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Fleetwood Awaydaze
Tuesday, 9th Aug 2016 18:18 by Tim Whelan

Our first ever visit to Fleetwood is tomorrow night in the competition now known as the ‘EFL cup’, with kick off at 7.45pm. Although Sky have selected our game for live coverage at this stage in the last two seasons, they are not going to honour us with their presence this time round. ‘Highbury Stadium’ is about a mile to the south of Fleetwood town centre.

If you’re driving you need to take the M55 towards Blackpool as far as junction 3 and then the A585 towards Fleetwood. On the outskirts of Fleetwood you will come to a roundabout with Blackpool and Fylde College on your left. Continue straight on towards Fleetwood but after the roundabout take the first left into Copse Road.

After about a mile and as you pass Fleetwood Fire station on your left then branch left and turn left onto to Radcliffe Road (going back on yourself but in parallel with Copse Road). Then take the next right into Stanley Road and the stadium is at the bottom of this road on your left. There is no parking for away supporters at the stadium itself but there is plenty of street parking available in the area.

The former ‘Wyre Dock’ railway station would have been handy if it hadn’t fallen victim to the Beeching cuts in 1970, but the route is still there and there has been talk of a re-opening in recent years at an estimated cost of £5.5 million. Until that happens the nearest station will be five miles away at Poulton-le-Fylde, from whence the 80 or 82 buses run to Fleetwood.

Otherwise you could stay on the train to Blackpool North station, and catch either the numbers 1 or 14 bus, or the tram. The nearest stop to the ground is ‘Fisherman’s Walk’, which is a 35 minute ride from Blackpool North Pier. Unfortunately it’s not possible to get a train back to Leeds after the game, but I’ve included these directions for the benefit of our many fans in the north-west, who might stand a chance of getting home by train.

At the ground you’ll find a bar behind the main home terrace that admits away fans, and a club right next to the away turnstiles that doesn’t! The establishment that might let you in is ‘Jim's Sports Bar’, but inevitably it gets very full on matchdays. Inside the ground you can buy alcohol if you’re in the Parkside Stand, but not on the away terrace.

Otherwise, there are numerous pubs in Fleetwood town centre, with the best of them being the Wetherspoons’ ‘Thomas Drummond’ on London Street, the ‘Strawberry Gardens’ on Poulton Road and ‘Mount Hotel’ on the seafront. All three of these outlets are listed in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

No doubt many of us will take the opportunity to have a full day out in Blackpool, but please note that on our last few visits to Bloomfield Road they were refusing entry to Leeds fans who’d had a few too many, and as it’s the same police force they may well do the same at Fleetwood. So it’s probably best to stick within your limits.

The history of football in Fleetwood goes back as far as 1908, but first to clubs went bust before the current outfit was founded in 1997. The third club could have gone the same way, but in 2003 they were bought by local businessman Andrew Piley, and he has since invested over £10 million to finance their rise through the Leagues as far as the third tier of English football.

Piley is still the club’s chairman and he has modernised ‘Highbury’ stadium during his time in charge, to ensure it met the standards demanded by the Football League, with a current capacity of 5,311. Away fans get the Percy Ronson terrace, which runs for two-thirds of the eastern end of the ground. It only holds 621 fans, but there are no pillars to block the view and it has a modern snack bar and toilet block.

Away fans also get 210 spaces on the open Highbury side standing area, and at least 300 seats in the main Parkside Stand, with an increased number available to the bigger clubs (which presumably includes us).

Tickets are slightly cheaper than they would be for a league game, despite the higher calibre of the opposition, with adult prices at £20 in the main stand and £17 on the terrace, and various categories of concessions available. I presume the Leeds allocation has sold out, as it’s no longer on sale on our official website.

Fleetwood seem to have the room to extend the capacity slightly by extending the current Highbury Stand, but have not announced any plans to do so, so presumably the current capacity is enough to meet their needs while they remain in League One.

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com .

Photo: Action Images



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