AN abandoned stadium where England once played a friendly has been left overgrown and covered in graffiti.
Aylesbury United’s Buckingham Road ground, in Buckinghamshire, was hosting non-league games up until 2006.
gazpd/TwitterThe remnants of the stadium, which has been left to rot for 17 years[/caption]
gazpd/TwitterThe tunnel to the changing rooms is now covered in graffiti[/caption]
gazpd/TwitterMuch of the seating has been ripped apart and barriers have fallen down[/caption]
gazpd/TwitterThe ground used to host hundreds of football fans every week[/caption]
gazpd/TwitterThe playing area is largely overgrown and covered in shrubbery[/caption]
But in the 17 years since, it has been left to rot and is now strewn with rubbish, debris and vastly overgrown shrubbery.
Damaged walls, broken fence panels and flattened seating also haunts the ground once frequently attended by hundreds of fans every week.
In June 1988, Buckingham Road hosted a pre-tournament warm-up match for England ahead of the Euros.
Gary Lineker, Peter Beardsley and Stuart Pearce were among the England stars on show as Bobby Robson’s sine ran out 7-0 winners.
More than 6,000 football fans attended the game, before England flew to Germany and unexpectedly lost to Ireland, Netherlands and the Soviet Union.
Now, though, the ground lays derelict with Southern League Division One Central club Aylesbury United having had to groundshare with Chesham, Leighton Buzzard and Thame since.
The club’s lease for the ground expired in 2006 and it lay untouched until being purchased by GPS Estates Ltd.
In October 2020, property developers DLP Planning said it intended to demolish the ground to make way for a “residential neighbourhood”, Bucks Free Press reports.
The plans were met by hundreds of objections from local residents and councillors due to concerns over the ground’s floodplain location.
It is understood there are no current proposals for the refurbishment or redevelopment of the stadium.
But it is hoped the club will soon return to the town after proposals were put forward by the local council to the Ernest Cook Trust and HS2.
gazpd/TwitterThe ground once hosted an international friendly[/caption]
gazpd/TwitterMore than 6,000 watched Aylesbury United play against England[/caption]
gazpd/TwitterTrees have emerged where the goal would be at one end of the pitch[/caption]