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Post by danceswithclams on Mar 5, 2021 12:51:18 GMT
Also the whole place has a pa system which you can actually hear and better screens. The fucking PA at the Bet 365 is ear-splittingly loud. Metallica would probably give it a swerve as they'd be worried it might be a bit too much for their fans ![(lol)](//storage.proboards.com/800541/images/lvpvZ64EmrkLcuVniUmo.gif) Also, the Ricoh only has one screen and it's in the away end so no use if you're a visiting supporter (it's not as big as the one in the corner of the Boothen/West Stand either).
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Post by bayernoatcake on Mar 5, 2021 13:24:52 GMT
The stand on the left I think as you look at it from the away end is what totally puts me off it. It's where the arena is and it looks totally shit.
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Post by ab61 on Mar 5, 2021 13:39:13 GMT
Completely soulless and devoid of atmosphere. The Brit gets a lot of stick but for me it’s tidy and plenty for our needs.
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Post by maninasuitcase on Mar 5, 2021 13:39:42 GMT
The main stand is god awful. Looks like a metal wall with a weird arrangement of seating sticking out over the main seats below. As mentioned its a souless place inside. Id take the brit everytime time, as even though its a cheap half built poorly designed, poorly placed stadium, at least its got a bit of feeling about it. Shame they didn't stick it on the Michelin site before those offices and warehouses got built there as it would have been ideal for pubs and food outlets within walking distance. It looks better than ours imo. Just looks complete not just random bits added on. Also the whole place has a pa system which you can actually hear and better screens. We should have filled in the boothen corner with boxes like derby Ideally the boothen end should have been the same height as the main stand. Now that would have been amazing. Especially if it was all safe standing.
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Post by ab61 on Mar 5, 2021 13:47:28 GMT
Never had the pleasure but what was Highfield Rd like as a visit? Drums up images of 1970s for a lot of reasons (mainly kits...) and Star Soccer but never heard it mentioned on away day talk with Stokies. Highfield Road was ok, not unlike the Vic in that it was surrounded by terraced streets which all looked the same, so a major job trying to find your car after the game ![(lol)](//storage.proboards.com/800541/images/lvpvZ64EmrkLcuVniUmo.gif) There was an old pub there that had two entrances, one for home fans and one for visitors...handy for the ground if nothing else ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/800541/images/0m0lbCuTEBzaRn6f8QaM.gif) Think it was one of the first all seater stadiums, which gave it a bit of a 'sanitised' feel at the time, as were were still used to standing up, how times have changed Yes think it was Jimmy Hill who instigated the all seater at Coventry if I remember right. Remember going Highfield Road on my 16th birthday. My sister had bought me a red jacket with two white stripes down the sleeves. Thought it looked dead smart at the time 😂 We were 4-0 down in the blink of an eye. Can remember all the stoke fans sitting down on the terrace when the fourth went in. We pulled it back to 4-2,then had a penalty to make it 4-3 but guess what. We missed ? Went on to lose 5-2 Happy fucking birthday. Good old Stoke. Not that I’m still going in about it 44 years later 😮
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Post by durbanscircus on Mar 5, 2021 13:56:57 GMT
Highfield Road was ok, not unlike the Vic in that it was surrounded by terraced streets which all looked the same, so a major job trying to find your car after the game ![(lol)](//storage.proboards.com/800541/images/lvpvZ64EmrkLcuVniUmo.gif) There was an old pub there that had two entrances, one for home fans and one for visitors...handy for the ground if nothing else ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/800541/images/0m0lbCuTEBzaRn6f8QaM.gif) Think it was one of the first all seater stadiums, which gave it a bit of a 'sanitised' feel at the time, as were were still used to standing up, how times have changed Yes think it was Jimmy Hill who instigated the all seater at Coventry if I remember right. Remember going Highfield Road on my 16th birthday. My sister had bought me a red jacket with two white stripes down the sleeves. Thought it looked dead smart at the time 😂 We were 4-0 down in the blink of an eye. Can remember all the stoke fans sitting down on the terrace when the fourth went in. We pulled it back to 4-2,then had a penalty to make it 4-3 but guess what. We missed ? Went on to lose 5-2 Happy fucking birthday. Good old Stoke. Not that I’m still going in about it 44 years later 😮 I went in 1979 and had a good day out. We had a good following for a cold November day- 3500- 4000. A moody walk from the station through underpasses and past tower blocks, past a double decker bus packed full of Stokies which looked like it had barely made it down the M6. Half an hour later into a largish open terrace divided by a metal fence. Nice compact ground that could on its day hold 40,000. We won 3-1, unusually no trouble at all and back to the station with out incident
