Can you get in the away end on the night or do you have to have a ticket in advance?

There's nowt on their website about tickets on the night but you can get one for the away end in advance from them (https://gatesheadfc.seatlab.com/events) or from the Vic.

Got mine early to force myself to go - I hate their shitty stadium and Pools usually have an off day up there

Don’t forget your binoculars.

Parking is a nightmare too. Closest away game for us but quite a few don't bother.

parking a nightmare, having to buy tickets in advance for half full grounds or away ends is the reason i cannot be arsed to attend games nowadays. even if you know somewhere to park nearby there is nothing to say once you buy a ticket you,ll be able to attend as happened to me at the vic last year when she had her accident.

Wouldn’t it be easier to drive to a Metro station and get to the stadium using the Metro ?

It’s like watching a football match on a disused runway at Heathrow.
They need a proper ground.

on the continent there are plenty of all purpose sports grounds like that but they have never caught on in this country because of the lack of any atmosphere being so far away from the pitch itself. never been to gateshead but the old stadium in sheffield where rotherham played was dreadful and bradford park avenue hardly much better with theirs. even the old wembley was shit once the excitement of going there wore off.

The last time we played them the parking was easy, stewards directed us behind the stadium then it was a short walk up some steps and into the ground.

Theres an old 3g pitch behind the ground that they use for away car parking these days.

The old Shay in Halifax had a dog track around it. In the 70s and 80s whe football attendances were rock bottom, that place had even less atmosphere than the Gateshead Stadium.

Didn’t Newport’s old ground have a track around it too, unless my memories playing tricks.

That would have been Somerton Park Snowy. I think you are right. And Flying Hogans, I went there one night to see Pools hammered 1-4 in the league cup. You were right about dog track and the floodlights were shite and no atmosphere. And didn't Barrow's old ground - Holker Street have a speedway track around it? It might even be the one they have now but looks better these days. Southport was another shithole and went there once when Pools were on the end of a 0-5 hiding. That was awful you could hardly see the far side of the ground and the rain of course rain and dire floodlights. I suppose Southport could be nice in the day time if the weather is OK. And finally, from my experience - Borough Park home of Workington Town or Reds as they styled themselves. What a f of a place. Got stoned by a bunch of Carlisle nutters the one and only time I went there. Pools did win 2-1 but had to miss the end whilst hiding from said nutters. Happy days? I suppose much was said about The Vic in past years before the new stands went up.

[quote="ToTheHartlepool2-0"]That would have been Somerton Park Snowy. I think you are right. And Flying Hogans, I went there one night to see Pools hammered 1-4 in the league cup. You were right about dog track and the floodlights were shite and no atmosphere. And didn't Barrow's old ground - Holker Street have a speedway track around it? It might even be the one they have now but looks better these days. Southport was another shithole and went there once when Pools were on the end of a 0-5 hiding. That was awful you could hardly see the far side of the ground and the rain of course rain and dire floodlights. I suppose Southport could be nice in the day time if the weather is OK. And finally, from my experience - Borough Park home of Workington Town or Reds as they styled themselves. What a f of a place. Got stoned by a bunch of Carlisle nutters the one and only time I went there. Pools did win 2-1 but had to miss the end whilst hiding from said nutters. Happy days? I suppose much was said about The Vic in past years before the new stands went up.[/quote]

Back in the 70’s Southport were one of Pools bogie teams and Port Vale was just apparently unbeatable, always a physical, intimidating team back then.

it was a speedway track opened about 1964 because the side did a mk dons and moved there from somewhere else. it was nearly impossible to take a corner as there was no run up with a drop down to the speedway track behind. anyone not around in those days would get a shock how poor the facilities were at football grounds with the shit and spottyland being even worse than the vic. going to oldham and darlo felt like a visit to wembley.

wonder if pools are somebody,s bogy team and we look unbeatable to somebody.

Ah, you're right - you're memory is better than mine. Though to be fair I never saw it action, just as something that got right in the way of watching a footie match!

No doubt the worst example of poor facilities was the rickety wooden main stand at Bradford City. The view of the pitch from the upper tiers was terrible because of all the struts and beams holding it up. The stewarding was non-existent, so it never felt like a safe place for away fans. Luckily for Poolies, City had moved out of our league a few years before it burned down - during a game in 1985 because a lit cigarette fell on an 'accumulation of litter' under the seats. 56 fans killed - an accident that had been waiting to happen for years. Some people should have been jailed over it, but of course nobody was.

there is possibly a book about the whole affair written by a fan of the club. know a few years back he made a lot of noise about that fire and the coincidence of their owner leaving shortly after it happened who had history with a suspicious fire previously. valley parade was a horrible place to visit with the side opposite the main stand looking as if its fallen down the valley, a fast open end and a shitty little covered area opposite. have had a couple of dust ups their in my youth especially after my girlfriend at the time was pushed over by one of the local scum. mind you i avoided arrest unlike bloody field mill with the mansfield police morons.

I attended the Pools fixture between us and Bradford City on 8th November 1981 at Valley Parade, for a reason I can't remember this fixture was on a Sunday afternoon, we were in huge terracing behind one of the goals with double wire mesh fencing seperating us from the home fans, home supporters were in the wooden side stands, we had a wooden stand for decades on the Clarence Road side, thankfully it never befell the same fate as the void underneath was used for storage etc I guess?