Wigan Athletic: Away Supporters' Guide

RTG’s totally and utterly (we hope) indispensable guide to this season’s away grounds.

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THE OPPO Wigan Athletic
DATE Sat 27 August
KO TIME – 3pm

THE GROUND – The JJB Stadium Robin Park, Wigan, – click here and here for maps of the area – the red circle shows where the ground is.

Wigan is in Lancashire in north-west England - about 20 miles north-west of Manchester, and 20 miles north-east of Liverpool, easily accessible from both the M6 and M61.

STADIUM CAPACITY 24,826

AWAY SUPPORTERS

Away supporters are accommodated in the East Stand which has a total capacity of 8,178.

DISABLED FACILITIES

The stadium has designated platforms for the disabled in prime positions with dedicated ancillary catering and toilet facilities.

TICKETS

Season ticket holders have until 5.30pm on Thursday 11th August 2005 to apply, voucher 57 required. General sale will commence from 10.00am on Wednesday 17th August 2005 – subject to availability. Prices - Adults £20
Senior Citizen £15 and Juniors (U16) £15.

GOING BY CAR?

Travelling from the north east, get yourself onto the A1/A1M southbound and stay on for about 90 miles then follow the signs for M1 Southbound.
Leave the M1 at jcn 42 and join the M62 signposted for Manchester.
At jcn 18 join the M60
At jcn 15 of the M60 join the M61.
At jcn 5 of the M61 take the A58 then the A577 heading west through the Hindley area towards Wigan then take the A49.
In the centre of Wigan turn left and go past Wigan Wallgate station and Wigan North West Station – stay on the A49 then turn right up Robin Park Road, and the stadium is on your right.

From Sunderland it should take you about two and a half to three hours.

GOING BY TRAIN?

For full timing details, fares and to book, go to National Rail’s website.

SCRAN AND BOOZE

There’s a bar called ‘Champions’ opposite the main entrance of the stadium which welcomes well behaved visiting supporters, and a pub called The Orwell at Wigan Pier, with a very good selection of food and drink. There are several family restaurants close to the stadium if you fancy an early lunch – (eg Frankie & Bennie’s, Pizza Hut), and also a Burger King. Otherwise you can get a drink inside the stadium as well as soft drinks, tea, coffee, hotdogs etc. Wigan FC advise away supporters to avoid the Red Robin pub.

A.L.S. TRAVEL?

ALS coaches leave at 9am on the day and it’ll cost you £15 – call 0191 5654422 for details.

LEND US A FIVER I’M OUT OF CASH

There’s a Halifax ATM on Robin Park Road, also a Nat West ATM outside Boots the Chemist at the nearby Robin Park retail park. Also we were advised just before the match in April that had been some problems with the ATMs next to Burger King - it was suspected that the machine may have been tampered with (card skimmers?) at some point as some people had large anauthorised cash withdrawals from their account after using those ATMs.

LAST SEASON

Championship runners up,
FA Cup 3rd rnd (lost to Derby),
League Cup 1st rnd (lost to Grimsby).

LAST 6 MEETINGS

05/04/05 Wigan 0 Sunderland 1 (Stewart 3)
28/08/04 Sunderland 1 Wigan 1 (Elliott 82)
24/04/04 Wigan 0 Sunderland 0
02/12/03 Sunderland 1 Wigan 1 (Downing penalty 82)
12/03/88 Wigan 2 Sunderland 2
10/10/87 Sunderland 4 Wigan 1

Credits Wigan Athletic FC, Link, Multimap, Soccerbase, The AA, BBC.

QPR: Away Supporters' Guide

RTG’s totally and utterly (we hope) indispensable guide to this season’s away grounds.

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THE OPPO – Queens Park Rangers
DATE – Saturday 2nd April.
KO TIME – 3pm

THE GROUND – Loftus Road, London W12 – click here and here for maps of the area - the arrow points to where the ground is.

Loftus Road is in west London, near Shepherds Bush and the White City area where the BBC main offices are. It's not far from the A40 (westbound to the M25), the A406 North Circular, the M4 and the A41 which connects to the M1.

Away supporters are accommodated in the School End - Sunderland's entire allocation of just under 3,000 places has SOLD OUT. The School End backs onto Bloemfontain Road.

GOING BY CAR?

A1 South then M1 south and stay on the M1 till the bitter end!
A406 westbound then at Hangar Lane take the A40 eastbound (towards central London). Then when you get towards the White Cityarea, turn right into Wood Lane then bear right onto South Africa Road which takes you along to the ground.

It's all street parking in the immediate area though, the BBC car park on Wood Lane is for permit holders only. Please park considerately for residents and watch out for 'residents only' schemes and double yellow lines etc.

GOING BY TRAIN?

The 0754 GNER out of Newcastle gets you to London Kings Cross for 11.13am, the 08.33 gets you there for 12.35, or the 09.30 gets you there at 1pm. From Kings Cross, you need to change to the London Underground; take either the Northern Line going southbound as far as Tottenham Court Road, OR the Piccadilly Line southbound to Holborn, then change for the Central Line; get on a Central Line tube heading west, and get off at either Shepherds Bush or White City. See the map links above for proximity of each tube station to the ground itself.

For route and ticket information call National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950 or check the National Rail website.

ALS BUS

A Love Supreme are providing their usual coach service down to QPR. The cost is £23pp and coaches leave the ALS shop (opposite the Stadium of Light) at 7.30am on the day. To book, either phone or fax 0191 565 4422 (Mon-Fri 9-5 and matchdays) - credit and debit cards accepted. Or go to the ALS shop and pay in person. Or reserve your place online - either email mail@a-love-supreme.com to tell them you want to book a place, or click here to book and pay online.

Reservations and refunds deadline 48 hours before departure.

SCRAN AND BOOZE

We're told that alcohol is not served in the away end....sorry, lads and lasses. BUT....food-and-drink-wise, you should be able to find plenty of pubs and food outlets in the surrounding area, particularly on Uxbridge Road just to the south of the ground.

LEND US A FIVER I’M OUT OF CASH

There's a Barclays cash machine at White City tube station, and some of the 'corner shops' on Uxbridge Road have cash machines indoors.

THIS SEASON

Currently 9th of 24:
P38 W16 D8 L14 F47 A46 Pts 56 GD 1

LAST MEETINGS

14.08.04 Sunderland 2 QPR 2 (Stewart, Caldwell)
09.01.99 QPR 2 Sunderland 2 (Phillips, Quinn)
08.08.98 Sunderland 1 QPR 0 (Phillips)
06.12.97 QPR 0 Sunderland 1 (Quinn)
06.04.91 Sunderland 0 QPR 1
29.12.90 QPR 3 Sunderland 2

Credits: QPR FC, Link, Soccerbase, streetmap.co.uk, National Rail, Transport for London.

QPR allocation sold out but Wigan still on sale...

SAFC has advised us that the club's allocation of just under 3,000 tickets for the QPR game (Sat 2nd April) has now sold out, and supporters are being advised not to travel without a match ticket.

Tickets for the Wigan match three days later - Tuesday 5th April - go on sale this Wednesday (23 March) at 10am; the allocation for that game was approximately 7,000.

RTG's ticket information page is available by clicking here.