|
The Worst Away Stand in the Football League
It's
a well known fact - the Withdean Stadium's West Stand
is the worst away stand in the Football League. Even with
the Hubble Space Telescope it would be difficult to make
out what was going on at the east end goal. But for us
home fans, the West Stand is thankfully an experience
that we don't have to put up with. Until Portsmouth arrived
in town.
With
Pompey requiring 15% of the stadium due to FA Cup rules,
it was decided to give them the normal Family Stand and
East Stand in order to have them all together in one place.
This meant that the West Stand would be given over to
home supporters. We decided to see just how bad it really
is in the name of "research" (obviously not
because it was the cheapest part of the ground to go in).
And here is what we found:
Entering the West Stand
Three turnstiles are all that is required for entry
into the stand, which are situated at the back of the
leisure centre. This means a rather long walk from the
Tongdean Lane bridge all the way through the car park,
up some steps, past the tennis courts, through another
car park and into the ground. Leaving a central Brighton
pub at around 2.40pm is therefore not advised.
The Toilets
Not a patch on those on offer in the South Stand,
whereby portakabin urinal facilities have been taken
to a new level. These are much more like what you would
expect from a temporary place where you can release bodily
waste. Small and cramped, if some sort of diahorrea epidemic
hit every single member of the West Stand audience then
there is no doubt these facilities would not cope.
The Catering Facilities
The South Stand has a vast array of catering facilities
that offer a decent selection of edible, if not overpriced,
food with the bacon baguette van proving particularly
popular with the WeAreBrighton.com team. Not only does the
away end not feature a bacon baguette van, the catering
concession does not offer bacon at all, even in the form
of a basic roll. It is best described as a fair ground
facility, which means that at peak period such as half
time, it can take anything up to twenty minutes to get
served.
The View
Of course, this is the big one. When you pay to watch
a game of football, the least you want is to be able to
see it. And do you know what? You can't. If something
is going on down the other end of the pitch it can be
difficult to tell exactly what that is as was the case
with Dave Kitson's red card. You're only hope is that
your team do all their attacking at the West End, as was
luckily the case with our two first half goals. If not,
you are screwed. Being close to where the teams enter
the arena from is however big bonus, especially if a full
compliment of Gully's Girls are in place.
The Verdict
There is no point in beating around the bush about
this one. It is bad. Probably not as bad as people make
out, but the fact you can only really see one half of
the pitch can be considered a definite problem. The worst
away stand in the Football League? Certainly. But the
one blessing in disguise is that, unlike Luton Towns pole
infested visitor stand, Southend United's three front
rows lower than the pitch effort and QPR's sit anywhere
but the front rows in the upper tier and you can't see
the goal-line situations, we'll be saying goodbye to ours
in five months time. And I'm sure we speak for away fans
everywhere who have had the pleasure in watching a game
from it when we say it won't be missed!
|
