By The Snoop
Once again, our newly trained ground assessor “The Snoop” has been out and about to see if Portman Rod has improved at all since Groundhopper gave their views last season. Somewhat ironically, they both managed to come up with the same end score as each other and rated it a lowly 62/100.
| Ipswich | ||
| Category | Score | Comments |
| First Impressions of the stadium, parking, ease of entry. | 6 | We parked in the usual car park and had a ten-minute walk to the ground. Ipswich had provided their lengthy guide for away fans. Entry to the ground was easy with none of the issues we experienced on our last visit. Portman Road is an older ground in need of some TLC. |
| Food & Drink, range, quality, price. | 8 | Good range of food and drink and reasonably priced, much cheaper than SMK. Alcohol was canned. |
| View from your seat, any poles in the way, obstructed view, seat broken? | 5 | Away fans were located at one end of a stand with very back being out of bounds. Those of us in the upper part of the stand were shaded from the sun although on such a hot day it was very stuffy under the low roof. Seating was cramped with minimal leg room. The view from this stand was unobstructed. Supporters in the lower tier including some ambulant disabled were sat in the full sun. Supporters using wheelchairs were in the stand opposite amongst the home fans. Not good enough! |
| Home team support, was it a library, good banter between the fans? | 6 | The Ipswich fans did make some noise which increased as their team were clearly going to win. There was some banter but mainly coming from the MK fans. Ipswich do not allow musical instruments, so the drum did not travel. They did allow their own drum to be used. Reciprocal agreement required for their visit to SMK. |
| What were the stewards like, helpful and friendly or jobsworths? | 7 | My main interaction was outside the ground where I found them polite and pleasant. |
| Toilet facilities, clean and well equipped with hot water, disgusting. | 7 | They were clean but in need of an update. Hand driers worked. |
| Ticket pricing, did the price reflect the facilities of the ground? | 5 | £27 for an adult is steep. |
| Ground facilities, half time service, did they let fans outside at halftime? | 5 | No half time entertainment. I understand that fans weren’t allowed outside for a smoke so many resorted to using the toilet area. |
| Match atmosphere, did the Dons fans give good support? | 6 | Ipswich don’t allow away support to bring in a drum, but they had their own. The Don’s support wasn’t at its best |
| Ease of exit, did the carpark clear quickly, traffic around the stadium? | 7 | There were the usual queues to leave the car parks. Once clear our journey home was relatively swift. |
| Any other observations or comments that may have affected your scoring? | ||
| Name – The Snoop | Total Score out of 100 | 62/100 |
