THE EAST STAND AND
MILLENNIUM CORNER
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Capacity: 8,791 (Including
Millennium and Woodman Corner's)
Opened:
Saturday 18th August 2001
Cost: £5,250,000
Stand Replaced:
The Rainbow Stand and Paddock. |
The latest addition in the continual improvement of The Hawthorns
came early in 2001. The Rainbow Stand saw its final match on
January 1st 2001, when Albion overcame Barnsley 1-0, before the
demolition of the stand took place to make way for a new
development.
At a cost of £5.25m the new East Stand was ready for the start of
the 2001/2002 season. The Club had achieved its objective in
completely re-building the Hawthorns and turning it into a modern
stadium. Not only has the ground received a much needed face lift,
but it is now totally enclosed and all seated taking the total
capacity of the Hawthorns past the 28,000 mark.
The East Stand is an impressive, large single tiered stand, which
integrates well with the rest of the ground. It has a row of
executive boxes running along the back, and to each side of the
stand the previous open corners have been filled with corrugated
sheeting. There is a thin supporting pillar on each side of the
stand to support the corner structures. This stand, which is well
setback from the pitch, has been designated as a no smoking area.
Two new video screens have been installed in opposite corners of
the ground, one at the Smethwick End side of the East Stand and the
other in the opposite corner of the Halfords Lane Stand.
As well as improving the whole atmosphere of the venue, the East
Stand has allowed the club to base all its essential functions in
one state-of-the-art facility. The administration department,
ticket office and club shop all moved into the East Stand at the
beginning of January 2002.
Another feather in The Hawthorns' cap is that it was the first
ground to boast big screens in widescreen format at the beginning
of the 2002/03 campaign - Albion's first-ever season in the
Premiership.
Interior and Exterior
images of the East Stand
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