Legendary Football Stadium Designer Archibald Leitch

Scottish architect, Archibald Leitch is famous for designing football stadia throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Previously successful factory architect in and around his home Scottish city of Glasgow, Archibald Leitch was commissioned in March 1899 to build Ibrox Park, the new home ground of Glasgow Rangers Football Club. Opened in 1900, it was at the time, the largest ever purpose built football stadium in the world. Leitch’s ground designs at numerous locations up and down the UK, continued for a period spanning almost 40 years, many of which are still in use today.

Early life

Hutchesons' Grammar School

Archie, as he was more generally known, was born on 27^th April 1865 in Camlachie, a district on the eastern side of Glasgow. Educated at Hutcheson’s Grammar school, and subsequently at Anderson’s College, he left in 1882 to join the engineering company of Duncan Stewart & Co as a trainee draughtsman.

After qualification and further training in marine engineering, he travelled extensively to India, South Africa and numerous other locations, keeping a passion for travel for the rest of his life.

In 1890 he married Jessie Black, the daughter of a dairyman and they were to stay together for almost 50 years until his death.

Ground designs

Glasgow Rangers Ibrox stadium

Archie’s first design (as previously outlined) was for his beloved Glasgow Rangers FC (see image). To show his devotion to the club he charged no fee for the work undertaken.

In 1902 during a Scotland v England international at the ground, part of the south-west terracing collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 25 supporters and 516 injuries (now referred to as the Ibrox disaster). Leitch immediately put the blame on timber merchant, Alexander MacDougall who, contrary to instruction had used inferior timber and joints for the structure. MacDougall was subsequently cleared of all blame at the trial, but Rangers continued to use Leitch as their consultant engineer on the stadium rebuild.

Johnny Haynes Stand at Fulham's Craven Cottage

From this first design, Archie went on to become the foremost football ground designer of his generation, being responsible for stands at such stadia as Liverpool’s Anfield, Aston Villa’s Villa Park, Manchester United’s Old Trafford and Fulham’s Craven Cottage (see image) to name but a few. In fact, he went on to design more that 20 stadia in the period between 1899 and 1939.

A list of football grounds he worked on, along with images, can be found at Nicolas Jansberg’s Structurae website :

http://en.structurae.de/persons/data/index.cfm?id=d006772

His designs were generally thought of as more practical than fancy, although close inspection to the detail of such structures, would give an alternate view. Typically, one of his designs would incorporate a two-tiered stand with a large central roof span and a distinctive pediment. It was thought that he worked on a formula stating for every one person seated, two could stand.

 

Midland Road stand at Bradford City (in construction)

His first design in England was for Sheffield United at their Bramall Lane ground. The John Street Stand incorporated a large mock-Tudor press box along with capacity for 9.000 fans, a third of which were seated.

In the wake of the Taylor report and the move to all-seated stadia, many of his designs have now been demolished for re-development.

Later years

After leaving a declining Glasgow for Liverpool in 1909, Leitch again moved, in the early part of the First World War, to London where he stayed in practice for over 20 years. In 1936, he retired from the business, leaving the running to his son, Archie Junior, who had become a partner in 1927.

 

Leitch's Bullens Road stand at Everton's Goodison Park

Archibald Leitch died on 25^th April 1939 and was buried in the family plot at East Sheen, near to Richmond-upon-Thames. He will be remembered as the premier football ground and stand designer, not only of his generation, but possibly of all time.

SOURCES

Times online

Played in Britain

Dictionary of Scottish Architects

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING

Inglis, Simon   Engineering Archie, English Heritage, London (United Kingdom), ISBN 1850749183, 2005.

SWANSEA CITY FC

Since 2005, Swansea City has been playing their home matches at the Liberty Stadium, which they share with the Ospreys Rugby Union FC. The previous 93 years were spent at the Vetch Field.

Early years

The area around Swansea, in south-west Wales, has always been thought of as more of a rugby playing area, but in the summer of 1912, Swansea Town AFC was formed. Initially joining the 2^nd Division of the Southern League, the club progressed to becoming members of the Football League in 1920.

The Vetch Field

Previous to Swansea Town’s existence, local children used to play on a piece of land, close to the town centre, which was used for growing a cabbage-like, legume plant called vetch. This land was actually owned by the Swansea Gaslight company, but was deemed surplus to requirements and consequently this vetch field was rented to Swansea Town AFC for use as a football ground to play their matches.

