Take The A140 To Three Points (Portman Road (Ipswich Town FC))

Member Name: utero

Product:	Portman Road (Ipswich Town FC)
Date:	18/10/05 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good transport access, Good views, Good Atmosphere

Disadvantages: Cramped facilities in away stand

Sorrow weeps within my heart when I see the plight of our arch rivals down the A140. At the turn of the century they were going strong but then they spent some money, didn’t do too well and have ended up in a bit of a financial pickle. The cream of the playing squad has been sold off but Portman Road stands strong as testament to the multi-million pound loan they’re struggling to pay off.

Anyway the one plus point of being relegated from the Premiership was that fact that we were going to meet up with our rivals once more in the local derby. The computer threw up an away trip to Ipswich in September, which meant getting up before 8am on a Sunday in time to make a midday kickoff.

If you’re looking to take a trip to the ground then it’s fairly easy to get to. It’s located in close proximity to the river and the train station is within easy walking distance. There are several car parks also dotted around the ground but you should be prepared for a slow exit after the game.

The ground is a mix of old and new. The stand we found ourselves in was the Cobbold Stand, an older statesman of the ground. I slipped through the clasping hands of the orange-coated stewards and into the ground through the narrow turnstiles. If you are large in nature you have been warned, you may need to grease up!

You then encounter some narrow stairs and then it get’s a little confusing as you reach the top. In the general commotion I struggled to find the way to the terracing with the minimal signs dotted around. Before making my way I tried to find the toilets, it’s a strange stand as the refreshments and toilets can be found down small corridors. It’s certainly different from the other grounds I have visited.

Once you get to your seat, you actually get a decent view of the action from wherever you may be sitting. We found ourselves in the upper tier, looking down on one end of the pitch – touchline side. The roof the stand slants down. This means that you don’t get to see the top tiers of the other stands. Because of this I can’t really tell you how good the ground looks because I couldn’t see it. But you do see the scoreboards, the players and the pitch so little else counts. Unless of course you admire roofs of football grounds.

The atmosphere was excellent throughout, but then it was the highlight of both teams football season so you’d expect a lot of noise and banter back and forth. I found the stewards pretty relaxed considering the event and they allowed everyone to have a good time so kudos to them.

When you consider this was a local derby you’d half expect Ipswich to be charging astronomical prices. On Friday I saw a very humorous advert in the paper from Birmingham City that said they were dropping ticket prices in order to get fans to support the lads. Fans could pay the amazingly cheap price of £45 to see their heroes lose 1-0 to their local rivals Aston Villa. With this in mind, it was refreshing to be asked for £25 to see the derby game. In the current climate I thought that was pretty reasonable, if you were over 65 you were asked for £17.50 while under 16’s got in for £9.00.

As I write this Norwich are currently 4-0 down to Luton Town, a team who came up last season and spent very little. Therefore I look forward to making the same journey next season, as I’m not expecting a return to the top league anytime soon.

Time for a stiff drink….on the ball city….rah rah rah.

Summary: The home of our arch rivals is actually a decent place to watch football