Not fit for modern day football...

[url=https://footballandmaterialculture.com/2018/04/23/not-fit-for-modern-day-football-or-a-magical-monument-for-119-years-of-footballing-history-blundell-park-grimsby/]https://footballandmaterialculture.com/2018/04/23/not-fit-for-modern-day-football-or-a-magical-monument-for-119-years-of-footballing-history-blundell-park-grimsby/[/url]

Great read and makes you proud of our history and stadium of 'character'..... I know we need a new stadium to progress but I will certainly be sad to leave Blundell Park!

Thanks for the link. This is a 'must read'
My first game at the park was in 1963 and i thought there was nothing I wouldn't know about BP but there was.
I watched from Barratts stand which i swear i remember swaying in high wind. Got a new wooden rattle the day we played at home to bradford park avenue, 1-0 up at half time i wrote all the players names on it in biro. Lost 5-1 in the end and threw the rattle away on the way home.
Soooo many other memories, the cup win against everton- mike brollie's night, the exeter promotion game, the 4-0 win over sheff utd(drinkell hat trick) in front of over 20000. Blimey, what it is to be a football supporter eh?
The ground is completely part n parcel of those memories so i found this link fascinating for that reason so give urself a few minutes and read it.
UTM

Good read, thanks for posting.

Very interesting read and well written thanks for putting it up 83.

Really enjoyed that, if it ever and I’m sure it won’t in my lifetime, I’d miss our ground very much as I’m sure we’ll end up with a soulless concrete stadium.

Blundell Park should be left intact and preserved as a museum after it is no longer needed. Assuming none of the town's other teams want it.

I know it's probably not economic but it would be a sad day for it to be bulldozed and replaced by a few houses.

Great article, thank you for posting

I love the mention of the slope near the goals  

" we get a look inside the manager’s office. It looks as though somebody has just cleared it – and, in fact, it is only a few weeks since Michael Jolly took over as manager at the club. Apparently he has spent all time on the training ground until now."

That speaks volumes about how he's turned the team around.

That's wonderful

I'm going to go against the consensus on here. I hate Blundell Park. I've hated it since the Barrett Stand was demolished and latterly the open corners were taken down. I hate the cheap looking red seats, I hate the clutter hidden in places on public view. I hate the haphazard nature of it all and I hate the scruffy nature of everything in it. Even those magnificent floodlights that were brightly painted decades ago are now a shadow of their former selves. Our ground epitomises the depths our club has descended to. I'm embarrassed by it as a facility to watch the game of football in the year 2018 and I'm sure it's not very appealing for prospective players. It's not like we can fall back on a state of the art training ground at Cheapside either. Blundell Park will always hold some great memories for me, but I'll be happy the day it's raised to the ground because it will mean we'll have made a huge step forward as a club..

I don't hate the ground, but it's certainly never been the same for me since they got rid of the Barratts. It made BP a really intimidating place to come when we had four low-lying stands surrounding the pitch.

That is a lovely piece, but he's actually incorrect about the Main Stand. I used to have a standing section in front of the seats, with maybe about seven steps up before the seats started. I used to stand behind the dugout as a kid and watch through the railings.

Quoted from Bigdog

I'm going to go against the consensus on here. I hate Blundell Park. I've hated it since the Barrett Stand was demolished and latterly the open corners were taken down. I hate the cheap looking red seats, I hate the clutter hidden in places on public view. I hate the haphazard nature of it all and I hate the scruffy nature of everything in it. Even those magnificent floodlights that were brightly painted decades ago are now a shadow of their former selves. Our ground epitomises the depths our club has descended to. I'm embarrassed by it as a facility to watch the game of football in the year 2018 and I'm sure it's not very appealing for prospective players. It's not like we can fall back on a state of the art training ground at Cheapside either. Blundell Park will always hold some great memories for me, but I'll be happy the day it's raised to the ground because it will mean we'll have made a huge step forward as a club..

I am loathe to agree with this post but I nod my head in agreement albeit sadly.The ground is tired out it needs to be replaced if we are to have any chance of progressing.A Club with an average gate of over 4k in a catchment area the size of NE Lincs playing at league 2/Conference level can and should be an attractive and fairly easy project to build up if the potential is realised.The right circumstances and the right infrastructure in place no reason Grimsby couldn't build and maintain 10k gates .