The first professional match held at the venue was on the 7^th September 1912, against arch Welsh rivals Cardiff City, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Early matches at the Vetch were played on concrete and for the first full season the players had to wear knee pads.

Originally having a capacity of just 12,000, the record attendance of 32,786 was achieved at the ground in 1967, when playing against Arsenal in a 5^th round FA Cup tie.

In 1971, Swansea Town changed their name to Swansea City to coincide with the town becoming a city.

Last match at the stadium in 2005

Over the years, the ground had deteriorated considerably and it became a burning issue that the club would need to relocate to progress. In 2005, Swansea City finally left the Vetch Field.

The Liberty Stadium

With neither Swansea City nor the Ospreys Rugby Union FC having the capital to invest in essential new facilities, it fell upon Swansea council and a consortium of developers to propose a new venue, to be located on the site of the council owned Morfa Stadium.

The Liberty Stadium was built at a construction cost of £27million, funded by a 355,000 ft retail park on land to the east of the river. The stadium has a capacity of 20,532 and gets its name from its sponsors, Swansea based Liberty Properties PLC

SUNDERLAND AFC

Sunderland football has gone a long way since the formation of the club back in 1879. 131 years and seven grounds later, they are back, arguably where they belong, in the top flight of English football. This statement however would be vehemently disputed by followers of their local rivals Newcastle United.

Sunderland AFC was founded in 1879 by a local teacher, James Allan and was initially known as the Sunderland District & Teachers Association Football Club. The name changed to the Sunderland Association Football Club 2 years later, when other professions were allowed to join This allowed a larger player pool and improved finances. Allan however grew dissatisfied with the club’s changing attitude to professionalism and left to form a rival club, Sunderland Albion, and the two clubs were rivals on and off the field until Albion folded in 1892.

Early Grounds

Their first ground from 1879 was at Blue House Field in Hendon. On the eastern side of the city, it was located very close to Hendon Board School where the club was formed. At that time the club paid a rent of £10 for the ground use. 

Part of the site is now the Raich Carter Sports Centre, named after one of the club’s great former players who captained the club to League Championship success in 1936.

In 1882, the club moved to Groves Field in Ashbrooke for one season, before moving to the Horatio Stadium in the district of Roker. In what then was thought of as the tourist section of the city, the club had moved for the first time to a location north of the river Wear in an area dominated by terraced housing. But after only one season, the club moved on to Abbs Field in Fulwell. 

In what is now a fairly affluent area in the northern parts of the city, this was the first ground where the club was able to charge admission to their matches. But again, Sunderland football which was getting a nomadic reputation, was to find a new home only two years later.

Newcastle Road stadium

In 1886, they moved to a site in Newcastle Road. This was to be the stadium where they played when entering the Football League in 1890 and for a short while had the honour of being the largest in the United Kingdom when a crowd of 21,000 turned out for a cup tie against Everton in 1891. 

Towards the end of the 19^th century, it was evident that the club needed an even larger stadium. Football was entering its boom period and the old Newcastle Road stadium was certainly not sufficient to cope with the mass crowds that were prominent at Football stadia at that time.

Roker Park

Roker Park 1976

In 1898, the club returned to the Roker area. It was negotiated with a local land owner, Mr Tennant, to buy a plot of farmland. The only stipulation to the deal was that they would have to build a house on the land as well as a football stadium. Until such a time as the house was built, they would remain to pay rent on the site. 

Within a year of the site being bought the ground was ready, with wooden stands surrounding the pitch which only took 3 months to construct. The turf for the pitch was brought over from Ireland and the ground hosted its initial match, a friendly against Liverpool.

By 1913, the stadiums capacity had increased to approx. 50,000 In 1929, the old wooden grandstand was replaced by an Archibald Leitch designed stand which nearly bankrupted the club. The capacity was up to 60,000 but it was not unknown for this to rise by another 15,000 when a suitably attractive fixture brought in the masses.

A bomb fell on the stadium during the war causing a Police casualty, when an officer patrolling on his beat was walking past at the time. In 1952, the ground became the 2^nd in England to be fitted with floodlights (only beaten by Arsenal at Highbury Stadium). Improvements were also made to the stadium in readiness for its use in the World Cup staged in 1966.

