Our League Cup tie at Leicester City is on Tuesday, with kick at 7.45. You’ll find the King Power stadium is about a mile and half south of the city centre, close to the site their former home at Filbert Street.
If you're coming by car you need to leave the M1 at Junction 21, and take the A5460 towards Leicester city centre. Continue on this road until you go under a railway bridge and carry on for another 200 yards, before you turn right at the traffic lights into Upperton Road (signposted Royal Infirmary) and then right into Eastern Boulevard (just after crossing the river), then keep going straight on to get to the ground.
There is less street parking close to the stadium than there used to be, thanks to a ‘residents only’ parking scheme, and to enforce it the traffic wardens are always out in droves on a matchday. So you might have to park some way out along the Narborough Road (the one coming in from junction 21) unless you want to pre-book a parking place at the cub’s official car park in Filbert Street for £15. Alternatively you can park at Leicester Rugby Club (a mere £10) which is a ten minute walk away from the stadium.
The last possible train back to Leeds leaves at 22.03 (change in Sheffield) which might be possible if there isn’t extra time. The railway station is around 20-25 minutes walk from the stadium, and there is a walking route signposted to the stadium from the opposite side of the main road from the station exit, and in any case there is usually a large number of police around who will be happy to show you the way.
Once you’ve crossed in front of the station you need to turn left and then go right along a pathway that runs beside and looks down on the Waterloo Way ring road. Continue straight along this pathway for around half a mile and you will reach a small park on your right (Nelson Mandela Park). The stadium you will see in front of you is the Welford Road home of Leicester Tigers Rugby Club, but beyond it you should be make out the roof of the King Power Stadium. If you keep going in that direction you can’t miss it.
The police usually insist that all the pubs will be shut before the game when we visit, so I can't guarantee that you'll get into any of the establishments I'm about to recommend, and most of the pubs near to the stadium are home fans only, The 'Counting House' pub on Freemens Common Road (near the Morrisons), usually welcomes both sets of supporters, but does exclude away supporters when the game is deemed to be a 'high profile'.
It might be a better bet to drink in the city centre, and if you're coming by train then you could try 'The Hind' pub across the road from the station, which has a fine selection of real ales. Another option is the Wetherspoons 'Last Plantagenet', which is named in honour of king Richard the third, who was of course found buried in a car park nearby.
The new stadium was built by Birse Construction at a cost of £35m, and opened in August 2002. It's capacity is 32,500 and it's completely enclosed, with all four corners being filled with seating. Like most new stadia it's functional but lacking in character. The stadium is intended to be part of a major regeneration of a huge area of previously neglected inner city land, and the club's official website does of course speak lovingly of all the conference facilities and stuff, such as the banqueting suite with a lovely view over the river.
Away supporters are given just over 3,300 seats in the North East corner of the stadium, and the view of the playing action is good (although you are set well back from the pitch) as are the facilities. The concourse is spacious, and there is a good range of hot dogs, burgers and pies available. However no alcohol is available in the away section for ‘high profile’ games, even though bitter & lager are both available in the home areas.
Ticket prices for this game are £10 for adults and £8 for senior citizens, and concessions for younger people ranging from £3 to £8. Our allocation was sold through the clubs’ ‘Away Attendance Tracker’ and has now sold out, but if you didn’t manage to get a ticket there is always the option of going to the Beamback at Elland Road. There are very few home tickets left, and it’s possible that by kick-off time the game will be a complete sell-out.
The stadium has been built in such a way that if required, an additional tier could be built onto the East Stand at some time in the future, which would increase the total capacity to just under 42,000. But this has been an option for some time, and if they didn’t put this plan into action just after winning the league, when are they going to do it?
Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com .