By Kate Jackson
January 4 2010

Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium may not be one of the biggest ground for a side that has spent most of their recent past in the Premier League, but I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of my visit there when City made a journey in the FA Cup. Other off-the-pitch issues with other fans have tarnished most other fan's views of the ground, but I generally had an excellent time at a top class ground.

City have somehow managed to reach the third round of the FA Cup and for the third cup game in a row, it was the first time the Imps had visited the stadium of their hosts. This time it was an away game at Bolton Wanderers that was coming up and excitement around the City was rife, with the initial ticket allocation being sold out a few days before the game took place, however, this is where the issues started.

Fans started arriving at the ground on the day, almost half without tickets after being told that you could pay on the day, however, issues with the M62 had meant the majority didn't get there until after 2:30pm, some started queuing for tickets at this point and weren't in the ground until nigh on 3:30, fortunately for myself, I had bought my ticket before hand and was able to go straight into the ground. However, there were issues with parking up as the official supporters coaches were directed around the ground twice before being able to park up. Getting out of the car park was also problematic after the game.

Regarding the infamous stewarding at Bolton, I personally had no issue as the only steward I spoke to seemed helpful. 

Having never been to the ground before, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, obviously I had seen the ground on Match of the Day and various ground guide websites, but pictures of the away end seemed scarce, but when I emerged into the stadium, I was quite impressed with what I saw. I'm not a fan of older grounds and feel that just because it's new, doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, and the Reebok is one of the tidier grounds I'd be to.

With Huddersfield's Galpharm being one of my favourite stadiums, Bolton was always going to figure out quite well with regards to it's design due to the fact it was built by the same people. In many ways it feels a bit like Huddersfield's ground on steroids, with each stand bigger than it's Yorkshire counterpart.

Away fans are housed in the South Stand. Only the lower tier was initially open upon my visit, but the upper opened soon afterwards. I found the view from this stand excellent and despite being near the back of the lower tier, I was still fairly close to the pitch. Leg space was excellent with a good foot or so between my knees and the seat in front.

The Nat Lofthouse Stand was to the right and much like the rest of the ground, was a two tiered effort, this time with the word REEBOK emblazoned across the top tier. The stand behind the other goal appeared identical to that of the away end, and the stand to the left was like it's opposite counterpart, only without the writing across it.

It's kind of hard to write about how a ground looks when each stand looks pretty much the same, but unlike other stadiums that are of a similar type, this isn't a soulless bowl and actually has a bit of a unique (well, other than Huddersfield) take on the enclosed ground concept.

I was quite disappointed with the atmosphere, maybe it was due to the home ends being relatively end, or whether it was a game that the home fans didn't really view as important, but the noise from Bolton fans was, to put it nicely, limited, with the majority of the crowd only singing once Bolton had taken the lead.

In terms of the programme, it was quite thin but again, I'm guessing Bolton's effort is considerably better for bigger games, the price of only £1 indicating this.

Overall, I actually liked Bolton and found it to be an excellent ground. I'm sure the overall experience for a League game is different as Bolton have a reputation for producing a decent atmosphere. However, I found around the ground to be fairly safe and had no issues whatsoever.

My one word of advice is to get in there early, as there were many people who didn't get in until well after kick off.

Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium

Discussion started by theimps.tk (IP Logged), 04/01/2010 14:15

theimps.tk
04/01/2010 14:15

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skeggyimp
04/01/2010 16:19

I'd agree with your views on the ground Nathan really good.
Surprised the programme was only a pound, surely it isn't always that cheap.

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