In the early part of the 1990’s when the Taylor Report suggested all-seated stadia was the future for English football, it was decided that Roker Park was too confined to contain the size of all-seated attendance that would be expected for a Premier League club. Being surrounded by housing on all sides, a further decision was made to relocate and build a new arena. The site of Roker Park eventually became a housing estate with such apt road names as Promotion Close, Clockstand Close, Goalmouth Close, Midfield Drive, Turnstile Mews and Roker Park Close.

The Stadium of Light

The Stadium of Light, overlooking the River Wear

The Sunderland Stadium of Light, built on the site of the old Wearmouth Colliery was in fact the 2^nd choice of location for a new stadium. The original plan was to build on a plot adjacent to the Nissan Car plant in the city. The Japanese Car giant however objected to this proposal and the club had to think again. 

The next plan was on land which bordered onto the north bank of the River Wear which was only a few hundred yards away from Roker Park. The all clear was given by the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation and the new stadium was ready for use in 1997.

The Stadium of Light has a capacity of 49,000 which makes it the 5^th largest ground in England. It has hosted 2 England full internationals during the period when Wembley was being rebuilt and was been proposed as one of the venues for the England World Cup Finals bid in 2018. 

The name Stadium of Light comes from a reference to a miner’s lamp, which is a fitting tribute to the sites former use and to all who were employed there.

MIDDLESBROUGH FC

Middlesbrough Football Club, better known as the Boro or just plain Boro, have played at 3 grounds since turning professional in 1889, some 13 years after their initial formation.

Grounds prior to professionalism

Brian Clough statue in Albert Park

Middlesbrough FC were formed in 1876 and played their early matches at Albert Park in the town (see image). Sadly, only after 2 years after damage had been inflicted to the grounds by players and supporters alike, the park committee insisted the club find alternative accommodation.

They moved to Breckon Hill where again they only stayed for 2 years, deciding to move when the owner decided to increase the rent. Breckon Hill was located behind the present-day Middlesbrough College campus.

Their next home, from 1882 was at the Lindthorpe Road Ground, which at the time was also the home of the Middlesbrough Cricket Club. The cricket club however decided to move out a year or so into the joint tenancy, ironically to the Breckon Hill ground, leaving the football club as the sole users of the facility.

In 1903, upon entry to the Football League and the fact that the club was attracting higher numbers of supporters requiring a more substantial venue, they moved to Ayresome Park where they were to remain for 92 years.

Ayresome Park

Designed and constructed by legendary Scottish football stadium architect Archibald Leitch, Ayresome Park was built at Paradise Field, adjacent to the stadium of Middlesbrough Ironopolis, who had been members of the Football League back in the 1890’s.

The highest attendance at the ground was set in 1949 when 53,802 crammed into the stadium for a match against local rivals Newcastle United.

Ayresome Park was also used as one of the venues for the World Cup Finals held in England in 1966, hosting 3 matches involving the USSR, North Korea, Italy and Chile. The attendances for these games were however the lowest in the tournament, with just 15,887 people attending the match between North Korea and Chile.

Aerial shot of Ayresome Park in 1982

By the early 1990’s the stadium was beginning to look quite dated and it was clear that high amounts of money and work would be required to bring it up to the standards required by the Taylor report when all stadia would need to be all-seated.

In 1994, plans were released for a new stadium to be located at the Middlehaven site, on the banks of the River Tees. Construction began that autumn, with the facility being completed in time for the start of the 1995-6 season.

Ayresome Park remained in use as a training facility up until 1997, when it was demolished to make way for a housing estate, which still covers the site of the old ground.

The Riverside Stadium

Constructed by Taylor Woodrow at a cost of £16 million, the Riverside Stadium was built in a period of 32 weeks. Holding a current capacity of 35,100 the club has the permission of the local council to increase this limit by approx 7,000 should it be so required.

In 2005, the club resurrected the old Ayresome Park gates which were famously locked when the club briefly went into liquidation in 1986 (see images).

  

MANCHESTER UNITED FC

Football Ground History: Manchester United

Now, possibly the widest supported football club in the world, Premier League, Manchester United or the Red Devils as they are affectionately referred to, have come a long way from their humble beginnings. 

Formed as a section of works team in the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the club has become one of the most successful in the English game, having won numerous League titles, FA Cups and the Champions League/European Cup on 3 occasions.

Club Origins

Manchester United was founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878. Formed by the Carriage and Wagon section of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath, their initial matches were against other sections and departments of the railway. In the early days, the club actively looked for quality footballers and offered them jobs on the railway so they could join the ranks and improve the team.

