Lost Football League Grounds from the Air (Aerofilms Guide) [Paperback]

Although it is effectively the past 20 years that has seen the greatest change in football, with almost 20 clubs relocating from their traditional homes to brand-new stadia and with others actively pursuing such a route, over the 140 years of League football, a large number of grounds have hosted League matches but, which, for a variety of reasons, no longer do so. Apart from the results of relocation since the Bradford fire and the Hillsborough tragedy, many clubs relocated in the years before 1960. These include both Southend United and Hull City, both of whom relocated shortly after World War 2 and, in the case of Hull, have subsequently relocated again. Other grounds have been lost to the League when the host team either failed to get re-elected, in the days before automatic promotion and relegation from the non-league pyramid, or failed financially (such as Accrington Stanley). Over its almost 90 years' life, the Aerofilms company has been recording Britain from the air. During its flying operations it has recorded, either deliberately or accidentally, countless of these 'lost' grounds. The superb archive of the company, which has inspired earlier books on football grounds such as the popular Football Grounds from the Air: Then and Now (which is now in its third edition), provides some 125 images recording many of these lost grounds. From the White City Stadium, that once played host to Queens Park Rangers, to Bristol Rovers' Eastville, each of these grounds is illustrated with an historic shot recording the ground as it once looked. Alongside each of the photographs, the book provides a detailed caption outlining the history of the ground and its current status. With interest in football growing and with inexorable march of progress resulting in many of the great grounds now becoming history, this pictorial history of the numerous lost Football League grounds will appeal to all those fascinated with the history of the game in particular those who have a special interest in the development of the country's grounds.