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Post by crouchpotato1 on Mar 5, 2021 15:12:09 GMT
I wonder if that scrapyard is still available to park at🤔😄 Got a bloody parking ticket last time we went there,horrible day.😞 Park legally then🤣🤣🤣
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Post by maninasuitcase on Mar 5, 2021 18:13:05 GMT
Worse thing they did was to leave highfield road. They never recovered from that, especially as they didnt fully own the ricoh (i think, although i stand to be corrected) We could have been in a similar mess before uncle peter bought the brit. The thought of ground sharing would have been horrendous, especially if we had to go cap in hand to the unwashed.
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Post by BristolMick on Mar 5, 2021 20:22:06 GMT
I read that as Covid to return to the Ricoh. Phew. I like to call most clubs by the names the locals call them except when there’s loads of clubs with the same name but you’d think there were only one the way the sycophants bang on. BM
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Post by kjpt140v on Mar 5, 2021 22:06:08 GMT
The stadium itself is soulless and the surrounding area not wonderful for pre-match activities. But beats having to go to St Andrews more than once though...... I thought it was a good ground, I enjoyed it apart from the result. The surrounding area as far more to offer than the e65.
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Post by pottersrule on Mar 6, 2021 6:42:34 GMT
Got a bloody parking ticket last time we went there,horrible day.😞 Park legally then🤣🤣🤣 Yes I should have Mr Do no wrong.
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Post by pottermouth on Mar 7, 2021 1:47:00 GMT
Never had the pleasure but what was Highfield Rd like as a visit? Drums up images of 1970s for a lot of reasons (mainly kits...) and Star Soccer but never heard it mentioned on away day talk with Stokies. Highfield Road was a proper football stadium in the middle of Coventry. All seater on three sides with an open standing area for away fans. I will never forget being freezing cold in that horrible away terrace with the vile toilets we used to use for shelter when it pissed down! Then it became all seater with a limited capacity of about 24000. Highfield Road was my old stomping ground during university days and I enjoyed going theee although it was damn expensive! It’s sad they moved from there to the horrible soulless place they have now.
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Post by Caerwrangonpotter on Mar 7, 2021 3:52:48 GMT
Just occurred that the Ricoh has a station either by it or close by (as The 365 should...) but no trains stop there on match day!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2021 4:09:55 GMT
The Ricoh is really shit. I agree that, despite the clear faults and drawbacks vs say an actual redeveloped spiritual home (which is what should've happened to the vic, step by step redevelopment) I still think our ground has something about it. It's aged better than could've been expected. Maybe that's bias and maybe it's down to the amazing decade we had there, building memories and becoming world famous for our support?
But my dream is that, one day, we knock down "the boothen end" and have a big new end build with an iconic facade. I've heard it mentioned that it could have huge brick kilns incorporated into the facade and that's an amazing idea, huge towering bottle ovens that you could see from the A50. If I was rich, I'd wait for safe-standing to get the green light (has to be in the coming years surely?) and then get some professional plans drawn up. I wonder how much it costs to commission a construction company to draw up plans for a new stand? If it's not unreasonable maybe we could crowd fund for the plans at least, if enough people are interested that is. Totally possible that most will read this and think I'm chatting waffles, but that's what would elevate our ground from identikit to iconic IMO.
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