Our trip to Chelsea this season is tomorrow night with kick-off at 7.30, and it’s live on one of the TNT channels.
If you’re driving, the best bet is to leave the M25 at Junction 15 and take the M4 towards London, which then becomes the A4. Carry on over the Hammersmith flyover and after a further one and a half miles, take the Earls Court turning (A3220). Continue past Earls Court station and down the one-way system until you reach the junction with Fulham Road (A304).
At this junction, turn right at the traffic lights and after about half a mile, you will see the ground on your right. I’ve been told that the Awaydaze was very old school for not including the postcode for sat navs, so here it is. SW6 1HS.
Not that you will be able to park right outside Stamford Bridge if this modern technology took you all the way there. A number of local resident schemes are in operation around the stadium, and the car parks are rather pricey too. So you're probably better off parking further away and catching the tube to Fulham Broadway, which is on the Wimbledon branch of the district line.
The junction for this branch is Earl’s Court, and as it’s a bit hairy trying to get a drink close to the stadium, it’s probably best to head for the ‘Courtfield Tavern’, which is almost opposite the main entrance to Earls Court station. Other options are the Earls Court Tavern and The Prince of Teck, both of which are a short distance up the Earls Court road.
In the eighties there used to be gangs of Chelsea fans ready to attack anyone changing trains at Earl's Court who wasn't wearing Chelsea colours, and if they asked if you were a Leeds fan and you said you weren't they usually hit you anyway. Thankfully it's much safer to use the underground now.
For many decades Stamford Bridge had an oval shape, having been the home of the London Athletic club before Chelsea moved in in 1905. In the early 1970s they had ambitious plans to revamp all four sides of the ground, but in this period only the huge and vastly expensive East Stand was completed (in 1973) and it’s cost came very close to bankrupting the club.
The re-development of the other three sides of the Bridge had to wait for Matthew Harding’s cash to arrive in the mid-90s. The demands of the Taylor meant that the terraces at both ends had to be replaced by all-seater stands, and a new west stand finished the job in 2001. This gave them a present-day capacity of 41,631.
The away section is on one side of the Shed End lower tier (towards the East Stand side), where the normal allocation for league games is 3,083 tickets. Inevitably our allocation sold out almost as soon as it went on sale, and thanks to Premier League regulations they cost £30 for adults, with concessions at £28 and £23.50.
A few years ago there were complaints about overcrowding around the away turnstiles after they failed to work properly, but Chelsea did of course try to put the blame on us. This time the official Leeds site has published some information from Chelsea asking us to get there early, as "All supporters will be searched thoroughly before entering the stadium”.
They also ask us to have our tickets downloaded before we get there, and say that under Premier League rules all clubs will have to use digital ticketing by the start of next season. Which is harsh on older fans who aren’t tech savvy and those who can’t afford a mobile phone contract, but it’s likely the latter group can’t afford top level ticket prices anyway.
The view from this area of the ground is pretty good and the refreshment areas are modern looking, though the choice of scoff is limited and rather expensive. If you don't want to subsidise Chelsea's under-performing squad any more than you have to, you can find more reasonably priced refreshments in the large numbers of takeaways along the Fulham Road.
Alcohol is not permitted on the streets surrounding Stamford Bridge, but it will be on sale in the away concourses’ pre-match and at half-time. And we’re also told that "this provision will only be removed due to anti-social behaviour from fans”, so it’s a good job we’re always very well behaved. We’re also warned that there is a zero-tolerance approach to discriminatory chanting and hate crimes at Stamford Bridge, so things have certainly changed since the 1980s.
Nearby is the 'Chelsea Village', which offers 2 four-star hotels, four restaurants, apartments, banqueting and conference facilities, as well as a health club. That was all built by one Ken Bates, who fell out with Matthew Harding, who wanted the money to be invested in the playing squad rather than on all this tomfoolery. Whatever happened to master Bates?
In 2001 Stamford Bridge was the largest football stadium in London. Obviously that was surpassed by the rebuilt Wembley, and in the years since Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham have all moved to larger new premises. So Chelsea now feel the need to catch up, and given their ridiculous spending they could do with a big increase in matchday revenues, to make sure they stay within FFP limits.
Current owner Todd Boehly thinks that "everyone recognises that a club as big as Chelsea should have a stadium that reflects the size of the club and ultimately that’s going to be a strategic advantage.” At once stage they were looking at the possibility of moving to Earls Court as part of a £10bn redevelopment there, but the latest plans for that scheme don’t involve a stadium.
So the most likely scenario now is that they will move elsewhere while the Bridge is completely redeveloped, for a period of up to seven years. Twickenham has been mentioned as a possible temporary home, but they would have to get that past Richmond borough and their concern for local residents. Watch this space.
So we might get a larger allocation of tickets at some point in the future, but if you hold your breath waiting for it the chances are you would suffocate.
Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com.