Our visit to Crystal Palace kicks off at 8pm on Monday night, and it’s live on Sky Sports.

Driving to Selhurst Park can be a bit of a nightmare, partly because the roads can be pretty congested on weekday evenings even without football traffic, and partly because it is of course right on the opposite side of London from Leeds.

From the end of the M1 take the A406 North Circular Road heading west to Chiswick Roundabout. Take the third exit at the roundabout onto Chiswick High Road, then first left onto the A205 signposted Kew. After 2 miles, take a left at the t-junction signposted Putney.

Continue until the road merges with the A3, then a mile later, turn right onto the A214 signposted Tooting and Streatham. In Streatham turn right onto the A23 Streatham High Road and after one mile, turn left into the B273 Green Lane which becomes Parchmore Road. At the bottom of the road, turn left into the High Street, go straight over the crossroads and the ground is on the right.

But then you have to find somewhere to park. The 500-space Sainsbury's car park by the ground has a time limit, and most of the surrounding streets are for residents only. So the best option is probably to park at a railway station on the edge of London and continue the journey by train.

Norwood Junction, Selhurst and Thornton Heath railway stations are equally close to the ground (all about 10-15 minutes walk) but please note that Crystal Palace station is about two miles away. Norwood Junction is served by trains from London Bridge, but you need to get to Victoria for a train to Selhurst or Thornton Heath.

The best of the pubs are around Thornton Heath, and you can find 'The Railway Telegraph' if you cross the road from the railway station and then walk 100 yards down the road on the right. And on the way from here to the stadium you will find the closest pub to Selhurst park which admits away fans, the Prince George on Thornton Heath High Street. There are also plenty of Kebab & Chip shops on the route from Thornton Heath.

Up to the mid-nineties the away fans were put in the corner of the big open terrace on the Holmesdale Road end, but that end has now been replaced by a large new two-tiered stand, which was naturally deemed to be much too good for visiting supporters. So we have to make do with the much older single-tiered Arthur Wait stand down the side of the pitch. The rake isn't very steep, so fans towards the back tend to stand up to get a better view, until we get shouted at by the stewards.

The view is also partially impeded by the low overhang of the roof, and by the tv gantry at the front of the stand. And while the tv-induced switch to Monday is inconvenient for many reasons, one benefit is that we won’t have to try to watch the game through the glare of the setting sun, which is a problem on a fine afternoon, as we are looking south-west as we face the pitch.

There are plenty of the usual sort of football refreshments available, such as burgers and chips, but as ever it's more expensive than the scoff you can get elsewhere in the area. Alcohol is usually served to away fans inside the ground, but not during certain ‘high profile’ games, which probably includes us.

For these excellent facilities we have to pay £30 for adults and £16 or £20 concessions, thanks to Premier League rules. Our allocation is 2,866 out of a total capacity 25,456, and it did of course sell out almost as soon as it went on sale. Tickets in the home parts of the ground are only on sale to Palace members.

The club have some exciting plans to increase the capacity of Selhurst Park to over 34,000, which have now been approved by Croydon Council. This will be mostly achieved by building a bigger Main Stand which will have a capacity of 13,500 seats, including the obligatory new hospitality areas. Will they have the same consideration for mere away fans and give us an improved stand and a bigger allocation/ We can but hope.

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

Reuters

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