Meadow Lane - Notts County FC
Notts County A-A AEK Athens
(Abandoned at HT due to a waterlogged pitch)
05/08/12 - Pre-Season Friendly
Att: N/A
After visiting Forest on the Saturday, it was day two of the Nottingham pre-season double header, as Notts County entertained Greek side AEK Athens. One of my favourite things about pre-season is the chance to watch teams that I wouldn't normally get the chance to watch, having seen Celtic, Milan and Lyon in recent times.
Having been to Meadow Lane a couple of times in the past, I knew what to expect from the ground and it's always a ground that I've been impressed with. It's near the city centre, it's a really good size and it has character aplenty too. Meadow Lane was opened in 1910, but underwent redevelopment in the 1990's, with three sides being demolished and rebuilt during the summer of 1992. The Derek Pavis Stand is the newest part of the ground, having been built in 1994. All four sides of the stadium are different sizes, but fit together well to create an impressive venue that I'm sure would have no trouble hosting football in the top flight.
The Kop behind the goal is particularly impressive - A huge one tiered stand, which houses around 5,400 supporters. The Jimmy Sirrell Stand goes along one side and houses the away supporters, although for this match all supporters were in the Derek Pavis Stand, which is another steep, one tiered stand down the side of the pitch. At the other end is the smallest part of the ground; The Meadow Lane End, it's a small covered stand and is where families tend to be housed. With an overall capacity of 20,229, it's probably too big for County at the moment, whose average crowd was 6,808 last season, but it shows the potential of the club.
As the oldest Football League club in the world, Notts County are celebrating their 150th anniversary. Before the war they were regulars in the top flight, but in recent times they've spent the majority of their time in the lower leagues of English football. After nearly dropping to the Conference in 2006 and again in 2008, Notts County became one of the most high profile League Two clubs in recent time when they were purchased by Munto Finance. With money behind them, Sven Goran Eriksson was installed as director of football and Sol Campbell and Kasper Schmeichel were also recruited. A 5-0 thumping of promotion favourites Bradford City sent Notts County on their way to the League Two title, despite constant investigations by the Football League and the eventual sale of the club for a nominal fee to Peter Trembling.
Since being promoted Notts County have settled well into life in League One and came within a whisker of qualifying for the play offs last season. This summer they've been busy in the transfer market and are expecting to be in or around the play offs again this time around. This would be a good test for them against an Athens side that's in financial meltdown and as a result has lost most of their big name players.
With only one stand open, due to the low turnout, there wasn't a great deal of atmosphere in the ground, with the only noise coming from around 20 or so AEK Athens fans at the front of the stand, who were pretty constant in their singing for their team. As the teams came on to the pitch it was clear that there was a European side in town, with the goalkeeper wearing the number 99 shirt!
Notts County made the brightest start to the match, with AEK looking lethargic and disjointed. Notts were comfortable on the ball, passing it well and created several decent openings. It came as no surprise when they took the lead when Alan Judge got on to the end of a through ball to confidently slot the ball past the keeper. With Notts County continuing to dominate and AEK struggling to make an impression on the game, the heavens opened. It became really quite heavy and as the half time whistle blew, it continued throughout the break. By the time the teams came back out there was plenty of standing water on the pitch and when the referee attempted to roll the ball and it stopped, it became clear that the match was in danger of being abandoned.
After taking the players off the PA announced that there would be a 15 minute delay, while ONE member of the ground staff forked the six yard box. In reality, they were delaying the inevitable and the game was rightly called off. It was a shame as the match was quite enjoyable, but you can't really plan for these sort of things. It was bright sunshine before the game and it brightened up again afterwards, it was just a freak storm that put paid to the match. It's also a shame that Notts County felt that they were "not in a position" to offer a refund to supporters, claiming that the first half had been entertaining and was therefore value for money!
After the match we headed back to the Trent Bridge Inn for some food and a few beers, before eventually catching a train home at around 7pm. It had been a bizarre afternoon and it was a shame for it to end the way it did. Meadow Lane is still a superb venue and a trip to Nottingham, to either ground, is one that I'd recommend highly.
