Shaun & David's Grounds Tour

3rd November 2018 Ground Number: 18 Ground: The Penny Cars Stadium (Excelsior Stadium), Airdrie Home of: Airdrieonians FC Match: Airdrie V Forfar Score: 0-1 Attendance: 645 Everything about Airdie impressed us. They impressed us even months before we got round to visiting. They  got in touch with us eager to know when we'd be visiting their ground and they couldn't do enough to help us. They put together a special package for us which included match ticket, pin badge and programme for a discounted price. Amazing service. They even offered us a free behind the scenes tour but sadly we had to pass on that due to timings. How would things be when we actually got to the stadium though? Let's find out shall we? The ground is easy to find and provides parking on site for a small charge. £2.00 is a fair and reasonable price which we were only too happy to pay for the convenience of being parked right at the ground.  What immediately struck us was this was not y

21st October 2018 Ground Number: 17 Ground: Hope Stadium, New Douglas Park, Hamilton Home of: Hamilton Academical FC Match: Hamilton V Rangers Score: 1-4 Attendance: 5013 We could only manage a game on the Sunday this weekend and thankfully there's a game on and  it's at a ground we haven't been too yet. Result! Hamilton v Rangers it is. Easier said than done though mind.  Tickets HAD  to be bought in person at the stadium and weren't on sale on the day of the match. This is a disaster! Never mind, an email to the Club explaining what we're doing and seeing if they could help us out would fix the problem right? Wrong! The reply came back stating tickets must be bought in person and not on match day. Do we make a trip to Hamilton just  to buy tickets?  One final try, this time to the Hamilton Supporters Liaison Officer, and success! Sean couldn't have been more helpful. He understands what we're trying to do and understood we were not Rangers

6th October 2018 Ground Number: 16 Ground: Balmoor Stadium, Peterhead Home of: Peterhead FC Match: Peterhead V Elgin City Score: 3-0 Attendance: 681 Ground number 16 sees us head into the Arctic Circle (ok, Peterhead then) for the longest trip of the tour so far. 226 miles all in if you're wanting to be specific about it. As always I'd written ahead to the club and Peterhead could not have been more helpful. Nat Porter in particular was so welcoming and even invited us for a tour of the stadium pre-match. A huge thanks to the club and Nat for going that extra mile. It was really appreciated. We arrived in Balmoor in time for our tour and reported to reception. Handily this is where the Club Shop is also located so whilst waiting on Nat we picked up a pin badge. £3.00. We were collected, along with a group of local school children, and off we went on the tour. First stop was the bar / trophy area and it was here we quickly learned that Nat is in fact an ex Peterh

15th September 2018 Ground Number: 15 Ground: Forthbank Stadium, Stirling Home of: Stirling Albion FC Match: Stirling Albion V Queen's Park Score: 1-0 Attendance: 702 Ah Stirling. It's beautiful isn't it? The gateway to the highlands. Home of the Wallace Monument. Stirling Castle. Stirling Albion FC. Their home, Forthbank Stadium, is romantically located in an industrial estate away from all the tourist hot spots. The beautiful game eh? Ground number 15 then. Home of The Binos and it looks like a great little ground! We get parked up easily at the stadium car park (free by the way Livingston) and we couldn't get parked closer if we tried. A wee look around the outside of the ground as usual and we're impressed. That, sadly, is where our love affair with Forthbank ended. When will clubs realise that the fan experience  is a vitally important part of a visit to a stadium home or away? First gripe of the day Stirling seen fit to open only 2 t

1st September 2018 Ground Number: 14 Ground: Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir Home of: Stenhousemuir FC Match: Stenhousemuir V Dumbarton Score: 2-1 Attendance: 616 A strange name for the ground in Stenhousemuir because you can't actually see  the Ochilview Hills from the ground but hey what does that matter? To be fair, you might be able to but we certainly couldn't see them from where we were sitting. Ground number 14 was the order of the day and Dumbarton were the opposition today. Glamourous stuff indeed!   We arrived in plenty time for kick off and found the stadium nestled behind some housing and we got parked really close to the ground. Free street parking of course. First order of the day? Selfie of course! Before entering Ochilview we saw the intriguingly named "Norway Stand." Was it made it Norway? Bought from a Norwegian club? Actually it turns out that Stenhousemuir have a supporters club in Norway (why wouldn't they!?) and they'r