Designing football stadiums has become big business for architechts, reports Matthew Foreman
When Derby and Bolton fans arrive at their new stadium for the first Premiership match of the season, they’ll find bars to tempt them away from the local, catering to put the hot-dog stand out of business and that symbol of 90s football, the revamped club shop. And as soon as the ground is empty the club can start preparing for the next business conference.
WSC readers and fanzine editors weight up the coming season
BLACKPOOL
David Blundell
How will your team do this season? Had Gary Megson stayed as manager I would have tipped us for automatic promotion, but with the unwelcome changes in the summer I would say a play-off place would be a very good result for the new man, Nigel Worthington.
Who is going to be the most important figure at the club this season? Fans would have preferred a diehard Tangerine at the helm, so Nigel Worthington must convince them that he has the club at heart and is not, like Megson, simply looking for another entry on his CV.
If you had to come up with a new piece of merchandise to sell at the club shop what would it be? Our proposed ‘super stadium’ has gone through more changes (over a number of years) than Man United kits, with movable roofs, dual pitches, floating pitches, 20,000 seats, 40,000 seats etc,etc. There could be small replicas of each version for fans to collect, but they’d need a huge amount of shelf space.
Which element of the matchday environment would you most like to change? Any change to the half time entertainment would be welcome – I remember a recent Autoglass Trophy tie when two fans from each side had to remove and replace a car windscreen. Worse, a couple of seasons ago, we bought four of the giants from It’s A Knockout, which would race the full length of the pitch and try to score a goal. The hilarity began to pale thirtieth time around. Thankfully someone broke into the ground and reputedly vandalised them beyond repair, although I am convinced one of them has made occasional appearances for Birmingham City.
Alex Horsburgh profiles the little-known man behind Clydebank
Distinguishing features: Not unlike a Glasgow detective in the Taggart mould. Jack was way ahead of his time when merging Clydebank and East Stirlingshire in 1965. ES Clydebank only lasted a season but Bankies, then a junior club, got into the League when East Stirlingshire retained their identity in a court action. Since then Jack has been master of all he surveys, which is sometimes from the PA booth on top of the stand from where he has even been known to do the announcements.