One of the most prominent journalists in the world, who has travelled to every football league stadium, has harshly disclosed the five stadiums that he would gladly never set foot in again.
Each week, tens of thousands of people make the journey to the stadium where their favourite football team plays in order to show their support for the team in their most recent match.
While some people are fortunate enough to spend their weekends cheering for a Premier League team that is playing in a stadium that is state-of-the-art, others demonstrate their genuine dedication by braving the weather in the United Kingdom and showing their support for a team that is competing in League Two.
The bottom five grounds across the 92 English football leagues have been revealed by a journalist who has visited each and every stadium in the English football leagues. This journalist has spoken out about the situation.
Oliver Holt will be writing a series of articles for the Daily Mail in which he will analyse each of the 92 football stadiums that are considered to be part of the English leagues. In his first article, which will focus on the stadiums that are at the very bottom of the list, he has not held back.
The following is a list of the five grounds that Holt considers to be the worst, beginning with the areas that are considered to be the best.
Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday, rank number five
Hillsborough was listed by Holt as the 88th of the 92 grounds, and he stated that the tragic events that occurred during the disaster in 1989, which resulted in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, cast a shadow over the ground.
“It is difficult to get past its association with so much death and despair and heartbreak and betrayal of supporters,” he wrote. “It is difficult to get past it.”
A portion of me believes that it ought to have been demolished, and that the club ought to have relocated to a different location.
“I will never again have the same feelings about the stadium that I did in the past. Making a visit to it now feels like an invasion of privacy.
West Ham United playing at the London Stadium
The London Stadium, which is owned and operated by West Ham United, shares the unfortunate distinction of being the only Premier League venue to fall into the bottom five in the 89th position.
“A dog’s dinner of a football ground,” as Holt put it, and “a monument to much that is wrong with the top flight of the English game,” were both phrases that Holt used to describe the stadium.
It was his contention that the old stadium at Upton Park was of much greater significance to the supporters of the club, and that the owners of the club should never have relocated.
Oxford United, Kassam Stadium, number three
The next location on the agenda was Holt’s hometown stadium, the Kassam Stadium, which is the home of Oxford United.
“The best experience I’ve had at the Kassam Stadium was getting my Covid jab there during the pandemic,” Holt wrote, providing a detailed account of his time spent there.
As was the case with West Ham, he voiced his disapproval of the decision to relocate the club from its previous stadium. However, he added that the upcoming relocation to a new stadium in a couple of years will be a change that will be welcomed.
Stadium MK, MK Dons, and the team
The fact that Stadium MK was ranked in the bottom two of Holt’s list may not come as much of a surprise.
A journalist for the Mail wrote in a harsh tone, “The stadium is a good fit for the club.” This is a gloomy place that is devoid of any soul or face. In addition to that, there is a rather intimidating impression that it gives off.
“Apart from the joys of the local KFC and McDonald’s, there is little to recommend its immediate surrounds.”
– The Den, located in Millwall
Holt placed Millwall’s home stadium, The Den, at the very bottom of the list. He admitted that he has been banned from playing at The Den as a result of Millwall custodian Liam Roberts’ challenge on Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta during the FA Cup.
According to Holt, he recalled his experience as a fan fifteen years ago as the reason for placing The Den at the very bottom of the list. He stated that he felt unsafe at the ground and that he had issues with some of the fans of the club.
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