Aerial Views of former football grounds...

[LBNo11]

http://www.premierfootballbooks.co.uk/aerial_lost_stadiums.html

...times change I know, but it is still sad to see places I went to in my youth change so much, god(s) forbid that one day Craven Cottage is included in those pictures...

[LBNo11]

...and Google'walk' around the present areas of the former grounds:-

http://www.premierfootballbooks.co.uk/stadium_street_views_lost_grounds.html

[manxman]

wow, thanks for that! lovely to see some of the old grounds are still there and not being built upon. as you say LB it is sad to see old grounds being torn down for industrial esstates or shopping malls etc.

[finnster01]

Some of those images disturbs me more than others. The Highbury one in particular bothers me. To be fair Emirates is probably the nicest "new" stadium in the Prem, but Highbury was an old school institution. Hard to see it is a building site.

[Jimpav]

I find Reading the strangest.

I never went to the old ground but some good friends now live on the Tilehurst Road, behind that new estate.

I had parked my car there a few times but was clueless until they told me that it used to be Readings old ground.

Highbury has encoroprated the pitch (as gardens) and the old stands into the new devleopment. I read somewhere that they have a memorial garden within the gardens for families whose love ones decided to scatter their ashes on the old pitch.

[Burt]

Highbury has encoroprated the pitch (as gardens) and the old stands into the new devleopment.

A condition of the sale and redevelopment was that this had to happen.

[Jimpav]

Highbury has encoroprated the pitch (as gardens) and the old stands into the new devleopment.

A condition of the sale and redevelopment was that this had to happen.

I think the fascias were listed buildings. I can only imagine that if the cottage did ever get sold the developers would have to do the same. Hopefully it will never come to that though.

[The Doctor]

Some of those images disturbs me more than others. The Highbury one in particular bothers me. To be fair Emirates is probably the nicest "new" stadium in the Prem, but Highbury was an old school institution. Hard to see it is a building site.

I totally get this, Mr Finn.  I never went to most of those grounds as I started aways very late on, by which time many were gone.  For what it's worth, you don't notice the difference with Highbury at street level now the work has finished.  Unless of course you stand at Arsenal tube station - the absence of the North Bank looming over the houses is obvious.

The one that gets me is Plough Lane.  I grew up nearby, but never went there for football.  I remember we'd always drive past there on the way to/from Fulham when I was a kid.  So in that sense it was part of the "football landscape" of my formative years.  It was sad to see it during the late '90's/early 2000's (you could see right in at the overgrown pitch from the top deck of the bus), but at least the stands were still there.  Then planning permission was finally granted and the whole thing went.  The building work is long finished and it's a set of identikit modern flats.  All named for Wimbledon legends.  Including "Sanchez House" - I kid you not.  I think Dave Beasant has a mention as well.

In fairness, I think a few of those former grounds retain an acknowledgement of the past.  I know the road onto the little estate at Reading is still called "Elm Park" (there's a hell of a slope there - was the pitch sloped?).  I think the north east ones have road names and statues commemorating the former use of the site.  The Vetch is still there - they showed it at HT during the Cardiff v Swansea game last week.  Overgrown and derelict.  Never went there either, but there's something inherently haunting about a stadium gone to pot.

We're lucky to have the Cottage.  I hope we keep it forever

[LBNo11]

...thought I would resurrect this post in case it was missed, it could so easily have been Craven Cottage in the pictures - so many times...

[cmg]

The one that gets me is Plough Lane.  I grew up nearby, but never went there for football. 

Just as well. Even if you had gone there for football you'd have been plumb out of luck.

However, it was a 'real' ground. Even as a 100% Fulham supporter, I must confess to loving some of those lost grounds more than I should. Highbury was magical, Feethams was lovely, The Den was bloody scary and, of course, Maine Road provided us with that special moment.