[Albion] 16th best Premier League stadium?

[chickens]

Article in the Athletic today ranking Premier League stadiums, places us 16th. Fair?

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theathletic.com

For me, the stadium is fantastic, but transport is a massive ball ache, the trains are unreliable and underprovisioned, parking appears mainly 1901 only, and if travelling a distance (as I do on the rare occasions I can get there these days) I know that I’m in for a huge amount of “dead time” either waiting for trains or buses, or in traffic queues, then stood in queues at various bottlenecks with no shelter.

I don’t mind on the way in, and it depends on whether we win or not as to how much I mind on the way out, but while the Amex is a blessing, I do wonder if the transport links to its location are a limiting factor.

I’ve also stood for almost an hour in 29 degree heat with absolutely no shade available while queuing to get out via the buses before, and while I’ve been ok, I’ve seen a gent further forward in the queue begin to wobble a bit. (Thankfully the next set of buses arrived and people got him onto it)

To my mind, if they can’t move us out faster, some shelter does need to be provided to those queuing for trains/buses, for extreme heat as much as for shelter from the rain. Not everyone can afford the time to stop and drink after the match, some of us need to be on our way.

I hate criticising the Amex as it’s been the ultimate symbol of our rebirth and growth, but I don’t feel we’ve mastered moving people into the ground and then getting them out again as well as we could do, even now.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Transport remains an insurmountable problem. The catering outside the ground is something the club can control and I would hope to see more progress on cover, outside toilets and more choice. So I think the criticism of the Amex is justifiable. I am not sure though why some of these other stadiums are so highly regarded.

1 Goodison it is being demolished for a reason.
2 GTech Community Stadium nice location, do you get more points for being plucky underdogs? The stadium is unique and is unlikely to be copied any time soon.
3 Brammal Lane - I have only been once so maybe I missed something. Not an especially memorable stadium.
4 Molineux - I would suggest a few journos need to get out of the posh seats and try sitting in a corner. How about the in the stand outside the ground? If this is really the sixth best ground, there is a lot of work to do elsewhere. Great away trip for us though, obviously.

I would also place the City Ground above Villa Park and Stamford Bridge.

 

[Jim in the West]

Molyneux 6th??!!!
Brentford 8th??!!
West Ham 10th??!!

Some serious errors of judgement there, I think!

 

[Bozza]

Each stadium is ranked in four categories. The Amex ranks as follows:

Atmosphere: 19th. Only Bournemouth is considered worse.
Experience: 8th
Location, which also encompasses transport: 19th. Only Palace is considered worse.
Design: 12th

 

[chickens]

transport: 19th. Only Palace is considered worse.

There’s always somebody worse off than yourself.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Transport remains an insurmountable problem. The catering outside the ground is something the club can control and I would hope to see more progress on cover, outside toilets and more choice. So I think the criticism of the Amex is justifiable. I am not sure though why some of these other stadiums are so highly regarded.

1 Goodison it is being demolished for a reason.
2 GTech Community Stadium nice location, do you get more points for being plucky underdogs? The stadium is unique and is unlikely to be copied any time soon.
3 Brammal Lane - I have only been once so maybe I missed something. Not an especially memorable stadium.
4 Molineux - I would suggest a few journos need to get out of the posh seats and try sitting in a corner. How about the in the stand outside the ground? If this is really the sixth best ground, there is a lot of work to do elsewhere. Great away trip for us though, obviously.

I would also place the City Ground above Villa Park and Stamford Bridge.

The atmosphere at Bramall Lane is generally good I'd say from my experience of going there in the home and away ends and sometimes it can be fantastic, properly loud. I really like it as a ground, has a bit of character and decent fans I've found too.

Not been to the Gtech yet but agree about Everton and Wolves, both dreadful grounds. I understand Everton can generate an atmosphere but it's usually poisonous in the direction of their own team. And whilst I would have the Amex quite low, I would have it above those two for sure.

 

[Charles 'Charley' Charles]

Each stadium is ranked in four categories. The Amex ranks as follows:

Atmosphere: 19th. Only Bournemouth are considered worse.
Experience: 8th
Location, which also encompasses transport: 19th. Only Palace is considered worse.
Design: 12th

I think that's a bit unfair on Palace, I think it's pretty much the only thing they beat us on, in my opinion. Ok not the most luxurious place in the world, but certainly easy to get people there and out again (us excluded obviously) relatively quickly with a selection of stations all within a quick walk, and well served by buses as well.

 

[Questions]

Each stadium is ranked in four categories. The Amex ranks as follows:

Atmosphere: 19th. Only Bournemouth is considered worse.
Experience: 8th
Location, which also encompasses transport: 19th. Only Palace is considered worse.
Design: 12th

Design 12th
KSS Group OUT !!!!

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Away fan experience is vastly different form the journo sat on the half way line experience. Newcastle is never a top 3 stadium in that regard and countless others in that survey.

About the only one I agree on is Tottenham as number 1.

 

[Superphil]

The transport truly is woeful at the Amex, they could do with some joined up thinking on traffic management which is an utter shambles. An improvement here would change the access to the ground not just for car drivers but also for the many coaches travelling in from all over the region, as well as the park and ride buses which spend so much time in queues when they should be moving. The trains work, but there is no consistency, half empty trains, missing trains, so many reasons to be frustrated by them.

