Questionnaire for Leicester fans on the significance of football stadium names

[Fraserja]

Hi, I am Fraser, a third year student at the Manchester Metropolitan University carrying out my dissertation project on the significance of football stadium names within fan culture. It would be greatly appreciated if you could click on the link below to answer a questionnaire, it will only take a couple of minutes. Thanks ever so much for your help. 

 

https://goo.gl/forms/V3k2dm2DGuoH1YMi1

[zealot]

Loved this... My kind of survey. Can you send results to the club please Fraserja

[Spudulike]

Done. It's called Freeman's Wharf, whatever label they want to put on it.

[urban fox]

will be interesting to see the results.  Especially when comparing the age demographics of the respondents !

 

Appreciate a lot of nostalgia for the old Filbert street (I was a regular there for many seasons) but it was well past its sell by date.

 

Personally I quite like the corporate tie in with the King Power brand. Obviously this would not be as well received if we did not have the fantastic owners that we do.

[MonkeyTennis?]

King Power is such an evocative term, for Leicester in particular. I know the connection to Richard III is inadvertent, but its such a good phrase.

 

Leicester - King Power - Fvck yeah!

 

I’m sure if King Power actually traded in the UK I would feel less keen on it, though - it would be more like having the Bargain Booze Stadium.

 

Also, I never went to Filbert Street 

[stripeyfox]

3 minutes ago, MonkeyTennis? said:

King Power is such an evocative term, for Leicester in particular. I know the connection to Richard III is inadvertent, but its such a good phrase.

 

Leicester - King Power - Fvck yeah!

 

I’m sure if King Power actually traded in the UK I would feel less keen on it, though - it would be more like having the Bargain Booze Stadium.

 

Also, I never went to Filbert Street 

I couldn't disagree more. King Power is the name of a company. Evocative? Of what - duty free shops in airports?

 

Personally I detest this type of stadium naming (Etihad, Emirates etc - give me Hillsborough, Villa Park or Anfield any day) I accept that it is here to stay, particularly for new builds but I don't have to like it.

 

 

[SemperEadem]

I will always refer to it as Filbert Way.

 

I would be very interested to see the results of this.

[Stoopid]

9 minutes ago, urban fox said:

will be interesting to see the results.  Especially when comparing the age demographics of the respondents !

 

Appreciate a lot of nostalgia for the old Filbert street (I was a regular there for many seasons) but it was well past its sell by date.

 

Personally I quite like the corporate tie in with the King Power brand. Obviously this would not be as well received if we did not have the fantastic owners that we do.

Get all that, but...

At its heart football is about place.

Filbert St reflected the city it  stood in, idiosyncratic and pretty weird, sometimes drab & forgettable, sometimes raucous & crazy - but completely individual and unlike anywhere else

Yes, things have changed and probably we had to go, but I think we lost something when we moved down the road.

[Xen]

As far as corporate stadium names go, I think 'King Power' is about as good as it gets. At least without any other context it sounds somewhat imposing. That being said, as long as it stays that way I'll refer to it as 'The KP' for short, rather than say the brand every time.

 

Definitely prefer non-corporate names, though. I think pretty much any fan would agree with that.

 

Didn't start to follow the club as intently until after the stadium move, so Filbert Street doesn't have the same memories for me, unfortunately.

[Nickfosse]

10 minutes ago, baker11 said:

I will always refer to it as Filbert Way.

 

I would be very interested to see the results of this.

Yes, and it made me smile that Top referred to it as Filbert Way in his programme notes this week, and it’s his company! ?

[Fox In The Box 90]

"Filbert Street" wasnt actually filbert street was it? Officially was it "City Stadium" and it was on filbert street?

 

I tend to ignore the sponsors name mostly. Theres something more imposing about names like Old Trafford, Elland Road, Anfield etc

 

Maybe its just because i was younger but Filber Street seemed far more imposing too coming down upperton road with the carling stand and huge floodlight pylons rather than king power too

[SemperEadem]

Just now, Fox In The Box 90 said:

"Filbert Street" wasnt actually filbert street was it? Officially was it "City Stadium" and it was on filbert street?

 

I tend to ignore the sponsors name mostly. Theres something more imposing about names like Old Trafford, Elland Road, Anfield etc

 

Maybe its just because i was younger but Filber Street seemed far more imposing too coming down upperton road with the carling stand and huge floodlight pylons rather than king power too

Maybe also it is that you have seen the ‘King Power’ a number of times before in that it is almost identical to a number of other stadiums?

[urban.spaceman]

I’ve always said “off down the City” when I was off to a match, mainly because that’s what my Gran always used to say to me, and she used to go in the 30s from when she was about 7. I’d still use Filbert Street too.

 

I never referred to the Walkers as such as I still missed the unique identity of Filbert Street; however, since Vichai and Top came in I found myself calling it the KP with affection. The more time that elapses since moving from Filbert Street the more comfortable I am with the KP.

