Elm Park Stadium

Elmanella is a condition that you would get from eating the pies at Elm Park, before they knocked it down. It had a capacity of 14k and lasted for 102 years as the home of Reading, from 1896 to 1998. Then it was demolished, and it no longer exists.
First-​Hand Experience: More info about my personal experience at this stadium — I followed Oxford United to a match here during the 1990s, when I was much younger. I followed them across the country really, but this was one of the local rivalries so I probably saw this fixture a few times. I liked that Oxford often had their number, but I didn’t really like the stadium. The new one is much better, but much more expensive, too.
The best thing about Elm Park was how close it was to Oxford… so we could just pop down there for matches. The atmosphere was pretty good but the place was run down and I’m not surprised they replaced it.
I’ve been to most UK & US stadiums, due to lifelong obsessions with travel, sport & especially footy (soccer to Americans). Born & raised in England, I followed Oxford United (hometown team) to stadia all over the country at away games, and later Liverpool (fave team) around. Every stadium review — like all my reviews — are from first-​hand personal experience, usually from several visits. In 2011, I was on music tour in the UK, and visited most stadiums for fun in my spare time. As recently as Fall 2014, when I was «stuck» in UK for 3 months, I went to hundreds yet again while travelling. I have pictures of me at most, which I’ll post later. Also, when back in UK I’ll take more pix, and add more stadia!
*** return to regular review ***
It was a pretty weak looking stadium and it’s not remotely surprising that they built a new one, to be honest. But for all the memories that Reading made here, I’ll give it a solid 3.
Now it’s a Pig Farm, named Elm Pork. Hopefully the pork won’t give people Elmanella.