| WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS |
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Molineux Stadium
Wolverhampton, a city 130 miles northwest of London is also home to one of the country’s most historic football
venues – Molineux Stadium, a facility which traces its roots back to 1889, as the home of the Wolverhampton
Wanderers football club.
The stadium is located just on the fringe of the ring road which surrounds the center city, a community of mid rise
buildings, a university and a clean and modern downtown core. The building itself has undergone numerous
renovations and stand replacements to bring it to its current 30,000 seat capacity, and is surrounded by parking
lots, spacious public plazas, some residential neighborhoods nearby and corner pubs with outdoor patios catering
to thirsty fans, and a well stocked and modern team merchandise store.
The street vendors outside the venue are incredible. The smell of brats grilling, and other food selections are
certain to satisfy anyone’s pallet, and easily beats out the poor concession choices inside the stadium, which is
little more than beer, soda pop, watered down coffee and tea and some sort of biscuit pie. We opted for the roast
pork and gravy and stuffing sandwich, which was a true symphony on the taste buds. But this is only one of the
many choices. Combine that with the color and panorama of people watching and soaking in the game day scene,
and getting down to this venue early is a pretty good choice.
There are four stands on each side of the stadium, and they are segregated so that fans are not allowed to
traverse the 360 of this stadium. Away fans are assigned their own gate and their own section, straddling the lower
sidelines on the east side of the stadium, with ample walls and security to prevent them from mingling with the
home crowd. Yes, there are rowdies and hooligans at these games, and they take security here very seriously.
The stands are replete in yellow and black, with the name “Wolves” interwoven via black chairs into the yellow
chairs on each sideline’s upper tier. There are two video boards, but incredibly enough they are darkened and
inoperable, and there are not even any digital scoreboards or score and time information. Fans wishing to keep
rough time of the 45 minute halves can do a time check of the analog clock hanging on the roof line above each
end zone and count down from there.
Did we mention sports betting? A betting parlor, similar to the OTB installations here in New York , is right in the
concourse and fans can bet on almost anything pertaining to this or other EPL games going on in other stadiums.
Wolverhampton’s opponent was the powerhouse Manchester City team, which scored early on a penalty kick, only
to see Wolves tie it late in the first half and then take the 2-1 lead late in the second half. With fans singing,
chanting, and watching with baited breath during stoppage time, the heavily underdog home team hung on to win,
and it was euphoria and bedlam in the stands.
venues – Molineux Stadium, a facility which traces its roots back to 1889, as the home of the Wolverhampton
Wanderers football club.
The stadium is located just on the fringe of the ring road which surrounds the center city, a community of mid rise
buildings, a university and a clean and modern downtown core. The building itself has undergone numerous
renovations and stand replacements to bring it to its current 30,000 seat capacity, and is surrounded by parking
lots, spacious public plazas, some residential neighborhoods nearby and corner pubs with outdoor patios catering
to thirsty fans, and a well stocked and modern team merchandise store.
The street vendors outside the venue are incredible. The smell of brats grilling, and other food selections are
certain to satisfy anyone’s pallet, and easily beats out the poor concession choices inside the stadium, which is
little more than beer, soda pop, watered down coffee and tea and some sort of biscuit pie. We opted for the roast
pork and gravy and stuffing sandwich, which was a true symphony on the taste buds. But this is only one of the
many choices. Combine that with the color and panorama of people watching and soaking in the game day scene,
and getting down to this venue early is a pretty good choice.
There are four stands on each side of the stadium, and they are segregated so that fans are not allowed to
traverse the 360 of this stadium. Away fans are assigned their own gate and their own section, straddling the lower
sidelines on the east side of the stadium, with ample walls and security to prevent them from mingling with the
home crowd. Yes, there are rowdies and hooligans at these games, and they take security here very seriously.
The stands are replete in yellow and black, with the name “Wolves” interwoven via black chairs into the yellow
chairs on each sideline’s upper tier. There are two video boards, but incredibly enough they are darkened and
inoperable, and there are not even any digital scoreboards or score and time information. Fans wishing to keep
rough time of the 45 minute halves can do a time check of the analog clock hanging on the roof line above each
end zone and count down from there.
Did we mention sports betting? A betting parlor, similar to the OTB installations here in New York , is right in the
concourse and fans can bet on almost anything pertaining to this or other EPL games going on in other stadiums.
Wolverhampton’s opponent was the powerhouse Manchester City team, which scored early on a penalty kick, only
to see Wolves tie it late in the first half and then take the 2-1 lead late in the second half. With fans singing,
chanting, and watching with baited breath during stoppage time, the heavily underdog home team hung on to win,
and it was euphoria and bedlam in the stands.
