Wembley Stadium - England

England - Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium
Empire Way
Wembley
London
HA9 0WS

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BRIEF FACTS ABOUT WEMBLEY:

• Wembley was built in 2007, on the same site as the original Wembley which was demolished around 2002-03, with the original Wembley holding a capacity of 82,000 before closure.
• The last match at the Old Wembley was the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Aston Villa in 2000, with Chelsea getting the win with a Roberto Di Matteo goal sealing the 1-0 win.
• The 1st game at the new Wembley in 2007 was a behind closed doors match between Multiplex and Wembley Stadium staff. The first game in front of spectators was between the Geoff Thomas Foundation Charity XI and the Wembley Sponsors All-stars on 17 March 2007.
• The first official match involving professional players was England U21s vs Italy U21s on 24 March 2007, which finished 3–3.
• The first club game, competitive game, and cup final held at the new Wembley took place on 12 May 2007 when Kidderminster Harriers met Stevenage Borough in the FA Trophy final.  Kidderminster striker James Constable was the first player to score a goal in a final at the new Wembley. Kidderminster became the first team to play at both the old and new stadium.
• The first penalty save and first red card came in the Conference National playoff final between Exeter City and Morecambe. The penalty was saved by Paul Jones of Exeter City from Morecambe striker Wayne Curtis. The red card was given to Matthew Gill of Exeter for a headbutt on Craig Stanley of Morecambe.
• The first Football League teams to play at Wembley in a competitive fixture were Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury Town in the 2007 Football League Two play-off Final on 26 May 2007. Shrewsbury Town became the first league team to score at Wembley via a Stewart Drummond goal, they also the first league team to have a player sent off, in this case – Marc Tierney Bristol Rovers won the game 3–1 in front of 61,589 which was a stadium record until the Championship play-off final two days later when Derby County beat West Bromwich Albion 1–0 to become the first team at the new stadium to win promotion to the FA Premier League.
• The first game involving the full English national team was a friendly played on 1 June 2007, against Brazil. The match saw captain John Terry become the first England international goal scorer at the new stadium when he scored in the 68th minute. Diego became the first full international player to score for a visiting team when he scored in stoppage time, with the full-time result being a 1–1 draw.
• On 17 May 2008, the 127th FA Cup Final was played (the second at the newly opened Wembley Stadium) between Cardiff City and Portsmouth. The attendance of 89,874 fans is still a current record attendance for a competitive professional association football match in the current Wembley Stadium's history. Portsmouth won the match 1-0 with a Nwankwo Kanu goal.
• Wembley Stadium hosted the UEFA Champions League Final on 28 May 2011 between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Wembley also hosted the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, making it the second time in 3 years. The event was held to mark the 150th anniversary of The Football Association.

VISITS:

My 1st visit to Wembley came in 2009, with the League Two Play Off Final between my team Gillingham and Shrewsbury Town. On the day of the game I got the tube with my Dad and a couple of his friends. So many great memories that day, getting on the Tube with a carriage full of Gills fans, to seeing Simeon Jackson score a late winner for Gills to send us to League One football for the following season, to seeing a little girl on a Shrewsbury coach put her thumb down at me, was brilliant haha. Since then I have made many more visits to Wembley, watching various England games, seeing Spurs play in the Champions League as well.

THE GROUND:

Wembley Stadium has been opened since 2007 on the same site as the old Wembley which existed from 1923 until it's demolition around the 2002-03 year. As well as being home of the England national team, it has also been the temporary home of Tottenham Hotspur, and also hosted other various sports such as the NFL, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Boxing. I have heard Wembley is an absolute pain to get to by car especially parking wise, all my visits to Wembley I've also used the train. Wembley Park is the nearest London Underground station with just a walk away, Wembley Central and Wembley Stadium stations are also fairly near to the ground too.








GROUND PHOTOS, TOURS AND VIDEOS:

A quick video I done on my 1st visit on my old phone.

The best day of my life supporting Gillingham after beating Shrewsbury Town in the 2009 Play Off Final. (Apologies for the camera quality as it was taken on my old phone)

Millennium Stadium - Wales

Wales - Millennium Stadium

Last match I went to see:

I haven't been to the Millennium Stadium for a game itself, the only time I have been was for a tour. It was pretty much a spur of a moment thing as I had planned to go and watch Spurs vs Swansea at White Hart Lane the day after Swindon away as a birthday present for my mate, so decided to go to Swindon away as it was a Tuesday night and stay over the night back in March 2015. We noticed as well from Swindon to Cardiff by train only took an hour so thought stuff it why not go to Wales for the day, do a tour of the Millennium Stadium and also do a tour of Cardiff City's ground (which luckily we could do and for free as well so can't complain) as both grounds are relatively close to one another (as you can see in the picture below, also not my picture by the way.) I really did enjoy visiting Cardiff, was a really nice city. I may well have to do a re-visit to Wales at some point in the future as we wasn't there for very long do may well have to make a weekend of it or something. Also, The Millennium Stadium was the home of the FA Cup Final, League Cup Final, Football League Trophy Final, The Play Offs and The Community Shield from 2001 to 2007, the last competitive game out of those which was the Football League Trophy which saw Doncaster Rovers beat Bristol Rovers 3-2 after extra time. Also whilst typing as well, The Millennium Stadium has been chosen to host the 2017 Champions League Final.

Both Cardiff City's Cardiff City Stadium and The Millennium Stadium in the distance from the air.



Myself with the Gareth Bale shirt on the tour, had to be done!



Ninian Park - Cardiff City

Cardiff City - Ninian Park

MY VISIT:

Sadly I never visited Ninian Park when it existed as a football ground, but my only visit to Ninian Park is what is there now. I went there back in March of 2015 when I stayed over the night in Swindon with my mate for Swindon away with Gillingham. Before we stayed over, we noticed that Cardiff was only an hour away on the train, so the night after Swindon away, decided to make a day of it in Wales, do a tour of the Millennium Stadium and then head off to Cardiff. Luckily we got a free tour of Cardiff City's current ground now, the Cardiff City Stadium, and of course the new ground is pretty much across the street to where Ninian Park is/was. Ninian Park was built in 1910 and the club stayed there until 2009. The last ever game at Ninian Park was a 3-0 defeat for the Bluebirds against Ipswich Town which actually saw Roy Keane win his first match in charge of Ipswich at the time. The last ever player to score there in a Cardiff City shirt was scored by none other than Ross McCormack, in which it finished 3-1 to Cardiff against Burnley.

All the pictures above of Ninian Park aren't mine, so copyright to those that took them pictures. Some great pictures of Ninian Park though.

MY NINIAN PARK PICS:

When I did visit Ninian Park back in March of 2015, I didn't take many photos at the time, but basically what is there now is housing. So here are my 2 pics of what is Ninian Park now;