Excelsior Stadium stands on Craigneuk Avenue in Airdrie, off the A73 and Junction 6 of the M8. Opened in 1998 to replace Broomfield Park, it is still New Broomfield to plenty of locals. The all-seater ground holds a little over 10,000, around a 3G pitch of 115 by 75 yards. Sponsorship has renamed the boards more than once, Penny Cars and more recently Albert Bartlett among them, but Excelsior Stadium is the name on the map and on most away coaches.
Four separate, single-tier covered stands ring the pitch, with open corners and a floodlight pylon in each. The Jack Dalziel Stand, on the west side, is the main stand and the largest, with executive boxes along the back, the club bar and the dugouts. Opposite, the East Stand runs the same length of the touchline but is shallower. The North Stand and the South Stand sit behind the goals. They match the East Stand for height and are shorter, spanning only the width of the pitch. The goals face those ends, not the side stands: one goal is directly in front of the North Stand, the other in front of the South Stand.
For an ordinary league game you will most likely be in the Jack Dalziel Stand, towards the south-west corner in the lower-lettered sections, entering by turnstiles 1 to 4. Home supporters use the rest of that stand. If your club brings a bigger following, Airdrie normally move the away allocation to the East Stand, across the pitch, with its own turnstiles. For a rare full house the club can open almost everything except the West Stand. Check the ticket, because the allocation changes with the crowd. The two ends are often closed and sheeted when only a few hundred are in, so do not assume a seat behind the goal.
It is a neat, modern ground, and that is both the appeal and the frustration. Seats are red, white and black, the concourses are straightforward, and the view from either side is clear. What you will not get, most Saturdays, is a full house. Airdrie’s home support is modest, so large parts of the ground stay shut and the noise has to come from your own end. The 3G surface is even and quick. The ball runs true, which suits a passing side and punishes a heavy first touch.
Buy tickets in advance through Airdrieonians rather than trusting a cash gate. Seats are allocated. Stewards search on the way in, pyrotechnics are banned, and a flag or drum needs clearing with the club beforehand. A drum, if allowed, is usually walked in by a steward rather than taken through the turnstile. Kiosks take cash and card. There is no smoking or vaping in the stands, and if you leave you will not be let back in. A supporters’ bar sits inside the Jack Dalziel Stand and may be open to away fans housed there. Otherwise the Albert Bar on Clark Street is the nearest proper pub, about ten minutes’ walk.
Parking is off Petersburn Road, on the south-east side, and is signposted for away coaches and cars. It is pay-on-entry and fills early. For a bigger following, leave the car nearby or come by train. Drumgelloch is a little over a mile away and Airdrie station about a mile and a half, both on the Glasgow to Edinburgh line. A taxi from either is the easy option. Driving, leave the M8 at Junction 6, take the A73 towards Cumbernauld and turn into Petersburn Road. The access roads clog up, so give yourself longer than the map suggests.