What all the major grounds looked like 25 years ago

[Khalekan]

Personally I prefer the old grounds, they had more atmosphere and character. They were embedded in the community they drew their support from. All the old names such as the kippax, the north bank and the shelf that helped shape each grounds uniqueness and recalled its history, consigned to obscurity and replaced by meaningless names prefixing the inevitable 'stand'. Every ground feels the same these days, plastic identikit rubbish. I hope we manage to conjure up something more distinctive.

Where was "the shelf"?

 

[Khalekan]

Goes to show how far we have fallen. We had one of the best grounds back then.

We had the best ground.....and therein lay the problem.

I remember after the Taylor Report came out a national newspaper published a list of stadiums which needed least work done in order to comply with the new standards.

Goodison Park sat proudly at the top of that list.

We needed to do less work to improve the stadium than any other club.

The result was we were able to do a bit nipping and tucking to improve Goodison....the other major clubs were forced into major revamps.

Even our own major revamp down the Park End was a half hearted affair which has never looked complete to me.

And before we knew it, our Old Lady was looking like a relic of a bygone age compared to the new and refurbished stadia being built by the powerhouse clubs

 

[4737carlin]

I remember the semi circle behind the goals. Kept the fans back from the goalies for some reason.

I think that was because of a dart throwing incident about 1970

 

[gorgeousgeorgeEFC]

Changed a stand in 94 but they'll show a picture of the other end of the ground.

As new as the Park End is, it's still smaller than three of Preston North End's stands.

 

[jaybx1878]

Where was "the shelf"?

Tottenham

 

[Bluebonic]

if i showed that pic of chavski ground to the kids here ( i live in essex) they wouldnt believe that was their ground....not that any of the glory hunting little shits go

I agree bud, Chelsea is the most shocking of them all, Old Trafford too, i thought it has been rebuilt longer ago than 25 years! Getting old and senile! Nice to see some of the older grounds thta no longer exist like Selhurst Park, home of the team of the 80's

 

[Bluebonic]

God I remember standing in that Stamford Bridge away stand that was open to the elements. Horrible stadium, sandy pitch and miles from the action. I must have been about 10 years old and the level of - let's just call it not very PC - abuse levelled at Paul Elliott by some of our fans, still rings in my ears.

We had gone down thee in a minibus to spend the weekend down there, do the match then do petticoat lane market on the sunday. We got to the ground and asked the plod which end was the away end and the hateful scumbag sent us into the Shed! [Poor language removed]! Oh how exhilarating the next 25 minutes became.

 

[Bluebonic]

Shoulda bought him a Chang mate and then slapped him back to his seat. 'kin kids nowadays. Used to have to stand ffs.

I used to climb the wire cage the covered the Boys pen, to get a better view, you'd get about five minutes beofre your fingers lost all feeling ot a copper rapped the cage with a truncheon and told you to 'get your arse down from there or you'll feel my boot'. much simpler, much more violent times

 

[Bluebonic]

Those pictures are one of the reasons i want us to retain the Goodison name in some capacity at the new ground. The likes of Filbert street, Burnden Park, the Victoria Ground and the like shouldnt just vanish and be replaced by Wonga stadium and the like, those old grounds are a massive part of sporting as well as social history in this country, it is shameful that so many people dont even know there names now

 

[raithrovers94]

The house across the road is bigger and more modern than mine

 

[The binman chronicles]

I agree bud, Chelsea is the most shocking of them all, Old Trafford too, i thought it has been rebuilt longer ago than 25 years! Getting old and senile! Nice to see some of the older grounds thta no longer exist like Selhurst Park, home of the team of the 80's

I think to be fair most of the internals of old trafford (bar from the stretford end) looked pretty similar to the finished design when they won the title in 94 well into the 80's. Here is a pic from the early 80's and they had already started making it look uniformed all the way around:

 

[Khalekan]

Tottenham

Of course

 

[Khalekan]

God I remember standing in that Stamford Bridge away stand that was open to the elements. Horrible stadium, sandy pitch and miles from the action. I must have been about 10 years old and the level of - let's just call it not very PC - abuse levelled at Paul Elliott by some of our fans, still rings in my ears.

Oh boy, I hear you.

The last time I stood inthat decaying concrete death trap was a cup tie in the early 90s....we lost 1-0 and Tony Cotten missed a penalty

 

[Bluerover]

http://talksport.com/football/what-...en-premier-league-kicked-25-years-ago-and-how

Brilliant this if you are old enough to remember them! It will also shock you if you arent!

My problem is I am old enough to remember them 35 years ago - and indeed 45 if you include watching MOTD and The Big Match as a nipper!

 

[BiggyRat]

I think that was because of a dart throwing incident about 1970

Ok, firstly, it wasn't me! Secondly, that seems quite a dramatic reaction to an isolated incident, albeit a bluddy stupid & dangerous one! (or was it happening often?)