

[Chris Smith]

It's not the best football stadium in England.

Which is then?

[Risso]

It's not the best football stadium in England.

Which is then?

Well it depends on what you're measuring it on. Two of the stands are crap and look really dated (ie the North Stand and Witton). Facilities are mostly appalling in every stand. Getting away from VP after a match is atrocious.

In terms of most things, the Spurs ground is miles better, and so are Arsenal and Newcastle.

[luke95]

It's not the best football stadium in England.

Which is then?

Well it depends on what you're measuring it on. Two of the stands are crap and look really dated (ie the North Stand and Witton). Facilities are mostly appalling in every stand. Getting away from VP after a match is atrocious.

In terms of most things, the Spurs ground is miles better, and so are Arsenal and Newcastle.

All about opinions .
I think we have the best looking football stadium icertainly n Britain if not the world.
Empty, full, the colour inside. It's majestic & magnificent!
Wouldn't swap it for anywhere.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Pains me to say it, but in terms of looks, Ibrox is a great stadium.

Of the modern stadium, Tottenham is very good, but nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing as Villa Park.

Arsenal just feels like a bigger version of Reading's ground, as boring bowl.

[Ads]

It's not the best football stadium in England.

Which is then?

Well it depends on what you're measuring it on. Two of the stands are crap and look really dated (ie the North Stand and Witton). Facilities are mostly appalling in every stand. Getting away from VP after a match is atrocious.

In terms of most things, the Spurs ground is miles better, and so are Arsenal and Newcastle.

None of them look anywhere near as good as Villa Park. Arsenal is an awful bowl and looks smaller than 60,000. Spurs kop is good I'll grant you that. It is actually a pretty good ground, with how steep it is too. I like it a lot to be fair. St James' Park looks ridiculous though. It's 2 grounds bolted together.

The first two do have better facilities. Click T5 seat viewer and tell me you don't get a fizz in your Calvin's. She's so pretty. Blow the North up and we get that from K3 too. Joy of joys.

[Rico]

It's not the best football stadium in England.

Burn him! Burn the witch 🧹

[Gareth]

It's not the best football stadium in England.

Which is then?

Well it depends on what you're measuring it on. Two of the stands are crap and look really dated (ie the North Stand and Witton). Facilities are mostly appalling in every stand. Getting away from VP after a match is atrocious.

In terms of most things, the Spurs ground is miles better, and so are Arsenal and Newcastle.

I agree, Holte is the only beautiful stand but the idiots are doing their best to dilute that with the horrible gash in the middle and taking away access to the beautiful facade on match day.

North looks dire and has for decades, Witton is a great view but everything else about the stand is disgusting & Trinity just looks like they’ve cut out a section of any other new ground and plonked it there.

It’s beautiful because it’s ours but the day Ellis knocked down the historic stand and replaced it with a bland template stand the ground lost a lot of it mystique and is why I’ve never been vehemently against a new ground elsewhere.

[itbrvilla]

It looks dated now but when it was built the North was state of the art and became the template for many other stands around the country, especially what's called the goalpost design.

Yes it was a time when most stands, even covered terraces, had posts obscuring the view so it felt a big step forward at the time. I think Norwich have the same stand behind one goal.

I think having AV in a different colour to the rest of the seats was something new at the time which other clubs soon copied.

I might be wron,g but have read elsewhere that forest and their tree logo was the first thing written/drawn using seats. Happy to be corrected.

[pauliewalnuts]

It's not the best stadium. It is the most atmospheric and traditional, though.

In the same way that Goodison was seen as one of the great old stadiums, but is also (way, way more) out of date in lots of ways.

That's not enough, though.

The way the game is today, it's not right that people paying 50 or 60 quid for a ticket have to deal with horrible conditions in the north and witton stands, which are truly abysmal. That needs to be sorted, it is well overdue. One of those stands hasn't really been improved in over a quarter of a century, and the other in 45 years. It is a particularly shit experience for away fans.

I remember signing on in a rough part of London 30 years ago, the dole office was grim undecorated concrete that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years, rusting shutters and security grilles everywhere, not enough space, nowhere to sit down, the whole ethos was 'get in, do what you need to do, then fuck off out of it'. That's what the Witton reminds me of.

I sometimes worry that this is one example of how our reputation - amongst ourselves in particular - is starting to look more and more outdated.

We bang on about winning the European Cup, despite it being 40 years ago. 40 years! We tell ourselves we're a massive club, despite not having won anything for 27 years, and even that (and the one before) were the trophy everyone cares less about. We've won the FA Cup seven times, but not once in the last 66 years. We just had a spell of a decade not finishing in the top half of the premier league, and not even in it for three years.

We've got plenty to be proud of, we just need to start with a bit less talking the talk and more walking the walk.

[dave.woodhall]

I agree with the above. Our past is something to be proud of but it doesn't half hold us back sometimes.

[pauliewalnuts]

It’s beautiful because it’s ours but the day Ellis knocked down the historic stand and replaced it with a bland template stand the ground lost a lot of it mystique and is why I’ve never been vehemently against a new ground elsewhere.

Might be a bit controversial here, but despite the outside of the Trinity looking bland and the fact that nothing new is ever going to look like the old stand, it is easily one of the best parts of the ground - it is fucking massive, three tiered and imposing, the views are great, and - even if it's impossible to get a drink there etc etc - the concourses are pretty spacious,

If you stood on the centre circle and looked at it, you'd think fuck, this is the home of a big club.

Try doing that to two of the other stands.

[dave.woodhall]

Again, I can't argue. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the Trinity and it looks impressive from the pitch. It could just, for a comparatively small extra amount, have looked spectacular.  Mainly, though,  it replaced its rose-tinted predecessor,  which looked lovely but was about as practical as using a vintage Bentley to drive to the shops.

[pauliewalnuts]

Also, surprised Ellis didn't cheap out and go for a two tiered stand like the one opposite.

[dave.woodhall]

Also, surprised Ellis didn't cheap out and go for a two tiered stand like the one opposite.

Wasn't that the one where the council said sort it out and stop being so cheap?