Holte End v South Bank (Molineux)

[algy]

The Holte End

[dave.woodhall]

Imagine trying to boast about having a huge stand whilst getting crowds as low as 2,500.

The ultimate for small crowds in a big ground has to be Queens Park.

I can't find the news article for it now, might have another look later, but in the late 1940s (1949/50 season?) and following promotion to Division A and a sell out (26,000-ish) crowd for their game against Rangers, Cowdenbeath had plans to build a 40,000 capacity stadium. In Cowdenbeath. A town with a population of 12000. It'd have needed something crazy like 1 in 7 of the entire county of Fife - every man, woman, and child - to become regular match-going Cowden fans to fill it.

Brechin's ground used to hold 10,000. Brechin's population is 7,000.

[Exeter 77]

I'm always vaguely amused by the club being called Brechin City but the place being so small. The club got relegated to the Scottish non-league system a few years ago but up until a couple of weeks ago were unbeaten this season and still weren't top in of the Highland League.

[Brazilian Villain]

The Holte End

That picture is both scary and beautiful at the same time. Don't recall seeing it before, nice one.

[Brazilian Villain]

The ultimate for small crowds in a big ground has to be Queens Park.

I can't find the news article for it now, might have another look later, but in the late 1940s (1949/50 season?) and following promotion to Division A and a sell out (26,000-ish) crowd for their game against Rangers, Cowdenbeath had plans to build a 40,000 capacity stadium. In Cowdenbeath. A town with a population of 12000. It'd have needed something crazy like 1 in 7 of the entire county of Fife - every man, woman, and child - to become regular match-going Cowden fans to fill it.

Brechin's ground used to hold 10,000. Brechin's population is 7,000.

Queen's Park might be getting some bigger crowds if they're promoted to the Premiership this season. As for Scotland, didn't it used to have the highest football attendances per capita in Europe? Not sure if that's still the case,

[LeeB]

The ultimate for small crowds in a big ground has to be Queens Park.

I can't find the news article for it now, might have another look later, but in the late 1940s (1949/50 season?) and following promotion to Division A and a sell out (26,000-ish) crowd for their game against Rangers, Cowdenbeath had plans to build a 40,000 capacity stadium. In Cowdenbeath. A town with a population of 12000. It'd have needed something crazy like 1 in 7 of the entire county of Fife - every man, woman, and child - to become regular match-going Cowden fans to fill it.

Brechin's ground used to hold 10,000. Brechin's population is 7,000.

Queen's Park might be getting some bigger crowds if they're promoted to the Premiership this season. As for Scotland, didn't it used to have the highest football attendances per capita in Europe? Not sure if that's still the case,

Leeds would've had more

[Risso]

Wasn't Barnsley the biggest ground compared to size of the town population in England? I think it used to hold about 40K at one point for a town of about 70,000 people.

[Brazilian Villain]

I was in St. Tiernach's Park in Clones last Sunday. Its capacity is 36k and the town has a population of 1,700. Admittedly it is Monaghan's home ground but the the whole county only has a population of around 61k.

[Clark W Griswold]

Imagine trying to boast about having a huge stand whilst getting crowds as low as 2,500.

The ultimate for small crowds in a big ground has to be Queens Park.

I can't find the news article for it now, might have another look later, but in the late 1940s (1949/50 season?) and following promotion to Division A and a sell out (26,000-ish) crowd for their game against Rangers, Cowdenbeath had plans to build a 40,000 capacity stadium. In Cowdenbeath. A town with a population of 12000. It'd have needed something crazy like 1 in 7 of the entire county of Fife - every man, woman, and child - to become regular match-going Cowden fans to fill it.

Brechin's ground used to hold 10,000. Brechin's population is 7,000.

Well, you never know, one day the whole town might turn up plus 3000 away fans !

[algy]

I got the Cowdenbeath thing wrong, unfortunately.

They actually had designs on building a 'Hampden of Fife', with a capacity of just 80,000.  They ended up having to pull back on it, unsurprisingly and to a certain amount of pisstaking, but Central Park was still rated as having a 30,000 35,000 capacity - 2.5 3 times the size of Cowdenbeath itself.


(see "Bing Boys of Fife" and "Just The Job")

[ian c.]

Interesting cure for rheumatism.

[The Edge]

Good debate this. Terrace capacity used to be more of an estimate really. The Holte and The South Bank were both estimated to hold 30,000 in their pomp. The Holte takes it for me as it was a proper construction with facilities like bars and toilets although pretty basic. Also it had proper exits. Never went in the South Bank but from the images it just look like a massive embankment and nothing else. Both looked spectacular when packed. I love to see pictures of the old Hampden Park packed. The side terrace looks as high as the Holte End and had a seated area at the back. I swear it must of been able to hold 50,000!! I once went on the pitch at Anfield when it was empty and old Kop terrace was still standing. It looked tiny compared to the Holte although it did wrap around the  sides a bit. They used to say it also had a capacity of 30,000 but I really can't see it. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be in there with that many people.

[aj2k77]

One is the Holte End, the other needed away fans to occupy it.

[pauliewalnuts]

One thing I will say about Molineux is I hope our new North Stand doesn't look anything like any of the newer bits of that place, that newest stand looks incredibly cheap, it has all the design values of a retail park supermarket.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

As the thread title suggests, one you need to explain where it is/was. No contest.

As for Paulie's point about a cheap and nasty job on the North Stand, I'd be very surprised if that was the case. One thing that always pisses me off is the horrible plastic signage on the Trinity Road that gets used so often by the media. I can't see us repeating the cheapskate Ellis horrors of the past and we'll build something instead that won't need changing for years to come.