ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BOLTON WANDERERS STADIUM
Bolton Wanderers is a professional football stadium located in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home stadium of Bolton Wanderers F.C. The stadium was opened in 1997 by John Prescott, a Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time., it was named The Reebok Stadium after club sponsors Reebok.
The stadium was named after long-time team sponsor Reebok in 1997, fans considered the title unbiased and believed that too much emphasis was being placed on financial considerations. This hostility considerably reduced after the stadium was constructed, however, as fans have grown accustomed to the name and since Reebok is a local company.
The Macron title was applied in July 2014 after the Bolton Wanderers club finalized a partnership with the large Italian sportswear brand. In April 2014, club chairman Phil Gartside was proud to be connected with Macron and was influenced by Macron’s passion for football. The contract was of four-year duration for the Macron company. Meanwhile, the club had the option to elongate at completion.
In August 2018, the partnership with Macron came to an end. The stadium again renamed, this time as The University of Bolton Stadium.
History Of Bolton Wanderers Stadium
Bolton Wanderers was established in 1874 and the old name of Bolton wanderer was christ church Football club and in 1877 it adopted its current name whose owner is Football ventures(whites) Ltd.
The nickname of Bolton wanderers were the trotters, the wanderers and the whites. Chairperson of the Bolton wanderer was Sharon Brittan and the manager was Keith Hill. The home ground of Bolton wanderer is the university of Bolton football stadium situated in Horwich Bolton.
On 9 March 1946 at Burnden park football Stadium which is also a home of Bolton Wanderers, there happened a disaster due to overcrowding of banking terraces causing a stampede. There was a match between Bolton and stoke city but due to this incident 33 people died on the spot and 400+ people injured but the match was allowed to continue till after final results. After the Ibrox Park disaster in 1971 that was the deadliest stadium in British history.
It is a modern, all-seater stadium with a capacity of 28,723, replacing the club’s old ground, Burnden Park. Despite the improved facilities and larger capacity, this move was unpopular with many of the club’s fans. This was partly due to the new stadium being built out-of-town, and partly due to sentimental attachment to the old stadium and its history. In remembrance of this, the street on which the stadium is located is called Burnden Way.
Architect & Design
The architect of the project was Lobb Sports, but the local firm of Bradshaw Gass & Hope acted as planning supervisors. The value of the contract was £25 million. The stadium is noted for its unique architecture, introduced by the Galpharm Stadium. The upper-tier corners do not have seating due to concerns about health and safety access.
On the plan, the building is given an oval bowl-shaped, acquired to ensure optimum viewing distances oversailed by four curving rooves, each hung from a swooping canted truss. Four inward leaning, tapering tubular towers support the pitch floodlighting and the main roof trusses. These traverse the full length of each side and are slightly tilted from the top and bottom.
The West Stand incorporates the main concourse on Level One, with Level Two housing offices for the club and stadium management, and changing and warm-up facilities for players. Private boxes and a 460-seat banqueting suite are on Level Three, and another public concourse with access to the upper viewing tier on Level Four.
The East stand contains a 24,000-meter double-height exhibition space, with a prominent 8.5m-high ceiling. Level Two introduces a further series of large function suites, additional boxes and a sports injury clinic that is open to the public.
Space further has South stand has since been extended and developed into a 125 bed 4-star hotel. The building’s total area is 34,000m2.
Transport
The stadium’s West Stand lies about 200 meters from Horwich Parkway railway station. The station occurs between Lostock and Blackrod on the Manchester to Preston Line. Football specials operate to and from this station on matchdays.
On non-matchdays Horwich Parkway is served by three services an hour in each direction, operated by Northern or TransPennine Express. Numerous routes serve bus stops near or at the ground, operated by Arriva North West and First Greater Manchester.
Additional Features Of B.W Stadium
In addition to hosting soccer games, the stadium also offers different services, such as a hotel and performance rooms. The construction has been used to host concerts by famous acts like Oasis, Pink, Elton John & Coldplay. Footage from the Coldplay concert was used in the video for the single, “Fix You”, that shows lead singer Chris Martin entering the stage as the song reaches its climax.
The football League world cup Semi-Final in 2000 between the European countries and New Zealand was hosted at the Reebok construction. The World Club Challenge took place there in 2001 between the National Rugby League (NRL) Grand Final premiers Brisbane Broncos and the Super League grand final premiers St. Helens. Another World Club Challenge came about In February 2007, on this occasion St. Helens were the ultimate winners beating state capital Broncos.
In 2014, the club established Bolton Wanderers Free faculty at the construction. it absolutely was a form center giving sports and connected courses for 16- to 19-year-olds, and utilized the facilities of the construction for many of its teaching and learning. However, this closed in 2017 because of low pupil numbers that made it’s not financially viable.