 

I hope we call the new Fan Zone area “Filbert’s Treat”

[Danizen]

I call it The Ground or the City Ground depending on the context. 

 

I know the City Ground is Forest's ground's name but it's such a generic name that I don't really consider it. 

[Nalis]

Unfortunately the sad truth is the masses will refer to the stadium by its sponsored name over its historical name.

 

For example, most people refer to Ireland's home of rugby as the Aviva Stadium rather than Lansdowne Road.

 

As mentioned above, King Power isnt actually that bad aesthetically but some of the lower league teams have downright awful stadium names thanks to sponsers, Jonny Rocks Stadium, Wham Stadium, etc.

[Fox In The Box 90]

Just now, baker11 said:

Maybe also it is that you have seen the ‘King Power’ a number of times before in that it is almost identical to a number of other stadiums?

Definitely possible youre right.

 

Id say generally i do enjoy the smart modern stadia with good views more now though.

 

Always thought the emirates was an impressive venue.

 

But in my mind i assosciate Arsenal with Highbury

[davieG]

Corporate or sponsored names have no longevity and are subject to change at anytime.

 

Filbert Street was Filbert St long before it was referred to as the City Stadium that was just some marketing upstart who must have viewed Filbert St as too parochial. Likewise with the 'Foxes' name tag.

 

The problem with modern owners of clubs is they have the need for grandeur and status and are massively influenced by marketing people who have no affinity with fans.

[Fraserja]

2 hours ago, zealot said:

Loved this... My kind of survey. Can you send results to the club please Fraserja

No problem. I will post the results on this thread on April 4th. You have my word.

[Fraserja]

2 hours ago, urban fox said:

will be interesting to see the results.  Especially when comparing the age demographics of the respondents !

 

Appreciate a lot of nostalgia for the old Filbert street (I was a regular there for many seasons) but it was well past its sell by date.

 

Personally I quite like the corporate tie in with the King Power brand. Obviously this would not be as well received if we did not have the fantastic owners that we do.

Posting the results on this thread on April 4th. Thanks for completing it!

[Fraserja]

2 hours ago, baker11 said:

I will always refer to it as Filbert Way.

 

I would be very interested to see the results of this.

Posting the results on this thread on April 4th. Thanks for completing it!

[Fraserja]

1 hour ago, Fox In The Box 90 said:

"Filbert Street" wasnt actually filbert street was it? Officially was it "City Stadium" and it was on filbert street?

 

I tend to ignore the sponsors name mostly. Theres something more imposing about names like Old Trafford, Elland Road, Anfield etc

 

Maybe its just because i was younger but Filber Street seemed far more imposing too coming down upperton road with the carling stand and huge floodlight pylons rather than king power too

Says it all that the Filbert Street name took over. City Business Stadium is soulless. Thanks for the comments.

[Fraserja]

1 hour ago, Nalis said:

Unfortunately the sad truth is the masses will refer to the stadium by its sponsored name over its historical name.

 

For example, most people refer to Ireland's home of rugby as the Aviva Stadium rather than Lansdowne Road.

 

As mentioned above, King Power isnt actually that bad aesthetically but some of the lower league teams have downright awful stadium names thanks to sponsers, Jonny Rocks Stadium, Wham Stadium, etc.

Appalling names. It will be interesting to hear what Cheltenham and Accrington fans have to say about that!

[Nalis]

On another point,  new stadiums affixed to corporate sponsors often have crap 'official' names, such as London Stadium, Dublin Arena and Leicester City Stadium. Makes me feels as if I'm playing Pro Evo 3 all over again....

[Guest worth_the_wait]

If I had my way, the Premier League and FA would force clubs to register a non-commericial ground name with them.   This would be a fixed name, that wouldn't change with every new sponsorship deal.   Fans could then legitimately refer to that name.   It would also help the transport authorities, who currently have to keep on changing road signs! 

 

Obviously clubs can call their grounds whatever they like - but at least some sort of official name would then exist somewhere.

 

I always thought of our ground as Freeman's Wharf, but obviously the commercial people got in on the act quickly to snuff that out.  And after Southampton's example, no commercial sponsor is going to make that mistake again.  We'll call it the "Friends Provident St Mary's sstadium".   Err, no  actually we'll just call it "St Mary's".  

 

Originally I refused on principle to ever call our new ground by its commercial name.    But as we now have good owners, and King Richard III did have a hand in winning us the title ... King Power doesn't sound too bad.    I still generally just call it "our new ground", but I might've occasionally slipped in a "KP"  .

 

 

 

 

 

[stripeyfox]

2 hours ago, Nalis said:

On another point,  new stadiums affixed to corporate sponsors often have crap 'official' names, such as London Stadium, Dublin Arena and Leicester City Stadium. Makes me feels as if I'm playing Pro Evo 3 all over again....

The London Stadium is a crap name and isn't even sponsorship. What is wrong with just calling it what it is - The Olympic Stadium?