With the news that the Club have actually nominated a location and date for a new ground (ignoring for the moment pesky details like finance and council permission), this is the obvious time to dare to imagine what will greet us on the first day of the 2012-2013 season.
Curiously, the site nominated is pretty much the same one that Mallinger identified towards the end of his tenure here. Back then he even went as far as producing the most basic looking design for a ground spat out by a Shareware “Design a Football Ground” programme. This crude image was loyally splashed all over the front of the ET on a particularly slow news day. I believe the second top-story was a hard-hitting piece about how pretty kittens and puppies looked.
With regard to a new ground I suppose it would be too much to expect traditional floodlights as they would bother the local residents. We should be aware of the NIMBY effect. Mind you, the same local residents weren’t too bothered when the woods we all played in as kids were bulldozed in order that their breeze-blocked hutches be built. I just hope the floodlights don’t look too wanky. You know – the bog standard lamppost configuration we usually mock, secure in the knowledge of the reassuring monstrously phallus nature of our own floodlights.
Starting a ground from scratch will hopefully permit Imraan and the designers to consider the quality and size of bars within the ground. If there’s one area where the Poppies have trailed most clubs they have played against it is in this area. No matter how poky a ground was or poxy their team, opposition clubs almost always boasted incredibly good off-field facilities. I remember when we lost to Marine in the Trophy a few years ago being amazed by their social club. Various bars in different areas with, if memory serves, an indoor fountain in the lobby. Not bad for a club whose pop side was 4 feet deep, and the opposite side backed straight into their neighbours’ back gardens.
Who can forget Gainsborough Trinity with bar facilities seemingly on all four sides of the ground, and a banqueting hall within the complex. Not bad for a team with only 27 supporters!
Obviously we will need a little more cover at the new ground than Rocky Road currently provides, although I’d be inclined to keep the away fans out in the open. It’s great, when it rains, to see people who have the temerity not to support the mighty Poppies getting drenched for their transgression.
The only worry I have is that the ground be built as an all-seater stadium. Unlikely, but it is a concern if only because a quarter filled all-seater ground can kill the atmosphere stone dead. This is the only reason I can think of why Non-Park has retained one terrace. The silence at that ground if all four sides were seated can only be imagined at with a sense of wonder.
Interesting times then at Kettering, but then again, what’s new?
Curiously, the site nominated is pretty much the same one that Mallinger identified towards the end of his tenure here. Back then he even went as far as producing the most basic looking design for a ground spat out by a Shareware “Design a Football Ground” programme. This crude image was loyally splashed all over the front of the ET on a particularly slow news day. I believe the second top-story was a hard-hitting piece about how pretty kittens and puppies looked.
With regard to a new ground I suppose it would be too much to expect traditional floodlights as they would bother the local residents. We should be aware of the NIMBY effect. Mind you, the same local residents weren’t too bothered when the woods we all played in as kids were bulldozed in order that their breeze-blocked hutches be built. I just hope the floodlights don’t look too wanky. You know – the bog standard lamppost configuration we usually mock, secure in the knowledge of the reassuring monstrously phallus nature of our own floodlights.
Starting a ground from scratch will hopefully permit Imraan and the designers to consider the quality and size of bars within the ground. If there’s one area where the Poppies have trailed most clubs they have played against it is in this area. No matter how poky a ground was or poxy their team, opposition clubs almost always boasted incredibly good off-field facilities. I remember when we lost to Marine in the Trophy a few years ago being amazed by their social club. Various bars in different areas with, if memory serves, an indoor fountain in the lobby. Not bad for a club whose pop side was 4 feet deep, and the opposite side backed straight into their neighbours’ back gardens.
Who can forget Gainsborough Trinity with bar facilities seemingly on all four sides of the ground, and a banqueting hall within the complex. Not bad for a team with only 27 supporters!
Obviously we will need a little more cover at the new ground than Rocky Road currently provides, although I’d be inclined to keep the away fans out in the open. It’s great, when it rains, to see people who have the temerity not to support the mighty Poppies getting drenched for their transgression.
The only worry I have is that the ground be built as an all-seater stadium. Unlikely, but it is a concern if only because a quarter filled all-seater ground can kill the atmosphere stone dead. This is the only reason I can think of why Non-Park has retained one terrace. The silence at that ground if all four sides were seated can only be imagined at with a sense of wonder.
Interesting times then at Kettering, but then again, what’s new?
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