What I love about every Premier League ground (and what I don't)

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Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Getty Images Share articleAndy Mitten recently re-completed ‘the 92’ — that is seeing a game at all the current football grounds in England’s top four tiers. Before the final weekend of the season, Andy, who has visited more than 600 stadiums at all levels, tells us his best and worst aspects of each of the Premier League venues. Andy, if you didn’t know, is a Manchester United supporter. Like: I miss historic Highbury, with its surprisingly cheap ticket prices for away fans, but with 38,000 seats it was far too small for Arsenal and that’s why they moved nearby in 2006. A rare example of a British stadium known purely by the name of its sponsor, it’s to Arsenal’s credit that they found the space to build so close to Highbury in dense, well connected, north London. It’s big, with spacious leg room, very 2000s in design and very similar to Benfica’s Stadium of Light. Smart from the outside at night, the guns from the Gunners impress, the concrete ARSENAL letters outside Drayton Park, good pubs outside, good beer inside. Dislike: The atmosphere with that North London Forever dirge. It’s got louder in the title run-in but it’s not all that great for such a storied, historic, club. I was there when FC Koln brought thousands in 2017 and shook the place up creating the type of noise I’ve never heard from Arsenal at home. A mate sat in the Arsenal end in January and said fans around him were moaning incessantly and that it was typical Arsenal… who were clear at the top of the league at the time. After a 2022 Arsenal v Manchester United (another United defeat) game I went to see nearby Haringey Borough and it was bouncing. You can do it, north London. Like: That it’s associated with so many great Manchester United moments in league and cups, often semi-finals. That it’s relatively close to Manchester and distinct, a big hulking ground with four separate stands. The old main stand on Witton Lane was a beauty and destroying it in the 2000s was an act of architectural vandalism. The Holte End was a vast terrace that demanded respect, though it would look quaint now given how much bigger stands have got. Trips there were missed when Villa went down, but they’re back and the decent sized away ‘end’ actually offers impressive views over two tiers from the side. Dislike: Cramped concourse in the away end. The transport links should be a strength given Villa Park’s central location in the middle of England by the busiest motorway intersection in the country — Spaghetti Junction. But they’re not. It’s awkward to reach from the centre of Birmingham, parking is limited, the policing used to be very aggressive, but it has calmed. The stands are big but unattractive from the outside, bar the brickwork around the Holte End. And the capacity has not been expanded with the times, though Villa do have active plans to push it above 50,000. Like: I once found myself getting a lift from Bolton Wanderers’ training ground to the new Reebok Stadium with then manager Sam Allardyce. As we passed it on the M61, he shook his head and said: “We built a monument when we needed a stadium.” We agreed to disagree. If Bolton boast a monument, then Bournemouth have a box. A redeeming feature, apart from the leafy setting, is that the staff there have always been very friendly. That and it’s so small you can walk around it in minutes; there’s room in the concourses and the views are faultless. Dislike: It’s tiny, easily the smallest ground in the league and seats under 11,000, though they’ll increase to 18,000. That means the smallest away allocation and that’s not good. The atmosphere feels very nicey, nicey too. Like: I got thrown out of here by nighttime security after an uninvited inspection as it neared completion in December 2018. My wife doesn’t know this happened. But I was impressed then as I am now. Brentford’s new home has been effectively squeezed between west London’s rail tracks and while it only holds 18,000, the stands are different, there’s character to the place, with funky floodlights and angled roofs. Dislike: It doesn’t have four pubs on each corner as their old Griffin Park home did. It’s hard to dislike Brentford. But I loathed absolutely everything about the place when I last visited in September 2024, following an atrocious Manchester United performance. The away allocation (typically 10 per cent of capacity) is small too. Like: Another building site which I was politely asked to leave after checking it out in 2012 just before it opened (I was on a stag do down there and also sneaked off to watch a game at their temporary Withdean home). It’s smart and fits into the surrounding Sussex hills as much as a 32,000 stadium can. It was bold for Brighton to go so big after their years at the Withdean and the Goldstone Ground, but it paid off. Dislike: Lack of pubs, lack of edge in the atmosphere, lack of proximity to… Brighton. It can get congested going into the nearby Falmer station, too. Like: The northern setting, steep stands, cricket field (and bar) and a big away end behind the goal. Though it’s not quite neighbouring Blackburn — an away day fave with its 8,000 ticket allocation. The probability of a win is higher as Burnley are usually closer to the bottom of the league. What else? The friendly police. Benny-and-hot being served, a traditional Burnley drink of French liqueur Benedictine with hot water that was popularised by the east Lancashire soldiers returning from World War One. Dislike: Bit cramped beneath the away end and the town isn’t always the most hospitable for away fans. Burnley in mid-winter is comparable with Camp IV on Everest’s South Col. Like: Its intimacy, with the stands’ proximity to the pitch. And I used to think the opposite when up to 9,000 away fans could walk up to Stamford Bridge without a ticket and pay to enter. Chelsea fans would walk past with gentle banter when I was a kid selling United We Stand on Fulham Broadway, the one road entrance and exit to Stamford Bridge, though that became nastier as I aged. The away end affords excellent views. The ‘Chelsea Football Club’ signs inside and outside look smart, though one is now accompanied by an ad for an AI company. Dislike: It looks dated from the outside, despite three of the stands being relatively new. The Shed End capacity is way too small and shouldn’t be taken up by a hotel. And the overall size — it’s too small. I never thought I’d say that when I used to consider the triple-tiered East Stand, one of the most expensive in England, to be massive. Like: It’s visceral, real, the home fans are well organised, make the noise, bring the flags and take the flares to Fiorentina away when most English fans would spend the day on the beer and roll up to the stadium late. Selhurst is Palace, proudly south London and doesn’t care that it’s the runt against flashier London stadiums and postcodes. Dislike: Tricky to get to, especially from the north and especially by road. Astronauts flew around the moon in less time than it takes to get from England’s north west to Selhurst and back. And a supermarket should not be allowed to infringe on a football ground. Talking of sell-by dates, the main stand is well past its best and is the worst in the league — and is rightfully being replaced. The post-goal music irritates. The away end is a bit of a dump; the seating rake is too shallow. And yet all that can make it endearing. It’s a football ground, not the opera. Like: My grandmother used to say she liked Liverpool because of its overhead railway. I wondered if she was mixing it up with Chicago, but given she seldom left Manchester I doubt it. But she was right, and you can see little bits of evidence by Everton’s new home, which is surrounded by the fascinating dockland industry of Liverpool’s past. The location is stunning on the banks of the Mersey (it also means that the old quiz question: ‘Which is the closest professional football ground to the Mersey? Answer: Stockport County’, is now redundant). It’s big, with room to go bigger and every seat offers a top view from steep stands. Away fans are by the corner. It’s close to perfect. A bit too perfect. Are football grounds supposed to be like this? Dislike: It’s not Goodison, which was one of the best, though it was also long past its sell-by date. Everton have honoured their former heroes and fans in brickwork which I admired, but need more to make it feel ‘Everton’. The transport infrastructure could be better, too, with one main road leading in and out. Like: The legroom is tight but the Johnny Haynes Stand is stunning. To think that my uncle played on the wing there in front of it 70 years ago and it’s virtually unchanged. Lovely. Craven Cottage — and there is a cottage — is a favourite, though ticket prices were getting ridiculous for away fans before the £30 cap was introduced a decade ago and still holds. That’s a great fan-led success that stands to this day. The Thameside setting, the walk through the park to the ground are all part of the Fulham experience and they’ve finally finished that very smart new stand. Dislike: Ticket prices for home fans are as bad as that bizarre statue of Michael Jackson. That the closest car park is in Fulwell, Sunderland, not Fulham. Maybe that’s a positive. Like: I loved and hated Elland Road on my first visits. It was scary and we were kept in for an hour after one game as home fans tried to attack the opposition. But it’s unmistakably Leeds, a proud, big, one-club city which has eschewed the Premier League glow-up, since their team were not good enough to play in it. It’s hostile, loud, visceral and feels very working-class. It’s like they’ve followed the Yorkshire trope that ‘change is not good’. There are wooden seats, plus a cage that away fans must walk through that looks like you’re passing over the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s not supposed to be welcoming. It prepares you for two old foes going into battle. You feel alive when you visit amid the chip shops, pubs and cries of the fanzine sellers. Dislike: Architecturally, it’s a mess and has been for decades. The old Lowfields Road stand with grass banking looked like a 1920s throwback, before it was replaced in 1992. I think something happened in Leeds that year. Elland Road will be significantly expanded but for now it’s scruffy, with four ageing stands uneasily juxtaposed and a capacity that has gone down and not up. There are stanchions blocking the view. And yet that’s part of the charm — unless you are behind one. Like: The way Liverpool have redeveloped and expanded Anfield, bit by bit, pushing the capacity from 44,000 to 61,000. It was needed. Liverpool stalled in the 1990s as their main rivals United aggressively expanded Old Trafford, but they’ve made a smart job of it since with four distinct stands, it doesn’t look like any other stadium. The atmosphere before a big game and You’ll Never Walk Alone impresses, though it always sounds better — to me — with a ‘MANCHESTER!’ retort. Also, the Hillsborough memorial gets the space it deserves, the gates (and gable end murals on nearby housing) for former heroes, the proximity to Stanley Park. Dislike: A new Anfield Road stand means the worst view in football from the last two rows of the away end has gone. It’s much more spacious on the away concourse beneath the stand too, so I’m left not liking the lack of public transport options and that’s about it. Oh, and the fact that Liverpool play in such an impressive home. Like: One of our United We Stand writers derided the Etihad as an identikit flatpack bowl like Middlesbrough or Southampton, Leicester City or Derby County. It’s not. Thought went into it (for the taxpayer-funded 2002 Commonwealth Games) and it’s at the centre of an urban regeneration in what was one of the most deprived areas of east Manchester. I know United fans from the area who despise all of this, but it’s a top-quality stadium with some architectural merit. The memorial garden for fans who’ve died works well, while the stadium (for it is rather than a ‘ground’) is close enough to Manchester city centre to drink there. Dislike: Losing there. The three-tiered away end breaks the away section into… three sections. Tunnel clubs and creeping commercialisation which irks City’s legacy fans. That B of the Bang Statue outside was a mistake, too. Like: The size; over 74,000 seats (reduced from 76,500 a few years ago to expand executive and disabled areas) is a giant cavity of redness and easily Britain’s biggest club football ground. It’s full for every game, too. The Munich clock and tunnel, the statues of legends, the original players’ tunnel dating back to 1910 when it opened. The proximity of away fans, the bustling forecourt. Dislike: It’s cramped, leg room is minimal and it’s no architectural beauty from the outside. It’s positively scruffy when viewed from the Manchester-Liverpool rail line. The roof swoops too low on three sides while underinvestment saw it tire from the 2010s. But Old Trafford remains a superb football ground. Like: It sits like a cathedral atop the fine city of Newcastle upon Tyne, visible in snatched glances around town and from across the river in Gateshead. Three sides of the ground impress, the two biggest especially. The proximity of so many good pubs close to the stadium, good public transport, a place behind the Gallowgate to watch away games. Dislike: The lack of oxygen dispensed to away fans in the highest away section in the league. The view from up there is fine over the city, but like watching ants on the pitch below. The climb to the top should come with sherpas to carry your phone. It used to be dangerous to go to Newcastle as an away fan, but I’m showing my age with memories deeply etched of getting off one coach from Manchester to be met with black and white shirted wobblers demanding ‘Where’s yer feeters?’ (translated as where are the Man Utd supporters willing to fight them?) Like: The view across the river, especially under floodlights — and the City Ground has two old stand-alone pylons beaming their brightness on the pitch below — as you walk over Trent Bridge. Four different stands and nothing new since the Trent End that was readied for Euro 96, although there are plans for a significant expansion. Dislike: The main stand is fit for a third-tier team, in 1988. It will be replaced. Like: Smart location by the River Wear and close to the city centre. Big capacity. It’s a bigger version of the identikit new bowls of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Passion from the fans. It’s an impressively big 48,000-seater for a relatively small city. It’s a football hotbed where the fanzine A Love Supreme is sold around the stadium by supporters. Dislike: Those same fans doing the Poznan in 2012 to celebrate Manchester City winning the league in front of visiting Manchester United fans. Like: Aesthetically, it’s probably the best stadium in Britain, with a vast, steep, single-tiered end; the golden cockerel atop the South Stand. Admire how it overlaps the original stadium on the same site. How it’s huge and yet you can walk around it — and past local shops — because it doesn’t have a vast perimeter. It looks and feels high-end, the opposite of those identikit bowls thrown up in Leicester, Derby, Southampton et al. Dislike: The large UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE WINNERS 2025 sign outside. An awkward reminder for Man United fans. And it’s hard to keep up with who Spurs fans want out because the person changes on every visit, though they do impress with their proper slow version of When The Spurs Go Marching In (Manchester United fans are incapable of singing most songs at the correct speed). Like: The capacity. I know big shouldn’t mean better, but 66,000 seats (not all are used) impresses me as it means West Ham now enjoy some of the highest attendances in the world. The name: The London Stadium. One to annoy fans of other London clubs. Dislike: A lot. It’s awkward getting in and out of the stadium. The distance from the pitch, which isn’t surprising given it was built for athletics. The vast voids between the upper and lower tiers behind the goals create a feeling of detachment. The opposite of Upton Park, then, which was tight and on top of the pitch. Also, the lack of character around the venue. A mate who tried to sell fanzines was stopped by ‘stadium footprint enforcement’. Come on. Like: The name. What is a Molineux? I don’t want to know. (It is named after Benjamin, a merchant who bought the original land in 1744.) The proximity to the city centre, stands named after heroes, the feeling of the club being a big deal in a city centre that does need that gravitas. The newest stand, the Stan Cullis Stand behind the goal, is the biggest and best. Friendly and down-to-earth stewards who don’t stand out as hired hands for the game. Dislike: A frustrating away section. Yes, you’re right by the pitch and the section runs the length of it, but it’s low and thin and that makes the atmosphere harder to spark. The pyros before the game. But it’s a football ground. Where the magic happens, where communities come together in a historic venue to sing and celebrate and commiserate. That makes us pre-disposed to love them and excuse their foibles. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms