To not want to live next to a football stadium?

[Nataliaa]

We’ve found a house that in all ways is perfect for us. In terms of price, close to work, size, minimal work needed - we could happily live with the interior, as it is- so no rush to put our stamp on it. No renovations needed. However, it is very close to a football stadium. My DH is saying if I let that one negative sway my decision, we would be turning down our dream family home and as we have been house hunting for 6 months and have not come close to finding any house that ticks so many of our wants, we would regret not going for this one.
My DH says that whilst there may be some disruption on match days, it’s not going to be every single weekend, and therefore minimal.
Am I really being picky, or would this be an issue for others?? Would you happily live near a football stadium?

My family lived for some time a few streets from St Andrews (Birmingham City). It does have an impact. A couple of hours before kick off to a couple of hours after you cannot really go out or into the immediate area easily without assistance, so most people just arrange their lives around this period. Some of the fans (away fans particularly), were not all that nice- we did have people urinating in the garden on a couple of occasions. That being said the club were good to us. Used to organise a Christmas party for kids and were good with invites to meet players etc. Police were also (very) harsh on any bad parking, with a tow truck available for anyone who ignored the signs not to park. Overall I would be aware of the issues, but having lived there I do not think for me personally it would be a deal breaker.

That’s what I was going to say. Sorry!

God don't do it. Used to live near Etihad and the noise and crappy behaviour on the trams was really something but the thing that really got me was the absolute and total state of the park some of the fans walked through to get there/away. Absolutely carpeted in litter. Felt really sorry for the local kids.

It very much depends on which PL ground it is. Walking distance to Nottingham Forest would be OK, Aston Villa definitely wouldn’t be.

Yes I missed this from my post. We had a drive.

Millwall?

Why don't you pop round and talk to a few neighbours.?

Millwall was exactly what sprung to mind.

Lived close enough to Goodison Park and also Anfield to hear them when they scored - was on THE main road in Liverpool, too. Match days literally caused zero issue - none.

Assuming you’re in England, Millwall, no. Any others, yes.

It is also a team that has a bit of a bad reputation for their fans 🙈 although some
colleagues that support this team, say the reputation is from the 70’s/80’s and very much outdated. It is, according to them, a family club these days with relatively few problems. But I do acknowledge that it’s probably this reputation that is adding to my apprehension!

Is it Millwall? 👆

I live 2 miles from a football stadium and the traffic is bloody awful even this far out. We just don't leave the house for a few hours.

Absolutely not if it's Milwall, don't do it as you'll have trouble selling later on for exactly the same issue.

I used to live 0 7 mile (just measured on Google maps) from the Memorial Ground in Bristol in the days when Bristol Rugby shared it with Bristol Rovers - so there was either a rugby or football match every weekend. We were far enough away for us not to be affected by cars or people walking to and from the ground We couldn't see the ground from the house but we could definitely hear if there was a try, conversion, goal or penalty scored (and its one of the smaller grounds).

my first thought was is it Millwall

I've always fancied having a large bay window and a front view window seat of (ok NEWCASTLE fans 😜) pouring into the ground - what great live viewing that would be!

I’d consider it. I’d have gone on a match day and mingled with the crowd near the house to see what it’s like but the season is finished now. Often, there’s very little disruption as home games are every other week, never earlier than 12.30 and not ending after around 10 so nothing antisocial in terms of times. You’ll just get the footfall before and after then two hours of quiet in between. There should be a police presence so if anything, the crowds are usually civilised. Derbies can be loud / heated. My main worry would be on street parking - it can be hard to drive around on match days as crowds fill roads, but also I’d worry about scratches etc. Btw I’ve been to football matches pretty much weekly for 15 years so I quite like the idea of hearing the crowd noise.

Same! We were about 15 mins walk from the ground, so we only ever had parking issues on huge match days, which there were only few of. We learned to avoid driving certain roads on match days, and it was fine. On a good day, we could hear some crowd noise, but I liked that.

I would be wary of living close to a ground again, but it wouldn’t be an automatic dealbreaker for me.

I’ve followed Everton almost everywhere for close to two decades. The only place I’ve seen mass disorder, police completely overrun, and feared for my personal safety is Millwall.

Otherwise, I’ve been to some nice areas and some less nice areas but nowhere that the presence of the football stadium would put me off living there. I have encountered some pretty horrific traffic on occasion but never for more than an hour after the match.

It is Millwall, yes! I know it probably doesn’t seem like the area for anyone’s dream home, but it’s genuinely a really lovely house and nowhere else would be closer to where we both work, although of course we never set out to find a house right on the doorstep of work, we expected and hoped for somewhere a short commute. So this was an unexpected find!

I once lived near Ibrox, and once near Blackpool. Different time periods (which is very relevant, think parking, behaviour etc). My advice would be to go on match days and ask as many people you can, if you need to move before you'll have a chance to do this. To me, it wasn't an issue, but I wasn't the one buying the house on either occasion, so it needs to be your decision.

I knew it would be Millwall

Millwall fans have a reputation for being pretty unpleasant - their motto is something like ‘no-one likes us - we don’t care.’ Not fair on the ones who behave but it comes from hooliganism and fights. For that reason, their games are well-policed! Are the fans all going to be wandering past your house? How far back from the road is it? I wouldn’t want beer cans chucked in my garden.

Around Old Trafford is a nightmare on match days. The capacity there is 74,000. It's horrendous.

Poor old Millwall.