Sunday 25 September 2011

Bower Fold - Stalybridge Celtic - ground info


To get to Bower Fold you go along Mottram Road, the main road that pretty much forms the spine of Stalybridge itself. Stalybridge doesn't always have the best reputation, I'd say you can judge the areas of it based on Mottram Road - the lowest part of it when you get onto it from Stamford Street is the rough area - you'll be able to tell from the grotty scrotes bumbling around and the poor standard of driving from the people emerging from the run down side streets.

But as you go up Mottram Road the standard of person, housing etc improves, with Bower Fold in a fairly decent area. Carrying on upwards past the ground this rule continues all the way to Mottram roundabout, at which point the road goes downhill as does the standard of person again - funny that.

Anyway you can get to Bower Fold from Stalybridge train station, Multimap plotting it as a long but just about walkable 1.06 mile distance. Just be aware that from the train station to the ground is mainly uphill so you won't want to do this journey in a rush. If getting there on the bus it's a similar walk from the bus station which can be a bit of a chav hangout at times - if you can jump off the bus on Acres Lane (where the Tesco is) then go for it as you also cut out 5-10 minutes of the uphill walk. Alternatively you can get a 236 or 237 bus up Mottram road which stops 20 seconds walk from the ground. Or if you're getting to it going down Mottram Road the same buses stop right outside the ground.

As you can see in the sign above, if you're going in the car the club has started charging a quid to park in the car park on a match day. If you're going for a regular match I'd recommend driving a little further up Mottram Road and you'll see Woodlands Road on the left, there's usually plenty of parking space either there or on one of the roads just off it and it's just 5 minutes walk back down to the ground. Woodlands Road and the surrounding bits are a pretty well off area too so the car's guaranteed to be safe. However you might have difficulty getting a space if you go to a match when there's a big crowd there - sometimes FC United have home games there when Gigg Lane isn't available and I gather all nearby roads are packed when this happens.

For Stalybridge matches it's £10 adults, £6 concessions. You then have a choice of 2 terraces or 2 seated stands, and unlike some clubs in the division it's no extra cost for the seated areas. No segregation either, which is nice. After entering the turnstile the food and drink greets you a couple of steps later and the usual gusts at that ground means you're likely to be greeted with a waft of the tempting smell of pies and pasties. Once you go past this and enter the terrace behind one of the goals you're likely to spot someone with a large cardboard box - they're selling programmes - £2 and pretty decent.


Bower Fold has a potential maximum capacity of 6,500, with 1,500 seats, much more than most in the Conference North. Before the start of the 10/11 season, Stalybridge became a full time professional club. They put together a squad of younger players with a lot of potential, with an ambition to keep a settled team for a number of seasons so they can gel and improve as a team and hopefully eventually be competing in the conference division itself. In truth their ground is crying out for the bigger crowds they'd get in the conference - the seated areas in particular frequently looking far too empty with the current 400-500 crowds they're getting.

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