Football Ground Guide: Fans Reviews, Weston Homes Community Stadium, Colchester United FC

Weston Homes Community Stadium - Colchester United
Saturday September 20th, 2008
Vs MK Dons, League One, 3pm
By Greg Trumper

1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be):

I was looking forward to this as I like seeing new grounds. I am not one that thinks that every new ground is going to be bad. Layer road has its memories, but it has had its day.

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking?

We went by coach. Well it was very easy journey until we got to A12. We saw the stadium on our right and then missed our turn (we had been told it would be marked it wasn't). So we ended up in town centre and got a police escort to the ground which was nice of them and ensured we got there with fifteen minutes to spare.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

We stopped just outside Colchester at a pub called the Dolphin where they catered for the 60 of us that arrived on coach, lovely beer garden . Some of our fans went into town and drank in the Norfolk Arms which seemed to be the only pub letting in away fans.

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?

I liked the ground and the away end was behind the goal. The noisiest home fans were over to our left but they were not that loud. In fact we outsung them for most of the game, but in fairness to them they didn't have a lot to sing about! Generally it was a nice clean ground and it had a scoreboard, which beats our Stadium MK.

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..

We had been warned the stewards were the worst and real jobs-worths, but the opposite was true. They were friendly, weren't overboard on standing issue and when one of our fans with a baby got charged 15 quid for the child the steward supervisor overturned it and the fan got his money back. The food was usual fayre, but I heard no complaints.

My biggest problem was the lack of support the town population gives their club. Free bus to game with the purchase of a ticket (with attached travel stub) and still the crowd was less than 5,000. Considering that we took 600, it seemed quite poor for a former championship club.

The home fans saw their team slip to 2nd bottom with Dons 3-0 win but they really were not happy and booed the team off half time and there was a mass exodus well before the end, which didn't do much for the atmosphere.

We scored in first few minutes and despite fact it took till nearly the end of game to get the other two we dominated and Colchester never looked like they would ever get into the game.

6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:

No problem getting away although they let the home fans shuttle buses go first so sat around for 15 minutes or so, Police and Stewards were plenty so no problems at all really.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:

Enjoyed the day and the result helped of course. But I liked the stadium out of town yes but with the free shuttles not an excuse to not go to match, could do with the council putting up better signs to the ground from the A12 and the areas where you are allowed to park should be better marked, we had fans get parking tickets despite being told it was ok by locals.

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