Forgotten Football Grounds | The County Ground | Northampton Town

[@MrDarkmenace1]

As true Cobbler and Hotel Ender, I've spent hundreds of hours standing in the Hotel End between 1970 and 1994. It had its place in the hearts of it's fans and left us with some great memories. UTC.

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching Steve

[@stevebarnes9897]

Its still home to me as ive been a cobblers fan since 1980

[@historyoffootball87]

It would be quite a ride supporting Northampton Town.

[@garybeaumont6747]

It is quite a ride supporting the Cobblers.Never a dull season !!

[@russellmarriott9396]

As an NTFC supporter the County Ground was always ramshackle but therein was its charm. The Hotel End was the home supporters end and I can remember the ‘Boot Boys’ gathering there in the 70’s when football hooliganism was on the rise. There was no club shop as such but on match days one of the terrraced houses on Abington Avenue became the club shop. Because the pitch was use as a car park for the cricket club during the summer it’s condition in the first part of the season was truly awful. There is a story of early season training on the pitch and Phil Neal picking up a ‘tool’ that had been left by accident on the pitch! I went to University in the early 80’s and by the time I got to a match again the old main stand had been demolished and replaced by the Meccano stand. I stood in disbelief at the state of the ground. Unbelievably we escaped relegation to the Conference because Kidderminster ground wasn’t up to standard! For all its faults it still retains a magic in the memory that all grounds have because they are special places. #shoearmy

[@martinswannell3870]

Really great , many thanks. Seeing pictures of the old County Ground brought back memories for me of the old days...I first went with my late dad in the early 1960s and am today a season ticket holder and Cobblers regular . Shoe Army .

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching and commenting

[@JohnLucibellosLaughingGravy]

Great set of old photos of the County Ground... What you didn't mention is that we won the Southern League title using this ground with Herbert Chapman being the manager who eventually went on to become manager of Arsenal as they did a treble of league titles in the 30s. Because we won that league we were to play in the Charity Shield V Newcastle loosing 2.0 at Stamford Bridge this was then between the Div 1 champions and the Southern League Champions. Walter Tull a black player played for the cobblers before WW1 he joined up and became the first black officer in the army. Players who went on to play higher up the league Phil Neal for Liverpool and England Bob Paisley's 1st signing. John Gregory to Aston Villa Trevor Morley to Manchester City players who played at the old ground.

[@historyoffootball87]

Those are some very interesting facts there.

[@nick_rivers-qx1cc]

I went to both final games, great memories. Thanks for this video!

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching the video

[@kelvincheney832]

I started going to the county ground in 1982/83 season & have some great memories of the Hotel end.Although its sad to move from a ground i think we needed to more than any other league club. Great video.Keep up the good work. I enjoy watching the others grounds very much.

[@historyoffootball87]

Thank You Kelvin

[@castawaybeachbungalows]

Watched my first ever game from the Hotel End in 1980 and been an addicted Cobblers fan ever since. As others mention, the Hotel End was a special place in a ramshackle ground but we loved it, a full Hotel End would always generate an amazing atmosphere, and the surges! 🤣 A move to Sixfields was obviously needed but has always been inadequate, Sixfields really needs a Hotel End! I'm not sure of the exact year, possibly 1982 where Ian Botham, played two different sports on the same pitch, he played football for Scunthorpe United and cricket with Somerset.

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching the video

[@funkysnoodles5101]

Due to sharing the ground with the cricket club, we had to rearrange our home games at the start and end of the season.

[@historyoffootball87]

That would have been a carry on.

[@richardgreen8919]

Very well done.I was a regular at the County Ground,from 1965,until our move to Sixfields.Your information is very accurate. It was a ramshackle old ground,but it could generate a superb atmosphere.

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for liking the video

[@SamsDadJerry]

Visited the County Ground late 70's or early 80's (not sure when) I remember a Covered lorry Trailer with an open side being used as a stand.

[@philwise872]

Went up there in the late 70s to watch Brighton, we won 1 nil courtesy of a malcolm poskett header an evening game in the league Cup.was really pleased to go there as I knew they played cricket there from watching the one day Sunday league on the tele

[@historyoffootball87]

Brighton and Hove Albion have come a long way since then.

[@philwise872]

@@historyoffootball87 we were actually in the old 1st division back then,but yes things are going very well for the moment 👍

[@andrewwilkins629]

Great vid. Love the old B/W pictures. Went there in about 1982-ish - it was the worst ground I'd ever seen. Cages everywhere back then which gave a crap view, plus, the roof on the stand had burned down by then, it was a really sad sight.

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching.