Quoted from Bigdog

I'm going to go against the consensus on here. I hate Blundell Park. I've hated it since the Barrett Stand was demolished and latterly the open corners were taken down. I hate the cheap looking red seats, I hate the clutter hidden in places on public view. I hate the haphazard nature of it all and I hate the scruffy nature of everything in it. Even those magnificent floodlights that were brightly painted decades ago are now a shadow of their former selves. Our ground epitomises the depths our club has descended to. I'm embarrassed by it as a facility to watch the game of football in the year 2018 and I'm sure it's not very appealing for prospective players. It's not like we can fall back on a state of the art training ground at Cheapside either. Blundell Park will always hold some great memories for me, but I'll be happy the day it's raised to the ground because it will mean we'll have made a huge step forward as a club..

Agree and it's a pity we can't do something like Notts County did with their once excrement tip.

Great read!

Quoted from Bigdog

I'm going to go against the consensus on here. I hate Blundell Park. I've hated it since the Barrett Stand was demolished and latterly the open corners were taken down. I hate the cheap looking red seats, I hate the clutter hidden in places on public view. I hate the haphazard nature of it all and I hate the scruffy nature of everything in it. Even those magnificent floodlights that were brightly painted decades ago are now a shadow of their former selves. Our ground epitomises the depths our club has descended to. I'm embarrassed by it as a facility to watch the game of football in the year 2018 and I'm sure it's not very appealing for prospective players. It's not like we can fall back on a state of the art training ground at Cheapside either. Blundell Park will always hold some great memories for me, but I'll be happy the day it's raised to the ground because it will mean we'll have made a huge step forward as a club..

100% with this.  Since the corners were removed it's been particularly horrible and soulless.  I like the Pontoon, but the Main Stand is a disgrace, I can't believe it's still standing.  The views from the Upper are magnificent, and we'll not get the same in a new ground, BUT it is a safety risk; the exits are woeful and simply not fit for purpose in these days when we know full well about potential hazards inside stadia.

The Osmond is awful too.  I know the home fans should come first when attracting customers, but I went in there for the Braintree playoff semi, the first time there in some years, and it's dire.  Away fans deserve better too, no wonder many stay away.

We need a new ground, no denying it.  Yes, there have been some good times, but personally, as someone who has been regularly since 1989 (when we had a couple of incredible seasons), all in all there have been at least as many bad days as well.

Just like Wembley, history is irrelevant; it's got to go, time has moved on, football has changed, and so have basic rights of the consumer.  BP is a dump, and I fear we're stuck with it forever...........

Quoted from mariner83

[url=https://footballandmaterialculture.com/2018/04/23/not-fit-for-modern-day-football-or-a-magical-monument-for-119-years-of-footballing-history-blundell-park-grimsby/]https://footballandmaterialculture.com/2018/04/23/not-fit-for-modern-day-football-or-a-magical-monument-for-119-years-of-footballing-history-blundell-park-grimsby/[/url]

What a great read.... a big thank you for sharing!  

I agree with others it is a good read.

We keep mentioning the new stadium, but rumour has it that is not going to happen, and that is why JF seems to want to pack it in.

If that is the case, what do we do? I still think a full Blundell Park is a great sight; of all the stadiums I have been to I still love it, it is just that it hasn't been touched for 20 years.Of course I would love to move to a new stadium that would be the pride of Lincolnshire with  fishing heritage built into the design and situated in the heart of a rejenerated town. Sadly the prospect of that happening under the current regime is virtually nil. Even if we got a new stadium does anybody think it wouldn't be built with every possible corner cut, every expensive design feature ignored and would essentially be a shiny tin box?

Are there grants available to improve the stadium? What would a new main stand cost, with new dressing rooms etc? Does the much vaunted conference facilities and training venue have to be on the same site?

The floodlights when they were painted black and white all those years ago looked great, how come they have been allowed to return to  rust?

Can't a clever architect re configure the BP site and map out some improvements that could be done piecemeal whilst keeping its essential character?

I don't blame Fenty for trying for a new stadium, as it represents his only hope of getting his money back due to increased income streams, but if that is a non starter then perhaps honest John can tell us if he is to step away from the club or what his plans are to rejuvenate BP?  

Quoted from tanga_the_indestructible

I don't hate the ground, but it's certainly never been the same for me since they got rid of the Barratts. It made BP a really intimidating place to come when we had four low-lying stands surrounding the pitch.

That is a lovely piece, but he's actually incorrect about the Main Stand. I used to have a standing section in front of the seats, with maybe about seven steps up before the seats started. I used to stand behind the dugout as a kid and watch through the railings.

Thanks. I thought I was going mad until you confirmed by recollection

It just goes to prove what a backward board of directors we have always had since the Findus stand was built,

We were going to have modern changing rooms put in the Findus at a later date,

Still waiting  

How about this, we'll not be in a new ground for at least 5 years so, move the changing rooms into the findus stand ( always will be the findus stand ) and replace the flood lights with ones that can be retro fitted to the new ground. Trent bridge in Nottingham has 6 sets of lights so all we have to do is just send the lads in and borrow them.

