Flying high at the top of League Two after an unbeaten start to the season, Pies reckon this is as good a time as any to give Exeter City a doff of the cap by taking a snoop around their stadium.
Not to be confused with Newcastle United’s monochrome hulk (note the lack of apostrophe), St James Park is – at least in part – a throwback to a bygone age of football stadium design.
The lovely old 6,000-capacity stadium in Devon is penned in on one corner by the railway that runs below, complete with a dedicated station (which the club helps to upkeep) located across the street, nestled beneath the green Grandstand…
Photo: Nigel Thompson/Geograph
The Old Grandstand, or the Stagecoach Family Stand to give it its corporate name, is a brooding old wooden structure with a row of rather splendid old-fashioned floodlights protruding from the roof.
At the far end of the pitch looms the Cliff Bastin Stand (affectionately known as the ‘Big Bank’ by Exeter fans) which, with room for almost 4,000 standing fans, boasts the largest single-terrace capacity in the Football League.
Let’s have a snoop around the place, shall we…
What a little gem, though with plans afoot to modernise St James Park, it probably won’t be long until it looks like every other indistinct “redeveloped” steel-and-plastic box in the Football League.
Up for a bit more ground-hopping adventure? Step this way please…