I agree with you, I much prefer the older style purpose built football stadiums, rather than the shiny round stadiums. My team plays in a new stadium, it lacks in character and it seems harder to generate a good atmosphere too.

What club do you support mate?

Personally think once you go over 55k at the most it's excessive & harder to get a good atmosphere going. In the case of Old Trafford the ground size and filled corners is actually damaging to the pitch. Lack of airflow, sunlight etc. Needs to be relaid all the time :laughing:

Man City and our stadium is famous for lacking any atmosphere, give me back Maine Road any day :(

Interesting. Wasn't your ground a factor in the Arabs choosing you (the fact it was paid for)? I'm sure as well I remember reading they were originally interested in Newcastle but Mike Ashley acted the twat and they backed off and bought you.

I hear you though, a move to Eastside in Birmingham city centre has been suggested before for us but I think I would cry if we ever left Villa Park (well not literally, but I wouldn't be happy about it).

City don't actually own it, Manchester council do, basically we pay rent, that's why opposing fans affectionately call it the "council house" :laughing:

Wow, I wasn't aware Villa could be moving from Villa Park, trust me its heartbreaking. The Holte End is iconic as was The Kippax at Maine Road and you NEVER create the same kind of feelings of standing on those terraces in a new stadiums. I find it really sad, some just call it moving with the times.

Okay, Benteke, my favourite grounds in the UK.

Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough



http://www.webbaviation.co.uk/sports...dium-eb115.jpg


Nice, shiny new(ish) stadium built next to some old Dockland. I think I like this one because despite the area it's in, it looks exceptionally clean and shiny. I like the front gate and accompanying statues and the colour scheme is spot on.

Celtic Park, Celtic.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...K_Z72UjKhZTvsA

http://www.glasgowguide.co.uk/Glasgo...rkhead_002.jpg


Vertical stands meaning you have a birds eye view onto the pitch from most angles, atmospheric soundscaping due to building up the way you keep the sound in a confined area. Feel closer to the pitch than a lot of the more moden stadiums, and in my opinion in an example of brickwork done correctly. Ibrox looks horrible when you see it in person.

Reebok Stadium, Bolton

http://www.newkits.co.uk/wp-content/...09/reebok1.jpg

http://www.footballgroundguide.com/b...est-stands.jpg


Another one of the new(er) stadiums of the early 2000's, I like how they've done something different with the architecture. Okay, it probably suffers from the same problem as the Emirates for being heartless and cold, but I'm just a sucker for stadia with a twist.

I'd obviously have Old Trafford too. Fantastic ground.


And for analysis, here's something unique, the home ground of my team.

Central Park, Cowdenbeath

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...k_466b_sns.jpg



http://www.s1cardenden.com/files/photo/max-981443.jpg

Yeah, it still has terracing. And yup, it has a racetrack that runs the perimeter of the pitch. After the home games, everything has to be cleared away for the stock cars that take place later. Talk about a ground with character.

Fair enough, good shouts. The Riverside is scarily close to Old Trafford before they extended the stands but certainly an improvement over Ayresome Park. & You're right the surrounding area is a dump, went to the Riverside in 2009 and it was in the middle of nowhere, town centre was quite dull as well.

Cowdenbeath's is very charming. To be honest the only one I would disagree with is Bolton's (now called the Macron), but I've explained my reasoning and we're comparing apples to oranges.

You'd probably like Brighton's new ground Manky.

Just ran it through google images, I greatly approve. Not surprised Brighton went with a quaint looking structure either.

I feel you on the whole football ground as opposed to fancy stadium thing too. Heartless, cold places like the Etihad and Emirates just don't appeal to me at all. Just owners and sponsors imposing their will and taking away the character from football, which is a shame because I quite liked Highbury, can't say the same for City's old stadium.

Here's one of my favourite European grounds.



http://football2014wc.com/wp-content...aga_213789.jpg

Remember seeing it at Euro 2004 and thinking, that's cool as ****

That Braga's ground? That's weird you posted that cos I was looking for an article the Guardian posted about the 10 most beautifully located stadia in Europe. That one featured as did Molde's ground I think. I wish I could find it, there were some stunning grounds on it.

As for European grounds, the San Siro, Westfalonstadion and the Bernabeu are three of my favourites, although the latter won't be for long. They are spending £300m to turn it into a giant baked bean tin.

& yes Highbury was a gem, Archibald Leitch working his magic again.

Going for a Germany win. Changing my mind.