Ayresome Park
Home to Middlesbrough from 1902-1995 before they moved on to the Riverside Stadium. The team played at various different grounds since their introduction, but due to the new Football League, and the growing support, Middlesbrough had to find an improved stadium, and they found a home at Ayresome Park. A friendly against Celtic opened the stadium on 9 September 1902, in a 1-0 win for Middlesbrough.
Ayresome Park was chosen as one of the venues for the 1966 World Cup. North Korea famously knocked out Italy at the ground, but attendances at the stadium for the World Cup games were low.
With the founding of the Premier League in 1992, Middlesbrough became the first English club to start work on a new stadium as Ayresome Park lacked renovation due to surrounding housing. The last competitive match would be played on the 30 April 1995 in a 2-1 win that sealed promotion for Middlesbrough’s return to the Premier League, where they would move on to Riverside Stadium. The stadium was finally demolished in 1997, making way for a housing estate, while several of the old walls remain, as well as football names of streets such as the Turnstile and the Midfield. The old gates of Ayresome Park were preserved and still stand in front of the Riverside Stadium.
Roker Park
Home to Sunderland from 1898-1997 before they moved to the Stadium of Light. One of the most memorable grounds in English football, Roker Park was finally a place Sunderland could call home after spending a lot of seasons at various different grounds. The ground also hosted a few England internationals as well as World Cup games at the 1966 World Cup. The stadium was known to have a “Roker Roar«.
Home to Sunderland for 99 years, Roker Park was a fortress for Sunderland. Over 1,800 league games played, Sunderland had a fantastic record at Roker Park. It’s form like that, that saw so many fans disagreed with the move to the Stadium of Light, and the connection to Roker Park is something that every Sunderland fan will feel.
The 1996–97 season was the last for Sunderland at Roker Park, which was also Sunderland’s first season in the Premier League, ending in relegation for the club. The last competitive match at the ground was a 3–0 victory over Everton. Roker Park was closed in 1997 and then demolished a year later and built in its place was a housing estate, with streets named after various Roker Park and football names.
Burnden Park
For over one hundred years, Burnden Park played home to Bolton Wanderers. Opened in 1895, and closing their doors in 1997, the stadium held 70,000 people at its maximum while in its final 20 years, the stadium held 25,000. The opening game in August 1895 saw Bolton take on Preston in a friendly match.
Expansion came overtime, taking the stadium to its full capacity as almost 70,000 showed up for a game between Bolton and Manchester City in 1933, but it was in on 9 March 1946 that tragedy struck. An FA Cup second-leg game between Bolton and Stoke City saw 85,000 people cram into Burnden Park meaning the Embankment terrance was way over capacity, resulting in the crowd being pressed forward and barriers breaking, causing 33 deaths and over 400 injured, making it the worst British football disaster at the time.
From then on, safety measures were put in place to control crowd sizes and as Bolton’s fortunes on the pitch faded by the 1980s, crowds dwindled down. Plans were put in place to build a new all-seater stadium in the early 90s, and the last match came on 25 April 1997 when Bolton defeated Charlton 4-1 as they moved on to the Reebok Stadium. Demolition took place two years later, and now sits an Asda superstore on its site, with photographs of former players and the stadium above the checkouts.
The Dell
Home to Southampton for over 100 years, from 1898-2001, before their move to St Mary’s Stadium. The first match at the stadium saw Southampton defeat Brighton United 4-1 on the 3 September 1898.
Initially, The Dell had two covered stands for seating, and two natural banks for standing spectators, holding an approximately 24,500 fans. Major development took place in 1928 with the new West Stand. A fire destroyed the East Stand, which was replaced to mirror the West Stand, with capacity now reaching 30,000.
The stadium became the first in England to install permanent floodlighting in 1950. In the wake of the Hillsborough disaster on 15 April 1989, all clubs in the English top two divisions would need to have all-seater stadiums. This would bring the attendance at The Dell down to 15,000, the smallest in the top level of English football.
By the mid 1990s, the club were looking for a new and bigger home. It was confirmed at the end of the 1998-99 season that Southampton would be moving on, with the new St Mary’s Stadium set to be ready for the 2001-02 season. The last competitive goal was a fitting one, scored on the 19 May 2001 by club legend Matt Le Tissier.
Fans said goodbye to The Dell on the 26 May 2001, taking seats home as souvenirs, as well as parts of the pitch. The stadium was demolished on the 13 July 2001 and replaced by a housing estate with apartments named after famous Southampton players.
Filbert Street
The former home of Leicester City for 111 years between 1891-2002. The stadium at first had a small main stand and earth banks until 1921, when a new much larger stand was built. In 1927, a new stand that was known as the Double Decker was built at the south end, which saw attendances rise and the record attendance was broken on the 18 Feburary 1928 in an FA Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur as 47,298 people packed into the stadium.
In 1971, moves to make the stadium an all-seater were taken as the North and East sides were both converted. In the beginning of the 1990s, moves to a new stadium were being considered, however ultimately decided to build a new Main Stand which was completed in December 1993. Capacity was now at 21,500 when the final section was converted to seating, making it an all-seater stadium. Success in the 1990s saw that expansion was needed for higher attendances, but the surrounding housing areas around the stadium made it very difficult to do so. The decision was made to build an entirely new stadium in 1998, and work began in early 2000s on a 32,500 seater stadium.
Filbert Street was sold, with the last game coming against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-1 victory. Demolition began in 2003, with part of the site now accommodation for students and the area now known as Filbert Village, with the road running through the development named after one of Leicester City’s most greatest players, Gary Lineker.
