Highbury Stadium- Fleetwood Town
Address: Park Avenue, Fleetwood, FY7 6TX
Capacity: 5,327
Pitch Type: Grass
Club Nickname: Cod Army
Year Ground Opened: 1939
Undersoil Heating: No
Telephone No: 01253 775080
Ticket Office: N/A
Town first moved into the Highbury Stadium at the start of the Second World War. The Highbury Stadium is not to be confused with Arsenal Stadium which was commonly referred to as Highbury, Fleetwood Town’s ground inherited its name from the nearby Highbury Avenue on which it sits on.
A relatively small club compared to neighbours Blackpool today, the club sought to move to a larger ground after winning three consecutive Lancashire Combination Cups.
The club moved to their new stadium as a sign of how far they have came, it represented just how successful Fleetwood had became.
The quality of the match-day experience suddenly declined and the club never were able to build on their early successes.
Between 1948 and 1952 Highbury became more useful for Speedway competitions, meaning that the pitch would often by torn up when it would come to football.
Most recently, the club paid around £4 million to build the new Parkside Stand, this new stand plays host to around 2,000 fans and was first opened in March 2011.
It has a single tier of seating, whilst above are offices and a top row of executive boxes and hospitality area, all of which have a small tier of seating outside. At the front of this stand are the team dugouts.
Opposite the newly built stand is the Highbury Stand, which is also somewhat still pretty new in its own right. It is a small seated covered stand, which was opened in 2008.
It is only six rows high, has a capacity of 550 and runs for only half the length of the pitch, meaning that there is a large open area next to it, although this area does feature some buildings.
On the roof of the Highbury Stand is a small television gantry. For the ‘eagle-eyed’ then directly behind it you can see a small roof which is the roof of the old Main Stand which is still in existence having had the new stand built in front of it.
The Percy Ronson Terrace which is given to away supporters runs for nearly the duration of the whole width of the pitch. Whilst the Memorial Stand- named in memory of the service and trawler-men that had previously lost their lives from the port of Fleetwood, is larger extending the full width of the pitch and housing just under 1,500 supporters.
In one corner of the Highbury Stadium beside the Percy Ronson Terrace is where fans can re-watch certain parts of the action as there is a large video screen. The stadium is completed with a set of modern floodlights, which fits into the newly revamped stadium.
Ticket prices are very similarly priced but dependant on the stand you choose to sit in, you could save yourself a few quid. Adult’s tickets in the Parkside Stand will cost £25, while Highbury Stand seats cost £24 and £23 for the Memorial Stand.
Away tickets are also reasonably priced with tickets costing either £25 or £23 depending on the stand that you would like to be in; with the Percy Ronson Stand being the cheaper option of the two.
The most convenient mainline station is Blackpool North. The station is 7½ miles from the football ground so you’ll need to get the No14 or No1 bus from Blackpool town centre, these buses are highly frequent with pick-ups every ten minutes and the journey will take around 30 minutes.