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West Bromwich Albion FC
The Hawthorns
The Ground
With the completion of
the East Stand in 2001, the Club had achieved its
objective in completely re-building the Hawthorns and making it a modern
stadium. Not only has the ground received a much needed face lift,
but it is now totally
enclosed and all seated.
The East Stand is an impressive, large single tiered stand, which has been
well integrated with the rest of the ground. It has a row of executive boxes
running along the back, and to each side of the stand
the previous open corners have been filled with corrugated sheeting. There
is a thin supporting pillar on each side of the stand to support the corner
structures. This stand, which
is well setback from the pitch, has been
designated as a no smoking area. On the other side is the
relatively new but smaller, Halfords Lane Stand, stretching around two corners of the
ground. The
home end, the Birmingham Road
Stand is large, covered, and
quite steep. At the other end away fans are housed in the Smethwick end, which is also a
relatively new stand. Two new video screens have been installed in opposite
corners of the ground, one at the Smethwick End side of the East Stand and
the other in the opposite corner of the Halfords Lane Stand.
An interesting feature of the ground is that in one corner of the ground
(between the East Stand & Birmingham Road End) you will notice perched up on a wall, a large Throstle
standing on a football. This has been kept over from the previous stand (it
used to sit above the clock on the half time scoreboard) and maintains the
links with tradition. Outside the ground on the same corner
are the 'Jeff Astle Memorial
Gates' erected in tribute to the legendary striker.
One strange fact about the Hawthorns is that it is the highest ground in
England (in terms of feet above sea level).
Future
Ground Developments
Jordan
Muckley informs me; 'Following
the purchase and demolition of the Woodman Pub, which sat outside
one corner of the ground, between the
Birmingham and East Stands, the Club
have applied for planning permission to re-develop this
part of the stadium, so that ground capacity can be
raised to over 30,000. This will see the corner being
'filled' to the same height as the East Stand. The Club also have plans at
some point to re-develop the Halfords Lane Stand'.
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