EFL fixtures: I've been to all 92 Football League grounds this is every Championship stadium from worst to best, which ones you should visit this season and which to stay well away from: OLIVER HOLT

Some grounds are beautiful. Some grounds are not so beautiful. Some grounds take you to the heart of the English game. And some leave you feeling like you're on the periphery.

But each of them holds the soul of their community and the hopes and dreams of the thousands of people who make the pilgrimage there every weekend. 

I’ve completed the journey of a lifetime for Mail Sport. It's something I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember and on April 1, 2025, I did it. I completed the 92. 

It's my love letter to English football, and you can read the full list here - but today we're focusing on the Championship, that wonderful league where hopes and dreams are made.

Now that the fixtures are out, it's time to start planning which grounds you want to tick off this season, where you need to go back to ...and where you're better off avoiding altogether. 

Read on to find out who comes out on top, where your team ranks and everything else in between - then let me know what you think. 

24th: The Den, Millwall (overall rank: 92/92)

Opened: 1993 Capacity: 19,369

I’m banned from The Den at the moment, in a professional capacity anyway. I could still go in a personal capacity but, on balance, I think I’d rather not.

The Daily Mail has been told our reporters are not welcome at the club because we had the temerity to report on the horrendous challenge by Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts on Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta during the FA Cup tie at Selhurst Park a few weeks ago.

Let’s be honest about this: there are worse places to be banned from. Being banned from The Den is the football equivalent of being banned from your local abattoir.

You don’t have to be a racist, misogynistic, homophobic bloke with anger issues and a penchant for tragedy-chanting to feel at home at The Den. But it helps.

And, yes, I know Millwall are trying to rebrand themselves a ‘family club’ now and the odd Tarquin and Tabitha stray across the county lines from Blackheath and Clapham to keep it real but that just makes The Den experience even worse.

The last time I went as a supporter was 15 years ago to watch Stockport County play there and the walk from South Bermondsey station to the away turnstiles was an eye-opener.

Not that there were any problems: even at Millwall, football has moved on since the 70s. But this still felt deeply dystopian: for their own safety, away fans walk to the ground through a long wire mesh cage that seems to have no end.

It felt like embarking on a tour of Jurassic Park: you know that if the fences fail, the dinosaurs are going to take a run at you.

Inside the ground, which is modern and neat and relatively characterless, the level of hatred for visiting supporters feels unusually visceral.

It’s loud. I’ll give it that. It’s primeval. It’s unreconstructed, which can be a good thing, too, and it breeds a sense of togetherness.

If medievalism is your thing, you’re in for a treat. If not, give it a miss.

23rd: Kassam Stadium, Oxford United (overall: 90/92)

Opened: 2001 Capacity: 12,537 

I feel ashamed to say it, given that it is my local club, but the best experience I’ve had at the Kassam Stadium was getting my Covid jab there during the pandemic.

When they moved, around the turn of the century, abandoning the chaotic charm of the Manor Ground in Headington and swapping it for an isolated plateau outside the city, they only completed three sides, abandoning the fourth because of rising costs. 

A particularly bitter wind blows in off the car park behind one of the goals and, from the main stand – in fact, from every stand – there is a magnificent and uninterrupted view of the Frankie and Benny’s in the mini retail park that abuts the ground.

The empty end kills a lot of the atmosphere, too, although the Oxford fans are to be commended for the noise they do generate given they have endured a generation of being stuck here.

Firoz Kassam still owns the stadium but not the club. That kind of separation always spells trouble.

Oxford are hoping to move to a new stadium to the north of the city in a couple of years’ time. It can’t come soon enough.

22nd: Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday (overall: 88/92)

Opened: 1899 Capacity: 34,945

I used to think of Hillsborough as one of the cathedrals of the English game but since the disaster that claimed the lives of 97 Liverpool fans in 1989, it is hard to get past its association with so much death and despair and heartbreak and betrayal of supporters.

