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Steve Johnson has set himself a task to tour all the football grounds in the UK
and describe the grounds and atmosphere at his website Grounds
Tour.
On Saturday he came to the Glyn Hopkin Stadium for the turgid 0-0 with
Farnborough Town and failed to be impressed rating the place at 45% overall. The
review of the visit starts with him not looking forward to the trip, which isn't
actually the best frame of mind to view things positively.
It is interesting to see that the only Conference grounds rated lower are
Accrington's Interlink Express Stadium and strangely Crawley Town's Broadfield
Stadium, which, although populated by a significant minority of idiots, is
actually a very decent venue. Other Conference grounds grounds that don't rate
well are Morecambe's Christie Park, which I really like, and Tamworth's Lamb
Ground which I can't comment on having not visited.
If Steve weights his rating on atmosphere then maybe picking a more
interesting fixture than Farnborough would have been an idea? How about waiting
a couple of weeks until Carlisle come to town or being there for the Canvey
game, when the atmosphere was crackling.
When you consider that he rates Hilton Park, home of Leigh RMI, as 77% when
it is devoid of atmosphere as a rule I have to believe his system of marking is
flawed. He has visited Hilton Park twice, to see the Railwaymen take on
Doncaster Rovers and Carlisle United both teams with large and noisy away
followings. Hmmmm!!
He rates Aldershot's Recreation Ground as a near perfect 99% when that is a
place I will not visit again for personal safety reasons having been on the
periphery of the troubles when we went there for the FA Cup game in 2002. Now
that is definitely a flawed rating!
Steve makes some decent points on the drummer, and the Fans Threesome and was
impressed by the Daggers Angels. He didn't like the toilets though, and
obviously didn't find the usually deserted Football League Grading inspired
block in the north east corner of the ground!
Victoria Road isn't perfect but it is home, and I'm a little pissed off that
Steve feels so negatively about it and hope that he can make a return one day
soon and see it at its best.
Away
Fans Guide
The
History of Victoria Road
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