The Old Main Stand

[Hakim Sar]

Does anyone know anything interesting about it?

Who designed and built it? How did it compare to our rivals or any other similarly sized clubs within the UK?

I always thought it was an ugly eyesore. Always looked on the small side. Looked very weird in the TV too.

If we say Highbury was the gold standard with the east and west stands, how would the likes of ibrox, parkhead, yam park, dunfermline compare in the grand scale of things?

if you have anything at all interesting about it please chuck it in here.

[Keith_M]

My opinion is pretty much the same as yours.

I can understand people having warm memories of times past, meeting their mates and enjoying big occasions.... but it was an eyesore.

I wasn't in there many times but my memories mostly revolve around wooden benches, cramped conditions and the inside of the stand reeking of p1ss.

I actually remember going to a game at Dunfermline as a kid and being jealous of their Main Stand, as it seemed much nicer than ours.

[04Sauzee]

I used to go there as a kid with my dad, used to absolutely crap it doing up the wooden stairs with the big gaps in between and looking through to all the hay bales for the horses. Was always happy after the match going sown the outside stairs at the end of the game.

[HappyAsHellas]

I think it was around 1971 that I got a job walking round the track selling sweets and juice. Underneath the old stand was a wire cage where all the empty boxes and wrappers were stored/dumped. It was a mini mountain of highly flammable materials with a wooden structure directly above. I'm sure most clubs at the time had similar arrangements but it seems weird looking back that no one thought of it as a bit dodgy, as lots of people walked by smoking during those times.

[Peevemor]

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Does anyone know anything interesting about it?

Who designed and built it? How did it compare to our rivals or any other similarly sized clubs within the UK?

I always thought it was an ugly eyesore. Always looked on the small side. Looked very weird in the TV too.

If we say Highbury was the gold standard with the east and west stands, how would the likes of ibrox, parkhead, yam park, dunfermline compare in the grand scale of things?

if you have anything at all interesting about it please chuck it in here.

I thought it was ugly too and wasn't sad to see it go. I did enjoy watching matches from the old North stand (feet stomping & the smell of cigars & damp sheepskin) as well as the enclosure before they put the benches in but you knew it was past it's sell-by date.

Apart from the old shop I never saw any of the accommodation, so I've no idea of the board room, for example, was anything special.

[Bobo]

Here's an interesting timeline on "The Ground"

http://www.hibshistoricaltrust.org.u...age/the-ground

[bringbackbenny]

It was great when the North Stand started a Hibees chant with associated foot stamping 👍

[Topographic Hibby]

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It was great when the North Stand started a Hibees chant with associated foot stamping 👍

That was where my old man used have his ST. When they started the Hibees chant with the stamping, it usually meant that the occupants had just woken-up from a nap. He also used to call it the Wing-Stand for some reason. Was a bit of an experience to have Hibs shooting down the slope 2nd half and old stand in full voice.

After Bradford City disaster in 1985, everyone woke-up and realised the old place was a deathtrap, an accident waiting to happen.

[The 90+2]

Stunk of damp and fags. Seating was like that stand we sit in at tannadice.

[nonshinyfinish]

Sat in the north end of the main stand for a few years before it was replaced – including my first ST and therefore the first experience of having 'my' seat at ER. So I won't hear a single word against it.

That said, I certainly didn't miss the pillars.

One memory that sticks out is watching the Matty Jack game vs Dundee Utd from there – I think that was the second last game before it was knocked down?

[ancient hibee]

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My opinion is pretty much the same as yours.

I can understand people having warm memories of times past, meeting their mates and enjoying big occasions.... but it was an eyesore.

I wasn't in there many times but my memories mostly revolve around wooden benches, cramped conditions and the inside of the stand reeking of p1ss.

I actually remember going to a game at Dunfermline as a kid and being jealous of their Main Stand, as it seemed much nicer than ours.

Dunfermline stand was of course much newer than ours.

Had my first season ticket in the old centre stand.£9.

[Keith_M]

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Dunfermline stand was of course much newer than ours.

Had my first season ticket in the old centre stand.£9.

Yeah, that's right.

Wasn't theirs built in the 60s?

[ancient hibee]

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Yeah, that's right.

Wasn't theirs built in the 60s?

