History
Following the sale of the Drill Field, Northwich's former ground in 2003, and a ground-sharing agreement with Witton Albion, Northwich moved into the Victoria Stadium in 2005. The stadium is located on a 9 acres (36,000 m2) site in Wincham Business Park. The Trent and Mersey Canal passes behind the stadium and separates Northwich from their fiercest rivals Witton Albion. On 17 August 2005, Northwich played their first game at the ground, beating Gainsborough Trinity 2-0.
The ground was officially opened on 30 November 2006 by Sir Alex Ferguson, who fielded a Manchester United team in a friendly match. Manchester United Reserves played at the ground for 14 months in 2007-08 and 2008-09 reserve seasons.
In February 2008, the ground was used for filming a new Nike advert, directed by Guy Ritchie and featuring Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. It was one of only three grounds, along with the Camp Nou in Barcelona and the Emirates Stadium in London, to be selected by Nike for filming.
The future of the stadium was cast into doubt in January 2009, when then owner Mike Connett removed safety equipment from the ground; this forced Northwich to temporarily move to rivals Altrincham's Moss Lane and Witton Albion's Wincham Park grounds. It also spelt the end of Manchester United Reserve's tenancy at the stadium, as they moved their permanent home, who also moved to Moss Lane.
A team consisting of actors from Cheshire-based soap Hollyoaks and an All-Star XI consisting of former professional footballers and special guests played at the stadium on 10 October 2009 in a charity match for St. Luke's Hospice in Winsford.
Plans for a marina on the Trent and Mersey Canal, located to the rear of the stadium, a cinema and a hotel on site were announced in September 2010, with a wealthy American investor reportedly interested in expanding their portfolio into England. The ground is worth around £1.2 million, with chairman Jim Rushe in the process of securing the stadium.
A record attendance of 3,154 was achieved on the penultimate game of the 2005-06 season, when Northwich defeated their nearest rivals Stafford Rangers 3-1 to win the Conference North, however this was bettered in the 2009-10 season on 28 November when Northwich played Lincoln City in the Second Round of the FA Cup, a game which was witnessed by 3,544 spectators.
Read more about this topic: Victoria Stadium (Northwich)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)