Glanford Park

Saturday 12 March 2011

Scunthorpe United 0-3 Leicester City

Aerial shot of Glanford Park (Bing Maps)

Programme (£3.00)

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 7/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 6/10

Programme : 9/10

View of Action : 6/10

Quality of the game : 7/10

The "football" feeling : 6/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 4/10

Legroom : N/A

Surrounding area : 6/10

Overall : 59/100

'Scunthorpe United vs Leicester City'

'Welcome to Glanford Park'

Grove Wharf Stand (East)

Rainham Steel Stand (North)

Scunthorpe Telegraph Stand (West)

Reception at Glanford Park

AMS Stand (South - Away)

Rainham Steel Stand (North)

Scunthorpe Telegraph Stand (West)

AMS Stand (South - Away)

Grove Wharf Stand (East)

Sven and his marker pen awaits the Scunthorpe faithful

Scunthorpe Telegraph Stand (West)

AMS Stand (South - Away)

Grove Wharf Stand (East)

Scunthorpe United 0-3 Leicester City

Our trip to Scunthorpe started with a detour to Brigg Town. We arrived at Brigg Town at 11:15am who play at The Hawthorns (Not to be mistaken for West Brom!) with a capacity of 4000. Our next stop was Bottesford Town who play at Birch Park which holds 1000 people. Our final stop before Glanford Park was Sainsbury’s off Doncaster road which is the site of the previous Old Showground where Scunthorpe United used to play before moving down the road to Glanford Park in 1988. We purchased our sandwiches at the Sainsbury’s before parking up and walking to the ground. After taking pictures around the ground we went in.

Wikipedia says that Glanford Park opened in 1988 at a construction cost of £2.5 million, housing a total of 9,088 supporters. It was the first time that an English football club had moved to a new purpose-built stadium in 33 years, since Southend United moved to Roots Hall in 1955.

Scunthorpe originally played at the Old Showground, which was located towards the centre of the town on the Doncaster Road. After the club relocated, the Old Showground was demolished and replaced by a Safeway supermarket, which was subsequently sold to Sainsbury's in 2004.

Glanford Park is located on the outskirts of Scunthorpe, close to the start of the M181 motorway. The name Glanford Park was derived from its funding by the then Glanford Borough Council, before North Lincolnshire became a unitary authority.

On its completion, it was the first new Football League stadium in England for 43 years.

The stadium was officially opened at the start of the 1988–89 season by Princess Alexandra.

For all but one of its first 17 seasons, the stadium staged fourth tier football before Scunthorpe were promoted to League One in 2005, since when they have appeared in either League One or the second tier Football League Championship.

The record attendance is 9,077 for a 5–2 loss against Manchester United in the League Cup on 22 September 2010.

Under regulations the club must convert the Doncaster Road End to seats if they avoid relegation from the Championship in 2010/11. To try and change this, supporters launched a Keep Scunthorpe Standing campaign. The club revealed revised expansion details in September 2010, with plans to add a three-level building behind the current terrace to include a larger supporter’s bar, club shop and ticket office. The capacity of the ground would not increase; this is due to the change from a terrace to a seating area.

The game saw Leicester outplay Scunthorpe on a very poor pitch 3-0, goals scored by Miguel Vitor (2) and Kyle Naughton. I should also mention that Paul Gallagher set up all three goals, two corners and a cross from the right.

We really enjoyed our trip to Glanford Park, real shame we had to stand amongst the home supporters but it wasn’t too bad. We also really hope that the ‘KEEP SCUNTHORPE STANDING’ campaign helps keep Glanford Park partially standing; it would be a massive shame if safety authorities got involved and installed unnecessary seating.