The (Other) Alternative Southampton FC Page


Page maintained by Vrai Stacey. Last updated 23-Feb-1998 Main Page The Dell	The Dell The glorious home of the Saints since 1898. Once managed to hold over 30,000 people but with the demise of terraces and the introduction of saftey standards the capacity is now just over 15,000. This makes it the smallest ground in the Premiership (even smaller than soon-to-Second-Division Pompey's) which goes some way to explaining Saints less than fantastic financial situation. On the plus side the Dell has amazing atmosphere and if the spectators where any closer to the action they'd be on the pitch. `[An aerial view of the Dell (a few years old), and a more recent view from the Archers Road end]` However great as the Dell is, all good things must eventually be sold and turned into a housing estate. So as long as kill-joy residents don't spoil it Saints will soon be moving to a lovely 25,000 (expandable to 30,000) seater stadium near the M27. While this means the end of a ground that housed the 1976 FA-Cup winners, hosted the 6-3 thrashing of Manchester United last year, and Bolton haven't won at since 1938; it does have it's advantages ... More gate money, a nearly doubled capacity means near twice as much money to buy (and keep) quality players. More people can watch the team without relying on Sky... who knows I might actually get to see a game for the first time in nearly 10 years. More TV coverage means more chances for those of us who still can't get in to see the team play. ... and to think some people are opposing the thing. `[An Artists impression of the new ground]` Admittedly the new ground seems to look more than a little similar to Bolton's Reebok stadium, and it seems to be a little too square for a football pitch; but it's still approximately 10⁵⁰ times better looking than the Dell. Look, it's even got little tree things and parking spaces next to it. Pictures of Dell taken from the Official Saints WebSite.

The Dell