Accrington Stanley's Crown Ground

Described by Lawrence Pont as a "non-League ground for a non-League team," Accrington Stanley's Fraser Eagle Stadium is certainly one for the die hards. With laughable facilities, small crowds and a lack of atmosphere, this is one of my least favourite grounds to visit and it's not one that I would really recommend going to unless you're desperate to complete the 92.

Before Lincoln were relegated, Accrington Stanley was my least favourite ground to visit. It's a small ground that is in a small town that has nothing to do (and I now (at the time of writing) work here), and it's quality is overall very poor. Even though I now live in the area, it would take a lot for me to willingly go and watch a match at the Crown Ground.

I'm going to write this review based on all of my experiences to date, so in other words from when I lived in Lincoln/Nottingham.

After a relatively easy journey that surprisingly didn't take that long (about 2 hours 30 to be precise), we arrived in the town of Accrington and using the word "rustic" to describe it would be an understatement. Fortunately it is easy to park around the ground, it's mainly street parking, although some of the raised curbing will make it difficult for passengers in smaller cars to get out.

 THE AWAY END - THE COPPICE TERRACE

During my visits I have often tried to find something to do around the ground and other than a pub (and I don't drink), there is seemingly precisely nothing to do within the town.

To show how rustic and old fashioned the ground is, on our first visit there were no doors on the turnstiles and on the second visit there were patio doors. It felt more like going to some dodgy cup game than a Football League fixture. I just couldn't put my finger on it at all, there was just something not quite right about it.

Once inside the ground, you find it hard to believe that this was ever given League status. Infact, it reminded me a lot of Kidderminster's Aggborough before they redeveloped their main stand. The difference being Aggborough and this ground is that I like Aggborough, at least that had an atmosphere to it.

To the left was one of the most pointless main stands I've seen, it couldn't have housed more than 1200, it was absolutely tiny, but the stand opposite just appeared to be a roof over a path, no terraced steps at all. The two stands behind the goals appeared to be identical terracing. Thankfully the away end gave a decent view of the action.

 THE MAIN STAND

Accrington's atmosphere has gotten considerably better down the years and they are now one of the very few clubs around where the phones actually sing at home, even when not winning. That's not to say that the variety of noise created is outstanding, but that's not particular important.

The fans are genuinely friendly and quite knowledgable from my experiences, although I really do wish they could stop referring to things such as "it's our first time back match back in the Football League since 1960odd"....YOU'RE NOT THE SAME FOOTBALL CLUB. You have the same name but you are completely different clubs.

Before our visit in the 2008/9 season, I decided to walk around the area as I had arrived considerable earlier than I should have, and I found nothing at all. There were closed pubs, shops and chippies, and appeared to be no activities within the local area. This was on a Saturday afternoon as well, so it's not like they had many excuses for not having anything open, but then again, maybe I'm just being picky.

As you can guess, I didn't enjoy my day at Accrington, but it's safe enough as most of the fans are friendly, and you're unlikely to encounter any problems. Infact, that's probably the highlight of the whole trip as most fans were willing to talk to you before hand and get conversations going.

One of the few other positives is that if your team are playing there on a Friday night, there are plenty of other Football League grounds within a reasonable distance to go to, with Blackburn Rovers just five miles away, and other big clubs such as Burnley, Bolton, Blackpool Preston and all the Manchester clubs within an easily commutable distance.

As I mentioned earlier though, even though I now live in the area, I won't actually visit this ground unless it's a special occasion or if Lincoln are playing there.

---

Overall Accrington is one of the poorest grounds I have ever visited and that's me putting it nicely. The only way I would realistically go to a random game at this ground is if City had another game in the local area that ended before the game here kicked off....or vice versa.