Pride Park - Derby County
Saturday August 14th, 2004
Vs Ipswich Town, Championship, 3pm
By Mark Horsfield

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

I was looking forward to it because Ipswich were playing there and I had heard good reports of Pride Park. Last season (2003/4) Ipswich took their largest number of fans to an away match - probably with the exception of West Ham in the play-offs - so a good atmosphere was likely as well. Additionally, I had promised to take my 7 year old son to an away match and this seemed a good choice given it was a new stadium within a reasonable distance.

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

We travelled up with a mate who had been to the same fixture the previous year and the journey was very straight-forward as was locating the ground with lots of good signposting. We parked in the away fans car-park (£4) at the local technical college.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?
 
We arrived about 70 minutes before kick-off and the walk from the car-park to the ground takes about 15 minutes alongside a new road and proper footpaths. We didn't see many home fans at all. It was really easy to get to even with youngsters in tow. We went in to the ground and had a drink and a pie or two and there were no queues at either the turnstiles or the food outlets. The stadium and facilities were modern, light and clean with plenty of flat screen tv's about with Sky Sports Soccer Special on.

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

We took our seats in the Cawarden End and initial impressions were of a very impressive stadium.

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

My major complaint with the stadium is the acoustics and pa system. It is rubbish. They could have been telling us to evacuate the stadium and you would not have understood the numbling noise. They may have made announcements about the two teams but I don't think they did and there was no music or pre-match build up at all even from the home fans. If you hadn't have been looking you would have hardly known that the Teams were running out on the pitch.

Once the game was underway though the home and away fans gave it there all and it was a really good atmosphere with plenty of opportunity to bait each other in a good natured, non-threatening way. It could be so much improved with a bit of pre-match effort and some half-decent acoustics/PA system.

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

Leaving the ground and getting back to the away fans car park was easy and quick but getting out of the car park was useless and took about 50 minutes. Of course there was no signs of any traffic police to assist with the problem which was all down to traffic lights and the nearby roundabout. A couple of well positioned policemen could have greatly improved the situation for home and away fans. Once out of the car park we were away and motoring within a few minutes. Next time we will park on the roadside prior to the roundabout that puts you on the road to the ground and away fans car park to avoid the congestion and delays of the traffic lights etc.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out

Pride Park is a super ground in a good location with excellent facilities. The pre-match atmosphere is a huge disappointment though as is the logistics of getting out of the away fans car park. With one or two small tweaks and effort the overall package could be complete. Certainly worth a visit though.

 

 

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