Turf Moor

Monday, 15 April 2019

Burnley 2-0 Cardiff City

Aerial shot of Turf Moor (Photo courtesy of Up The Clarets)

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 7/10

Ease of getting there : 7/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 8/10

View of Action : 8/10

Quality of the game : 7/10

The "football" feeling : 8/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 2/10

Legroom : 9/10

Surrounding area : 7/10

Overall : 71/100

Programme - £3.00

The Royal Dyche pub, famously renamed after their manager Sean Dyche

Bob Lord Stand

Jimmy McIlroy Stand

James Hargreaves Stand

New executive boxes being constructed into the corners of Turf Moor

Ladbrokes Stand

Cardiff City fans taking over the cricket club pavilion bar situated behind their stand before the match

Ladbrokes Stand

Bob Lord Stand

Jimmy McIlroy Stand

Ladbrokes Stand

Bob Lord Stand

Jimmy McIlroy Stand

Ladbrokes Stand

Bob Lord Stand

Jimmy McIlroy Stand

The surrounding hills overlooking Turf Moor

Sunday, 22 August 2010

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 6/10
Ease of getting there : 7/10
Atmosphere : 8/10
Programme : 8/10
View of Action : 8/10
Quality of the game : 7/10
The "football" feeling : 8/10
Chances of coming here for a random game : 2/10
Legroom : 5/10
Surrounding area : 7/10

Overall : 66/100

Programme

Away travel humour!

Adrian, Guess what he's doing!

David Fishwick stand (Away)

Burnley Cricket Club

Bob Lord stand

Jimmy McIlroy Stand

James Hargreaves stand

David Fishwick stand

Bob Lord stand

Jimmy McIlroy Stand

James Hargreaves stand

Jimmy McIlroy Stand

Bob Lord stand

David Fishwick stand

Burnley 2-0 Cardiff City

The main purpose of our trip to Turf Moor wasn’t to see Premier League football, instead it was to see the Scottish Cup Semi Final between Aberdeen and Celtic the following day at Hampden Park. We mulled over our choices of games to go to on the way to Glasgow and found we were rather limited. A toss-up between Bury v Colchester United or Burnley v Cardiff saw us take in a trip to Turf Moor, nine years since our last visit against Leicester City in the Championship.

With our tickets booked, the plan was to visit a few non-league grounds on the way to Turf Moor, after the match travel up to a Premier Inn in Carlisle for our overnight stop before continuing our journey across the border to Glasgow the following morning.

We left my (Ross) house at 8am on Saturday morning making our way up the M1 Northbound via Chesterfield and parts of the Peak District. Our first stop of the day was Glossop North End’s Surrey Street ground which we had near enough been driven past many times yet never stopped for a visit. Steeped in history, Glossop is one of the smallest towns in England to have had a Football League club and it still is the smallest town whose team has played in the English top flight. During 1955, the club moved from its original home, North Road, to the club's current ground, Surrey Street.

We continued to head westwards towards Manchester, a short trip round the M60 circular found us in Moston where our second stop, FC United of Manchester’s Broadbent Park is located. Upon our arrival, we noticed the offices were open so we asked to see if we could take some photos inside. With permission granted we were given a tour of the stadium, shown the fans community bar under the stand and the hospitality suite and boardroom. Broadbent Park is well equipped for Football League with its outstanding facilities, however, having spoken to a member of the stadium staff and supporter of FCUOM, they don’t appear to have aspirations to progress with the determination to avoid kick off time changes due to TV and high agent’s fees. We were also told most football clubs increase the attendance figure due to tax reasons which explains why the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal have plenty of empty seats yet high attendance figures.

We began to venture north passing Bury before reaching our third stop, Ramsbottom United. Ramsbottom play at Harry Williams Riverside Stadium which is situated next door to Ramsbottom Cricket Club awkwardly positioned between the East Lancashire Railway Line, River Irwell and main road through the town. Upon our arrival we found the ground was completely locked up, however, using our initiative we managed to get photos over the wall from the open cricket ground. Ramsbottom United were formerly managed by duo Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson who went on to manager Salford City and Chester. The ground was given the name of their long-serving chairman form the 2010–11 season. The Boxing Day floods of 2015 caused significant damage to the whole stadium including the sponsors' lounge.

Our final stop before we made our way to Turf Moor was Clitheroe which is situated in the hill north of Burnley. When we got there, we found the narrow entrance to the ground was behind a row of terraced houses. We got there just in time before a couple of club volunteers with the team’s kit were about to leave for Atherton Colleries (they consequently lost 4-0 away). However, there was time for a few quick photos and we were kindly given a couple of programmes from their last match against Prescot Cables.

