By Nathan Jackson
June 27 2010

You can always tell that a chairman has a big ego when he names the club's new stadium after himself. That was the case in 2001 when Oxford left the Manor Ground to move to the Kassam. However, the Kassam is an excellent stadium that once they eventually get a fourth stand build, will arguably be the best in the lower-leagues.

Oxford, a famous City with a equally famous University and with a fairly Subbuteo stadium. The trip to the Kassam from Sincil Bank is a fairly lengthy one but relatively easy. The ground is right next to the motorway and there are plenty of signs once you get within about 10 miles of the motorway to be able to get there without issue. Once you get to Oxford, it's easy to locate the ground as it's on the outside of town. When approaching the ground it looks fairly nice and there is a bit to do around the ground such as the multi-function facility outside, however, I have yet to be in here so I can't really comment on that.

Upon entering the ground, you are quite surprised at the size of the stand away fans are in although you get only about 1/3 of it unless you take a lot of fans. This is a large single tiered stand at the side of the pitch and gives an excellent view of the actio, leg room is excellent and as with the majority of newish grounds, the facilities are rather good. The stewarding was also really good, especially one who is a member of the 92 club.

The stand used to be shared with the home fans but later turned into simply away fans only. For certain games the entire stand is made for away fans only, although Lincoln are never in danger of having that situation.

There are only two other stands at the ground and it has a rather Subbuteo feel to it. The one behind the goal at the fair end is quite possibly the biggest behind goal stand in the Division other than Darlington. It looks excellent but is ruined by the distance from the top seats to the roof and can't create a lot of noise despite the attempts of the guy with him drum, then again, the Oxford fans are largely subdued and don't often attempt to create noise, creating a very poor atmosphere.

The stand opposite is a similar style to the main one at Mansfield. It is a two tiered stand which looks very neat although it is a bit dull in that people in there don't react much to anything. The place where the final stand should be is replaced by a fence.

Overall I have mixed feelings about Oxford, it is a nice ground with a decent stewarding system but it lacks that "football afternoon" feel to it due to it's missing stand and the lack of atmosphere, I would however recommend it as a day out.

Oxford United's Kazzam Stadium

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 27/06/2010 14:31

theimps.ka
27/06/2010 14:31

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