I know, obviously, that this would punish Wednesday fans who do not deserve to be punished for something that had nothing to do with them but Hillsborough, and its Leppings Lane End in particular, has such a cursed legacy that part of me thinks it should have been demolished and that the club should have moved elsewhere.

Even in the last couple of years, fans of Newcastle United and Leeds United have reported serious safety concerns in the Leppings Lane End.

I recognise the flaws in my argument about demolishing the stadium, or part of it, and the emotions it provokes on all sides so perhaps it’s just enough to say I’ll never feel the same about the stadium as I once did.

Visiting it now feels like an intrusion.

21st: Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry City (overall: 85/92)

Opened: 2005 Capacity: 32,609 

When it was called the Ricoh Arena, I had no interest in visiting what is now the Coventry Building Society Arena because it felt like a symbol of the callous way in which fans of the club were being treated by SISU, the hedge fund that owned it at the time.

But SISU sold up in the end and I went along last season and saw Coventry dismantle Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham City and then, in the press room beneath the stadium, watched as my colleague Neil Moxley got into a decent old-fashioned row with Rooney about his stewardship of the Blues.

The atmosphere inside the ground was lively enough, partly because the game was a derby of sorts, but it is a soulless, deracinated kind of stadium abutting the M6.

It is football in an urban wasteland but it is football, nonetheless, and Doug King, the new owner has brought with him the promise of better times ahead.

20th: Pride Park Stadium, Derby County (overall: 79/92)

Opened: 1997 Capacity: 32,956

Pride Park is the standard-bearer, sadly, for what is lacking in many of the new generation of English football stadia.

English football grounds should be about the North Bank and the Stretford End and the Kop and the Gallowgate End and the Shelf.

They’re supposed to be about defined areas that give a stadium character and personality and even rivalry among home fans about who sings loudest.

Too many of the modern bowls have lost that character because the fans just merge into one.

This is not a criticism of Derby County fans in any way. They still make plenty of noise inside their stadium but the place is not a patch on the Baseball Ground, which witnessed so many momentous days and nights.

Pride Park is bland and featureless, a symbol of its team’s current struggle for identity as it languishes near the foot of the Championship.

19th: Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea City (overall: 78/92)

Opened: 2003 Capacity: 20,996 

My in-laws used to live in Swansea and when I wasn’t out walking to Worm’s Head at Rhossili or enjoying the delights of Mumbles and the Wales Coast Path, I’d make the occasional pilgrimage to what was left of the Vetch Field.

I stood in the away end there with Manchester United fans in the early 80s but when I visited later in my life, the Vetch was locked up and derelict. If you peered through the gates, you could see small trees and shrubs growing on the pitch.

The Swansea.com Stadium lacks the same character, obviously, but it is a tight stadium where the fans can still generate a rousing atmosphere if their team’s displays allow it.

At the moment, sadly, that isn’t very often but they have had some fine teams and fine managers in the post-Vetch era.

I did a phone interview with Mike Tyson from the press box here a couple of hours before a game. I couldn’t hear him very well because of various announcements being made over the loud-speaker system and soon, his tone became rather impatient but still, a conversation with Mike Tyson in the press box at Swansea is not easily forgotten.

18th: St Mary's Stadium, Southampton (overall: 74/92)

Opened: 2001 Capacity: 32,384

Southampton’s former ground, The Dell, was a wonderfully quirky stadium, full of odd tiers and shelves.

It doesn’t feel as though St Mary’s Stadium has any quirks, unfortunately.

Squatting at the edge of a slightly murky industrial estate, it falls squarely into the category of new builds largely devoid of character.

That does not mean that the home fans are incapable of creating atmosphere there and the renditions of When the Saints Go Marching In are a part of the cultural fabric of football in this country.

Sight lines are good and it can get loud but its design has little to recommend it.