Baseball Ground
Built in 1890, originally for America’s favourite pastime. The game of baseball however failed to gain popularity in England and ultimately the stadium was moved on to Derby County in 1895, with capacity moved from 4,000 to 20,000.
The first game Derby County played in the stadium was a 2-0 victory against Sunderland on the 14 September 1895 in front of 10,000 people. By 1920, Derby planned to move stadium, but decided to buy the Baseball Ground and become owners, settling down here.
Promotion in 1926 to the First Division saw the club build a new main stand. Attendances continued to grow, and a new double-decker stand was completed in 1933 at the Osmaston End, bringing capacity to 38,000. The Baseball Ground was redeveloped further in 1969 with the Popular Side.
Early in the 1990s saw the new requirement of all-seater stadiums needed, which brought capacity down to 18,300. Plans were made in February 1996 to build a new stadium, and Derby moved on to Pride Park Stadium in 1997. The last game for Derby County played at the Baseball Ground was a 3-1 loss to Arsenal on the 11 May 1997. While the stadium still had its uses, particularly for Derby reserves until it was sold on to property developers in 2003 and demolished to make way for housing.
Maine Road
The former home of Manchester City from 1923 to 2003, Maine Road opened in 1923.
The construction of Maine Road was driven by the fact that the previous stadium, Hyde Park, could no longer be expanded and one of the stands had been seriously damaged by a fire. Interestingly, this stadium holds the record for the highest attendance for an English football club playing at their own stadium. This record occurred in 1934 when 85,000 fans attended Manchester City vs Stoke City in the FA cup.
Expansion plans were suggested but plans for the construction of a new stadium, the Etihad, were favoured over these. This led to the demolition of Maine Road in 2003 and the subsequent relocation of the Manchester City club to the Etihad stadium. A housing development is now located on the site of the original stadium, as well as a public art display commemorating Maine Road.
Highfield Road
Built in 1899, this iconic stadium was home to Coventry City until 2005 when the club moved on to the Ricoh Arena. It held an all-seater capacity of 23,489, and the well loved stadium was situated in the heart of one of Coventry’s communities. The stadium was the first all-seater in the English league’s, but all-seating was abandoned when Leeds United fans tore apart seats after losing 4-0 in 1981. It wasn’t until 1993 that the stadium returned to all-seater due to the Hillsborough disaster that made it a requirement for all top division clubs.
In 1999, Coventry were given the go-ahead for a new stadium, with Highfield Road lacking the facilities compared to modern stadiums. The last match played here was on the 30 April 2005, in a Football League Championship game that saw Coventry beat Derby 6-2. Demolishing work began in February 2006, lasting a month. The site was used to provide housing where the carparks and stands stood, while grass was relaid on the playing surface to allow the continuation of football on that space.
Highbury
Arsenal Stadium, colloquially referred to as “Highbury” and home to Arsenal F.C. from 1913 – 2006, is without a doubt one of the most iconic stadiums to have ever been built.
The stadium was originally constructed in 1913 in an effort to ameliorate the fortunes of a struggling Gunners side, that, in the 1912-13 season, were relegated from Division One for the only time in the clubs’ history.
The stadium was redeveloped several times during its history to facilitate capacity expansion and safer seating. At its peak, the stadium housed 73,000 people and regularly hosted crowds of over 60,000.
Interestingly, the move from Highbury to The Emirates does not necessarily tell a story of success, as in the decade before the move to The Emirates, Arsenal won three League titles and four FA Cups, but in the decade after, they won just four FA Cups. This may lead you to wonder, if Highbury was so iconic, why was it demolished? Well, it is due to the fact that the local community blocked any further ventures to expand the stadium, which led to a drop in matchday revenue, and thus, Arsenal opted to construct an entirely new stadium.
However, instead of fully demolishing the old stadium, it was incorporated into a housing development called Highbury Square which resembles the old stadium in its layout and design.
Upton Park
The Boleyn Ground, which was almost universally known as Upton Park, was home to West Ham United from 1904 – 2016. The stadium underwent several expansions, the most major of which occurred in 2000 when the West Stand was replaced by a 15,000-seat stand named the “Doctor Martens Stand”. These expansions led to Upton Park having a peak capacity of 35,000. West Ham’s plans to move to a new stadium were long in the works before the eventual move to the Olympic Stadium, with talks of a move beginning in 2006, but not materializing until 2013 when West Ham finally won the Olympic Stadium bidding process. In a fairy-tale ending to the stadium’s long history, Winston Reid scored in the 80th minute to win 3-2 against Manchester United in the stadium’s final game. The driving force behind the change of stadium and eventual demolition of Upton Park was the dream of West Ham becoming a world-class side in a world-class stadium. However, this dream has yet to be realized, leaving many disgruntled fans wondering whether the move was all for nothing, while a block of flats emerges from where their beloved stadium once stood.
White Hart Lane
White Hart Lane served as the stadium for Tottenham Hotspur from 1899 until its demolition in 2017.
White Hart Lane was originally constructed after the collapse of the refreshment stand at Tottenham Hotspur’s original playing ground when supporters jumped on its roof. Understandably, this prompted the club to begin looking for a new ground. In 1898, the club settled on a piece of land behind the White Hart pub – thus White Hart Lane was born. White Hart Lane served as the stadium for the side Tottenham Hotspur from 1899 until its demolition in 2017 where it made way for the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The decision was taken to replace White Hart Lane for the sole reason that the capacity of the stadium lagged significantly behind that of the other major teams in the Premier League with it holding a mere 36,000 people. Where White Hart Lane once stood, the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium now stands with an increased capacity of 63,000.
