Anfield tops Google's stadium rankings while Stevenage's SPORTA Arena sinks to the bottom
Liverpool's Anfield is the best-reviewed football ground in England and Wales, while Stevenage's SPORTA Arena is the least-loved home in the entire Football League, according to a definitive new ranking collated for The Guardian's Knowledge column.
The project began with a simple observation from Guardian writer Will Unwin. “As someone who occasionally has to search for stadiums to find directions and the like, I always enjoy that people take the time to rate their experience of visiting a football ground,” he wrote. “Hull City, for example, have 4.3 stars from 3,655 reviews. I therefore ponder … which grounds have the highest and lowest Google rating?”
Reader Pete Tomlin answered the call in spectacular fashion, working through every home ground in the Football League on Google and recording the rating and number of votes for each. “I have literally searched every home football ground in the Football League via Google and I have recorded the rating and number of votes for every one,” he said. “The range is not particularly large – the highest recorded rating is 4.7 and the lowest is 4.0. Therefore, where the scores are tied, I have used the higher number of votes as the decider with the largest number of votes being the winner.”
The big hitters come out on top
Tomlin's data confirms a football truism: the bigger and more successful clubs tend to attract the more glowing reviews. “The nine highest-rated grounds are all Premier League clubs,” he noted.
The overall champion is Anfield, with a rating of 4.7 from 54,546 votes. Only two other clubs reach the same mark: Tottenham Hotspur (26,545 votes) and Nottingham Forest's City Ground (2,245 votes). A step behind on 4.6 sit Old Trafford (Manchester United, 54,535 votes), the Emirates Stadium (Arsenal, 34,778), the City of Manchester Stadium (Manchester City, 32,246), Stamford Bridge (Chelsea, 25,434), St James' Park (Newcastle United, 12,116) and Elland Road (Leeds United, 10,066).
Best in the EFL
The highest-ranked ground outside the top flight is Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux, in 11th position overall with a 4.6 rating from 7,408 votes. League One fares even better, with Leicester City's King Power Stadium occupying 10th spot at 4.6 from 7,573 votes. In League Two, Exeter City's St James' Park is the best-reviewed, ranked 31st with a score of 4.5 from 246 votes.
Room for improvement
At the other end of the table, Hull City's MKM Stadium is the lowest-rated Premier League ground, posting 4.3 from 3,676 reviews, while QPR's Loftus Road is the worst in the Championship, down in 85th place with a rating of 4.1 from 3,458 votes. Only two grounds in the entire Football League have attracted a score of just 4.0: Oxford United's Kassam Stadium (2,506 votes) and, in 92nd and final position – my club!—Stevenage's SPORTA Arena, with 350 votes.