Watch out, here comes the premier league to EFL trophy

[derby1884]

littlewiggy wrote:

Newport County share an already terrible pitch with two peanut-hugging teams. Our winter break would need to be from November to May.

I've never been to your new ground but saw a couple of matches at Somerton Park. Dark and dank - right up my street it was!

From telly highlights, the terracing at Rodney Parade seems inordinately far back from the pitch. Can't help when it comes to engendering an atmosphere.
What's your average Newport fan's view on the new place?
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[littlewiggy]

derby1884 wrote:

littlewiggy wrote: Newport County share an already terrible pitch with two peanut-hugging teams. Our winter break would need to be from November to May. I've never been to your new ground but saw a couple of matches at Somerton Park. Dark and dank - right up my street it was! From telly highlights, the terracing at Rodney Parade seems inordinately far back from the pitch. Can't help when it comes to engendering an atmosphere. What's your average Newport fan's view on the new place?

That best sums up the rugger ground too Steve!

Admittedly the new 'Bisley Stand,' the side on which the TV gantry is situated is decent, good facilities and a great view - although the architect had possibly been out on the ale when he drew up the design, as the roof doesn't keep you dry when it rains.

The rest of the ground is gash, and I'm being rather generous at that.

Opposite the Bisley is the 'Hazell Stand,' a quaint, Victorian structure that is like stepping back in time for those that remember the terraces of the 1970s.
Here you wade through lakes of water instead of piss (even in August), enjoy a view that's largely below pitch level, and are provided with toilets that would make the Bubonic Plague seem a healthy alternative.
Quite what unknown creatures actually lurk in there well goodness only knows.
Above it is an old stand of seats with precious little leg room (and we have lots of very, very rotund fans) complete with thick pillars trying to impede your view.

Behind the goal to your right is the uncovered 'North Terrace.'
With Dave Parade being a rugger ground, the pitch for footy is some twenty yards shorter in length.
So patrons here need to have remembered both their brollies, and indeed their binoculars.

The end to the left is the 'School End,' which is little more than a row of hospitality boxes with nothing in front of it for the average spectator.
So County have brought along their own temporary stands from Spytty and erected them here for away fans.
They get the end section of the Bisley too, so they can choose to get wet, or very wet.

The immediate, dimly-lit, surrounding area of the stadium is full of hazardous slopes, pot holes, gravel, flooded roads, and muddy grass.

What the ground does have going for it however is location.
Slap, bang, right in the centre of town.
Five or ten mins from both the train & bus stations, and two mins from a whole plethora of pubs.

It's better than Spytty, but most of us forty-somethings-and-older still miss Somerton mate.

[derby1884]

Intriguing review!

I might be a contrary traditionalist who believes attending a match nowadays is far too much like attending the theatre or cinema but your eloquent portrayal of life at Rodney Parade has a certain perverse attraction for me.

hang in there - you've got Jon Parkin....he's ideal for a muddy pitch.

Always had a soft spot for Newport County ever since I got that "Newport ballpoint pen" out of Goal magazine back in 1969. Wish I still had it - might be a nice collectors item!
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[littlewiggy]

That pen certainly would be mate.

Yeah, Jonny Parkin wouldn't fit in the Hazell seats either.