WHAT should a modern football stadium look like? Nothing like Bolton's Reebok Stadium, according to the Civic Trust.

The futuristic construction has been given the thumbs down for an award by the Civic Trust. And a local Trust official describes it as sitting "like a great white crab in what is still a semi-rural backdrop of fields or hills."

He attacks the "festoons of steelwork and lights which are visible for miles" and adds that it is "sad" that so much wasted effort has gone into such an "unsatisfactory" construction.

What on earth was the Civic Trust expecting an ultra-modern football stadium to look like? Anne Hathaway's cottage?

Of course the Reebok is a highly noticeable part of the landscape. That's the whole point. The general opinion is that it is a magnificent piece of work that has helped put its location (Horwich) and Bolton Wanderers firmly on the national map.

The same report dismisses the Middlebrook development as "mostly just sheds with decorative frontages." But popularity with the public should be the major yardstick here.

We feel the Civic Trust is being unrealistic about modern developments of this type. While we have always applauded its stand on retaining and preserving the best of local buildings, it's hard to echo its sentiments this time.

The Bolton area has a stadium and development of which the people can be rightly proud. Members of the public show their feelings by visiting both. And on that basis alone, both the Reebok and Middlebrook are outstanding successes.

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