The State of Ewood Park!

[Ossydave]

10 hours ago, Andy said:

I've still not my head around Waggott acting all surprised and claiming he'd never noticed the huge swathes of green shite covering most of the JW Stand outer.

I live up the road from the stadium and drive past it daily - I can see it from my car, on Bolton Road, without my glasses on.

As far as 'feeding blatant bullshit to supporters' goes, that one was pretty high up on the list.

The stupid thing is how easy it is to remove too, you don't even need to jetwash it off. There's numerous solutions available that can just be sprayed on the affected area and left, that's literally it.

[ABBEY]

same can be said of the raos , but i dont fancy life in nick .

[simongarnerisgod]

drove past earlier,the steel looks pretty clean,but the side skirts and the panels on the roof of the darwen end and jack walker are filthy and look in desperate need of a clean or replacement

[Nuttall is lost]

I still think of Ewood as a brand new stadium.  Hard to believe its been there 30 years.  Its starting to look its age.  Rust spots, grubby roof, seats looking tired etc..

 

[ABBEY]

I went past Darlingtons ground last week ..omg no idea what the story is there apart from a gangster owner ( no idea if he's still there or jail like or if ground still in use ) but that actually makes Ewood look maintained. 

Edited June 9 by ABBEY

[tomphil]

Darlos stadium can't be that old ?

Think Reynolds popped his clogs - after doing a bit more porridge for something or other.

[Mattyblue]

Darlo FC have long left it.

A lower league rugby club uses it now with gates of a few hundred folk rattling around it.

[ABBEY]

Ah explains it then

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

Darlos stadium can't be that old ?

Think Reynolds popped his clogs - after doing a bit more porridge for something or other.

I actually refereed a couple games at the Reynolds Arena and everything was too notch. The carpets were all lush with the club crest woven in and even the door handles had the Darlington crest on them. The pitch was cutting edge for that time and the facilities for supporters were first class. However with a few thousand rattling around a 25000 capacity stadium it was never going to last.

George Reynolds died in 2021.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-56736357

[tomphil]

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

I actually refereed a couple games at the Reynolds Arena and everything was too notch. The carpets were all lush with the club crest woven in and even the door handles had the Darlington crest on them. The pitch was cutting edge for that time and the facilities for supporters were first class. However with a few thousand rattling around a 25000 capacity stadium it was never going to last.

George Reynolds died in 2021.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-56736357

Watched a brief Docu on Youtube about his time there and he certainly had the right idea just the wrong club in the wrong town and area.

Idea was making football affordable to everyone but he was never going to fill that ground in a small town club that had always been in the shadow of the big clubs up there.

He really should have done what Jack did and started by building a good team first but his pricing and fans first philosophy would get 20k in Ewood.

[arbitro]

17 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Watched a brief Docu on Youtube about his time there and he certainly had the right idea just the wrong club in the wrong town and area.

Idea was making football affordable to everyone but he was never going to fill that ground in a small town club that had always been in the shadow of the big clubs up there.

He really should have done what Jack did and started by building a good team first but his pricing and fans first philosophy would get 20k in Ewood.

He was a loose cannon though. I heard a story about a time when he walked around one of his factories and saw that one of his employees had scratched their name on a fork lift truck. He found out who it was, asked which was their car and he scratched his name on their car.  His autobiography is a good read.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cracked-George-Reynolds/dp/1904034691

[tomphil]

Yes he was quite a character that's for sure and he ended up in the clink again for money laundering when pulled over and found to have 500 grand cash in his car boot.

Some people just can't lie straight in bed despite having already made themselves millionaires !

[A Northern Horde...]

Well folks it's been 4 years since I felt compelled to open this horror show of a thread.

Took some photos this morning.I will let them do the talking..

 

[Mattyblue]

I’ve still never seen an explanation as to why those fantastic history timeline murals were removed.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Bare minimum to zero cleaning of the Stadium..its negligent and disgusting.😠

[Oldgregg86]

The players got me interested in rovers and the iconic blue and white kit stood out and sealed who was going to my team as a young lad.
 

