Independent Leyton Orient Forum

With only one away fixture remaining I'd like to start a poll to rank the worst away ground of the National League season 18/19.

There are a LOT of contenders for this title, but the two which stand out for me are Ebbsfleet and Aldershot, for the folowing reasons:

Ebbsfleet. The ultimate atmosphere killer of large standing terrace and no roof. No pubs on the way to the ground and lack of bar facilities in the ground. Greasy burger van. Manky limescale tea. Moronic stewarding. Miserable weather. Awful result. This was probably the least enjoyable away experience of the season for me. As we approach the ground my missus didn't even realise we had arrived. She though it was a B&Q.

Aldershot. This place looked like it had been abandoned in the late 1970's. An endless trek, up hills and through an unlit, muddy park on a dark Tuesday night. Stinking portaloos (or as I like to call them, sh*t tardis). Cr*ppy burger van again, which sold cold, crinkle cut chips. Not a beer in sight and no pubs en-route. Weeds growing through the terrace concrete. A proper dump.

Honorable mentions go to Boreham Wood, Bromley & Braintree.

Will caveat that I missed out on Dover and Barrow which I suspect will be contenders for this title.

Please leave the reason behind your nomination because I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Braintree, no room to move, too many of us in there which must have infringed some safety order. You left in complete darkness and I witnessed several tripping up on pavement edges etc.

Agree, it was wantonly negligent on their part.

Voting Sutton as I genuinely cannot believe that is a football stadium. Bromley's only slightly better. I did not go to Braintree or Aldershot though.

Havant & Waterlooville - c. 1,000 away fans serviced by 3 sit down toilets - taking (or not as the case may be) the Pi55!
Can only assume they wanted to maximise income rather than splash out on a few portaloos.
The stewards had the sense to open the back gates to allow people to use their discretion when they were faced with a 30 minute queue.

You can drink wine at Ebbsfleet.

Actually, from last season's experience, I'd say Solihull.

Wasn't a big fan of Salford actually, you can tell it's just viewed as a temporary structure until they re-develop again for their (supposedly) inevitable march up the leagues

And Dagenham is more than a bit sh*t - just because it's not a new experience for us doesn't mean it should be excluded from this content

Can't believe OP is calling out Aldershot, I thought that was a cracking away end, the home fans made a ton of noise, as did we, which made a great atmosphere under the roof. Sure its old and is missing an end, but where we were placed was fantastic. Sure you have to follow a path round the back to get there but I thought that added to the day rather than detracted. Good result too.

Havant was shocking simply for the toilets, about 3 portaloos for the entire away end is not good enough.

Agree with everything OP says about Ebbsfleet, rubbish club.

I didn't love Eastleigh, a really strange wander in the pitch black to find the ground with no decent pubs nearby, though I suppose the clubhouse wasn't too bad. Home support were rubbish too and the ground lacked atmosphere in general.

Braintree was pretty poor but you expect it from a club of that size.

Anything with a roofed away end should be excluded O think. I agree that Aldershot's away end was great. H&W was cramped but I think there's worse than that.

Sutton (despite roof- and why couldn't the terrace behind the goal be on one level. I couldn't see anything to my left), Boreham Wood, Bromley and Ebbsfleet have to be the worst along with Braintree but I can forgive them as they are such a small club. To be fair to all these clubs, they are improving or have improved their ground recently.

BigDaddyO wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 6:37 pm Can't believe OP is calling out Aldershot, I thought that was a cracking away end, the home fans made a ton of noise, as did we, which made a great atmosphere under the roof. Sure its old and is missing an end, but where we were placed was fantastic. Sure you have to follow a path round the back to get there but I thought that added to the day rather than detracted. Good result too.

Havant was shocking simply for the toilets, about 3 portaloos for the entire away end is not good enough.

Agree with everything OP says about Ebbsfleet, rubbish club.

I didn't love Eastleigh, a really strange wander in the pitch black to find the ground with no decent pubs nearby, though I suppose the clubhouse wasn't too bad. Home support were rubbish too and the ground lacked atmosphere in general.

Braintree was pretty poor but you expect it from a club of that size.

Interesting to see a few people disagree with me about Aldershot. I really thought that place was an utter dump and I’m astonished that it actually hosted league football for a period.

Borehamood, complete hole, stadium with no roof and about 12 home fans, always rains and orient play all kinds of crud there.

Arriba.

Havant is up there. 3 toilets for 700 odd people

Lofctillwedie wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:47 pm Havant is up there. 3 toilets for 700 odd people

Havant had real Tesco sea salt on the condiments table, one below Himalayan pink salt.

Havants 3 unisex toilets for around 900 people is right up there.

Esteban wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:27 pm

BigDaddyO wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 6:37 pm Can't believe OP is calling out Aldershot, I thought that was a cracking away end, the home fans made a ton of noise, as did we, which made a great atmosphere under the roof. Sure its old and is missing an end, but where we were placed was fantastic. Sure you have to follow a path round the back to get there but I thought that added to the day rather than detracted. Good result too.

Havant was shocking simply for the toilets, about 3 portaloos for the entire away end is not good enough.

Agree with everything OP says about Ebbsfleet, rubbish club.

I didn't love Eastleigh, a really strange wander in the pitch black to find the ground with no decent pubs nearby, though I suppose the clubhouse wasn't too bad. Home support were rubbish too and the ground lacked atmosphere in general.

Braintree was pretty poor but you expect it from a club of that size.

Interesting to see a few people disagree with me about Aldershot. I really thought that place was an utter dump and I’m astonished that it actually hosted league football for a period.

Aldershot is greatly improved on what it was like in the 80’s.

Dont mind Aldershots ground, got some character and decent atmosphere.

Probably say Ebbsfleet. Absolutely no protection from any elements. I froze and could barley see as the terrace is too shallow. Area is sh*t and I had to walk for 20 mins back to my car (partly my fault as i parked in the furthest away car park that was closer to leyton than ebbs fleet)

Suttons toilet (the blue wall with a trough cut into the floor) is genuinely one of the most disgusting things ive seen. There's been some bad toilets (aldershot and Salford spring to mind) this year but that was actually a health hazard and stunk.

Add in the embarrassing megaphone guy and his 29 mates getting ready to bounce and the oap's with the clappers at Sutton and they become even more tinpot.