I'll rain on their parade! (Valley Parade (Bradford City FC))

Member Name: LisaW82

Product:	Valley Parade (Bradford City FC)
Date:	02/06/09 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 2 good stands

Disadvantages: Everything else

Valley Parade is one of those grounds that has been developed slowly over the years, culminating in the impressive main stand and behind the goal where the home fans sit being bit during their 2 year stay in the Premier League. This was a necessity at the time, but by the time I went to the ground, they had dropped down to the third tier of English football and were playing my beloved Doncaster Rovers in a League game, rather than Blackburn Rovers. These almost empty stands, though really impressive, were just a lasting memory of the good old days of not so long ago when they were full of people.

The stadium is not all new though and the away end, where I was sat, was in particularly bad condition and I certainly don't expect a restricted view, by pylons, in this day and age and certainly not for my £20+ that it cost to get a ticket. The away stand is narrow, the leg room is minimal and the concourse is non-existent. Basically, the concourse is a walkway behind the stand where you can by food and drink from one tiny stall. The toilet facilities were particularly bad for us ladies and I remember thinking that the queue for food and the toilets were horrendous and we didn't even fill the away end. Imagine it if we had. I hate to think what the chaos was like when the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool visited this stand a couple of years ago.

The problems are not just limited to the away end for me either as trying to find the ground is not made easy either by the poor road set up around the ground and the severe lack of any clear road signs. Also, having eventually found the ground, it became quite clear that if you were to find a parking space, you were going to have quite a walk on your hands and that is how it proved. Again, for a former Premier League ground this is not good enough.

My overall experience of my 2 or 3 visits to Valley Parade can be summed up in one word really... disappointing!

Summary: Not a ground to visit in a hurry