Stadium Review #9 - Pride Park

Ground Information: Pride Park (Derby County FC) Capacity 33,597

Appearance: A very impressive stadium from both outside and in, similar to Home Park on a larger scale with the space frame design and wrap-round roof but with a two tiered side and very clean and bright facilities. The corner of executive boxes is unusual. 10/10

View: Excellent, couldn't fault anything. From the picture you can see I was dead centre of the goal due to the amount of space given to away supporters. 10/10

Getting there: Derby from the South West is a bit round the houses, took the M42 - A42 - A50 - A6 route, which from the outskirts sported large "Away Supporters" signage. Parked at a nearby pub but there is an away supporters car park next to the ground. The train station is about 15 minutes away. 8/10

Facilities (toilets, TVs etc): Massive. The concourse went on for miles and the toilets were cavernous. There were 2 large bars for alcohol and food and a smaller non alcohol-selling bar, though having to order through a grill was strange. The PA was excellent, maybe a tad too loud, with the usual TVs showing SSN. 9/10

Food and Drink: Good pie, good pint, good service. 8/10

Stewarding/Police: The group I was with came under the watchful eye of the local police force and we were filmed on CCTV for 10 minutes each half, but apart from a quiet work in the ear of a few more boisterous members, nothing happened. Stood all match. 8/10

Surrounding area (what's there to do outside the ground): Went to the pub, which was a fair trek from the ground as are other pubs in the city centre. 6/10

Home fans (their contribution to the atmosphere etc): Passionate, some Argyle supprters jeered them but for the best part of the game (once they got started) they sang. 6/10

Total score: 65/80

So Derby tops the league table, which is not at all surprising.

Stadium League Table:
Pride Park (Derby): 65
Poltair Park (St Austell): 57 [non league]
Stadium of Light (Sunderland): 55
Ricoh Arena (Coventry):51
Walkers Stadium (Leicester): 50
St Andrews (Birmingham): 48
Deepdale (Preston): 43
Ninian Park (Cardiff): 42
Roots Hall (Southend): 41