Groundhopper travelled to the Cherry Red Records Stadium to get us an on-the-spot review of the property development. Sadly, it never scored too highly, and hasn’t threatened the top half of the table….no change there then.
| AFC | |||
| Category | Score | Comments | |
| First Impressions of the stadium, parking, ease of entry. | 6 | The Cherry Red Records Stadium is a new ground with a capacity of 9,300. It’s located in a built-up area and so parking nearby is virtually non-existent. The coaches struggled to negotiate some of the side roads on our approach to the ground. Coaches dropped off in a nearby street with passengers having a fairly short walk to the away end. Police were in attendance along the route. Entry to the stadium was slow with everyone being searched and only two turnstiles open. Most drinks were confiscated outside the ground. | |
| Food & Drink, range, quality, price. | 8 | There were two kiosks both serving the usual football fayre including alcohol which were reasonably priced. | |
| View from your seat, any poles in the way, obstructed view, seat broken? | 6 | The view from the away end behind the goal was unobstructed. Wheelchair users were located at the front of the same stand in front of broken seats. How can a new ground have no wheelchair spaces? | |
| Home team support, was it a library, good banter between the fans? | 7 | The attendance for this fixture was 7,841. Home fans could be heard with both sets of supporters trading the usual insults. | |
| What were the stewards like, helpful and friendly or jobsworths? | 6 | There were plenty of stewards and those located at the away end appeared to engage well with fans. The stewards located around the ground didn’t seem to be very good at controlling the home supporters some of whom spent much of their time at the perimeter fence by the pitch behaving like a baying mob. | |
| Toilet facilities, clean and well equipped with hot water, disgusting. | 5 | Those of us who used the toilets before kick-off found them to be clean with hot water and hand dryers but there was a lack of toilet paper in the ladies. Unfortunately, at full time all the toilets had been locked. | |
| Ticket pricing, did the price reflect the facilities of the ground? | 9 | An adult ticket was £22 which is one of the cheapest in League 1. | |
| Ground facilities, half time service, did they let fans outside at halftime? | 8 | The concourse area is behind the stand with a reasonable amount of space but it’s open to the elements. Fans were allowed to smoke. | |
| Match atmosphere, did the Dons fans give good support? | 9 | There were 1,041 Dons fans in attendance who made plenty of noise although the drum wasn’t allowed to travel. Perhaps we should have taken a wheelie bin like the one being used by the opposition’s mascot? | |
| Ease of exit, did the carpark clear quickly, traffic around the stadium? | 5 | The coaches were delayed from departing for some considerable time as their exit route was blocked whilst police dealt with disorder between supporters. | |
| Any other observations or comments that may have affected your scoring? | |||
| Name – Groundhopper | Total Score out of 100 | 69/100 | |
