Structure and Facilities
McDiarmid Park, the first purpose-built all-seater stadium in the United Kingdom, consists of four covered, single-tier stands. Facilities include parking for 1,000 cars and 100 coaches, a synthetic playing surface adjacent to the ground (which is used as the team's training ground), and conference facilities within the Main (West) Stand. The stands are all of a similar height, with the Main Stand, on the western side of the ground, being slightly taller. The Main Stand also has greater leg room between rows of seats and includes an area with padded seats reserved for season-ticket holders, club officials and their guests. In the north-east corner of the ground there is an electronic scoreboard. The floodlights at McDiarmid are the same ones used at Muirton Park. The club also tried to retain the square goalposts used at Muirton, but the timber frames could not be re-erected.
The South Stand is named the Ormond Stand, after Willie Ormond, a successful manager of St. Johnstone who left the club in 1973 to manage Scotland. The Ormond Stand also houses the club's souvenir shop, which is only open on match days before and after the match. It was formerly nominated as a "family stand", for home fans and fans of the visiting club to sit together. The club has a number of options for housing visiting fans. Visiting supports of a few hundred or less are housed in a segregated section at the north end of the main stand, with the two end stands closed. Clubs who regularly bring a larger support are also allocated the North Stand. If a very large visiting support is expected the club has a further option to also open the Ormond Stand for away fans.
Being a prototype stadium, McDiarmid Park has some faults that critics of seated stadia picked upon. Spectators in the front rows of the stands are not necessarily sheltered, while the stadium has been criticised for lacking atmosphere. St. Johnstone also attracted criticism for charging visiting supporters more than home supporters, a practice that became commonplace.
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