The Opposition View

[Ardiles]

I have the same opinon about both Rose (not quite as extreme yet though) and also about our stadium. Better news for the stadium is that there are plans afoot to regenerate all the area surrounding around it, but when that happens god only knows. Talk of a few hotels, food/fast food chains and a park and ride to provide more parking. Still no pubs and still shocking grub at the ground (which we are complaining about) but at least the new junction is in place making it easy to access the ground and also the car park has been put right and stewards that no have been trained in traffic management making sure people get away as quick as possible.

Wish it could be like Chesterfields new ground. Absolutely cracking stadium and the best atmopshere I have come across from a modern ground. Got a feeling you are going to bypass them as they come back down though.

I do miss Layer Rd a hell of a lot, despite it being an utter shithole. Purely financial reasons and the clubs survival are the only reason we left and out of all the new grounds in the country our support is the only one to have gone backwards!

How do you regenerate a field?  Do you not mean 'develop' rather than 'regenerate'?

Even supposing you do get the hotel and fast food outlets moving in, it's still going to be soulless.  Think Reading or Northampton.  I know people going to Colchester who are planning to meet in a pub on the other side of town before cabbing over to the ground for the game.  Football shouldn't be like that.

Sorry to be a bit down on that.  I know you broadly agree as well...I just hate out of town football developments.  They're not right.

[Reg Smeeton]

I do miss Layer Rd a hell of a lot, despite it being an utter shithole. Purely financial reasons and the clubs survival are the only reason we left and out of all the new grounds in the country our support is the only one to have gone backwards!

I can understand why....Layer Road although in many ways inadequate, was an atmospheric little ground with all the collective memories of generations of ColU fans stored there.  That's a lot to lose...unfortunately in your case it probably had to be.

At least you've still got somewhere to see your favourite sport, unlike the good citizens of Camulodunum, who lost their chariot racing circus forever.

[Spencer_White]

I think fans are beginning to wake up regarding out of Town grounds. Football grounds have a 60 or 70 year lifespan, so its early days in terms of gauging their success. The ground is boring, transport is a pain.

I went to Layer road every time I possibly could and always had a good time. Ive been once to your new ground once and wouldnt go back unless there was a play off semi, or a real crunch end of season game.

Despite being League 1, your average is only filling that ground to 50% capacity, which will always make for a bad matchday experience. Was a terraced home end ever considered?

Michael Rose is a complete tit. A real liability on and off the pitch. Have you heard about him losing his driving license and subsequent toddleresque rants on twitter?

[Reg Smeeton]

  I know you broadly agree as well...I just hate out of town football developments.  They're not right.

I recall in the embryonic days of fora, when Terry Brady had grand schemes for Blagrove, being slagged off for daring to say it stank to the heavens.

A quick trip to the site, just revealed the true horror of a bit of wasteland, wedged betwen the M4 and railway...with only one access road, no pubs for miles, no chip shops etc.

Make no mistake much of our fan base would have slept walked into this without a whimper of protest.

Shaw Tip was a bit better, insofar interesting access could have been achieved from Rodbourne, which has plenty of civilisation.

[ColUDave]

Whoops yep redevelop was the word I was looking for.

I completely agree though. The one advantage of the ground is that it is decent for people that come on the train.

Apart from that I cannot think of any positives.

With Layer Rd you could get into the town with ease, drink in one of the many establishments and take a 20 minute walk to the old girl. Despite being crap, that old ground had so much character and charm and it disgusts me to see the state it is in these days. (Going to be knocked down and turned into sheltered accomodation). There were some real characters at the ground as well, but you don't see anyone like that at the new ground. Its just generically bland.

What makes me laugh is that Colchester had been trying to get a new ground since we came in existence in 1937. The move was only supposed to be temporary, yet Colchester Borough Council are absolute twats.

They only became interested in the club when they were doing well in League One and got a shock promotion. That kicked their backsides into gear to do something about it. Trouble is they declined all the decent green space and were not given permission to build on other good areas and had no choice but to build out of town.

I don't really know what went through the planners heads making it open cornered as any atmosphere just escapes through the gaps. As the club had Championship ambitions when the ground was agreed to be built they had to build an all seater stadium. The rules in the C'Ship stipulate you have to have all seater stadia after 3 years and they were our lofty aims.