Yes it was.I remember going there and being very impressed that you could walk along the rows without people getting up.

[Kato]

When they were skimming the top off Shaw's Heights in the mid-80's me and a mate did some sparky work in the old main stand (remember seeing Super J-T on what was probably his first day with Hibs).

A guy took us up stairs into a section that was just underneath the highest seats were there was a wee howff. On a table was all the original blue-prints of the stand, the bloke told us they had never been moved since the stand was built. Any new work had been written in over them with some new drawings added to the pile over the years. Pretty mocket by the time we were in there but you feel the history of the place. Never liked sitting in there except for reserve games although we stood in the old enclosure for years until it was seated.

[bringbackbenny]

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That was where my old man used have his ST. When they started the Hibees chant with the stamping, it usually meant that the occupants had just woken-up from a nap. He also used to call it the Wing-Stand for some reason. Was a bit of an experience to have Hibs shooting down the slope 2nd half and old stand in full voice.

After Bradford City disaster in 1985, everyone woke-up and realised the old place was a deathtrap, an accident waiting to happen.

Spot on my dad was there as well front row of the 'wing stand'. Some right good characters around him as well, loved sitting there on the odd occasion :)

[Tom Hart RIP]

Loved the old North Stand.
On separate note. Many years ago i remember that Rangers for some reason gave us part of their main stand. It had wooden seats similar to our centre stand.
Somebody set off a flare which hit the roof then ricochet off several pillars and caused terrible smoke. You couldn’t even see the pitch. It was a few years after the Bradford fire and was frightening. When the smoke cleared a couple of Strathclyde’s finest grabbed the nearest Hibs fan although it might have been the culprit. Anyone else remember that game?

[lyonhibs]

Toilets were prehistoric, you got soaked to the skin if you were in the first few rows and got unlucky with the weather and once, the West North Upper "moved" and folk had to be moved halfway through a game IIRC.

That said, it's where I first went to watch Hibs without parental supervision with my now sadly departed best mate and as such is my favourite football stand of any stadium ever.

[Mibbes Aye]

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Does anyone know anything interesting about it?

Who designed and built it? How did it compare to our rivals or any other similarly sized clubs within the UK?

I always thought it was an ugly eyesore. Always looked on the small side. Looked very weird in the TV too.

If we say Highbury was the gold standard with the east and west stands, how would the likes of ibrox, parkhead, yam park, dunfermline compare in the grand scale of things?

if you have anything at all interesting about it please chuck it in here.

If you mean what is now the West, the memories are the footstamping, The corrugated iron walls going up the stairs, and the ability to nip out at half-time during reserve games for a quick snifter in the Albion Bar.

[Mibbes Aye]

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Does anyone know anything interesting about it?

Who designed and built it? How did it compare to our rivals or any other similarly sized clubs within the UK?

I always thought it was an ugly eyesore. Always looked on the small side. Looked very weird in the TV too.

If we say Highbury was the gold standard with the east and west stands, how would the likes of ibrox, parkhead, yam park, dunfermline compare in the grand scale of things?

if you have anything at all interesting about it please chuck it in here.

And if you meant what is now the FF, then just utterly, utterly freezing. Any time of year.

[Scouse Hibee]

My first ST was in the North End of the old main stand, my introduction to Hibs was aided by a very vocal Mr Dougan who sat in front of me, next to an ex Hibs player who’s name I have forgotten, centre half George........Stuart? And another seemingly well known guy at the time Watty I think his name was, they made me very welcome.

[Billy Whizz]

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My first ST was in the North End of the old main stand, my introduction to Hibs was aided by a very vocal Mr Dougan who sat in front of me, next to an ex Hibs player who’s name I have forgotten, centre half George........Stuart?

Stewart

[BILLYHIBS]

Loved the old North Enclosure

By sheer fluke I bought a stone for my dear old Dad when he passed and they put it as close as you could get to where the turnstile would have been when he used to ‘ lift me over’ for the Big European nights in the sixties

[Scouse Hibee]

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Stewart

Yeah sorry that’s what I meant to post George Stewart, Watty and Frank Dougan were the guys.

[norhfc]

Sat in that old stand quite often over the years. You knew when you where at a good game when all the auld yin’s would stamp their feet 3 times in between the Hibees chant.

