Oakwell Stadium

I don’t know the Pine Tree, and I don’t know the Elm, nor do I know the Hoarse Chestnut (who shouts a lot), but I certainly know the Oakwell.
First-​Hand Experience: More info about my personal experience at this stadium — I was friends with a player (Taggart), or rather my Dad was. I went to see them play here when I was a kid and then came back for another concert in 2011 when on tour. Both times, the crowd was loud and intense, and both times, Barnsley were held to a draw. The crowd aside, I think it’s a fantastic and underrated stadium that manages to keep the noise in. It’s a real credit to League One, which doesn’t have many facilities this good.
I always loved coming to this place, to see games or otherwise, and look forward to the next time I get the chance.
I’ve been to most UK & US stadiums, due to lifelong obsessions with travel, sport & especially footy (soccer to Americans). Born & raised in England, I followed Oxford United (hometown team) to stadia all over the country at away games, and later Liverpool (fave team) around. Every stadium review — like all my reviews — are from first-​hand personal experience, usually from several visits. In 2011, I was on music tour in the UK, and visited most stadiums for fun in my spare time. As recently as Fall 2014, when I was «stuck» in UK for 3 months, I went to hundreds yet again while travelling. I have pictures of me at most, which I’ll post later. Also, when back in UK I’ll take more pix, and add more stadia!
*** return to regular review ***
This is one of the more impressive stadiums outside the top two tiers, probably because it’s historically been inside the top two tiers. The stadium houses a team, Barnsley, who have never really achieved greatness or punched at their weight, spending one solitary season in the top flight, one time, and it went pretty badly. They’ve won a few play off finals but no silverware. Their stadium is much more impressive than the team’s track record.
There are 3 or 4 other reviews for this stadium, but they’re incorrectly placed under the «Barnsley FC» listing, and should be moved here since they’re not about Barnsley FC and only about this stadium.
One of the tiers is totally huge, kind of like my exs when I broke up with her. Nice hills in the background and a really impressive stadium, but some of the sides are not yet closed in and so I’ll keep it as a ⁴⁄₅ but it’s very close to being a 5 with a few modifications.