17th: King Power Stadium, Leicester City (overall: 73/92)

Opened: 2002 Capacity: 32,259

One of the few times I was genuinely scared at a football stadium when I was a supporter was during a visit to Leicester City’s former stadium at Filbert Street.

In the crush to get out of the away end at the final whistle, I was lifted off my feet in the surge.

So I’m aware that there are limits to how much one should mourn the passing of that generation of stadia but I still find it hard to warm to arenas like the King Power Stadium.

It is comfortable and it is functional and the Leicester fans can make plenty of noise but it’s a bland, featureless bowl that has little to distinguish it from many of the new generation of stadia.

Even then, it provided me with one of the great memories of the last decade when Andrea Bocelli stood next to Claudio Ranieri and sang Nessun Dorma the game after Leicester had pulled off the shock of the century by winning the Premier League in 2016.

16th: Vicarage Road, Watford (overall: 66/92)

Opened: 1921 Capacity: 22,200

I’m going to show my age again: the first time I went to Vicarage Road, Graham Taylor was the manager, in his first spell at the club, and Ross Jenkins was playing up front in a match against Manchester United.

Maybe I’ve misremembered this but I seem to recall the train dropping us away fans right outside the stadium.

I’ve always associated Vicarage Road with drama for some reason. Even though it’s not tight and compact, it’s a place that can still generate a terrific atmosphere and I’ve seen a slew of upsets there.

The last one was when Liverpool visited in the middle of their runaway title-winning season in 2019-20.

They were still unbeaten in mid-February and on a long winning run and Watford took them apart and beat them 3-0. It was the kind of occasion that Vicarage Road excels at.

15th: Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough (overall: 65/92)

Opened: 1997 Capacity: 33,931

The location of the Riverside Stadium on the banks of the Tees, set against the backdrop of the region’s industrial heritage in steel and chemicals, makes it feel as if the stadium is at the heart of its community.

Everton’s new ground is the latest to use its city’s waterway as a backdrop but the drawback to Middlesbrough’s home is its featureless interior.

It is a friendly, passionate place to watch a game but its design is unimaginative and bland.

The bitter wind blowing in from the North Sea can make the walk to the stadium a challenge for the efficacy of your winter clothes, too.

14th: bet365 Stadium, Stoke City (overall: 64/92)

Opened: 1997 Capacity: 30,089

There was a time, when Tony Pulis was manager of Stoke City, that a visit to the Potteries was regarded as the ultimate test of fortitude.

That was when the Sky pundit Andy Gray suggested Lionel Messi ‘would struggle on a cold night at the Britannia Stadium,’ the ground’s former name.

A visit to the stadium is a test for fans, too. It generates a decent atmosphere but the design of the stadium means the wind blows through the gaps between the stands and chills supporters to the bone on cold days and nights.

A little way away, on the other side of the dual carriageway that runs down towards the M6, you used to be able to see the contours of the Victoria Ground, the club’s former home, etched into the patch of wasteland where it once stood but they have built a housing estate on it now.

Even if their new ground lacks character in its architecture, the fans have breathed life into it with their raucous vitality.

13th: MKM Stadium, Hull City (overall: 61/92)

Opened: 2002 Capacity: 25,586

I’ve got a soft spot for Hull City but not for their stadium.

The fans are brilliant, some of the best and most devoted in the country in a city where they have to fight against the power of rugby league, but the stadium has too often become a battleground between the supporters and owners who have too often adopted a heavy-handed approach to their fans.

It is a handsome stadium on the inside but there have been times when I have visited when sections of it were shut down because of ticketing issues.

It is an arena that has been made ugly by division.

12th: Carrow Road, Norwich City (overall: 60/92)

Opened: 1935 Capacity: 27,359

There’s something special about clubs that do not share their cities with rivals. It strengthens their regional character, in particular, and it is that way with the culture at Carrow Road.

It is a gem of a stadium, a place full of passion and with plenty of enmity for Ipswich Town but a fraction removed from some of the uglinesss that can blight the modern game.

