Posts Categorized: Ground review

Qualifying for Champions League Proper: Arena Națională, Bucharest

against modern football graphite slogan.

After the Champions League qualification exploits in Macedonia, our search was ever further harder, more teams had been eliminated, and quite a few in the region we were traversing. We spotted that Steaua Bucharest were due to play Partizan Belgrade at the enormous Arena Națională. It wasn’t quite perfect, we would have to shift our expected twenty four hour train journey to Istanbul from Bucharest, but, alas, no problem, we wanted football, and the calendar had been unkind to us twice. The first time was in giving us no domestic football to see in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, when we… Read more »

Gillingham make the trip to the Vale Park

Port Vale's ground

Gills fan Michael Pilcher continues to set the pace doing the 92, ticking off his second ground in successive weeks. The Kent outfit were off to the Potteries to face Port Vale hoping to avenge a 2-1 defeat from their last visit. Ground: Vale Park 72/92 Game: Port Vale 1 – 1 Gillingham Date: 15/08/2015 Vale Park is one of those lower league grounds that has been sitting on my list for years, and considering Vale have followed my team (Gillingham) through the bottom two tiers for the past six seasons or so, it’s surprising it’s taken me this long…. Read more »

On the road with the Pools at Bootham Crescent

York City v Hartlepool United in league 2

Pools fan Ross Hamilton-Milburn ticks off his first ground of the new season as Hartlepool travelled to York. Ground: Bootham Crescent 15/92 Game: York 1-2 Hartlepool United Date: 15/08/2015 Thoughts on the ground: Bootham Crescent is one of those proper old fashioned football grounds you normally only ever see on one of the million ‘football from the past’ twitter accounts that seem to exist for some reason. For a start, on the approach to the ground you walk past things called ‘houses’ as opposed to through an industrial estate like most modern stadiums are. The turnstiles look like they’ve come… Read more »

Qualifying for Champions League Proper: Arena Filip II

Corner taken by APOEL

A blog as @MossInBerlin travels through eastern Europe to the early qualification games to the World’s biggest club competition: The Champions League (proper). Fresh from the adventure in Zagreb, we scoured the UEFA competitions fixture lists again, looking at our planned travel route, to find a suitable fixture. A tasty little 2nd Leg of the Second Round of Qualification between FK Vardar and APOEL Nicosia in Skopje fitted suitably and didn’t require a change to our travel plans, or a 400 km diversion like the Zagreb trip. The game was delicately balanced after the first leg resulted in a 0-0 draw,… Read more »

Leicester get off to a flyer at the King Power Stadium

Lcfc leicester city ground

Groundhopper Michael Pilcher gets the first tick off his 92 for the new season. Leicestershire was the destination as the foxes took on relegation survivors Sunderland under the stewardship of new manager Claudio Ranieri. Ground: King Power Stadium 71/92 Game: Leicester City 4 – 2 Sunderland Date: 08/08/2015 Ah, the joys of pre-season. From the transfer rumours, to the eventual new signings or sudden emergence of a youth team player, to reading a bit too much into pre-season performances. The first game of the season is always exciting, with an unexpectant, slightly relaxed buzz. No formbook, no desperation for points,… Read more »

Qualifying for Champions League Proper: Stadion Maksimir

Outside Stadion Maksimir

A blog as @MossInBerlin travels through eastern Europe to the early qualification games to the World’s biggest club competition: The Champions League (proper). I have a particular thirst for football and traveling throughout eastern European, and having already combined the two for Euro 2012 and Manchester United’s 2008 Champions League success, another adventure was required. I had a large swathe of south eastern Europe yet to be trodden by my feet, and the timing could coincide with the qualification rounds for the Europa League and Champions League, where a plethora of teams battle it out for the prestige, honour, and of… Read more »

Dan White heads to St Andrews doing the 92

arsenal goalkeeper Emilio Martínez on loan at rotherham united playing against birmingham

Dan White continues doing the 92 heading to England’s second city to see the Blues – Birmingham City. Ground: St Andrews 12/92 Game: Birmingham City 2-1 Rotherham United Date: 03/04/2015 Thoughts on the ground: One of many places I was not looking forward to visiting. Mostly because of stories I had been told about the city by my mum and friends of mine. But like many places on this list, I don’t really have a choice about where I have to go for this challenge. So why did I chose Birmingham? Since I had done some pitch side photos with… Read more »

South Americans take over the Emirates Stadium!

Arsenal's Emirates Stadium

the92.net blogger and budding press snapper Dan White made his way to the Emirates stadium for a prize international friendly as Brazil continued their World Cup rebuilding against Chile. Ground: The Emirates Stadium 11/92 Game: Brazil 1-0 Chile Date: 29/03/2015 Thoughts on the ground: Getting tickets for an Arsenal game was a challenge. Trying to log on to the website, I found out you had to pay a membership fee just so you can get tickets before general release. This seems a bit steep especially considering how much they charge for tickets as it is. In the end I got… Read more »

90 down just 2 to go! St James Park Exeter

St james park

Blogger Tim Dove makes the long journey down to St James Park Exeter to take his total doing the 92 up to 90 as the curtain comes down on the Football League season. Ground: St James Park 90/92 Game: Exeter City 2-1 Dagenham & Redbridge Date: 02/05/2015 Thoughts on the ground: There’s a real mix to St James Park as is common with other clubs in the lower divisions who haven’t moved to new stadia recently. Specifically, there are two terraces and one of these is covered. The other two stands are both all-seating stands but only one runs the… Read more »

Dan White ticks the Proact Stadium off his 92

Chesterfield FC Proact Stadium West Stand

Budding photographer and blogger Dan White takes a trip to Chesterfield Town’s Proact Stadium with the Three Lions U17s in town. Ground: The Proact Stadium Road 10/92 Game: England U17 3-1 Slovenia U17 Date: 23/03/2015 Thoughts on the ground: For anyone who has never been to the Proact Stadium, it takes 20 minutes to walk to the ground from the town centre and is located next to a Tesco’s and a KFC. So if you arrive early you can do your weekly/monthly shopping while having eating a bucket of chicken. One thing I found interesting was how small the ground… Read more »