worst stadium on a trip??

[Ally boy 69]

After the best let's hear the worst......kaunus.....tbilisi.....prague in 09??  Any others??

[wanderer]

Kaunas by a country mile, followed by Moldova.

Toftir not far behind, where you have to walk/climb up a cliff face to get to from the ferry terminal at the bottom.

 

Levante in Valencia was a shambles.... we had to be moved to a different section of the ground pretty last minute after our original section was flooded the night before, and during the match our section flooded (there is YouTube footage of Scotland fans swimming around under the stand!)..... Braga also falls into the category (open bowl with one stand missing, played in hurricane force winds and rain!)

Edited February 26, 2016 by wanderer

[Ally boy 69]

Agree about kaunus......death trap in waiting how that managed to host international football is beyond belief. I had a boy in front of me totally and utterly pished on the 3rd top row of concrete pews......nearly fell face down umpteen times......he went for a pish up the top row and everyone had there hearts in their mouths......not recommended ?

[deecie]

Hampden Park, Glasgow. It has no redeeming features. Zero.

 

I didn't think Kaunas was THAT bad, just a bit of a shithole.

 

Cyprus was rather shitty.

[Jagtag]

55 minutes ago, Ally boy 69 said:

After the best let's hear the worst......kaunus.....tbilisi.....prague in 09??  Any others??

I thought the Stadium in Tbilisi was impressive even in 2007 before it was done up. 

We didn't play in Prague in 09. We played a friendly at Sparta in 2008 and the qualifier at Slavia in 2010. Both are reasonable stadiums and nowhere near as bad as the likes of Moldova and Kaunas.

[bonzo]

Agree with Kaunus very poor stadium. But even worse when we were heading back to the buses through that forest thingy and doon the hill aw the polis wae there flashlights and barking dugs quite surreal and a wee bit scary 

[kumnio]

Kaunas is a shitehole, the whole place, not just the stadium, agree with Bonzo, the walk after the game was horrible, never seen so many phones improvised as torches as I did that night.

I thought the stadium in Skopje the first time was the worst experience as a Scotland fan. 17 searches to get into the ground, which was in a terrible condition, no refreshments, no facilities at all apart from a bowfn wee toilet, hundreds of Scotland fans looking like they were ready to collapse with the heat.

[Grantyboy1983]

I had a blast the last time we played in Kaunas, it was my first away trip which probably helped. Even the shitty stadium didn't dampen my spirits too much. Can remember porta loo toilets but nowhere near enough so everyone was just pishing up against a wall at half time, myself included.

[jamkam]

Kaunas -- worst ground, the walk away from the ground is really bad.

Skpje   -- was bad and the crowd control was terrible. Trying to stop people getting access with false tickets actually stopped fans with "true tickets" from getting into the match.  I went to the Macedonia v Holland the next week and there was very little ticket checks -- only gaining access. Very little police to be seen.

[Ormond]

Pittodrie for Strachan's first game. 

[adamntg]

3 hours ago, deecie said:

Hampden Park, Glasgow. It has no redeeming features. Zero.

 

I didn't think Kaunas was THAT bad, just a bit of a shithole.

 

Cyprus was rather shitty.

Wait till you've seen your club win the Scottish Cup there and you'll feel differently.

[tartanmartin]

Macedonia the first time in the baking heat was awful.  As was Chisinau (without the baking heat).  Novi Sad wasn't particularly great either.  And the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza is a concrete lump albeit having witnessed some incredible matches and teams. 

But Serravalle for San Marino wins it for me.  Nae lights around the stadium and steep temporary terracing made it tricky to navigate - especially reeking.

[wanderer]

25 minutes ago, tartanmartin said:

But Serravalle for San Marino wins it for me.  Nae lights around the stadium and steep temporary terracing made it tricky to navigate - especially reeking.

It really was almost Junior ground like.

We were in the main stand under the tannoy system, and for the first 20 minutes of the game it was just some Italian woman screaming into it in pigeon English asking for a "meeeeester mac dooooooooo-gaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll" to make himself known.

Edited February 26, 2016 by wanderer

[Bristolhibby]

I'll echo Kaunaus as the worst dump.

Special mention to Skopje in 2008 as the attitude taken to the fans was a disgrace. (Managed to get in myself, but that was only wandering to the ground that morning and seeing the stormtroopers limbering up. Deciding to change into civvies).

Also have to mention Alicante, and it's woeful lack of toilets.

Personally didn't mind Novi Sad, as I assumed it would be a dump, so glad they moved us under cover as the away end (cage) that the Welsh were placed in looked terrible. Also helped that the Serbs were on their last warning so the Stormtrooper escort from Belgrade was interesting. So fookin cold that weekend.

 

J

Edited February 26, 2016 by Bristolhibby

[Dalgety Bay TA]

3 hours ago, kumnio said:

Kaunas is a shitehole, the whole place, not just the stadium, agree with Bonzo, the walk after the game was horrible, never seen so many phones improvised as torches as I did that night.

I thought the stadium in Skopje the first time was the worst experience as a Scotland fan. 17 searches to get into the ground, which was in a terrible condition, no refreshments, no facilities at all apart from a bowfn wee toilet, hundreds of Scotland fans looking like they were ready to collapse with the heat.

Those would be my two. We asked the Skopje police where we could get some water to drink and they pointed us into the toilet pan.....

[LewisEDI]

11 minutes ago, Dalgety Bay TA said:

Those would be my two. We asked the Skopje police where we could get some water to drink and they pointed us into the toilet pan.....

LOL

[jimstroma]

3 hours ago, Ormond said:

Pittodrie for Strachan's first game. 

Agree! Pittodrie should never be used for International fitba 

Abroad, I would say Novi Sad.

[HIGHTOWER 1314]

macedonia the 1st time we lost 1-0.stadium was a shithole even though i never got in,police were arseholes some even selling tickets to scots knowing full we wouldnt get in and it was roasting hot.never felt so bad with the heat before on a scotland trip or even a holiday and thats saying something.

[Guest allyc]

The stadium in tblisi was fine.the surrounding streets were abit dodgy.

[Rory]

Alicante the stadium once inside seemed ok, however, the scrums at all entrances trying to get in were ridiculous. A few were karted away with injuries after falling & can only imagine were trampled. Wasn't pleasant & that was quite a bit before kick off (In Spain end)

Tblisi the stadium was quite impressive but must agree about the surrounding streets, after full time they were proper dodgy!!

[deecie]

18 minutes ago, Rory said:

Alicante the stadium once inside seemed ok, however, the scrums at all entrances trying to get in were ridiculous. A few were karted away with injuries after falling & can only imagine were trampled. Wasn't pleasant & that was quite a bit before kick off (In Spain end)

Tblisi the stadium was quite impressive but must agree about the surrounding streets, after full time they were proper dodgy!!

You stayed to the end?? 

[DaveyDenoon]

The stadium in Kaunas was the biggest shit tip I've been in with Scotland by a million miles and yeah the climb down that mad hill in the dark afterwards was very surreal. How on earth international football could ever be played there is one of life's great mysteries.

But I actually liked Kaunas as a place and we had a great trip there.

The stadium in Bydgoszcz wasn't up to much either but miles better than Kaunas. The old Olympic stadium in Kiev was also pretty run down although it's the dugs' now.

[aaid]

6 hours ago, Bristolhibby said:

I'll echo Kaunaus as the worst dump.

Special mention to Skopje in 2008 as the attitude taken to the fans was a disgrace. (Managed to get in myself, but that was only wandering to the ground that morning and seeing the stormtroopers limbering up. Deciding to change into civvies).

Hold on a minute.  Let's not try and rewrite history.  In Skopje, the authorities were pretty clear that Scotland fans would not be allowed into the home end.  A combination of "we're the famous tartan army" and "heard it all before" saw loads of fans ignore this try to get in, then trying to get into the away end - which was sold out - and cause a scene that meant that other fans who had tickets for that section couldn't get in.

Obviously you were one of the sensible ones that went in plain clothes which was the right move. 

[Bristolhibby]

8 minutes ago, aaid said:

Hold on a minute.  Let's not try and rewrite history.  In Skopje, the authorities were pretty clear that Scotland fans would not be allowed into the home end.  A combination of "we're the famous tartan army" and "heard it all before" saw loads of fans ignore this try to get in, then trying to get into the away end - which was sold out - and cause a scene that meant that other fans who had tickets for that section couldn't get in.

Obviously you were one of the sensible ones that went in plain clothes which was the right move. 

It's the hypocrisy that annoyed me afterwards. Dutch fans had no trouble, there would have been no trouble with all Scot fans in the home end. IMHO it was the Macedonian FA trying to make a point to Dirk, who was openly selling home tickets while badmouthing the MFA.

Stadium wise, the away ends in that head was fookin dangerous.

J

[wanderer]

In Skopje I had been speaking to Gordon Smith when out for a walk the morning of the match and he said that if I knew anyone going in the home end that tell them not to wear kilts and Scotland shirts (he had been in a meeting with the town mayor and chief of police, and though the Mayor was pretty sympathetic, the chief of police was not for budging).

saw two mates from West Kilbride 2 hours before the game in their kilts and told them what Smith said to me.... Next time I saw them was from the main stand in jeans and casual t-shirts.

the biggest joke was the lack of refreshment stalls in the away end and to provide water they tied up a hose to the fence, which was connected to God knows what at the other end!