10 years after formation, they ware playing local league football and soon, after being declined entry into the Football League, moved to the Football Alliance. When the Alliance merged with the Football League, they started the 1892-3 season in the First Division of the Football League. By this time the LYR had been dropped from their name and they were known as Newton Heath FC.

North Road

The first matches were played on a field in North Road, located close to the railway yard in Newton Heath. Even though holding a capacity of 12,000 it was thought by the officials of the club as inadequate to join the Football League, so a period of expansion was undertaken. In 1891, two grandstands, both able to hold 1,000 people were purchased, increasing the grounds capacity to an approximate 15,000. Two years later however, the club were evicted from the ground at North Road by their landlords, the Manchester Deans and Canons, who considered it inappropriate for a football club to charge admission to church land.

Fujitsu offices

The site of Manchester United’s first ground at North Road, now renamed Northampton Road, after use as a school playing field, is now the home of offices belonging to Japanese IT products and services company, Fujitsu

Bank Street

After eviction, the club were soon able to locate a site in Bank Street, Clayton. Again it was a field with no stands or barely any facilities for players or fans alike, but by the start of the 1893-4 season, two stands had been hastily built. One covered the whole of one side of the ground whilst the other behind the goal at the Bradford end. At the other, Clayton end, they built a high bank, enabling large crowds to be catered for. On 1^st September of that year, Newton Heath played their 1^st home match at the ground, winning 3-2 against Burnley.

It only took another 3 weeks before the remaining stands were in place, just in time for the home match against Nottingham Forest. With purchases of stands from other clubs, such as the Broughton Rangers Rugby League Club, by the end of the century, Bank Street had become quite a substantial stadium.

The club then took a financial downturn, causing bailiffs to enforce the temporary closure of the stadium. However, 4 local businessmen came to the rescue and took over the clubs debts. At this time the green and gold shirts, which had been previously worn, were ditched in favour of the now familiar red and white and the club changed its name to Manchester United.

Bank Street plaque

After substantial investment, the club was able to continue development at Bank Street and by 1906 the ground was covered on all 4 sides, holding a capacity in the region of 50,000. Even so, after winning the Football League in 1908, it was decided that Bank Street, surrounded by factories and more often than not polluted by clouds of smoke, was still too restrictive for the club’s further ambitions and the search for a new home began.

In 2002, Manchester hosted the Commonwealth games and one of the stadia built for that event was the Manchester Velodrome. The car park for this indoor cycling track is located on the very site of the old stadium at Bank Street The site is also very close to Manchester City’s Etihad stadium (the Commonwealth Games main stadium).

Old Trafford

In 1909, Manchester United made a purchase of some land lying close to the Bridgwater Canal, in an area south-west of the city centre, for a sum of £60,000. Here at Old Trafford, they employed the services of the now legendary football stadium architect, Archibald Leitch, to design and oversee the building of the ground. The original plan was to hold a capacity of 100,000, but because of financial constraints, this was lowered by 20,000 to 80,000.

The first match took place in February 1910 where the hosts were beaten by the odd goal in 7 by great rivals Liverpool. It was commented by a local journalist, that as a football ground, it was unrivalled in the world and an honour to the city of Manchester.

Old Trafford has undergone extensive rebuilding over the years, but is still one of the top football stadia in England, much befitting, arguably one of the most successful clubs in world footballing history.

Not altogether bad for a railway works team!

IPSWICH TOWN FC

Ipswich Town Football Club sometimes known as the Blues, Town and more recently, the Tractor Boys, are a Football League Championship side. With a long history and first class reputation, they find themselves in the throws of another push for promotion, back into the Premier League.

Portman Road panorama

Club Origin and Early Grounds

The club was founded as far back as 1878, but did not turn professional until 58 years later in 1936. Initially formed as an amateur side, the original club name until 1888 was Ipswich AFC, when a merger with the Ipswich Rugby Club brought into existence Ipswich Town FC.

In the early days, they competed in and won numerous local cup competitions, such as the Suffolk Challenge Cup and the Suffolk Senior Cup. They joined the Southern Amateur League in 1907, where they were league champions on 4 occasions, becoming founder members of the Eastern Counties League in 1935. A year later, when turning professional, they joined the Southern League and were Champions in their first season and 3^rd in the following campaign. Then came their subsequent election to the Football League in 1938.