Regarding the atmosphere, maybe the North Stand can do something about joining up and singing from the same hymn book so to speak?

 

[Bozza]

I think that's a bit unfair on Palace, I think it's pretty much the only thing they beat us on, in my opinion. Ok not the most luxurious place in the world, but certainly easy to get people there and out again (us excluded obviously) relatively quickly with a selection of stations all within a quick walk, and well served by buses as well.

I only scanned bits of the article, and I'll respect The Athletic's paywall by not copying and pasting stuff here, but it made mention of it being tricky to park near Selhurst Park. So, maybe the location assessment was a bit driver-centric.

The author, BTW, is a Norwich fan.

 

[Dibdab]

I'm sorry but they lost all credibility when they put the London Stadium in 10th place.

 

[The Colonel]

I only scanned bits of the article, and I'll respect The Athletic's paywall by not copying and pasting stuff here, but it made mention of it being tricky to park near Selhurst Park. So, maybe the location assessment was a bit driver-centric.

The author, BTW, is a Norwich fan.

I've been to every game we've played at Selhurst in the last 20 years and driven to them all. I've never had any trouble parking around a 10 to 20 minute walk away. When you factor in three local train stations, I'd have Palace down as one of the best locations in the league.

 

[Muzzman]

Regarding the atmosphere, maybe the North Stand can do something about joining up and singing from the same hymn book so to speak?

It's impossible.

I'm located at the back of the North directly behind the left-hand goal post, so moreorless in the middle blocks either side of the two groups that start chants. You basically have to pick and choose which chants to sing. The group to the left of me are obsessed with chanting ant-Palace songs, and that can get tiresome very quickly. It's also difficult to make out what the right-hand group are singing half the time.

As a group of fans, we're also rubbish at keeping chants going longer than two cycles, so there's no time to ascertain what's being chanted, to join in and keep the chant going before it finishes and a new one is started elsewhere.

The first two seasons at The Amex, I believe The Judge was slap bang in the middle of the middle blocks directly behind the goal, and he would coordinate us, but I think he was harassed by a few fans around him. Not sure why, but I think he moved elsewhere, perhaps with the NSK lot.

The North have more tourists now too, so you can't expect them to make noise, let alone know the words to half our songs.

Perhaps the WSU should take the mantle and not rely on the smallest stand in the stadium to make all the noise. The Amex is not The Goldstone, no matter how much you'd like it to be.

We all need to take responsibility for the lack of atmosphere, don't blame The North, we're hamstrung as it is.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I'm sorry but they lost all credibility when they put the London Stadium in 10th place.

Absolute load of crap that survey.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

The transport truly is woeful at the Amex, they could do with some joined up thinking on traffic management which is an utter shambles. An improvement here would change the access to the ground not just for car drivers but also for the many coaches travelling in from all over the region, as well as the park and ride buses which spend so much time in queues when they should be moving. The trains work, but there is no consistency, half empty trains, missing trains, so many reasons to be frustrated by them.

Regarding the atmosphere, maybe the North Stand can do something about joining up and singing from the same hymn book so to speak?

The article actually references the lack of stand size behind each of the goals.
The north generally drive the atmosphere and it’s improved in the north west corner and also west upper but it’s not just their responsibility, it falls on all c29k home fans

 

[Arthur]

I think that's a bit unfair on Palace, I think it's pretty much the only thing they beat us on, in my opinion. Ok not the most luxurious place in the world, but certainly easy to get people there and out again (us excluded obviously) relatively quickly with a selection of stations all within a quick walk, and well served by buses as well.

Completely agree. Palace is one of the better grounds in the entire league for transport.

 

[Dave the OAP]

We need krispies back.

on a serious note, I agree with a lot of that. The Amex is a great aesthetically looking stadium, but the transport lets it down horrendously.

park and ride getting to the ground is fine although getting up the hill off the a27 can be time consuming and getting back, unless you leave the ground 5 minutes before final whistle, you are stuck in a very long queue that if you miss the first tranche of busses it is sometimes an hour long wait. The Athens game where we all got soaked to the skin and waited for one and a half hours was horrendous and for games where the weather is iffy, I will certainly think twice about going. Being an old git now and paying the reduced rate, if my ticket doesn’t sell, it’s not a huge loss.

I can’t comment on the trains as I have never used them, but when on the very few occasions I have had a uni parking ticket, the queues to get on the trains have been very long and boisterous.

certainly trying to get uni parking these days is impossible unless you know someone who doesn’t need theirs( it takes me just on half an hour to get home when parked at the uni)

btw. When they use coaches for the Mill Hill P&R as they can only load one person a time, give yourself the anticipation that you will take at least twice as long to get back to your car. The busses last home game were excellent( once they came back from the first trips after waiting half an hour) as people pile on quickly and so long as the stewards don’t hold them on village way they are away quickly.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Absolutely desperate for clicks.

 

[chickens]

Absolutely desperate for clicks.

You? You’ll need to do better than that.