Burnden or Reebok?

Just seen the proposed new ground that Everton will be moving to and as nice as it looks i'm sure a lot of fans would rather stay at Goodison.

I know Burnden Park was a dump and needed redeveloping but should we have tried to stay in the centre of Bolton and not move to Horwich? Was there ever an option to redevelop the Burnden site and stay there? You only have to look at the centre of Bolton now and see how bad it is, so would the club staying in the area helped?

I'm not knocking the Reebok as it's a great stadium and by far the best in the lower leagues but it's never had the magic that Burnden had for me. If we could have found a way to stay in Bolton back then i'm pretty sure i would have wanted that option.

I prefer the Unibol for playing, etc, but I miss Burnden for the atmosphere. 
For some reason I don't remember having any parking problem at Burnden, but getting out of the Unibol is a bloody nightmare.

Norpig wrote:Just seen the proposed new ground that Everton will be moving to and as nice as it looks i'm sure a lot of fans would rather stay at Goodison.

I know Burnden Park was a dump and needed redeveloping but should we have tried to stay in the centre of Bolton and not move to Horwich? Was there ever an option to redevelop the Burnden site and stay there? You only have to look at the centre of Bolton now and see how bad it is, so would the club staying in the area helped?

I'm not knocking the Reebok as it's a great stadium and by far the best in the lower leagues but it's never had the magic that Burnden had for me. If we could have found a way to stay in Bolton back then i'm pretty sure i would have wanted that option.

You should try re-creating it in matchsticks. You might just get an invitation to dinner.

Burnden will always be special to me, it's where i went to my first football match 60 years ago and fortunately i have mostly good memories from there, even play Walking Football there before we had to stop because of Covid.

The Reebok or whatever it's called is OK apart from feeling a lot colder but that might be just me.

Burden Park all the way.

Most people of a certain age would say Burnden but part of my question was about whether we should have looked to stay on the same site or close by and not go out of town to Horwich, any thoughts chaps?

Burnden has so many happy memories for me. I virtually lived there. Would have been nice to redevelop it, but we are where we are.
And you're right, Banksy, the new place is bloody freezing at times. No matter how cold it is when you leave home, it's more than a few degrees colder when you reach the car park.

Norpig wrote:Most people of a certain age would say Burnden but part of my question was about whether we should have looked to stay on the same site or close by and not go out of town to Horwich, any thoughts chaps?

There was a bit of a kerfuffle about it at the time but sadly it was irretrievable as we'd already sold off part of the ground to your supermarket, there were limited development options because of the railway line, St Peter's Way and surrounding houses and the Council had other plans anyway.
Horwich site had loads of undeveloped space and was cheap so it made financial if not emotional sense.

boltonbonce wrote:Burnden has so many happy memories for me. I virtually lived there. Would have been nice to redevelop it, but we are where we are.
And you're right, Banksy, the new place is bloody freezing at times. No matter how cold it is when you leave home, it's more than a few degrees colder when you reach the car park.

 Was going to mention the coldness of the stadium on the UNIBOL vs SOFA thread, it's one of the main things i don't like and will eventually put me off going, might sound soft but i'm out in all weathers and as long i'm moving the cold doesn't bother me, you can't even warm your hands under the Hot Water Tap nowadays.

Even if we'd been able to repurchase the supermarket etc Bolton Council had already made it clear that planning permission for a redevelopment or reconstruction of Burnden would not be forthcoming. I suspect at least a part of that was to keep the 'hooligan' element at a safe distance from the town and also because of the very real difficulties pertaining to transport and infrastructure that would have accompanied the development work and beyond. We'd have had to spend at least one and maybe two seasons playing our home games somewhere else.

I miss Burnden Park but I must be honest and say our 'new' home is far easier to get to and far better equipped than Burnden ever could have been.