RTG’s totally and utterly (we hope) indispensable guide to this season’s away grounds.
THE OPPO –Derby County aka The Rams
DATE – Saturday 9 September
KO TIME – 3pm
THE GROUND – Pride Park Stadium, Derby – click here and here for maps of the area – the arrow in the middle points to where the ground is.
Pride Park Stadium is east of Derby city centre, close to the main A52 Nottingham-Derby road (these days the road is known as “Brian Clough Way” in the great man’s memory).
Visiting supporters are accommodated in the south stand. A maximum of 4,800 away supporters can be accommodated here, depending upon demand – the full allocation was taken up by Sunderland supporters who wanted to see the first game of the Roy Keane reign in September 2006. Being a relatively modern stadium it has no seats with restricted views – fairly similar to Coventry’s Ricoh Stadium in design/feel once you’re inside. The home fans seem to have a strange fondness for pairs of 2-feet long inflatable stick things that they bang together during the game (and even some Derby supporters say it’s incredibly annoying sitting close to another fan doing that).
Tickets now on general sale: £27 adults, senior citizens £14, U16’s £10.
GOING BY CAR?
Pretty easy really! By far the most straightforward – and probably fastest – way from Sunderland is to get on the A1; just after you pass junction 45 (for the A64 Leeds/York road) you’ll see signs for the M1 – so take the M1 south. You join the M1 at jcn 48 and you need to stay on it until you reach jcn 25. On the exit slip road turn right onto the A52 towards Derby. After that, just keep going until you see the signs for Pride Park – easy.
Take the slip road off the A52 when you see the signs for Pride Park (you’ll see a retail park on your left). Down to the roundabout then go straight over, and shortly afterwards you see the Stadium on your left.
Parking in the area around the stadium is extremely limited, you’ll probably be as well off parking in one of the multi-storeys in Derby town centre. However some limited parking is available in the industrial areas immediately around the stadium – one or two official car parks are close by but they’re for home fans. An alternative is to go past the stadium, turn left onto Pride Parkway and continue along, crossing the railway line, then turn either right or left onto London Road and park in the streets around that area (please park considerately for local residents).
GOING BY TRAIN?
Derby station is very close to Pride Park – see map here.
There are rail replacement services (bus) organised on the East coast main line that weekend, but an alternative route takes you via Thornaby and York – see National Rail’s website for details.
STOPPING OVER?
Travel Inn, Wyvern Business Park, Derby, tel 0870 2383313 (where you leave the A52)
Express by Holiday Inn, Pride Park, tel 01332 388000
Travelodge Derby, Kingsway Retail Park, Derby, tel 0870 1911572
Premier Lodge, Sinfin Lane, Derby, tel 0870 9906306
The Grange Hotel, Normanton, Derby, tel 01332 766338
SCRAN AND BOOZE
As it’s on reclaimed industrial land, there isn’t too much around immediately outside the stadium to take the edge off your hunger or quench your thirst, apart from a few burger vans outside the away turnstiles. However there are bars inside the stadium.
There are some pubs close to the rail station – The Merry Widows, The Brunswick and The Alexandra. Some away fans drink at “The Navigation” pub on London Road, just over the road from the Catalis conference and training centre about 10 minutes’ walk away from the ground. There’s a Brewer’s Fayre pub just over the road from the stadium and a bit further up – only takes two minutes to walk to the stadium and suitable for families.
Failing that if it’s just food or a soft drink you’re after, you could put your hopes in the hands of a motorway service station before you turn off the M1 – either Trowell services just north of jcn 25 on the M1, or the Tibshelf service area between jcns 28 and 29. Tibshelf is relatively new, very clean and well-organised, and has several options for nosh – Wimpy, Costa Coffee, the usual standard motorway services café and a ‘sells-everything’ shop with sarnies, pasties, crisps, sweets, pop etc, and cash machines. If you’re approaching on the M1 from the south, there’s a huge service area just off the motorway at jcn 23A with loads of eating options including a mini branch of Marks & Spencer, Burger King, Cafe Ritazza etc.
LEND US A FIVER I’M OUT OF CASH
Handily, there’s a cash machine actually at Pride Park, belonging to the Derbyshire Building Society.
LAST MEETINGS
16/01/05 Derby 0, Lads 2 (Elliott 51, Whitehead 66)
02/10/04 Lads 0, Derby 0
27/03/04 Lads 2, Derby 1 (Oster 31, Smith 50)
20/09/03 Derby 1, Lads 1 (Poom 90)
11/05/02 Lads 1, Derby 1 (Phillips 17)
09/02/02 Derby 0, Lads 1 (Quinn 80)
03/02/01 Derby 1, Lads 0
16/09/00 Lads 2, Derby 1 (Kilbane 40, Phillips 74)
26/02/00 Lads 1, Derby 1 (Rae 62)
18/09/99 Derby 0, Lads 5 (McCann 24, Phillips 42, 52, 85, Quinn 55)
TRIVIA
– Our own Raich Carter – skipper of the Sunderland FA Cup winning side in 1937 – signed for Derby County in December 1945. He helped them to win the FA Cup too, becoming the only player to have won a Cup winner’s medal either side of the War. Carter also played first-class cricket for Derbyshire before being sold to Hull.
– Like Sunderland, Derby County is another club linked to the footballing legend the late Brian Clough – he managed them from June 1967 until October 1973. During his tenure, the Rams won the Watney and Texaco cups, were crowned Division One champions and reached the semi-final of the European Cup.
– In 1984 newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell stepped in to save the club from bankruptcy but rarely attended matches, prompting the supporters’ chant “He’s fat, he’s round, he’s never at the ground…”.
Credits: Derby County FC official website, therams.co.uk, Rough Guide to English Football, Soccerbase, www.streetmap.co.uk, National Rail.