Fir Park: Motherwell
Lewismccabe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Despite calling it home since it opened in 1895, Fir Park wasn’t Motherwell’s first stadium. The club was formed in 1886 and for the first nine years of its existence it played matches at locations in both Roman Road and Dalziel Park. When they eventually did settle at their long-term home it wasn’t just a stadium that they gained from the experience. Fir Park was built in an area of land owned by Lord Hamilton of Dalzell. His racing colours were claret and amber, so the club adopted them as the colours for their kit.
For the first few years of Fir Park’s existence the attendances were low. There was a constant rumour that nearby Hibernian, who had been established since 1875, were going to take over ownership of the stadium. It never happened, of course, and Motherwell have played their home games there ever since. The ground has been updated several times over the years, most notably in 1995 when The Davie Cooper Stand was built.
Stats
| Fir Park Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Opened | 1895 |
| Capacity | 13677 |
| Average Attendance | 5797 |
| Record Attendance | 35632 (Motherwell v Rangers (1952)) |
| Pitch Size | 100 x 68 (6800) |
| Owner | Motherwell F.C. |
| Clubs Hosted | Motherwell F.C., Gretna F.C. |
| First Fixture | Motherwell v Celtic (03/08/1895) |
| Motherwell Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1886 |
| Nickname | Well, The Steelmen, The Dossers |
| Club Mascot | Claret, Amber |
| Rivals | Hamilton Academical, Airdrieonians, Albion Rovers |
| Previous Stadiums | Roman Road, Dalziel Park |
| Kit | Yellow & Orange (Home) / Black & Yellow Stripes (Away) |
| Training Ground | Dalziel Park |
| Shirt Sponsor | G4Claims |
| Team Owner | Well Society 1 |
| Record Goalscorer | Hughie Ferguson (284) |
| Record Appearances | Bob Ferrier (626) |
Fir Park Photos
Fir Park Seating Plan and Where to Sit
The Davie Cooper Stand is behind the Northern goal and was the last part of the ground to be rebuilt in the wake of The Taylor Report. It’s opposite The Tommy Mclean Stand, where the away supporters are housed. Running along the side of the pitch is The John Hunter Stand as it has been known since 2016, which used to be a terraced section but is now an all-seater affair. The final part of the stadium is The Phil O’Donnell Stand. It is an odd looking stand as it only runs along two-thirds of the pitch.
Motherwell Ticket Prices
Ticket prices for Motherwell games are dictated by three things: your age, who the club are playing against and where in the ground you’d like to sit. The two different ticket categories are referred to as Category A and Category B, with the former being used for matches against the biggest teams in the league, such as Celtic and Rangers.
The John Hunter Stand is the cheapest place to sit, with The Phil O’Donnell Stand, The Maxim Office Park Stand and The Davie Cooper Stand all being charged at the same rate as each other. All things considered, the cheapest and most expensive tickets are as follows:
- Cat A Adults: £26.00 – £33.00 / Concessions: £22.00 – £24.00
- Cat B Adults: £24.00 – £26.00 / Concessions: £19.00 – £19.00
How To Get Motherwell Tickets
You can get tickets over the phone, in person from the club’s ticket office or on the turnstiles on the say of Standard Entry matches.
Where to Buy
Getting To Fir Park
Motherwell is just South East of Glasgow, so it’s not one of the more convenient Scottish cities to get to. Here’s how to get to Fir Park:
Train – It would take just over five hours to get from London to Motherwell with a change at either Edinburgh or Glasgow. Once there it’ll take you about fifteen minutes to walk to the stadium.
Bus – The X11, 240, 242, 266, 267 and 241 bus services all run from Motherwell to close to the ground.
Car – If you’re heading towards the city on the M74 you’re in luck, you can see the ground from the motorway. Exit at Junction 6 and follow the signs. From the East or North take the M8 or A73 to the A723 then get onto the A721 and follow the signs.
By Air – Glasgow International Airport is about 25 miles from Fir Park, with Edinburgh International coming in at 35 miles and Glasgow Prestwick being 41 miles away.