Having been to Meadow Lane a couple of times in the past, I knew what to expect from the ground and it's always a ground that I've been impressed with. It's near the city centre, it's a really good size and it has character aplenty too. Meadow Lane was opened in 1910, but underwent redevelopment in the 1990's, with three sides being demolished and rebuilt during the summer of 1992. The Derek Pavis Stand is the newest part of the ground, having been built in 1994. All four sides of the stadium are different sizes, but fit together well to create an impressive venue that I'm sure would have no trouble hosting football in the top flight.
The Kop behind the goal is particularly impressive - A huge one tiered stand, which houses around 5,400 supporters. The Jimmy Sirrell Stand goes along one side and houses the away supporters, although for this match all supporters were in the Derek Pavis Stand, which is another steep, one tiered stand down the side of the pitch. At the other end is the smallest part of the ground; The Meadow Lane End, it's a small covered stand and is where families tend to be housed. With an overall capacity of 20,229, it's probably too big for County at the moment, whose average crowd was 6,808 last season, but it shows the potential of the club.
As the oldest Football League club in the world, Notts County are celebrating their 150th anniversary. Before the war they were regulars in the top flight, but in recent times they've spent the majority of their time in the lower leagues of English football. After nearly dropping to the Conference in 2006 and again in 2008, Notts County became one of the most high profile League Two clubs in recent time when they were purchased by Munto Finance. With money behind them, Sven Goran Eriksson was installed as director of football and Sol Campbell and Kasper Schmeichel were also recruited. A 5-0 thumping of promotion favourites Bradford City sent Notts County on their way to the League Two title, despite constant investigations by the Football League and the eventual sale of the club for a nominal fee to Peter Trembling.
Since being promoted Notts County have settled well into life in League One and came within a whisker of qualifying for the play offs last season. This summer they've been busy in the transfer market and are expecting to be in or around the play offs again this time around. This would be a good test for them against an Athens side that's in financial meltdown and as a result has lost most of their big name players.
With only one stand open, due to the low turnout, there wasn't a great deal of atmosphere in the ground, with the only noise coming from around 20 or so AEK Athens fans at the front of the stand, who were pretty constant in their singing for their team. As the teams came on to the pitch it was clear that there was a European side in town, with the goalkeeper wearing the number 99 shirt!
Notts County made the brightest start to the match, with AEK looking lethargic and disjointed. Notts were comfortable on the ball, passing it well and created several decent openings. It came as no surprise when they took the lead when Alan Judge got on to the end of a through ball to confidently slot the ball past the keeper. With Notts County continuing to dominate and AEK struggling to make an impression on the game, the heavens opened. It became really quite heavy and as the half time whistle blew, it continued throughout the break. By the time the teams came back out there was plenty of standing water on the pitch and when the referee attempted to roll the ball and it stopped, it became clear that the match was in danger of being abandoned.
After taking the players off the PA announced that there would be a 15 minute delay, while ONE member of the ground staff forked the six yard box. In reality, they were delaying the inevitable and the game was rightly called off. It was a shame as the match was quite enjoyable, but you can't really plan for these sort of things. It was bright sunshine before the game and it brightened up again afterwards, it was just a freak storm that put paid to the match. It's also a shame that Notts County felt that they were "not in a position" to offer a refund to supporters, claiming that the first half had been entertaining and was therefore value for money!
After the match we headed back to the Trent Bridge Inn for some food and a few beers, before eventually catching a train home at around 7pm. It had been a bizarre afternoon and it was a shame for it to end the way it did. Meadow Lane is still a superb venue and a trip to Nottingham, to either ground, is one that I'd recommend highly.
Rear of The Kop
Rear of the Jimmy Sirrell Stand, with the City Ground in the distance
Club shop
Players line up in front of The Jimmy Sirrell Stand
The Kop
Meadow Lane End
AEK London Supporters Club flag
AEK fans having it large as the rain pours down
AEK defend another County attack in the rain
Ominous signs...
And the game's off
How it ended
Panoramic view of Meadow Lane
