Tuesday 26 January 2010

London 2012 Olympics - where to look.



Now I have the 2012 buzz, a website worth visiting is the London 2012 site, you can find it here, it is run by the organising committee. a great mix of blog posts, from major stars like Jonathan Edwards to local residents, and some fascinating photographs and even live webcams of the build.

Monday 25 January 2010

2012 Olympic site tour.


Today I attended a conference in London about communities getting involved in the London 2012 Olympics.
An interesting day but the highlight was the afternoon tour of the Olympic park, it was probably one of the most inspirational visits I have ever been on. It may still look more like the set of a sci - fi film but within minutes of being on the site you are at a loss for words.
Where to start? The main stadium down to the electric generating station all fantastic. the highlight? The aquatic centre roof wins at the moment but the velodrome is coming up right behind it.
Just can't wait for 2012 now.

Sunday 24 January 2010

St Marys Stadium, Southampton 23rd January 2010

FA Cup 4th round - Southampton 2 Ipswich 1

A weak display saw Town bow out of the cup, and the days made worse by not even being able to purchase a programme! You think a club like Southampton would want and need the money from programme sales.

One good thing about a lot of new or modernised grounds is you often find a statue of an ex player or manager - Wolves, Ipswich, Preston, Middlesbrough are some of the stadia you can find these welcome additions to stadium surrounds.

For Southampton fans the arrival of a statue at St Marys was not that welcome as the statue of Ted Bates was felt to look more like Jimmy Krankie, but a new statue was put up in 2008, this time the sculpture was Sean Hedges-Quinn, an Ipswich fan who did the brilliant Ramsey and Robson statues.



Ted Bates trying to find a programme seller!

Saturday 16 January 2010

Portman Road 16th January 2010

Ole, ole, ole, ole, ole, Pablo
Ipswich Town 3 Coventry City 2 - Championship



The view from the Upper tier of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand (North Stand) view from my seat!

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Why we love old grounds!



Most new grounds (and there are plenty in the Championship) are very similar but some you like more then others. It may be that your team always gets a good result there or that it always has a good match atmosphere. I quite like the Walkers Stadium at Leicester and one of the reasons is it's close proximity to the old Filbert Street ground. Most of the old ground is now covered my student accommodation that may be modern and fresh looking but could place you at any modern university in the UK.
But when you walk round the back of the student accommodation you find yourself in the tight Victorian terrace streets that bring back memories of night games in front of capacity crowds at Filbert Street.
the best part of the old ground was the entrance to the away stand, just a small entrance between two terrace houses in Burnmoor Street 9picture above), through the turnstile and you found yourself in a stand not much wider than the houses you squeezed past.
An experience you will probably never have again in the top two divisions. A similar experience can still be found at non league Luton Town, where away fans still enter their end between two small terrace houses, and where the male toilet is part of someones back garden.
Views, seats, catering and safety may be better at these new grounds but it is hard for any to have that unique feel that grounds like Filbert street had.

Sunday 10 January 2010

Walkers Stadium, Leicester, 10th January 2010


Leicester City 1 Ipswich Town 1 - Championship

Snow but one good thing about new stadiums - undersoil heating