WSC 119 Jan 97

A crowd of 200 has gathered in foul weather on the edge of an industrial estate on the outskirts of Derby to watch an unveiling. The photographers snap away as the cord is pulled back, local councillors applaud and Rammy the Ram waves his mittens in the air. It’s the foundation stone for Derby County’s new stadium. Rising up in the distance are the framework of two stands, hastily erected to give the visitors something to look at. Owner Lionel Pickering, uncomfortable in the public glare, makes a terse speech matched by club captain Igor Stimac, suspended for that afternoon’s match, “This is to be an exciting time . . . it’s a new ground . . . let’s go and beat Middlesbrough.”

In the programme for the Middlesbrough game there’s a photograph of the completed stadium, except that it’s actually the Riverside Cellnet with the seats coloured in black. Past trophies not withstanding, Derby County have always been basically an unassuming club, in an old fashioned, not to say antiquated, ground. The fans know what they’re getting into with the new stadium and they’re very happy about it, mostly. There’s no doubt, though, that retail-park football is going to help draw in the next generation. I’ve started taking my nephew to matches and I know my daughter might want to come too, now that Toys R Us and McDonalds are a stroll away. I wonder, though, about the absence of a local community, and whether the support Derby currently gets from the ethnically-mixed area around the Baseball Ground will be encouraged to travel across the city. 30,000 people may make that journey to get uninterrupted views of Premiership football, but I wonder what it would be like staging Division Two matches? Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.

I feel like a nice elderly relative has given me an expensive high tech Xmas present which is just not quite what I’d asked for.

From WSC 119 January 1997. What was happening this month

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