Away Days - Tranmere Rovers
First Impressions -- Around the ground -- Facilities -- The Stand -- Overall -- Pictures
Fixture: Tranmere
Rovers V Preston North End
Competition: Pre-season Friendly
Ground: Prenton Park
Date: Saturday 18th July 2009
Kick off: 3.00pm
Final Result: 1-2 Parkin (2)
This game was an ideal opportunity to get another ground under my belt as well as for a cheap price (£8).
The coach driver seemed a little lost trying to get to the ground and had to ask a couple of people for directions. I would've thought he had a sat nav but I guess not! Still, there did seem to be a lack of sign posts to the ground.
Upon arriving at the ground the first sight was of the Borough Road Stand and the Cowshed Stand and my first impressions were that they looked rather bland with no stand out features as such.
It was quite convenient that the coach had to park in the car/coach park at the other side of the ground, which meant we HAD to walk round to get to the stand in which we were given. For this game we were given the Borough Road Stand (away fans are usually situated in the Cowshed Stand.)
I took the route of walking past the main stand, Cowshed Stand and onto the Borough Road Stand. I could've taken the shorter walk round past the Kop, but I wanted a walk round like I always do!
Anyway, the main stand looked a decent sized stand although it was showing its age a little. It wasn't particularly impressive or anything special, but with a bit of TLC it could be brought up to scratch and look quite modern and smart. Then it was on past the Cowshed Stand. This is a modern stand and was built in the 90's. Despite being a bit bland, it looked tidy and well looked after. Then it was onto the Borough Road Stand. This was the smallest of the stands (in terms of height) and like the Cowshed, although modern and tidy, looked bland.
Luckily things were much better-looking inside, as is the case with many grounds. Each stand has its own individuality about it. The Kop and Main Stand (please note this isn't its actual name - it actually has a few!) were quite imposing - especially the Kop, whilst the Borough Road Stand and Cowshed were quite small in comparison.
Overall, it looked a smart, tidy ground. I actually liked the mixture of blue & yellow seats in the Main Stand too!
With the stand being quite small and having close proximity with the road behind it, the concourse was quite narrow to say the least. With it being a friendly though, this didn't pose a problem due to the small crowd.
I thought the facilities were quite baffling overall. The toilets were situated at each end of the stand whilst the catering bar was in the middle, although I don't know if there was another catering bar further down.
Anyway, I decided to get a burger before taking a seat and it was actually quite good. I was tempted to get another, but in the interests of my health I decided not to!
As a whole, the stand wasn't anything particularly special. It was modern and tidy, as i've said previously, but it looked bland from the outside and the concourse was quite narrow to say the least!
The view from the stand though was excellent and the legroom, although not brilliant, was ok.
A funny moment came before kick off when a sprinkler just happened to be pointing the wrong way (towards the stand) and suddenly turned on and soaked some of our fans and a couple of stewards - it was hilarious to say the least!
Overall though I thought it was a decent stand, just not brilliant.
It was only a friendly so there was nothing to get excited about result and performance wise. Nonetheless though, I enjoyed the day out and was happy to tick off another ground.
Would I make a revisit? Well actually, yes!
Ratings
Appearance: 7/10
Facilities: 7/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Fans: 8/10
Stand: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