A very enjoyable article with excellent photos, thank you.

Just waiting for one (or more) of the floodlight pylons to fall over or be declared unsafe, then what (Fenty in his posh motor with the headlights on full beam?)

Didn't know about the floodlights being second hand from Wolves

Managed to appear in one of the Upper Findus photos so will be looking for a publicity fee?

On a more serious point if a player signs for town it will not be on the back of the quality of our facilities!!! We really don’t spend any money do we. Surely a bit of modernisation in respect of tiling and renewing the showers would not break the bank☹️

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

Managed to appear in one of the Upper Findus photos so will be looking for a publicity fee?

On a more serious point if a player signs for town it will not be on the back of the quality of our facilities!!! We really don’t spend any money do we. Surely a bit of modernisation in respect of tiling and renewing the showers would not break the bank☹️

John Fenty is just mixing the tile adhesive as we speak.

Good article. Agree some of BP needs changing (if possible), but, that article makes me think we need to be careful about any new ground. Not just as he hints re: Darlo, making sure there's a proper business case (and as many football club owners have shown, they can be a cavalier bunch in this regard), but also trying to retain some of the heritage if and when we do move grounds.

'Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone'

Thanks for an interesting read. Ever since the early nineties I have been a staunch pro new stadium “activist”. I never gave a thought to the nostalgia and history of Blundell Park, only seeing it as an odd, embarrassing, decrepit ground, well past its sell by date. I wore my red Conoco stadium cap with pride in the early nineties, when the new ground at Great Coates was being proposed. For the last few years I have posted Emails, written on social media, written to the local newspaper and the local council in support of new stadia on Peaks Parkway. But all the while I had a gut feeling the out of town areas proposed, were not suitable and I secretly feared the soulless, half empty concrete dome so often evident in today’s game. People say you don’t miss something until you no longer have it. I feel this could be the case if we move. If and when a new stadium is built I hope it will be at the heart of our community, have character, meaning and be something the whole area can be proud of. Unfortunately, though, I have no confidence the current board can, or will deliver this.

Wasn't the pitch relaid just a few seasons ago, I remember pictures of tractors going up and down laying sand before the new turf.

Great read

Grimsby Town proper traditional football club .

Quoted from arryarryarry

Wasn't the pitch relaid just a few seasons ago, I remember pictures of tractors going up and down laying sand before the new turf.

Think we had drainage put in didn't we?

I love the history and memories attached to BP. I could see the floodlights from my garden growing up and have spent many a fantastic Saturday and Tuesday/Wednesday night there, but we need a new ground. The club is trapped in a time warp and needs to move on to pastures new. The whole club requires a massive shake up, on and off the pitch, and a new ground is a must. I'd be sad to say goodbye to the old stadium, but would welcome it.

Quoted from ginnywings

Think we had drainage put in didn't we?

I love the history and memories attached to BP. I could see the floodlights from my garden growing up and have spent many a fantastic Saturday and Tuesday/Wednesday night there, but we need a new ground. The club is trapped in a time warp and needs to move on to pastures new. The whole club requires a massive shake up, on and off the pitch, and a new ground is a must. I'd be sad to say goodbye to the old stadium, but would welcome it.

How big were the floodlights to start with? Was it cost cutting again by starting them off at about 12 feet?

Quoted from Rick12

Great read

Grimsby Town proper traditional football club .

I think using this sentence as a badge of honour is like using a sticking plaster over a great big gaping wound. After 140 years of ups and downs and the past 15 years of abject failure doing things the way we've always done it, it's time to move on..

We'll never forget the heroes of the past, but I'd give my right arm for a mini version of the Amex Stadium and to be a progressive club like Brighton. Bet their fans don't miss the Goldstone Ground or being a proper traditional football club..

Quoted from Bigdog

I think using this sentence as a badge of honour is like using a sticking plaster over a great big gaping wound. After 140 years of ups and downs and the past 15 years of abject failure doing things the way we've always done it, it's time to move on..

We'll never forget the heroes of the past, but I'd give my right arm for a mini version of the Amex Stadium and to be a progressive club like Brighton. Bet their fans don't miss the Goldstone Ground or being a proper traditional football club..

Fair points but history make a club as well.Just look at Liverpool and the fans they have.Remember reading thats why Fernando Torres done so well there.He lived and thrived of that passion.When he went to Chelsea the ethos of the club was different and he struggled.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

How big were the floodlights to start with? Was it cost cutting again by starting them off at about 12 feet?

They looked massive to me as a kid.  

I agree with Bigdog. No reason why we can't emulate someone like Rotherham and their new ground. They have prospered since they got it.