The loving stewardship of Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones pervades the atmosphere at the ground. They will be missed now that they have stepped down from the board.

11th: Ashton Gate, Bristol City (overall: 59/92)

Opened: 1887 Capacity: 26,459

Ashton Gate is one of the stadiums that has slipped through the gaps for me.

I’ve only been once and that was for work but it’s a handsome stadium in a beautiful city with a rich history.

Richard Scudamore, the former chief executive of the Premier League, is a fan, which always struck me as slightly strange given the damage the top flight did to the lower leagues during his time at the helm.

10th: Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers (overall: 54/92)

Opened: 1882 Capacity: 31,363

The first time I went to Ewood Park was October 1991 when I reported on the return of Kenny Dalglish to football management for Liverpool’s Daily Post.

I went a lot over the next 10 years as the good times rolled and it was a lovely opportunity to explore some of the Lancashire countryside around the town.

I loved it at Ewood Park. I liked being able to look out from the main stand at the gap between the stands opposite and see people standing on the hillside behind them, staring down into the stadium as the match unfolded.

I don’t know if that vantage point still exists. It does sound as if the supporter experience has worsened under the current owners.

The days when Dalglish led them to a league title seem an awfully long time ago now.

9th: The Valley, Charlton Athletic (overall: 43/92)

Opened: 1919 Capacity: 27,111

The Valley has changed out of all recognition from the glory days when more than 75,000 crammed into it in the 1930s.

But there is still something magical about the home of Charlton Athletic. Perhaps, for those of us who are old enough, it is the memory of the old East Terrace rising up towards the South London sky.

Even when it was crumbling and condemned, there was something majestic about it, something that recalled great days.

Perhaps, too, there is something about the knowledge of how hard the fans fought, for seven years in the late 80s and early 90s, to return to the stadium when it seemed it had been ripped away from them.

And even if only that memory of the old East Terrace remains now, the walk down into the valley where the revamped stadium nestles still feels like a journey to the heart of the English game.

8th: Fratton Park, Portsmouth (overall: 37/92)

Opened: 1899 Capacity: 20,899

Since their brief sojourn in the Premier League, everyone has become aware of the entrances to Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road ground that are accessed on what appears to be the ground floor of a terraced house.

But the old way in to Fratton Park, beneath a half-timbered gable, is even more charming.

One of the old institutions of English football, the stadium has been renovated but has not lost the intensity and the raucousness that makes it such a hostile place to visit for opposing teams.

7th: Portman Road, Ipswich Town (overall: 36/92)

Opened: 1884 Capacity: 29,813

The matchday hospitality of the Cobbolds, the former owners of Ipswich Town, was legendary amongst journalists. I missed out on those days but a visit to Portman Road is still a treat.

It is still a wonderful ground, a ground at the centre of its community, a ground where you can breathe in the legends of Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson, great football men who did great things in their time in charge of the club.

A few years ago, I went to the the launch of Kieron Dyer’s autobiography in a suite at the stadium and it was a night that underlined how important the club is to the town.

It is a joy to see that the current hierarchy value the importance of the stadium and have lavished care and money on it. It is one of the great outposts of the English game.

6th: The Hawthorns, West Bromwich Albion (overall: 33/92)

Opened: 1900 Capacity: 26,688

I have seen a few crackers at The Hawthorns.

The 5-5 draw between West Brom and Manchester United in May 2013 that was Sir Alex Ferguson’s last game as a manager is probably top of the list.

I was in the press room there in May 2017 when Chelsea sealed the title under Antonio Conte and the players invaded his press conference to shower him in champagne and generally rough him up. Conte did not look best pleased.

The highest league ground in England, sitting on its perch above the M5, it is also one of football’s great theatres, a ground where the support exudes a love for the game and a warmth that survives the vicissitudes of the club’s fortunes on the pitch.

5th: Deepdale, Preston North End (overall: 31/92) 

Opened: 1878 Capacity: 23,404

I love going to Deepdale just for the history of the place.

