Lost Grounds: Football's most iconic former stadiums
Football grounds are not just where the game is played but where it is remembered. They are the places where generations return to the same turnstiles, climb the same steps and take their place in the same stands. They become landmarks in their own right, woven into the identity of a club and the neighbourhood around it. But football is always changing. Stands and terraces have been demolished beneath new developments. Clubs have moved across towns and cities. Where thousands once gathered on a Saturday afternoon, there may now be a supermarket, a housing estate or nothing at all. Yet a football ground rarely disappears completely. Its name survives in old photographs. Its outline remains faintly visible in the streets around it. Supporters remember where they stood, where they celebrated, where they watched their team win, and where they said goodbye. These are the stories of football's lost grounds: the iconic stadiums that once formed the backdrop to the game, and the traces they left behind.
Manchester City played at Maine Road for 80 years before moving to the City of Manchester Stadium built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Maine Road had a capacity of 35,150 but its record attendance was more than double that when 84,569 supporters watched their FA Cup sixth-round tie against Stoke in 1934.
Man City beat Man Utd in the final Manchester derby at Maine Road with help from a mistake by Gary Neville.
Maine Road was demolished in 2003 and is now a housing estate with a circular plate symbolising the centre spot.
Women and children are passed over the heads of the crowd during the Burnden Park disaster
The supermarket that has been built on the site of Burnden Park
One of the most iconic aspects of the ground was the railway track where trains would run behind the stand and it was captured in the 1955 film The Love Match .
Burnden Park was also the scene of one of the worst tragedies in British football history when 33 Bolton fans were crushed to death and another 400 injured during an FA Cup quarter-final second-leg tie against Stoke City in 1946.
There was estimated to be a crowd of 85,000 at the game, which was at least 15,000 more than the ground's capacity.
The stadium was demolished in 1999, two years after Bolton moved out, and is now a supermarket.
Igor Chislenko scores the USSR's first goal against Hungary at the 1966 World Cup.
Sky Sports News' Ben Ransom at the housing estate where Roker Park once stood
Roker Park was Sunderland's home for 99 years before the club moved to the Stadium of Light.
The 'Roker Roar' was said to be able to be heard five miles away.
The ground's capacity was originally designed to accommodate a crowd of 60,000.
Its capacity was gradually reduced to around 22,500. Roker Park's record attendance was 75,188 for Sunderland's FA Cup tie against Derby in 1933. 75,118.
During the 1966 World Cup, Roker Park hosted three group stage games and the quarter-final between the Soviet Union and Hungary.
England's men's team also played there on three occasions plus one England women's match.
Roker Park is now a housing estate with the roads named Midfield Drive, Roker Park Close, Promotion Close and Clockstand Close.
When they left in 1997, it was the oldest operational stadium in English football.
The Victoria Ground was home to some of English football's greats such as Sir Stanley Matthews and Gordon Banks.
The site lay derelict for 20 years before it was redeveloped into a housing estate.
Frank Soo Street sits among the houses in honour of the former Stoke player who made more than 250 appearances for the club, was the first person of Asian heritage to appear in the Football League and the first to represent England.
Soo, whose father was Chinese, played in nine England wartime matches between 1942 and 1945.
Denis Smith (right) scores for Stoke City to end Leeds United's 29-game unbeaten run in 1974.
Located on the banks of the River Severn, Shrewsbury Town began playing at Gay Meadow in September 1910 and, only a few months later, a match was abandoned for the first time due to flooding - a sign of things to come!
Shrewsbury fan Fred Davies became a legandary figure at the club for his unique role as a ball boy. He would board a coracle and paddle into the river to collect stray footballs, as demonstrated by Sky Sports News' Ben Ransom!
Shrewsbury moved into the New Meadow, a 10,000-seat stadium, in 2007. Gay Meadow was converted into flats.
Ayresome Park was Middlesbrough's home for 92 years, between 1903 and 1995, before they moved to the Riverside Stadium. It was the venue for one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history, when North Korea beat Italy 1-0 in July 1966, courtesy of a goal from Pak Doo-ik. Members of the North Korea squad returned to Teesside in 2002 after a bronze casting of a football boot imprint was unveiled to mark the spot on the housing estate where the goal was scored. It was declared a national monument of the nation. The gates of Ayresome Park have since been erected outside the main entrance of the Riverside.
Filbert Street was Leicester's home for more than 100 years and hosted its last match in May 2002, before the Foxes made the move to the Walkers Stadium - now the King Power - just a stone's throw away.
Within 12 months, the stadium was razed to the ground and, on part of the site, student accommodation was built, as well as a new road named after Leicester legend Gary Lineker.
Until recently, the rest was left as wasteland, and there is little to mark its former history, but work is now under way to build housing on the remaining land.
Brentford had five temporary homes before they moved into Griffin Park - built on the site of a former orchard - in 1904.
It became well-known for the uniqueness of having a pub on every corner: The Griffin, The Princess Royal, The New Inn and The Royal Oak.
One of the most memorable days came in April 2013, when forward Marcello Trotta hit the crossbar with a last-minute penalty that, had it been scored, would have sent Brentford into the Championship.
The final match in front of fans was the 5-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in March 2020, with the last first-team game a 3-1 win over Swansea in the Championship play-offs just under five months later.
Griffin Park has since been demolished and the site is currently flat, though there are plans to build new homes in the near future.
Arsenal only arrived in north London in 1913. The club had been based at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, south-east London.
Chairman Henry Norris believed they needed a more prosperous location and a larger potential supporter base. Highbury's proximity to the Underground was a major attraction.
