Stadium Tours

[MK-Ram]

Hi all

I am sure there has been a thread on this before but couldn't find it using search.

Has anyone been on the stadium tour before and can give any comments?

Interested in going and would love to take my son, who is still too young to sit through a full game, but wondering if it's worth it?

[CBRammette]

17 minutes ago, MK-Ram said:

Hi all

I am sure there has been a thread on this before but couldn't find it using search.

Has anyone been on the stadium tour before and can give any comments?

Interested in going and would love to take my son, who is still too young to sit through a full game, but wondering if it's worth it?

Took my sons years ago when younger and we all enjoyed it. We were lucky as only us on our tour with the legendary Sid who passed away recently. So my two both loved it especially the cells but are they still there as Away fans have moved? 
by the way my two both went to first games at 2 and loved it. Had emergency tablet with some cartoons for the few fidgety bits. Match earlier or later in season better when younger as dont have to worry about them getting cold

[NottsRam]

23 minutes ago, MK-Ram said:

Hi all

I am sure there has been a thread on this before but couldn't find it using search.

Has anyone been on the stadium tour before and can give any comments?

Interested in going and would love to take my son, who is still too young to sit through a full game, but wondering if it's worth it?

I have been a couple of times, the most recent was about 3 or 4 years ago.  I would say yes, it's worthwhile, you get to see the boardroom, dressing rooms, sit in dugouts etc.  Unfortunately the great Sid Marsden is no longer around to lead the tours but i'm sure you and your lad would enjoy the experience. 

[minesahartington]

21 minutes ago, CBRammette said:

Took my sons years ago when younger and we all enjoyed it. We were lucky as only us on our tour with the legendary Sid who passed away recently. So my two both loved it especially the cells but are they still there as Away fans have moved? 
by the way my two both went to first games at 2 and loved it. Had emergency tablet with some cartoons for the few fidgety bits. Match earlier or later in season better when younger as dont have to worry about them getting cold

“Emergency tablet” Blimey don’t do that to me!! Panicked for a second!

[Phoenix]

Many years ago, I managed to go round for free. My stepson (avid Leicester CIty fan) was in his teens, doing a school project on whether a stadium should be enlarged (they were at Filbert St then), or a new stadium built. I contacted the club who kindly invited us to a free tour, just the 2 of us. A very interesting tour, I have to say. A bit of banter, naturally, and it seems LCFC had been visiting it for ages getting ideas for their impending new stadium. (I wonder how their expansion plans are going)

Not only that, they arranged for us to go round the Baseball ground, which appeared to be watched over by just a scots guy. By the time we got there it was dusk. A very surreal experience, you yould almost feel the ghosts of the past were there.

[angieram]

4 hours ago, Phoenix said:

Many years ago, I managed to go round for free. My stepson (avid Leicester CIty fan) was in his teens, doing a school project on whether a stadium should be enlarged (they were at Filbert St then), or a new stadium built. I contacted the club who kindly invited us to a free tour, just the 2 of us. A very interesting tour, I have to say. A bit of banter, naturally, and it seems LCFC had been visiting it for ages getting ideas for their impending new stadium. (I wonder how their expansion plans are going)

Not only that, they arranged for us to go round the Baseball ground, which appeared to be watched over by just a scots guy. By the time we got there it was dusk. A very surreal experience, you yould almost feel the ghosts of the past were there.

There were a few ghosts of the past floating around Pride Park last night! 😊

Great photo, borrowed from Paul on Twitter.

 

[sheffieldram]

It was about 20 years ago when I last went on the stadium tour but well worth it.

It was in the days when you could also combine a tour of the old BBG and we did both. 

I love the old BBG but it was like chalk and cheese. I still have the old pictures we took on the day but if you want to remember the BBG full to the rafters with the lights on they are not ones you should look at.

Weeds growing through the seating, tiles falling off the walls in the changing rooms ( I have been in better parks changing rooms ) everywhere showing its age and how small it all felt , especially in the corridor with the directors rooms and press offices.

I remember the guide telling us during the Pride Park tour that the opposition are analysed closely before each game by a team of people.

We had just lost at home 4-0 to Leicester and I remember asking if they had all been on holiday that week.

[I have nothing to say]

I went on one October last year. Enjoyed it, worth doing.

Main take aways - the managers chair in the dugout could do with be re-upholstered,  the leg room on the front row of the directors box seating isn't great and the tables in the board room are standard office style tables, no fancy business solid oak desks - Hollywood has ruined me! Also lots of stairs! I'd get lost if I had a box I'm sure 😂

Edited July 18, 2023 by I have nothing to say
Spelling

[uttoxram75]

Back in the 70's we used to do stadium tours on the last day of the season. After the compulsory pitch invasion from the Popside we'd climb up into the Main Stand and have a mooch round the corridors of power until some jobsworth managed to chuck us out.

I'd struggle to climb up the West Stand nowadays tbf. 

Tbh, I'd struggle to climb over the advertisement boards to even invade the pitch in the first place.

[MadAmster]

Took my two to the BBG just before it was demolished. A mere shadow of its former self. I've done the PP tour several times. Once a paid tour with the wife and kids. The other times, once when over for a game with a dozen blokes from my village and, as foreign visitors, we got a freebie. The other ones were when I brought UEFA B students over for a week's practical  at Moor Farm.

I was fortunate enough to have Sid as guide on each tour. On one tour he said to me "You've done this so often, if I get tired, you can take over". Grand bloke, greatly missed.

I'd recommend the tour to anyone.