Internet Football Ground Guide - Away Days, Elland Road, Leeds United

Elland Road - Leeds United
Saturday, January 21st, 2006
V Sheffield Wednesday, Championship League 3pm
By Chris Stacey

1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be):

Well I was looking forward to the game but not really to going to the ground. The previous times I had been to the ground to watch Wednesday I was young and couldn't really remember but apparently my Dad nearly got ejected from the ground for arguing with the steward because I was stood on my seat! I also visited to watch England and found that the atmosphere was really flat even with a full house!

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking:

The journey was easy, took about half an hour from when we left Sheffield. As the ground is quite local we knew where it was and knew where the best spots to park were. We parked on a nearby main road which was just beginning to fill up with early arrivals like us, at around 1pm.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

Walked down to the ground at around 1.30 and thought it was a bit early to go straight in, so we went to get something to eat. The nearest place was the Subway Outlet directly across from the away end turnstiles. My Dad and my mate bought 2 of the biggest (and most expensive) sandwiches I have ever seen but I didn't bother. The home fans seemed okay, considering it was a local derby, just commenting on how many fans we had brought which wasn't that impressive at around 3,500 but that is all we were allocated.

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?

Three stands are dwarfed by the massive East Stand, which ironically had half of it closed! We were given the whole of the South Stand which was a decent allocation as normally just the corner is given. One bad point is that the Leeds ticket office had told the Wednesday ticket office to sell from the front so we were left on Row C almost straight behind the net.

The concourse behind the stand was pretty modern in the old stand. There were some good refreshments on offer including alcohol, and they were showing the Premier Plus live game on large plasma screens. Thought these screens may have been in danger of damage if some fans got angry, but luckily the Wednesday fans were in good spirits despite the 3-0 loss.

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..

The game was very one-sided with us deploying very defensive tactics and we kept it tight for 70 minutes, before letting three late goals in. The atmosphere was pretty flat from the home fans, with just a few bursts of sound. However, the atmosphere wasn't aided by the closure of the upper tier of the East Stand. The atmosphere created by the away fans was great though with some extremely funny chants about Shaun Derry who played in tights!

The stewards were equally as harsh as previous visits, with fans getting warned for standing up and swearing the odd time. They didn't really spoil the atmosphere though as most fans were there just to enjoy their day out. The toilets were in my opinion very small and very old. The rest of the stand inside is pretty modern but the toilets looked as if they hadn't been changed from when the ground was first built!

6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game:

Was the easiest ground to get away from this season. We walked to the car in around 10 minutes and had set off at around 5.10. We were on the M621 within 5 minutes and had arrived back in Sheffield by 5.45 which meant that we got home quicker than we do for any home match.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:

Was a good day out apart from the result. Enjoyed the continuous chanting from our loyal supporters and thought that the ground was good, apart from the fact that our eyes were around pitch level. Another plus point would have been that my mate nearly got away with keeping the match ball but the steward took it off him right at the last minute!

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