What are the smallest Premier League stadiums of all time? After Luton Town earned promotion to the Premier League in 2023, is Kenilworth Road the smallest stadium ever? Let’s take a look.<\/p>\n
Brentford played out of Griffin Park since 1904 and was the only stadium in the English football league to have a pub on each corner of the ground. The club attempted to move grounds as far back as 1973 and finally moved to the modern and brand new Brentford Community Stadium in 2020.<\/p>\n
Under the ambitious Matthew Benham the club has transformed itself into a Premier League team earning promotion in 2021. The club was playing in League Two as recent as 2008 and were on the cusp of bankruptcy. Benham transformed the club using analytics to buy undervalued player and selling some on for more than 10-times their value.<\/p>\n
Brentford Community Stadium is small by Premier League standards but much larger than the 12,300 Griffin Park. It’s been designed with the potential to expand the stadium to 25,000 in the future, but it doesn’t have a pub in each corner.<\/p>\n
Blackpool played in the Premier League for the first time in their history in the 2010-11 season but would only last one season in the top flight. Bloomfield Road was the only Premier League stadium not to have undersoil heating which led to the postponement of matches.<\/p>\n
Bloomfield Road had a party atmosphere in the Premier League thanks to Blackpool’s popularity as a seaside hesitation. In it’s heyday the stadium hosted crowds of almost 40,000 in the 1950’s. In fact the Spion Kop stand had a capacity of about 16,000 itself which is practically the entire capacity of the stadium today.<\/p>\n
The 1985 Bradford City stadium fire resulted in the outlawing of wooden grandstands and that meant two of Bloomfield Road’s stands had to be closed. The club attempting to sell off the stadium which never eventuated but over the years it’s capacity has declined. The temporary East Stand that was erected for their one and only Premier League season remains in place till this day.<\/p>\n
Before Southampton’s move to Saint Mary’s Stadium in 2001, the club called The Dell home for 103 years. The stadium made history as it became the first in England to have permanent floodlighting installed. The ground underwent four expansions; the one in 1929 needed after a fire which destroyed the East Stand as a result of a dropped cigarette.<\/p>\n
In 1940 a German bomb fell on the stadium during World War 2 which created an 18-foot crater in one of the penalty areas. In 1941 an explosion at the ground also cause a major fire which was sparked from stored munitions.<\/p>\n
Prior to the Taylor Report the stadium had held crowds of over 30,000. By the 1993-94 Premier League season The Dell would have the lowest capacity stadium in top flight football. Five apartment blocks now occupy the grounds The Dell once sat on, ground that was unsuitable for major expansion works and the reason for the move to Saint Mary’s.<\/p>\n
\nThe Dell, Southampton. pic.twitter.com\/Rr0FPURmE7<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 When Football Was Better (@FootballInT80s) January 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n