A stadium for the Premier League? (Turf Moor (Burnley FC))

Member Name: Beanie8844

Product:	Turf Moor (Burnley FC)
Date:	15/06/09 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: modernised during the 90's

Disadvantages: needs more capacity and modernisation

Congratulations to Owen Coyle and Burnley on their promotion to the Premier League following their win over Sheffield United in The Championship Playoff Final at Wembley. Burnley are a quiet and in many ways underrated side, but they have some very good players and a strong work ethic and very much deserved to be promoted. I think they will struggle next season, as it will be hard for them to attract the calibre of players needed to keep them in the top flight, but hey they proved a lot of people wrong this season, so who says they can't do it again next?

Burnley have played their home matches at 'Turfmoor' since 1883, making it one of the oldest grounds in the football league, an achievement of which they should be proud I think. Modern stadiums seem to be springing up all over the place at the moment and there is something charming about an older stadium with a bit of character. Saying that, the ground was partly modernised during the 1990's with the creation of two new stands, The James Hargreaves Stand (which runs the length of the pitch) and The Jimmy McIlroy Stand (behind the goal). These two stands are fairly large and give the stadium a rather uneven feel as they somewhat dwarf the two remaining old stands. The two other stands are The Bob Lord Stand (a single tired stand which runs the length of the playing surface) and The Bob Lord Stand (a 4000 seated stand which houses the away supporters on match days). The seating in all of the stands is either sky blue or claret, the colours of the team.

The club does have £20,000,000 plans for modernisation. These include creating new stands to replace the two older ones and the addition of hospitality boxes and new changing rooms in between the two existing newer stands. However, I think these plans were based on the club in the championship and I think they may have to change somewhat now they are in the Premier League. If the club remains in the Premiership and can establish themselves as a top flight team, then they will surely have to increases the stadium capacity to somewhere in the region of 30,000; but we'll see.

Well, good luck to Burnley for next season. Thanks for reading my review, feel free to comment.

Summary: an old ground with lots of character