With time pressing on, we made our way back down the hills towards Burnley. As we entered the north side of Burnley, we decided to park on Devonshire Road ready for an easy getaway towards Colne after the match. We walked towards the town centre and visited a nearby Sainsbury’s to get some lunch.

After our lunch, we headed to Turf Moor walking past the newly famous pub The Royal Dyche pub named after their manager Sean Dyche after taking them into Europe last season. As we approached the ground, we noticed a large number of coaches from South Wales were parked up with most the Cardiff fans drinking at the cricket club behind the away stand.

The Ladbroke Stand which was re-built in 1969 at a cost of £180,000. The new stand which still stand today, was built to house the changing rooms for both home and away teams, bath area and referee changing rooms. It was at it's time one of the most advanced stands in the world, and an oil based central heating system had been installed to keep supporters warm during games, it was devised that hot air would be circulated around the stand and into pipes which would lead directly to the area around the feet of supporters. This idea dropped within two years when it proved too costly. The stand which gave Turf Moor a unique look as players entered the field of play from behind the goals, instead of at the half way line was opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire. Chairman Bob Lord then devised the total re-development of Turf Moor and its surrounding area, he stated that he wanted to buy the Cricket Ground, and establish a stadium village, which would contain a hotel and the biggest night club in Lancashire. By 1970 he had managed to buy a small strip of land that ran along the length of Brunshaw Road, where a number of retail outlets were to be housed, and a 360 ft area behind the Cricket Field Stand to re-situate the flood lights, but his plans at buying out the Cricket Club fell on deaf ears and his plans never materialised, the strip of land which ran the length of Brunshaw Road was made into a car park.Bob Lord wasn't satisfied there, and in 1974 he paid for the relaying of the Turf Moor pitch, which incorporated new drainagetechnology, the pitch was raised and the slope that been an ever present since the club had arrived at Turf Moor was removed. He then replaced the Brunshaw Road stand, with a new all seater stand named after himself, which was opened in 1974 by the then Prime Minister Edward Heath. The stand would hold 2,800 supporters and cost £480,000 and contained the board room and a number of luxurious seats for Burnley's and visiting Clubs directors.After the Taylor Report had stated all grounds must become all seater stadiums, the Longside and Bee Hole stands' days were numbered, and in 1994 the club announced the redevelopment of the two standing areas.In September 1995, the Longside watched it's final game, and it was demolished and a new stand, the James Hargreaves Stand (it was originally named the North Stand), built in it's stead. By April 1996, the stand was ready and then work began on the Bee Hole End. The new "twin" two tier stands cost £5.3 million, and the whole ground was re opened, with it's newest stand named the Jimmy McIlroy stand, in September 1996.

A Premier League game shrouded in controversy as it seems does every game Warnock’s Cardiff are involved with.

Burnley actually won the game, but we had a player booked for kissing another, Cardiff penalty appeals it seemed every few minutes one actually given and then over turned!

Burnley were the better side and deserved their win but fair play to the strugglers from South Wales who certainly but up a good challenge in the 2nd half.

In the first half the home side dominated and what was surprising was they only had one goal to show for it. Chris Wood heading home McNeil’s Corner.

Burnley though could and should have put the game beyond Cardiff by then, Wood headed against the post and twice Ashley Westwood burst from midfield and was twice denied a goal by City keeper Neil Etheridge.

Just before the break the first of several incidents, Burnley striker Ashley Barnes booked for kissing Joe Bennett of Cardiff on the nose after he had been fouled by the left back. A silly reaction which saw several players pushing and shoving.

In the second half, a great response from Cardiff as they really did give it a go, they realistically had to win to save themselves from what seems certain relegation.

And so to the penalty appeals, two in a minute against Burnley’s Ben Mee, the second one given by ref Mike Dean. However, the decision came from the linesman and following a lengthy conversation between both officials, Dean decided to overturn his original decision.

This wound up Cardiff, another appeal went unanswered as Gunnarsson was clumsily challenged by Taylor in the box. We’ve seen them given.

Cardiff did create chances, Arter fired a shot which glanced the top of the bar, Hoillet fired over when well placed, following good work by Zohore but despite the effort they failed to beat Heaton and the Burnley back four were excellent.

The home side wrapped up the game in the first minute of stoppage time.

Dwight McNeil who created the first goal was involved in the second. An excellent run down the left, his low centre took a deflection off hapless defender & keeper and Wood had the simple task of tapping home his second of the game to wrap it up.