Taxi – A taxi from the train station to the ground will set you back around £13 and shouldn’t take longer than about ten minutes.
Parking Near Fir Park
There are two small car parks near to the ground as well as quite a lot of on-street parking in vicinity. Keep your eye out for parking restrictions though, just in case.
Useful Resources
- Parking - Just Park
Fir Park Hotels
There are a number of excellent hotels to choose from in Motherwell, with these being the pick of the bunch as far as we’re concerned:
Days Inn Hamilton - £50+
The Commercial Hotel - £60+
Best Western Moorings Hotel - £70+
Pubs and Bars Near Fir Park
Each Scottish town has its own charm and Motherwell is no exception. Here are some of our recommendations for a pre-match pint:
The Windmill Tavern
The Railway Tavern
The Brandon Works
Facilities
There are all of the usual places to buy food and drink inside the ground, as well as decent concourses in most stands. The views from The East Stand and The Phil O’Donnell Stand can be obscured in places by the presence of support beams.
Prices
- Programme: £3
- Pie: £2
- Cup of tea: £1.7
Hospitality
There are several different hospitality packages available at Fir Park, with the suite you sign up to entertain in dictating what you receive. The top package comes in the form of the executive boxes in The Maxim Office Park Stand, given that there you’ll enjoy both dinner and a drinks-inclusive package. In The Centenary Suite you’ll get dinner and access to a pay bar, whilst The Millennium Suite offers snacks and drinks. There are different packages within some of the suites too so there should be something to suit your budget.
Private Hire
Fir Park can be used to host any number of different events or occasions. The suites and boxes are available for hire for conferences with break out rooms, private parties, dinner dances, family celebrations or even a wedding. They have spaces suitable for 50 to 225 guests.
Stadium Tours & Museum
At the time of writing there are no tours of Fir Park available and any sense of museum is left to the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park. There’s a 360′ virtual tour on the website that is apparently quite good but it didn’t work for me.
I was gutted.
About Motherwell
Motherwell Football Club was formed in 1886 when members of the city’s two teams, Alpha FC and Glencairn FC met in a pub on Merry Street in the city centre and decided to combine forces. They wanted to create a club that could represent the city of Motherwell at the highest level and they’d no doubt be delighted by what they achieved if they could look back on it today. Admittedly things haven’t always been plain sailing, but they’ve done well enough over the years all things considered.
At the start of the club’s life they would often fail to get enough players onto the pitch because they wouldn’t have finished their shift at nearby ironworks. They became professional in 1893 and have played in the top-flight non-stop since 1985. During the club’s history they have won the Scottish league title only once, which happened in 1932. They’ve won the Scottish Cup twice in 1952 and 1992, and the Scottish League Cup once in 1950. They also won the now defunct Summer Cup in 1965.
Fir Park History
For most of the stadium’s existence it only had one stand. This was the two-tier Main Stand, with the other sections of the stadium being made up of terraces. The club built a roof over the Eastern terrace in 1954 and added floodlights in 1956. In 1962 Motherwell began to build a new main stand that was financed by the sale of Pat Quinn to Blackpool and Ian St. John to Liverpool. Supporters were incensed by the sale of the players for what appeared to be the greed of the club and they boycotted the use of it. This stand is now known as The Pat O’Donnell Stand and supporters still don’t sit in it if it can be avoided.
From 1991 until 1995 different sections of the stadium were developed in order to comply with the Taylor Report, written in the aftermath of The Hillsborough Disaster. It said that all top-flight stadiums in Britain needed to be all-seater. It came at a time when the club were under some financial constraints and money was spent on the alteration of the ground at the expense of other areas that needed work. In recent years many visiting clubs have been critical of the pitch, which floods easily and is not always in a good state.
Future Developments
There have been discussions about moving stadiums since 2008, but that is unlikely to happen now. The repair of the pitch in 2010 was said to be the ‘last major investment’ in Fir Park, but they used the lockdown of 2020 to renew the John Hunter stand, replacing all the seats, painting it all and adding LED lighting and digital menus, as well as installing a new PA system for the stadium. They plan to do the same to all the stands as time goes on, but have not made concrete plans yet.