[@billfawcett3691]

There is a saying "choose your first love carefully", Northampton Town are my first and only love in football. I have flirted with bigger and better teams as I moved around the country and Europe, but the Cobblers are closest to my heart. "Worst ground I had ever seen"? Dunno about that, but always remember being able to use the Gents toilet there without retching at the stench of the fastidiously neglected urinals encountered at some Division 4 grounds that I "visited", plus of course yo could nip into the Hotel Pub bar at half time from inside the ground, ah the good old days. The Main Stand roof that you saw was, as stated in the video, built after the tragedy at Bradford City and the resultant public inquiry, not as the result of any conflagration at the County Ground. Watching the Bradford fire "live" on T.V. I remember thinking there but the grace of God goes the County Ground main stand!! I think that the Cobblers were amongst the first, if not the first to put up pitch side fencing, built in great haste all of course in the interest of public safety (yeah right) as per the directives from the Taylor report. To you it may have been a "sad sight" but since watching my first league game there as a 14 year old in the late 1960's the place has a place in my heart, as I said, choose your first love carefully! When I visit Northampton now and I go to Sixfields Stadium it doesn't feel like I am "home".

[@aarondoesyt3194]

@@billfawcett3691 I agree Sixfields is just bland and has no atmosphere at all

[@billfawcett3691]

@@aarondoesyt3194 There have been honourable exceptions, e.g. "3 - 1 and you f****d it up", sadly a play off game I missed, made it to Wembley though. The Hotel End was a blast but the world and football has changed, money talks, even in non-league football never mind in higher tiers. Jumpers for goalposts and all that! 😁

[@aarondoesyt3194]

@@billfawcett3691 I wasn't even born then haha, there's been a few big cup games when the atmosphere has been decent, but honestly it's got even worse over the last year because stewards are enforcing allocated seating and not allowing all the fans who make noise to gather in the section where they normally meet by the away fans. Sadly it's the same for most clubs now, the support is nowhere near as good as it used to be due to football being a commercial brand

[@davidpilgrim5664]

Thank you for the video on my club 👍.

[@historyoffootball87]

No bother

[@KishoreKaravadra]

Me and my friend Garry used to sell programmes here earning half penny a programme but the best bit was we used to get in and watch the game free😁

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching and commenting

[@Harry-me1zq]

Back in the day sat in the stand for a night match v Rochdale [?] no atmosphere but a few years later a Saturday v Gillingham in The Hotel End which was packed and a Town win really buzzing then back again for the cricket. how they kept the club alive heaven knows.

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching the video

[@steveakka]

With a knock kneed chicken and a bow legged hen.....great days 👍👍👍

[@guyreadman]

Spent many a happy Saturday afternoon in the mid-late 'sixties standing on the duckboards running down the open side of the ground. Once a Cobbler always a Cobbler.

[@historyoffootball87]

Thank you for watching the video

[@patrickscott838]

Love your work, keep the vid's coming!!!!!

[@historyoffootball87]

Cheers Patrick Scott

[@DavyPants]

Changing Ends brought me here

[@historyoffootball87]

Thanks for watching the video

[@aarondoesyt3194]

Had so much character compared to Sixfields which has just no atmosphere at all I know the hotel end was the stand with the most atmosphere and some fans used to switch ends at half time, can't do that anymore at Sixfields because stewards stop to check your tickets every 2 seconds and throw you out of the stadium if you don't present them 🤣

[@B.A.Pilgrim]

the there has been great atmosphere at times at Sixfields. I think the issue is The Cobblers have been such a yoyo team that people get fed up. You see other clubs with better attendance and the fact a town as big as Northampton can't fill 7500 capacity is a joke. In playoff final against Grimsby the shoe army took 40000, which was a record for a while. If the cobblers could remain in league 1 fior more than a few seasons it would help get attendance up and give people something to shout about.

[@peterdemeteor8399]

I never watched football there but have seen Gloucs. C.C.C. play Northants on a few occasions. There are (or were) some turnstiles still there, next to the hotel. This football clubs and cricket clubs ground-sharing's not unique. Yorks. C.C.C. used to play at Bramhall Lane (Sheffield Utd's ground) and there was even a Test Match played there once. I've been to Sixfields supporting Rovers more times than I care to remember; it's a god-awful, soulless, breeze-block and plastic monstrosity - like so many modern stadia. Great result for your lot on Saturday, btw, wish I could say the same for us. Up The Gas!

[@historyoffootball87]

I do think if you were a Northampton fan though that you would prefer Sixfields over the old county ground. I think with Bramall Lane some say that it is the oldest ground in the world that still hosts professional football matches but Deepdale say they are the oldest.

[@peterdemeteor8399]

I'm sure that's Mansfield Town's ground - Field Mill. Up The Gas!

[@aarondoesyt3194]

You're right, I honestly hate going to home games now, jobsworth stewards ensuring allocated seating and all which makes the atmosphere even worse than it already was