After a few games at Springfield park where I just had no interest in even the game being played at the age of 7, often playing tag up and down the empty steps,  my dad took me to ewood . I remember walking down the hill and there it was. It was massive to me then. I walked past the jack walker stand and I remember looking up at it in awe. I’d never seen anything like it. Once inside the ground I still haven’t forgot the walk from the concourse up the steps as the pitch and stands revealed themselves as the scent of wet grass invaded my nostrils. I’ve been an addict ever since. It truly is heartbreaking watch Ewood detiriorate the  shoddy mess it is today. 
 

The stadium used to gleam like a new palace fit for kings. Now it is fitting for the rats that run wild around its corridors today

[tomphil]

The first time i got took to Ewood as a kid we sat upstairs in the old riverside and when we went in  i looked at it and thought this thing is going to fall down.

Anyone who remembers the back of that thing in the mid 80s will know what i;m on about it was literally propped up with bits of telegraph poles.  

No wonder it was shut not long after but to be fair upstairs in there had a character and atmosphere all of its own and got me hooked on Rovers.

Shame to see the present one heading the same way.

[Devon Rover]

8 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

The players got me interested in rovers and the iconic blue and white kit stood out and sealed who was going to my team as a young lad.
 

After a few games at Springfield park where I just had no interest in even the game being played at the age of 7, often playing tag up and down the empty steps,  my dad took me to ewood . I remember walking down the hill and there it was. It was massive to me then. I walked past the jack walker stand and I remember looking up at it in awe. I’d never seen anything like it. Once inside the ground I still haven’t forgot the walk from the concourse up the steps as the pitch and stands revealed themselves as the scent of wet grass invaded my nostrils. I’ve been an addict ever since. It truly is heartbreaking watch Ewood detiriorate the  shoddy mess it is today. 
 

The stadium used to gleam like a new palace fit for kings. Now it is fitting for the rats that run wild around its corridors today

Very well said and that resonates for me. It makes me sad and angry to see the literal and metaphorical running down of everything that Jack Walker built up, and that defined many of the best moments, and dreams, of my childhood. 

[A Northern Horde...]

A message to any Fans Forum members or WATR..you have my Express permission and best wishes in copying these photos to present to Waggott in your next meetings..they can't blame Covid this time!.

So,so sorry we have to shame people to take action.

[rigger]

8 minutes ago, A Northern Horde... said:

A message to any Fans Forum members or WATR..you have my Express permission and best wishes in copying these photos to present to Waggott in your next meetings..they can't blame Covid this time!.

So,so sorry we have to shame people to take action.

And don't just accept the reply, "We'll look into it".

[ABBEY]

but they will

[Moptop1]

51 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

The players got me interested in rovers and the iconic blue and white kit stood out and sealed who was going to my team as a young lad.
 

After a few games at Springfield park where I just had no interest in even the game being played at the age of 7, often playing tag up and down the empty steps,  my dad took me to ewood . I remember walking down the hill and there it was. It was massive to me then. I walked past the jack walker stand and I remember looking up at it in awe. I’d never seen anything like it. Once inside the ground I still haven’t forgot the walk from the concourse up the steps as the pitch and stands revealed themselves as the scent of wet grass invaded my nostrils. I’ve been an addict ever since. It truly is heartbreaking watch Ewood detiriorate the  shoddy mess it is today. 
 

The stadium used to gleam like a new palace fit for kings. Now it is fitting for the rats that run wild around its corridors today

Sadly, we are run by rats!

[Forever Blue]

47 minutes ago, tomphil said:

The first time i got took to Ewood as a kid we sat upstairs in the old riverside and when we went in  i looked at it and thought this thing is going to fall down.

Anyone who remembers the back of that thing in the mid 80s will know what i;m on about it was literally propped up with bits of telegraph poles.  

No wonder it was shut not long after but to be fair upstairs in there had a character and atmosphere all of its own and got me hooked on Rovers.

Shame to see the present one heading the same way.

I still very occasionally get a whiff of a particularly pungent brand of tobacco. It always transports me back to the Riverside seats in the late 70s/early 80s. 

[rigger]

2 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

I still very occasionally get a whiff of a particularly pungent brand of tobacco. It always transports me back to the Riverside seats in the late 70s/early 80s. 

I get the  same smell when I go on the Blackburn end, first smelled at the 69 cup game against Man City. It is amazing what tricks the brain can play.

Edited July 7 by rigger

[damo100]

I'm sure Swag mentioned around £3m being spent for ground improvements at the end of last season. 

Not heard or seen anything. 

Is this yet another lie in Swags long list of fibbing?