Our visit to Leicester City takes place on Bank Holiday Monday,with a 12.15 kick off, thanks to Sky TV.

The 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 plenty of street parking in this area, especially around the Upperton Road, although you shouldn't double park as the traffic wardens are always out in droves on a matchday. Alternatively you can park at Leicester Rugby Club (£3) which is a ten minute walk away from the stadium.

The railway station is around 20-25 minutes walk from the stadium, and you need to cross the road as soon as you leave the station, and walk straight ahead, keeping the main Central Ring Road (Waterloo Way) on your left. Keep this to your left as the pavement becomes a separate path and the road sinks down into a dip down to your left, and keep following it until you find yourself in Nelson Mandela Park. Cross the park to the pedestrian crossings by the public lavatories and head for the Victory pub opposite (which is not recommended for away fans). Turn left across the front of the Leicester Royal infirmary, go first right into Walnut St and you can see the stadium behind the old Filbert Street ground. If you don't want to walk, bus numbers 26,37, 38, all run close to the stadium from the city centre, but you will have to get off at Morrisons supermarket.

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. Most of the pubs near to the stadium are home fans only, in particular the Victory and Turnstile pubs, and the 'Half Time Orange' which is a members-only Leicester City bar, despite being just over the road from the away end. The 'Counting House' pub on Freemens Common Road, usually welcomes both sets of supporters, but does exclude away supporters when the game is deemed to be a 'high profile'. You might have better luck at the 'Pride Of Leicester', which is near to the Victory pub and Leicester Rugby Club. 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.

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 the North East corner of the stadium, where just over 3,200 fans can be accommodated. 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 (even though bitter & lager are both available in the home areas) and smoking is not permitted under the stands. The main problem is that the stewarding and policing is way over the top, with both home and away fans likely to be ejected for any sort of boisterous behaviour, like dancing, pointing at opposing fans or even standing up.

Ticket prices are Adults £23 Over 60's £21, Under 22's & Students £15, Under 16's £10, Under 12's £5, Under 8's £3. Leicester are expecting a bumper 30,000+ crowd, and are opening the ticket office especially on Easter Sunday because of the demand for tickets for this game. There will be no tickets on sale on the day.

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 40,000.

Some of this stuff comes from www.footballgroundguide.com

Photo: Action Images

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