Between 1878 and 1884, Town played their home matches at two grounds in the town, namely Broom Hill and Brooks Hall. Broom Hill, now better known as Broomhill Park, was owned at the time by George Sherrington, who was a driving force behind the club in its early years and both he and his brother played for the club in the 1870/80’s. After 1884, when Ipswich Town moved to Portman Road, the ground was used by the rugby club.

Portman Road

Although moving to Portman Road in 1884, the main ground developments did not start until 1901 and at that time, a tobacco processing plant was to be found bordering the ground. A wooden stand was built on the Portman Road side of the ground in 1905, only for the roof to blow off 6 years later during a storm. After turning professional in 1936, a terrace was built at the north end of the ground, to be followed by a further terrace at the southern end a year later.

By 1954, all the sides were terraced and 5 years later, the club installed their first floodlights. In 1971, a two tiered stand was built on the Portman Road side of the pitch to replace the existing terraces. In 1990, so as to comply with the recommendations of the Taylor Report, the ground was converted into an all seated stadium with a capacity to hold 22,600.

The Ramsey and Robson Eras

Sir Bobby Robson statue

The most successful periods in the clubs playing history were during the management periods of Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson. Ramsey was instrumental in Ipswich Towns only Football League Championship in 1961-2 becoming a legendary figure and national hero when moving on to manage England to World Cup glory in 1966.

Bobby Robson took over the helm in 1969 and brought further success to the club with an FA Cup victory in 1978 and winning the UEFA Cup in 1981. The club also finished League runners up in 1981 and 1982.

Both great managers are commemorated by statues at the stadium .

DERBY COUNTY FC

One of the twelve founder members, they have competed in every season of the English Football League. They are currently down at the 2^nd level and in the process of mounting another attempt to return to the Premier League.

Derby County FC came into existence in 1884 as a branch of the Derbyshire County Cricket Club. The intention was to give the players and supporters an interest in the winter months i.e. out of the cricket season. The original plan was to name the club Derbyshire County, but the county football association objected, claiming the name was too long.

Their initial home was at the cricket club’s Racecourse Ground, where they played a number of friendly fixtures and were entered into the FA Cup. A victory over Aston Villa in the 1885 FA Cup stood the club in good stead, helping them to attract a better class of opposition for their friendly matches. On the back of this, they were invited to be members of the inaugural Football League in 1888, where their first match was won 6-3, away at Bolton Wanderers, coming back from a 3-0 deficit. In the first season the club ended in 10^th position out of 12. The ground actually holds the distinction of being the first outside of London to host an FA Cup final (1886 replay) and also hosted a full England international.

The Baseball Ground

In 1895 because of disputes over fixtures with the cricket club, they moved away from the County cricket ground to the Baseball Ground (so called as it was previously used for that sport). The club had previously used the ground in the 1891-2 season for a match against Sunderland when, because of a fixture clash, they were unable to play at the Racecourse Ground. Baseball was very popular in England in the 19^th century but with football becoming the spectator sport of the masses, its popularity had waned somewhat.

The club were to stay at the Baseball Ground for 102 years despite having opportunities to move away both in the 1920’s and again in the 1940’s. Here they adopted their traditional back and white colours and the nickname “the Rams”. The club held strong links with the First Regiment of the Derby Militia who had a ram as their mascot and sang “The Derby Ram” as the regimental song. From that period, up until the 2^nd World War, the club had limited success. They ended up as runners up in the League in 1896 and on 2 further occasions in the 20’s and 30’s. They also lost the FA Cup finals of 1898, 1899 and 1903. The club was closed at the outset of the war, starting up again in the early 1940’s and in 1946 won their first major trophy, beating Charlton Athletic 4-1 in the FA Cup final.

Clough and Taylor statue at Pride Park

In 1967, the legendary management team of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor took the helm at the BBG and within 2 years had guided the club back to the First Division. 3 years after that, the pair then took the club to their first ever Championship victory. The following season, they made it through to the semi-final of the European Cup, losing to Juventus in a tie which became notorious, not so much for the football played, but because of fixing allegations made against the Italian giants.

In 1997 after rejecting 2 other sites, the club finally moved away from the BBG to a brand new home at Pride Park Stadium (although reserve matches continued to be played at the BBG until as late as 2003). In May 2001, the ground hosted an England international match against Mexico, giving the club the honour of being the only club to have had 3 of their home grounds hold international matches.

Derby is a very passionate footballing town with a strong and very loyal following of which would be an asset to any club chasing promotion to the top flight.