This year’s visit to Birmingham City is on Friday night, with a 7.45pm kick-off, and it’s live on Sky Sports.

St. Andrews is about 2 miles to the South-East of the city centre, in Small Heath, which isn't exactly the smartest part of the West Midlands. The best way by car is to leave the M42 at junction 6 and take the A45 into Birmingham. Keep on this road until you reach the 'Bordesley Circus' roundabout and take the A450 exit (follow signs to 'Ring Road North and M6') before taking the first left into Adderley Street.

In this area there is plenty of unrestricted parking, but you can't block any factory entrances as many of them are still working in the evenings. Some local schools and firms that offer parking facilities for around £5.

The nearest railway station is Bordesley, which is about a ten-minute walk away from the ground. Although it normally has no service outside the peak hours, some local trains from Moor Street and Snow Hill make extra stops on matchdays. For this game you can catch a train from Moor Street at 18.31, 18.48 or 19.00, with return trains from Bordesley at 21.52, 22.16 or 22.54. Unfortunately it will be too late to get a train back from Birmingham New Street to Leeds after the game.

Another option is to catch a bus from Moor Street station, any of number 17 from stand MD, 58, 59 or 60 from stand ME or 97 or 97a from stand MF. If you've got the energy to walk all the way from New Street you need to head for the new Bull Ring shopping centre and then follow signs to Digbeth Coach station.

Once you've passed the Coach Station on your right, cross over the dual carriageway and continue walking away from the City Centre. You will come to a fork in the road where you want to bear left going underneath a railway bridge. Passing the Clements Arms on your left just continue straight down this road, crossing a large roundabout (with a McDonalds over on one corner). The entrance to the away section is further up the road on your left.

There is the normal array of food on offer inside the ground, such as pies, burgers and rollover hot dogs, plus Balti Pies. Outside the choice is quite limited, but just across the road from the entrance to the away section is a 'Big W' outlet, which inside has a reasonably priced cafe.

Most of the pubs near to the ground are for home fans only and are not recommended, but one place where we usually get a friendly welcome is the ‘Cricketers Arms’. To find it you need to walk away from the ground along the road going towards Morrisons, then through Morrisons car park heading towards the store but join the road next to it, which is called Green Lane. The pub is 30 seconds from there on the left.

Approximately three-quarters of St. Andrews have been rebuilt since the early 90s. One large single tiered stand, incorporating the Tilton Road End & Spion Kop, completely surrounds half the pitch and has replaced a former huge terrace. The other new stand, the Railway End, was opened in February 1999. It is a large two-tiered stand holding 8,000, which pushed the overall capacity up to 30,016. Only one 'old' stand (it was built in the 1960's), the Main Stand, now remains of the former St Andrews.

Away supporters get one side of the Railway Stand's lower tier. The normal away allocation is 2,800, though if demand requires it this can be increased, and we were given an extra 500 tickets after the first batch sold out. And we must have sold the extra tickets as well, as they are no longer on sale on the official Leeds site.

Unfortunately this game has been designated as a category A fixture for away fans, despite the alternative of watching the game elsewhere on Sky. So this will cost us £30 for adults, with various categories of concessions at £25, £20 and £15.

Home tickets are only available to those with a previous booking history with Birmingham City, which is a shame, because they have announced a half-price ticket offer for their own fans, without being kind enough to extend the same generosity to us.

The facilities and the view from the away section are pretty good, but one downside is that the police tend to keep us in for quite a while after the game while the home fans disperse.

At one time Birmingham had plans to re-develop the old Main Stand, with a new structure that will connect to the Tilton Road End and increase the overall capacity of St Andrews to around 36,500. But there has been no update on that for some time, so presumably it’s on hold too if they ever get back to the Premier League.

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

Photo: Action Images

Leeds United Polls