Just to gaze down from the stands and know that this was the place where Tom Finney once played is enough to make it a memorable experience.

And the sense of it being a pilgrimage is only enhanced by the fact that one of the best statues in football sits outside the ground.

Taking its inspiration from the 1956 sports photo of the year, which showed Finney aquaplaning through a huge puddle at Stamford Bridge, the sculpture, known as The Splash, immortalises Finney outside his home town club.

It’s a wonderful tribute outside an arena redolent with memories of one of England’s greatest players.

4th: Racecourse Ground, Wrexham (overall: 24/92)

Opened: 1801 Capacity: 10,500

I went to a lot of games in Wrexham in the late 70s and early 80s. My best mate, Bryn, was from the town so when his mum and dad took him to visit family there, I went along and we headed for the Racecourse Ground.

I’m not one of those who regards the Ryan Reynolds/Rob McElhenney takeover of the club with distaste, although I am aware that my friend and colleague Ian Herbert, a Wrexham fan and a club scholar, is starting to have some misgivings about the direction things are taking.

Nothing in football is ever quite as wholesome as it seems but so far, it feels as if it has been good for the club and for the town.

I don’t know what their long-term motives are but they have poured a lot of money into the team and into the infrastructure, and the club is rising and rising through the leagues. It’s bringing more light into a community that has had its share of hard times. 

I was at the Racecourse, by the way, when Mark Hughes scored his spectacular overhead kick against Spain in 1985. It’s still one of the top five goals I’ve ever seen live.

The others: Angel di Maria for Argentina at the Lusail Stadium at the 2022 World Cup final, Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Sweden against England at the Friends Arena in 2012, Dennis Bergkamp for the Netherlands against Argentina at the Stade Velodrome at France '98 and Norman Whiteside for Manchester United against Everton at Wembley in the 1985 FA Cup final.

3rd: St Andrew's, Birmingham City (overall: 23/92)

Opened: 1906 Capacity: 29,409

Down the winding stairs from the press box, though the main reception area where staff are trying to sort ticket requests, through the foyer, down another set of steps and into a tunnel below the Main Stand where four garden forks hang on the wall outside the groundsman’s room – St Andrew’s is still a beautiful stadium that mixes old school elements and modern stands.

It’s a great place to watch a game. If it gets overshadowed by Aston Villa and West Brom, it still feels as if the soul of the Second City is alive in this place.

There are new owners now, of course, and big plans, but St Andrew’s is still at the heart of everything.

2nd: Bramall Lane, Sheffield United (overall: 21/92)

Opened: 1855 Capacity: 32,050

Bramall Lane is still the only ground where I’ve sat in the dugout during a league game.

Neil Warnock is a friend of mine and when he was in charge at Sheffield United, he let me sit next to him in an end-of-season Championship game against Ipswich Town.

I got a front row seat for Rob Kozluk, one of the game’s great sledgers, doing his best to wind up then-Ipswich boss Joe Royle.

I can’t think of many better grounds to have had the privilege. Bramall Lane is a cauldron of noise, full of history and passion, in the heart of the city.

Its Kop singing the Greasy Chip Butty song is one of the iconic experiences in English football.

1st: MATRADE Loftus Road, QPR (overall: 17/92)

Opened: 1904 Capacity: 18,193

One of the great surviving community grounds, a beautiful, steep-sided gem of a boutique stadium in Shepherd’s Bush, Loftus Road is a place to cherish.

When Bernie Ecclestone was a part-owner of the club, I sat in the directors’ box with him a few times and got shushed by Flavio Briatore for talking too much when my neighbour kept asking me questions. That may have been the first time anybody has ever been accused of talking more than Flavio.

The football wasn’t the best during their time there but the hospitality was: they had Mayfair restaurant Cipriani doing the catering.

They are long gone now but the stadium still remains, a wonderful anachronism in a changing world.