Falkirk Stadium (Falkirk v Dundee United)

On Tuesday 3rd March 2009 Martijn and I took the train from Glasgow Queen Street to Falkirk Grahamston to pay our first ever visit to the Falkirk Stadium. As I had planned to visit all SPL stadiums during the 2008/09 season, £12 tickets to see Falkirk play Dundee United was too good an offer to miss out on. The £12 tickets were for the East Stand which is a temporary stand with a canvas roof. The stand is not much to look at but it was the stand the best pictures could be taken from.

After a 45-minute train journey we arrived in Falkirk. As this was an evening fixture on a normal working-day there was no time to visit any pubs for a pre-match refreshment (not that we saw any) so we headed straight for the ground. Tonight we had typical Scottish weather again, i.e. torrential rain throughout the night. We arrived at the stadium soaking wet but it was even worse when we took the 25-minute walk back to the station. During the game we stayed dry despite a few leaks in the canvas roof above us.

The game was not that exciting, the only goal coming from a first-half United penalty but for £12 I could not really complain. I would like to come back here on a sunnier day when the South Stand is finished, possibly when the Bairns are playing St Mirren.

The West Stand.

The North Stand which housed the Dundee United fans.

The East Stand, which is just a temporary stand with a canvas roof.

The South Stand which is almost finished now (see recent photos here) but they had just started work on it when we visited the ground.

This picture clearly shows the appalling weather conditions in which this game was played.

Tuesday 3rd March 2009
Scottish Premier League
Falkirk 0 Dundee United 1
Goal: Conway 27 pen.
Att: 4,385

Tannadice Park (Dundee Utd v Celtic)

On Sunday 22nd March 2009 Martijn and I took the train to Dundee to see the Terrors take on Celtic at Tannadice Park. The train journey was comfortable and reasonably short, one hour and 25 minutes, and we arrived in Dundee with about 50 minutes to spare. For some reason I had not done my regular pre-match research but we started walking in what later turned out to be the right direction. Not wanting to take a chance getting completely lost we took a taxi to the ground from Dundee city centre.

  After we arrived at Tannadice the first stop was the ticket office as one of the tickets that we had ordered over the phone was missing one of the 'to be given up' stubs and I was determined not to make an overzealous steward's day. After we were given a replacement ticket we headed for our seats in the George Fox Stand.

  To my surprise the complete West Stand, as well as the entire Jerrie Kerr Stand, were allocated to the Celtic fans. The Eddie Thompson Stand and George Fox Stand were the home stands.

 

The Eddie Thompson Stand.

  The Jerry Kerr Stand.

The West Stand.

The game was one of the more entertaining SPL matches I have seen this season. After Scott McDonald put Celtic ahead in the first half United were lucky to be only 1-0 down at half time. However after Francisco Sandaza scored two early goals in the second half the Terrors looked like winning this game until Lee Naylor equalised six minutes before time with a lovely volley.

 

Everyone knows how close to each other the two Dundee grounds are. Here you can see the Dens Park floodlights looking over the West Stand. After the game one of the gates at Dens Park was opened by a groundsman enabling me and a few Celtic fans to sneak in and take a few pictures until Tayside's finest requested us politely to move along.

The George Fox Stand after the game.

Again the George Fox Stand.

It was an entertaining day out in Dundee. After the game we walked back to the town centre and had a few post-match drinks and some grub in The Counting House, the obligotary Wetherspoon's pub, before we headed back to Glasgow. I hope to be back for the 2009/2010 season to visit a game at Dens Park.

 

Panorama shot.

Sunday 22nd March 2009

Scottish Premier League

Dundee Utd 2 Celtic 2

Dundee Utd: Sandaza 47, 58. Celtic: McDonald 24, Naylor 81.

Att: 12,043