[erin go bragh]

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Does anyone know anything interesting about it?

Who designed and built it? How did it compare to our rivals or any other similarly sized clubs within the UK?

I always thought it was an ugly eyesore. Always looked on the small side. Looked very weird in the TV too.

If we say Highbury was the gold standard with the east and west stands, how would the likes of ibrox, parkhead, yam park, dunfermline compare in the grand scale of things?

if you have anything at all interesting about it please chuck it in here.

Found this ,,
1922: Development to Easter Road properly begins after a 25 year lease is signed

The long-term future of Easter Road was secured in 1922 when the Club agreed a 25-year lease on the ground. This gave the Hibernian Board the focus to efficiently develop Easter Road.
Two years after signing the long-term lease, three banks of terracing were raised on the North, East and South sides of the ground, with a main grandstand seating 4,480 people built on the West side of the Easter Road pitch. It is said that the fee Hibernian received from Arsenal for goalkeeper Willie Harper paid for the building of the new Easter Road grandstand in 1924.
Prior to the constructon of the West Stand, the playing surface was moved 40 yards East to provide space for the stand's construction, with the slope also reduced to approximately six feet in height.
The redeveloped Easter Road had a capacity of 45,000.

[Logie Green]

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Loved the old North Stand.
On separate note. Many years ago i remember that Rangers for some reason gave us part of their main stand. It had wooden seats similar to our centre stand.
Somebody set off a flare which hit the roof then ricochet off several pillars and caused terrible smoke. You couldn’t even see the pitch. It was a few years after the Bradford fire and was frightening. When the smoke cleared a couple of Strathclyde’s finest grabbed the nearest Hibs fan although it might have been the culprit. Anyone else remember that game?

That day at Ibrox was mental even by Ibrox standards. My memory of the flare incident was that after it hit the roof it dropped onto a cable or wire which was loosely hanging and fizzled along it so we had no idea if it would make the cable/wire catch fire or if not where the flare would drop onto our fans. I also remember a singalong at half time to a song being played on the tannoy by the appropriately named Mental As Anything. The wee cherubs supporting the home team didn’t seem happy that we’d been allocated seats in their main stand especially since huns were below us in the enclosure. Funnily enough we’ve never been invited to occupy that section since. 🤡

[weecounty hibby]

My 1st ever game at ER was in the north wing stand v celtic in 74 taken by my uncle. I was also in the south stand for the game in the early 80s v celtic when we beat them 1-0 with an Ally McLeod pen with Jim McArthur saving a Charlie Nicholas pen. Think it may have been the game after Johnny Doyle died. No idea how me and my uncle ended up there amongst the celtic fans but what I do remember was they weren't a happy bunch. Spent a good number of games in there as a youngster. Last time I was there was the game v Dundee on its last game. Took my uncle for old times sake. Was his last game at ER

[Radium]

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Found this ,,
1922: Development to Easter Road properly begins after a 25 year lease is signed

The long-term future of Easter Road was secured in 1922 when the Club agreed a 25-year lease on the ground. This gave the Hibernian Board the focus to efficiently develop Easter Road.
Two years after signing the long-term lease, three banks of terracing were raised on the North, East and South sides of the ground, with a main grandstand seating 4,480 people built on the West side of the Easter Road pitch. It is said that the fee Hibernian received from Arsenal for goalkeeper Willie Harper paid for the building of the new Easter Road grandstand in 1924.
Prior to the constructon of the West Stand, the playing surface was moved 40 yards East to provide space for the stand's construction, with the slope also reduced to approximately six feet in height.
The redeveloped Easter Road had a capacity of 45,000.

... reduced the slope!


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[Alfred E Newman]

It was of its time and the atmosphere , especially from the North end was brilliant. In the 70's the Hibees chant, accompanied by the stamping feet , would start in there and spread round the ground.
Mind you, it was the place the first rumblings of discontent were heard as well!

[Green Badger]

The North end was also my first season ticket and my “own seat”, which for me was a big thing. The foot stomping and hibees a common theme for almost every game. Remember The Proclaimers and their dad sitting near us.

Not a great looking stand and facilities a bit crappy, but I suppose not uncommon for the time. Overall it gave me some great memories of my early years watching Hibs so has some fond memories for me.