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    EFL club’s former stadium now a Morrisons supermarket after ground saw disastrous back-to-back relegations

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    IT’S been a tale of hope to despair and back again.In 1990, a West Midlands club, that once played host to Liverpool great Alan Hansen, left their stadium after 94 years following back-to-back relegations down the footie pyramid.A current EFL club was forced to leave their iconic ground in 1990The stadium was called Fellows ParkThe site is now occupied by a Morrisons supermarketBut anyone visiting the spot where it once stood these days will be greeted by a much-different sight – a Morrisons supermarket.Relocation plans were put in place after a perimeter wall collapsed during a League Cup semi-final clash against Liverpool in 1984.In fact, Liverpool captain Graeme Souness joined in the rescue by memorably carrying an injured child to safety before the Reds won 2-0.In truth, by 1989 Fellows Park had seen better days before it was demolished in 1991.READ MORE FOOTBALL NEWSEven by that decade’s standards, the toilets were the stuff of legend.The Hillary Street roof flapped in high winds and showered fans with rusty water during matches on wet days.The ground was home to Walsall – who currently sit top of League Two and are odds on to go up.But in 1990, Walsall had dropped from the second to the fourth tier, in fact finishing bottom of the table each time.Most read in FootballFOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALSThe Saddlers are one of only seven clubs to have suffered relegation in both of their final two seasons before moving home.By the time the last game at Fellows Park came around it was certain that Walsall would start life at Bescot in Division Four.Inside Arsenal’s new £300m+ stadium plans with futuristic Emirates project set to dwarf Spurs groundThe site was situated next to a railway line but now hosts one of the four big supermarketsIn their final campaign at Fellows Park they sacked John Barnwell as manager in March and brought former Aston Villa striker Gary Shaw for the last three months, but it was too late to save them.Despite its shortcomings, however, for Walsall’s 6,000 or so regular fans Fellows Park was home.Walsall’s record home attendance was when 25,453 fans flocked in to watch them play Newcastle in the Second Division on 29 August 1961.And the new ground at the Bescot Stadium was anything but a high-end product in 1989.Walsall fans were sorry to leave Fellows Park – but in truth, it was falling apart by 1983In fact, owner Terry Ramsden was effectively shifting them to a brownfield site underneath the M6.Walsall’s current digs were built in 1989–90 by GMI Construction, with a reported build cost of £4.5m.It was opened on 18 August 1990, by Sir Stanley Matthews, prior to a friendly against rivals Aston Villa in front of 9,551 spectators. Matthews was the inaugural winner, and first English player, to win the Ballon d’Or in 1956.But the arrival at the Bescot Stadium saw some stability brought back to the club as it was taken over by Jeff Bonser in 1991.Kenny Hibbitt managed the Saddlers for four years, setting the groundwork for a golden era that would follow soon after his dismissal in September 1994.New manager Chris Nicholl led the club to promotion back to the third tier in his first season.And Bonser only left Walsall in 2019, as current owner Leigh Pomlett acquired his 76 per cent majority stake.Ironically, in 2024, the ground was renamed the ‘Poundland Bescot Stadium’ for sponsorship reasons.READ MORE SUN STORIESA reminder of Fellows Park remains in the Bescot ground, in the name of the H.L. Fellows Stand.Harry Leslie Fellows was a club director during the 1930s.Liverpool legend Alan Hansen played at Fellows Park in 1984 when a wall collapsedIts record attendance was 25,453 spectators in 1961 More

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      Scottish stadium hosted 1st TV game under floodlights & still has a football feel, 20 years after Morrisons moved in

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      FALKIRK’S old Brockville Park used to have a kitchen window looking straight out onto the terracing.Now it has a whole aisle full of kitchen essentials.
      The home came with a free view of the Brockville action
      The historic ground made history in the 1950sCredit: SNS
      Now though a supermarket sits on site
      The Bairns’ old home is no more and was replaced by a supermarket two decades ago.
      Where teams used to park the bus and defend their box, shoppers now park the car and fill their bags.
      But there is no forgetting just where they are with relics of the historic stadium of old still on show outside the town centre Morrisons superstore.
      A cast-iron turnstile is planted permanently outside the front door as testimony to the football folklore that went on before.

      On that town centre site was the first televised night-time game under floodlights when the Bairns hosted Newcastle in a friendly some 70 years ago.
      Their rickety old ground hosted the great and the good of the Scottish game before the club eventually moved out to the Falkirk Stadium.
      But from the Lisbon Lions to greats like Gazza, Laudrup and McCoist – plus Sir Alex Ferguson and many more in between, the hostile and claustrophobic Brockville welcomed them all.
      But Brockville, for all its historic significance, also worked against Falkirk.
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      The Bairns were denied promotion to the SPL on account of their home not having the required 10,000 seats.
      A ground-sharing bid with Airdrie was denied which spared Aberdeen and Motherwell from relegation in 2000 and 2003 withj the Bairns barred from the top flight.
      That forced the club’s hand after financial troubles in the late 1990s and they moved to a purpose-built ground on the Grangemouth edge of town, spending a year at nearby Stenhousemuir in between.
      Fans were able to buy up various memorabilia at a club auction with the dugouts, turf, street signs and folding wooden seats from the stand all up for grabs.
      Fans grabbed memorabilia before the ground was shut down forever
      Bulldozers moved in around 2003
      The old turnstile stands as testament to a time passed
      And while they left a turnstile and team pic for the new supermarket, the club took their own memento – the ‘Brockville Gate’ is still on display at the mouth of the tunnel of their new ground pre-match before every home game – just as it was ‘back home’ at Brockville.
      The final game saw emotional scenes when current Dundee assistant Stuart Taylor scored the final goal against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
      The bulldozers moved in and so did the supermarket and changed the face of the site that had hosted football since the Victorian era.
      However with the old turnstile and various other nods to the games it hosted the legend of Falkirk lives on as visitors do their Saturday afternoon shopping.
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      Where Chelsea and Hibs came to buy club legend ‘Crunchie’ Kevin McAllister – the bars he’s nicknamed after are on sale at the tills.
      Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page More

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      KSI and Logan Paul’s Prime drink to ‘finally’ be sold at Tesco after shop feared for security measures

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      KSI and Logan Paul’s Prime drink will “finally” be sold at Tesco. The hydration beverage was released to much fanfare in 2022 causing a craze, especially in the UK.
      Prime will now be sold at Tesco
      Asda were the first to stock Prime with the likes of Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Aldi soon following.
      And although supermarket giants Tesco were late to the party, Prime’s co-founders confirmed they will stock the product.
      Prime posted a picture of the celeb pair behind a store with bottles in their hands, with KSI, 30, tweeting: “FINALLY.”
      Paul, 28, said in February that Prime made $250million (£196m) in retail sales and $110m (£86m) gross internally.
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      Due to the limited UK stock upon its early release, fans were quite literally fighting in shops to get their hands on bottles.
      And KSI claimed that is part of the reason why Tesco were reluctant to sell Prime at first.
      He tweeted in January: “We have the supply lol.
      “Tesco just told us that the security cost to protect shoppers would cost more than they were willing to spend based off the prime demand.
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      “That’s why it won’t be in Tesco. They’re waiting for the demand to go down.”
      According to The Grocer, Prime will be available to buy at Tesco from Monday with a three-limit bottle per customer.
      And they have an exclusive deal to sell the brand’s latest flavour, strawberry watermelon, Prime Tracker say.
      KSI and Logan Paul launched Prime in 2022Credit: Prime More