REPORT > CCFC New Stand Is Big + Red

I took the boy down to the Cardiff City Stadium this weekend for the players open training session and to check out the new stand. I even took the old man to get him out the house and give Mum some peace.

First impressions were that it looked impressive and humungous in the July sun.  And, in the most obvious news ever, the seats are indeed red. The talk of the ground seemed to be the seat colour but did anyone really expect blue ones? I didn’t.

Anyway, the new stand extension makes the whole ground feel different.

On entry, the walk up the steps to the seats was not for the feint hearted.

I did feel that we should’ve done a full warm up and stretch prior to the climb - I had a sweat on when we reached the top but my four year old ran the whole way. The old man suggested an installation of a stairlift to a nearby steward.

There is a lift facility though (albeit quite small) which we utilised for the way down.

Once you’re up, the concourse is the usual blank concrete bunker at the moment with a few kiosks for matchday drinks and toilets (which are painted blue by the way!) etc.

There’s also a quite tasteful panoramic window which looks out over the city. 

I stood inside the stand wondering how long it would be before City fill the ground again and hear the roar now including the new stand.

Then I realised I’d be at the Super Cup final between Real Madrid & Sevilla in a few weeks with @gavinbonson and went to check the view from our seats. Every seat in the new tier has a good view really, even the back row (which has black seats) and the sides are also unrestricted.  

What about the training then?

Well, although my boy got bored and asked to play ‘I Spy’, the training session was interesting, particularly to me given I’d taken part in a lot of football training recently. The standard at Llantwit Fardre FC training though isn't quite as high as what we saw Saturday.

The players touch and close control in tight drills was incredible at times with twinkle toes Mats Møller Dæhli pulling rabbits out of hats reminding us what a tiny genius he is. 

After some funky fitness drills then it was onto some crowd pleasing shot practice which was fun and Kenwyne Jones (yes, him) was looking sharp as a serpent tooth.  He even run a bit.

All in all, an entertaining couple of hours.