| Around
the ground
As usual, I wanted a walk
around the ground. We opted to head through the gates and
round the East Stand were I took a few pics. This looked
quite impressive and certainly different, which always makes
a change.
We then walked over to the
equally impressive Jeff Astle gates. I thought these are
a fitting tribute to, not just an Albion, but a footballing
legend.
After taking a couple of
pics of the gates we decided against walking the whole way
round and headed to the club shop. Bizarrely we had to queue
to get in! Needless to say my Dad wasn't impressed when
they didn't have any fridge magnets!
We decided to head back
to the Smethwick End so we could all get a pint on the concourse.
Before entering though we were subjected to a search, just
like what happened at Birmingham. I thought "Christ,
is mass paranoia sweeping the West Midlands?!". Again,
I thought it was completely over the top. What peed me off
even more was a jobsworth steward asking me to put my camera
away. I told him that I only wanted pics of the stands and
he told me to use it 'discreetly'. Jesus wept!
Anyway when we finally got
in, the concourse was a bit cramped and the queues for the
bar were too long, so we decided to hold back on the beer
and get them at half time instead.
We headed straight for our
seats and of course I could make more judgment on the ground.
It was even more impressive inside then it was outside.
Again, I thought the East Stand was very impressive and
there was a good mixture of 'different' stands (if that
makes any sense!). The ground seemed compact and we were
close to the action, which is always a plus point for me.
In fact it felt quite 'homely' and much better than some
of the boring bowls i've visited recently.
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