Exsel Group Stadium | |
Location in North Lanarkshire
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Location | Coatbridge, Scotland |
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Coordinates | 55°51′37″N 4°00′41″W / 55.86028°N 4.01139°W |
Owner | Albion Rovers Football Club |
Capacity | 1572 (489 seated) |
Field size | 110 yd × 72 yd (101 m × 66 m) |
Surface | Grass |
Opened | 1919 |
Tenants | |
Albion Rovers F.C. (1919 – Present) Coatbridge Monarchs (1968 – 1969) Coatbridge Tigers (1973 – 1977) Hamilton Academical (1997 – 1999) Dumbarton F.C. (2001) |
Cliftonhill Stadium, currently also known as the Exsel Group Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League team Albion Rovers. The ground is situated in the town of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire.
Albion moved from Meadow Park to Cliftonhill in 1919, with the new ground opening on 25 December. The Main Stand sits high on a rise above Main Street and was built in the same season as their only Scottish Cup Final appearance. A roof extension over the paddock (a standing area in front of the stand) was added in 1994. The Main Stand and paddock are the only parts of the stadium normally used nowadays and the current capacity is listed as 1,238. In its heyday, Cliftonhill housed many thousand more people and its record attendance was set on 8 February 1936 when 27,381 watched the visit of Rangers. Floodlighting was installed at the ground in October 1968 and since then, Cliftonhill has at various times staged speedway, greyhound racing and as well as football. Unusually and owing to the ground's small capacity, there are no stands or open space behind either goals for spectators. The sizeable partly covered terrace on the opposite side of the main stand is currently closed to all fans.
During the 1990s it looked likely that Albion Rovers would leave Cliftonhill to share a stadium with local rivals Airdrieonians. However opposition from Rovers fans, the local population and others, saw that move fall through and the club are currently working on plans to sell the ground and build a new stadium elsewhere in the town. The floodlighting system comes from Cardiff Arms Park, when it was demolished to make way for the Millennium Stadium. In 2006 the front entrance and main stand featured in a UK television advert for Flash. Currently, it contains a club shop which opens one hour prior to home first team matches.