Quoted from Rick12

Fair points but history make a club as well.Just look at Liverpool and the fans they have.Remember reading thats why Fernando Torres done so well there.He lived and thrived of that passion.When he went to Chelsea the ethos of the club was different and he struggled.

I think it was more to do with his injuries and the fact he'd lost the lightning acceleration which made him so dangerous for Liverpool.

I'm sorry but to me any remedial work at BP is just throwing good money after bad. As much as I've loved going to BP since the mid sixties and seen some great games with amazing experiences , the ground belongs to a bygone age. In the same way that football has changed so much over the years, so has the expectations of the grounds and facilities. We need a new ground with alternative income streams and that is the only way forward.

Quoted from rancido

I'm sorry but to me any remedial work at BP is just throwing good money after bad. As much as I've loved going to BP since the mid sixties and seen some great games with amazing experiences , the ground belongs to a bygone age. In the same way that football has changed so much over the years, so has the expectations of the grounds and facilities. We need a new ground with alternative income streams and that is the only way forward.

Not if we won't get another ground for 20 years it isn't.

You cannot let it rot, just in case we get a new stadium at some point in the future. Between now and then we have current supporters to consider, and if we do better on the field, a whole new set of supporters and you simply cannot stand by and expect people to accept no effort to improve their match day experience.

A schedule of planned improvements should have been put in place, and still can if the new stadium is not in sight.

I hope once the season ends the club will update us on the stadium proposals and then we can decide what we want to do.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Not if we won't get another ground for 20 years it isn't.

You cannot let it rot, just in case we get a new stadium at some point in the future. Between now and then we have current supporters to consider, and if we do better on the field, a whole new set of supporters and you simply cannot stand by and expect people to accept no effort to improve their match day experience.

A schedule of planned improvements should have been put in place, and still can if the new stadium is not in sight.

I hope once the season ends the club will update us on the stadium proposals and then we can decide what we want to do.

When we came up we were getting positive noises about a new ground. The Council seemed to take a more positive stance now we were back in the league and i think this put pressure on them as the clubs profile was now higher.There was no reason to think we couldnt climb up to L1 in the near future and they didnt want to be seen as holding us back. The impact of giving the managers job to Slade has completely blown all that away and we have gone into reverse. That is why we MUST NOT GET RELAGATED.

If we dont, we can still turn this around next season. We have the 9th highest average attendance in L2 so should be able to afford a competitive team provided we our recruitment is up to scratch. A winning team will bring in greater revenue and we can use it to improve the team further. I believe we will be promoted to L1 in 2 seasons if Jolley recruits wisely and this will give us the momentum the clube needs. Im sure nobody belies we will have it built if we are in the National league.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

How big were the floodlights to start with? Was it cost cutting again by starting them off at about 12 feet?

Our old floodlights that were not very high were fitted onto the concrete bases,

So I suppose they just fitted the new ones in the same place saving on putting new foundations in.

Quoted from TheGoalKipper

When we came up we were getting positive noises about a new ground. The Council seemed to take a more positive stance now we were back in the league and i think this put pressure on them as the clubs profile was now higher.There was no reason to think we couldnt climb up to L1 in the near future and they didnt want to be seen as holding us back. The impact of giving the managers job to Slade has completely blown all that away and we have gone into reverse. That is why we MUST NOT GET RELAGATED.

If we dont, we can still turn this around next season. We have the 9th highest average attendance in L2 so should be able to afford a competitive team provided we our recruitment is up to scratch. A winning team will bring in greater revenue and we can use it to improve the team further. I believe we will be promoted to L1 in 2 seasons if Jolley recruits wisely and this will give us the momentum the clube needs. Im sure nobody belies we will have it built if we are in the National league.

Completely agree. I get why you wouldn't want to spend money if the new stadium really is close to being built. In other words, once you know you have the funding (or realistic and within a close timeframe), and once you have a viable site, but probably before PP. If that's not the case then you need to be really certain you're not running down your asset prematurely.

I also get that a new stadium might increase your revenue too. But before you borrow to invest, you need to be confident you have realistic numbers.

I don't see any evidence that either of these tests have been met.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Our old floodlights that were not very high were fitted onto the concrete bases,

So I suppose they just fitted the new ones in the same place saving on putting new foundations in.

If my memory serves me correctly you could still see the bases of the old floodlights for quite a number of seasons and were completely separate and were probably demolished when the corners were.

I had a prospective Councillor knock on my door last night in the Heneage Ward a Chris Nichols and asked him amongst other things about his thoughts on any new ground.He said he was of the opinion it should go East Marsh for regeneration of the area blah blah blah and though because he wasn`t a Councillor at present he hadn`t heard anything official but thought PP must be in the balance due to the time elapsed with no news?