Away Days - Hull City
First Impressions -- Around the ground -- Facilities -- The Stand -- Overall -- Pictures
Fixture: Hull City V Preston North End
Competition: Coca Cola Championship
Ground: KC Stadium
Date: Saturday 12th February 2011
Kick off: 3.00pm
Final Result: 1-0
This was one of the few grounds left in the championship I had left to do, and after North End's upcoming relegation, this seemed to be the last chance to tick this ground off with North End, so I jumped at it. It was also the annual 'Gentry Day' which I participated in again with my bowler hat!
As per usual the first glimpses I got of the ground were whilst on the coach. The ground seemed to be in a decent location with a park nearby, and thankfully the ground wasn't in an out-of-town location or stuck in a retail park.
The coach eventually parked up just outside the away end and from here, I wasn't quite impressed. It looked quite bland with the usual steel sheeting you see at most grounds nowadays. Also, I felt with steel fencing either side of us, it felt a little 'caged' in. Thankfully though the gates were open so we had a chance to walk round the ground and take in the surroundings.
Since we arrived in plenty of time, we had chance to walk ground and kill some time. Our first aim was to find the club shop, which we eventually did after walking all the way round first!
We first passed the main stand. I wasn't particular impressed with it at all. Usually main stands are imposing but this stand looked a tad boring and seemed to lack something. After taking a couple of pictures we decided to continue walking round. The other two stands weren't all that different (on the outside) to the away end apart from the club shop and a supporters bar.
Eventually, after visiting the club shop we made our way into the ground. We hung around in the concourse for a bit watching the last half hour of the Manchester derby and then made our way to or seats.
After discovering all the front section seats were wet through, we managed to find some decent seats towards the top of the stand. From here I could judge the ground better than from the outside and I certainly was more impressed. The main stand certainly looked imposing but without dominating the ground - perhaps helped by the roof. The opposite end was just a carbon copy of the away end whilst the stand to our left was home to the more vociferous of the Hull City support, which made for some good banter.
The facilities seemed to be pretty decent and of a good standard. I didn't make use of the catering bar myself but my brother did at half time, only to be told they had run out of hot food, How pathetic!
Anyway, at least the toilets were of a decent standard and I wasn't wading through a puddle of urine.
The stand, although bland in appearance from the outside, was pretty decent overall. The facilities, apart from running out of hot food, didn't seem bad and the concourse was quite spacious so for once, there was no need to squeeze through on the way to the seats.
The view from the stand was pretty good, but that's something expected from a new stadium and the acoustics were pretty good too. This helped the North End faithful who I thought were in good voice. The legroom was good too.
Well it was just another defeat towards our relegation! Despite the pathetic performance shown by North End, I was glad to finally tick another ground off towards the 92.
The ground itself was overall pretty good - smart, tidy and in general seemed a good football ground (even though it hosts rugby too). The only things I were really disappointed about were the blandness of the ground from the outside and the rather "un-imposing" main stand.
Ratings
Appearance: 7/10
Facilities: 8/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Fans: 8/10
Away Stand: 8/10
Overall: 7/10