Burnley had a bit better quality and at Turf Moor they are always a handful. Cardiff City have not had the luck at times it’s fair to say but their inability to take the half chance when presented will probably see them return to the Championship after just the one season.

After the match, as usual, we made a prompt get away back to our car. Because the clocks recently changed for summertime, we thought we would get in at least one (maybe two) non-league grounds on the way to Carlisle. Our fifth non-league ground visit of the day was Colne who play at Holt House. The former Colne Dynamoes famously became a full-time club whilst still in non-league before going bust. Today’s Colne FC was established in January 1996, six years after Colne Dynamoes folded after being refused promotion to the Football Conference. We were fortunate as they had just played a home match against Droylsden which meant the ground was still open.

With time still on our side and with the plan of eating in Kendal on the way to Carlisle, we attempted to squeeze a sixth non-league ground in before getting dinner. We reached Kendal Town’s Parkside Road at 7pm and by chance it was still rather light which meant we could take some photos. With the ground being locked up, we managed to find a way of getting in to take a few photos (obviously without causing any damage!).

After we got our photos, we then went around the corner to Kendal’s best Indian restaurant according to TripAdvisor…. India Restaurant.

After we were suitably fed and watered, we continued the last leg of our journey to Carlisle which saw us arrive at the Premier Inn off junction 44 on the M6 just after 9pm (just in time to see most of EFL on Quest!).

Continue to see Aberdeen v Celtic at Hampden Park...

Burnley 3-0 Leicester City

Turf Moor is home of Burnley. Adrian and I set off from Coalville on the LCFC supporters bus at 10:30am and reached the outskirts of Burnley at just after 1pm. We were forced to wait for the other buses from Leicester before we were escorted by police into the town. We finally got to Turf Moor at 2pm and walked around the ground. We first took a picture of the Burnley Cricket Club ground before taking some external pictures of Turf Moor. On this occasion, we sat amongst the home supporters due to the wrong pricing structure for myself (Ross).

Clarets Museum.co.uk explains the history behind Turf Moor.

‘The Cricket Field Stand which was re-built in 1969 at a cost of £180,000. The new stand which still stand today, was built to house the changing rooms for both home and away teams, bath area and referee changing rooms. It was at it's time one of he most advanced stands in the world, and an oil based central heating system had been installed to keep supporters warm during games, it was devised that hot air would be circulated around the stand and into pipes which would lead directly to the area around the feet of supporters. This idea dropped with two years when it proved to costly. The stand which gave Turf Moor a unique look as players entered the field of play from behind the goals, instead of at the half way line was opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire.Chairman Bob Lord then devised the total re-development of Turf Moor and it's surrounding area, he stated that he wanted to buy the Cricket Ground, and establish a stadium village, which would contain a hotel and the biggest night club in Lancashire. By 1970 he had managed to buy a small strip of land that ran along the length of Brunshaw Road, where a number of retail outlets were to be housed, and a 360 ft area behind the Cricket Field Stand to re-situate the flood lights, but his plans at buying out the Cricket Club fell on deaf ears and his plans never materialised, the strip of land which ran the length of Brunshaw Road was made into a car park.Bob Lord wasn't satisfied there, and in 1974 he paid for the relaying of the Turf Moor pitch, which incorporated new drainagetechnology, the pitch was raised and the slope that been an ever present since the club had arrived at Turf Moor was removed. He then replaced the Brunshaw Road stand, with a new all seater stand named after himself, which was opened in 1974 by the then Prime Minister Edward Heath. The stand would hold 2,800 supporters and cost £480,000 and contained the board room and a number of luxurious seats for Burnley's and visiting Clubs directors.After the Taylor Report had stated all grounds must become all seater stadiums, the Longside and Bee Hole stands' days were numbered, and in 1994 the club announced the redevelopment of the two standing areas.In September 1995, the Longside watched it's final game, and it was demolished and a new stand, the James Hargreaves Stand (it was originally named the North Stand), built in it's stead. By April 1996, the stand was ready and then work began on the Bee Hole End. The new "twin" two tier stands cost £5.3 million, and the whole ground was re opened, with it's newest stand named the Jimmy McIlroy stand, in September 1996.’

The game saw City thumped 3-0 by a strong Burnley side, goals by Chris Iwelumo, a Graham Alexander penalty and an unlucky deflection off City player, Joao Moreno which was claimed by a well played Ross Wallace.

Following the game, the LCFC buses were given a guided tour of Burnley by the Lancashire Police which included some generous gestures by the Burnley supporters outside pubs and houses!

We finally reached Coalville at 8pm