Pride Park Stadium
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| Pride Park Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Pride Park | |
 |
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| Location | Pride Park Derby DE24 8XL |
| Coordinates | 52°54′54″N 1°26′50″W / 52.915°N 1.44722°WCoordinates: 52°54′54″N 1°26′50″W / 52.915°N 1.44722°W |
| Broke ground | 1996 |
| Opened | 18 July 1997 |
| Owner | Derby County F.C. |
| Operator | Derby County F.C. |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | £28 million |
| Architect | Miller Partnership |
| Capacity | 33,597 |
| Tenants | |
| Derby County F.C. (1997-Present) | |
Pride Park Stadium is a football stadium in the Pride Park business park on the outskirts of Derby, England. It is owned by and is the home of Derby County F.C. The stadium holds 33,597 spectators.
Contents |
[edit] History
The stadium was completed in 1997 and replaced Derby County's previous stadium, the Baseball Ground. It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 18 July, with a friendly against Sampdoria following on 4 August.
The first competitive league match to be played there was against Wimbledon. The floodlights failed part way through the match and it had to be abandoned.
Plans to build the stadium were revealed only 18 months before the beginning of Derby's first season there. The original plan had been for the Baseball Ground to be rebuilt with a 26,000-seat capacity, but in February 1996 it was announced that Derby would be relocating instead.
On January 17, 2009 a bust of Steve Bloomer was unveiled next to the home dugout.[1]
[edit] Records
The highest attendance at Pride Park Stadium for a competitive Derby County match is 33,378 in a Premier League match against Liverpool on March 18, 2000.
[edit] Pride Plaza Redevelopment and 2008 Ground Expansion
On 27 April 2007, Derby County released details of a proposed £20m development around the stadium which would create about 250 jobs.[2] Although plans have yet to be submitted to the city council, the Pride Plaza project would include a 165-bed hotel, bars, restaurants and office space. On 9 of November Derby City Council agreed to let the plans go ahead.
Two squares and a road on the west side of the stadium would be named after club legends Brian Clough, Steve Bloomer and Lionel Pickering.[3] The club have said no money would be taken away from the team to pay for the development.
Following promotion to the Premier League in the 2006–07 season, the club announced plans to expand the capacity of the stadium up to 44,000 for the start of the 2008–09 season, if the club stayed up [4]. The plans included adding rows of seats to the north, south and east stands and would have allowed the club to break its current club record attendance, which stands at 41,826 for a match against Tottenham Hotspur during the 1969–70 season set at The Baseball Ground. However, the club did not manage to avoid relegation and the plans were put on hold.
[edit] Average league attendance
| Season | Average Attendance | Division | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–1998 | 29,105 | FA Premier League | 9th |
| 1998–1999 | 29,195 | FA Premier League | 8th |
| 1999–2000 | 29,351 | FA Premier League | 16th |
| 2000–2001 | 28,551 | FA Premier League | 17th |
| 2001–2002 | 29,816 | FA Premier League | 19th (R) |
| 2002–2003 | 25,470 | Football League First Division | 18th |
| 2003–2004 | 22,330 | Football League First Division | 20th |
| 2004–2005 | 25,219 | Football League Championship | 4th |
| 2005–2006 | 24,166 | Football League Championship | 20th |
| 2006–2007 | 25,945 | Football League Championship | 3rd (P) |
| 2007–2008 | 32,432 | Premier League | 20th (R) |
| 2008–2009 | 29,445 | Football League Championship | 18th |
[edit] Non-Derby County Matches
As one of the largest football grounds in the Midlands, Pride Park has also hosted some notable matches not connected to Derby County.
The ground has hosted four England U21 matches. The first was on 9 February 1999, a friendly match against France, which ended in a 2-1 victory to England. The crowd of 32,865 was the highest to watch the U21 in England since 1983. The next two fixtures were both European Championship Qualifiers, with 30,155 seeing a 1-1 draw with Germany on 6 October 2000 and 32, 418 saw a 1-0 victory over Holland on 13 November 2001. The most recent match was on 6 February 2007, when 28,295 saw a 2-2 friendly draw between England U21 and Spain U21, a match which was the first match under the tenure of current England U21 manager Stuart Pearce.
The club has also hosted one full England international; a 4–0 friendly victory over Mexico on 25 May 2001. The match also holds the record for the highest attendance at the stadium: a full-house of 33,598.
On 4 May 2009, Pride Park hosted the 39th FA Women's Cup Final, which saw Arsenal run out 2-1 victors over Sunderland to win the cup for a record fourth consecutive time, with an attendance of 23,291.
The ground has also been earmarked as possibly hosting some World Cup matches should England win the race to host the 2018 World Cup Finals, with Derby Chief Executive Tom Glick saying that "What we [the board] know is that Derby already has the core elements to be a host city... We are going to find out what the requirements are but we are certainly expecting that the requirement would be at least 40,000 seats. The ability to do that at Pride Park Stadium exists, the land exists. So we know that if we were successful, that is something that could be done".[7]
On 16 December 2009, Derby's campaign to be one of the proposed host cities for the England bid was rejected by the FA, along with Hull and other East Midlands city Leicester. The FA's decision means Pride Park will not be hosting World Cup matches in 2018. Tom Glick later commented, "We're all greatly disappointed. Thousands of hours of hard work has been put in across the city from a number of agencies. We need to get some feedback as to why the bid was not successful.[8]
[edit] Images
[edit] References
- ^ "Now Steve Bloomer really is watching". Derby Evening Telegraph. http://therams.co.uk/stories/now-steve-bloomer-really-is-watching.
- ^ Pride Plaza Development
- ^ Pride Plaza tributes
- ^ Rams announce stadium expansion
- ^ Derby County Historical Attendances
- ^ Tony's English Football Site
- ^ "World vision". Derby Evening Telegraph. http://therams.co.uk/stories/world-vision. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
- ^ "www.thisisbusiness-eastmidlands.co.uk". http://www.thisisbusiness-eastmidlands.co.uk/bmi/s-arguments-FA-s-decision/article-1619348-detail/article.html.