A small group of us have campaigned for safe standing, but the club said it is impossible as we have to lower the attendance (not a bad thing) and that we cannot have that should we reach the Championship again. Safe standing is a completely different can of worms though.

Unfortunately we just have to get used to it and to be honest Colchester is growing at a ridiculous rate, it won't really be seen as out of town in 10 years time, but until then we have to get used to it. There are so many U's fans who refuse to go to the ground because of the location and the whole lack of anything up there. Our crowds are getting worse and it troubles me that the clubs future could be in trouble.

It is sickening to think their are more Ipswich ST holders with a CO post code than Colchester United. We are just a boring commuter town and seem to be struggling to grow the fanbase.

I did hear about Rose's tamtrums, what did he do exactly? He has since got his license back and had also tweeted his apologies for poor performances. I think he had played 6 times and made just as many costly errors and has not been seen since. He will probably end up playing on Saturday which will be typical of our manager and cause us to lose again. Never known such an error prone player! We can see why you rated him so highly haha.

[Benzel]

I am praying to Lucifer that he plays this weekend.

[Notts red]

In laws live just outside Sudbury which is very convenient when we play Colchester. Not keen on the location but inside the ground it's not to bad. Talking to a steward last time I was there he said once they start getting regular big crowds they have provisions to fill in the corners with more seating to raise the capacity( not sure about that happening any time soon ) Funny watching the buses turn up with both sets of fans streaming off.

[Ardiles]

It is sickening to think their are more Ipswich ST holders with a CO post code than Colchester United. We are just a boring commuter town and seem to be struggling to grow the fanbase.

At least that's one thing we don't really have to contend with...the bigger club just up the road mopping up potential fans.  But in Portman Road, as it happens, you do have another good example of another decent town centre ground.

I wasn't intending to have a pop with my last post.  No reason to - no problem with Colchester at all.  It's just frustrating that a decent away day that I've enjoyed on several occasions has now been ruined with a poorly planned/designed relocation (and seems that a lot of the home fans feel the same).

I accept that Layer Road was on its last legs and that Colchester had to do something, but it really looks as if there weren't any football people involved with the relocation project.  Wrong site, wrong design.  As Spence said above, the natural lifespan of a ground is probably not that different to that of a healthy (and lucky) person...so you only get one chance to get it right.

[suttonred]

Glad to hear the car park is sorted. I've still got wet feet from that! And the new junction, I really enjoyed my unscheduled trip to clacton after missing the turn! Jeez I've nearly talked myself into going Staurday.

[ColUDave]

Glad to hear the car park is sorted. I've still got wet feet from that! And the new junction, I really enjoyed my unscheduled trip to clacton after missing the turn! Jeez I've nearly talked myself into going Staurday.

Haha it was a disgrace and the planners stuck it the wrong side of the ground too. All nicely tarmacced and the stewards get people out pretty promptish too.

I am not sure how well marked the junction is, Essex County Council refuse to put a big sign up to tell people and just have a little diddy brown one which no one can notice on the side. Junction 28 is the one you need for the stadium though. I am surprised you got out of Clacton with your wheels intact!

Here is the link to my blog for those that wish to read. Bit of a beast this one. Feel free to correct me if you think I've made any errors.

http://wp.me/p1IBhm-fd

Does anyone need any pub/alternative parking info?

[reeves4england]

Thought I would be busy tomorrow but things may have changed. If I'm free I might just jump on a train tomorrow. £13 return from Liverpool St is a pretty reasonable price, especially if I get to see Michael Rose play again. Funniest clown in the UK.

[tans]

Good read Dave

[Baggins]

Layer Road was one of my favourite grounds.  Mooney's late winner was particularly memorable.

[Paolo69]

I sat in the away seats at Layer Road once. Less than a hundred of us in there while most of fans were down the other end on the terrace. Had to walk through all the home fans in the main stand to get there then banter galore with the home fans we were virtually sat next to as well. Few verbals both ways then at half time mingled in together as we had to share the facilities. Super Sam got two that day i think.

Bizarre but in many ways i would prefer to be going there tomorrow rather than another identikit ground.

[bullethead]

Good read Dave - can see a lot of work went into that