Milton Keynes Dons' National Hockey Stadium

The National Hockey Stadium was the stadium used by MK Dons from their formation in 2004 until they moved into Stadium:MK in 2007. The NHS stadium was a far cry from the club's new ground and it is blatently obvious it was never intended to be used as a football stadium.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the MK Dons regarding their previous incarnation as Wimbledon. I'm not going to get into the whole history of it but many people will refuse to go to the MK Dons on the pure principle that they are viewed as a "franchise". It's one of those touchy subjects that will always be debated. I'll be honest, I couldn't give a fuck about the whole situation.

Anyway, this was probably the only chance I would ever get to visit the National Hockey Stadium due to the Dons moving grounds again soon (as it turns out, they were relegated and we went there in the league the following year), so there was no chance I was going to miss this opportunity. Upon arriving at the ground after a relatively easy journey, we took a small trip to the club shop. It was strange walking around the stadium as you never really got the feeling you were about to watch a football match.

We eventually made it to what is apparently a club shop. It's safe to say that it wasn't stocked up at all. There were two shelves, both sparsely populated with objects, and that was it. The only decent thing about it being the shirt-naming facility being in view, meaning that it is likely you could get your name done then.

One thing that's curious about MK Dons is the surrounding area that contains both a McDonalds and a Burger King, within 20 metres of each other. Do not go into the Burger King, every staff member in there treats away fans as if we were living on the street and certain MK Dons fans came over and started bullying a group of children in City shirts, including knocking over their drink. Not exactly the most hospitable welcome to the town.

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We eventually did manage to get into the ground and to be fair, the continued feeling of not being at a football match continued. The main stand is a rather tall structure where green and grey seats just seem to have been randomly inserted into the stand and it is definitely not pleasing to the eye, however, it looks as though it would provide a good view of the action. The stand opposite this was an exact replica but without a roof and in similar fashion to City's Echo stand, only ran for 1/3 of the pitch.

The end behind the goal and it's opposite were almost identical. They were both temporary seating stands that were identical height and provided a great view of the action, however, the difference being that the home end was given a roof whereas the away end was uncovered.

As with most uncovered stand, creating an atmosphere was difficult but could be easily creatable with a decent following. MK Dons atmosphere can the "Cowshed" stand behind the goal and to be fair, they did make a bit of noise despite an apparently lack of numbers consistently singing, although they did go very quiet when we scored.

Overall, I must say that I am mixed about the MK Dons, although there are a few good points, such as the view, there are many negatives, such as the incidents in Burger King and the feeling that football shouldn't be played here really spoils the day. I seriously doubt I will ever visit for a random game but if you lived nearby, then it would have been worth the short trip.