CLUBS

Venue

Club

Ground Capacity

Seating

Record Attendance

Period Occupied

Description

You couldn't really miss the entrance to the fully enclosed Stoke Lane Ground thanks to the large yellow sign at the entrance announcing the next fixture. As you entered, one's attention was immediately drawn to the wonderful black, wrought iron turnstile. This classical feature contrasts notably with anything else at the ground, which is pretty much brand spanking new. The Clubhouse and changing room facilities were housed in two large modern structures along the Stoke Lane side of the ground. Between the Clubhouse and the pitch, on warmer matchdays, you'd find an array of plastic chairs for those not wanting to move too far away from the action on the pitch, but also not to move too far away from the bar.

Six huge steel pole floodlights overlooked the playing surface, three on each side of the ground, each one holding two large clusters peering down over the pitch. Between the middle floodlight on the north side of the ground were the Club's two dug outs. Each of these breeze block enclosures were painted white, and both are clearly marked as home and away dugouts with a sign above in Carlton yellow & blue. 

In the summer of 2005, Carlton embarked on their most ambitious project to date, the construction of their first all seater stand now located at the Burton Road End. This structure has been moved to the new ground. There are four rows of seats in this impressive little stand, each row smartly decked out the club's colours. The whole stand is held together with a criss-cross formation of black painted steel with a corrugated roof. Most pleasing of all, there are no posts to obscure the view. 

Such great detail went into the general facilities that one can't fail to be impressed. Minor details such as the pitch being completely encircled by a yellow and blue metal perimeter barrier, the goal nets being decked in yellow and blue and the fascia of the Clubhouse proudly boasting the Club's name, all added up to a truly pleasurable experience.

Photography

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CLUBS