Comments on: Southampton – St Marys Stadium

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:28:31 +0000

Only been to St Marys once at the begining of last season. Used to love The Dell so was interested to see if St Marys could live up to it.
We stayed in The Jurys Inn which is on the edge of the city centre and not too far from the ground. We were advised not to drink in The King Alfred or Chapel arms before the game so went to a Wetherspoons called The Giddy Bridge. Thats about a 15 minute walk to the ground and had plenty of home and away fans. As always, the Saints fans are a good bunch. Got chatting to them about various aspects of our respective clubs and were advised where to go in the evening for a night out.
Into the ground itself. From the outside looks nice and modern but could do with a clean. Inside there is a large concourse area where you can buy alcohol and a range of hot and cold food. Inside the ‘bowl’ it looks very similar to grounds like Leicester and Derby. Theres not a bad seat in the house and the stewards seem friendly.
We were sat right next to the home fans in the Northam, and they know how to make noise. It seems the whole stadium gets behind the team even when they were losing. Made for a cracking atmosphere.
No trouble after the game and fans mixed well.
In the evening we went into town. We were advised to go to Bedfords Place where there were more bars than you had time to go in. Seemed nice and relaxed and made for a good trip. Will be back again if we ever get the chance.

By: graham

graham — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:26:27 +0000

i agree with above i was there as they slowly came through the garage i was 12 so i thought it was ridiculoes i was hit with a stone and hope all scum who hurt kids that day get there hears kicked in

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 10:19:22 +0000

I have to give my honest views, so here goes.

I decided to take the coach having my 7 year old in attendace with me. Wise choice. After arriving in the car park we were greeted by about 200 friendly welcoming home fans!!!!!!!!! They were so hospitable that they showered us with coins which was gladly collected by my son. The chap next to me was not so lucky as he had blood coming from his eye.
The policing and stewarding outside was awful being this was a game with potential trouble written all over it. This was an FA Cup game.

Once inside I was impressed with the facilities albeit some idiot set light to one of the toilet cubicles. Inside the ground looked like the usual 1990s plastic lego built stadia with nothing unique about it.
The view was excellent and the stewarding and policing was first class. I was sat next to the netting next to the home fans. We were bombarded throughout with coins, bottles of coke and fireworks.
Yes it was intimidating, but the atmosphere was electrifying, deafning and back tingling. Southmpton really got behind their team and should have won the game.

Getting away took about half an hour because about 500 fans clashed outside and a garage was wrecked.
When the coach was finally allowed to leave the car park, the scene reminded me of Beirut. Smashed up cars,, windows smashed.

The journey out of the city was easy with the locals giving us the usual CHEERIO signs. Would I go again? Wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Can’t comment on pubs because away fans were banned from all and it was a midday kick off. A friend took the train and described the walk to the ground as “running the gauntlet”.

Brilliant day out.

By: jonathan Martin

jonathan Martin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:12:41 +0000

Not an enjoyable day out whatsoever. I found the home fans very intimidating standin right next to us in the northam end. We were constantly barraged by with missiles which the police failed to deal with and the Southampton fans in the Northam end prvovided an extremely loud and intimidating atmosphere. Outside the ground we were confronted by home fans and my friend took a punch to the face. I would advise club colours are kept covered.

By: Will

Will — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:59:48 +0000

Went to St Mary’s for the first time on August 7th and can’t say much wrong. Ground is of Premiership standard and food and drink service is of top quality. The two sets of fans are very close together which gives a great atmosphere to the ground, and view of play can’t be faulted, stewards seem to only intervene when necersarry and home fans seem friendly and relaxed outside the ground. Only bad point is getting into the ground by coach is very slow and top and start with alot of traffic lights. Overall a well worthwhile trip !

By: Sheila

Sheila — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:35:05 +0000

There is a good park and ride scheme for away fans travelling to Southampton. If you come off the M27 at junction 8. the away car park is signposted. Go down by Tesco’s and turn round at the roundabout. The car park is I think £ 5 and Southampton provide buses to take you to the stadium. They then operate a suttle service, and also after the game back to the car park.
There is no need to find car parking in the centre of Southampton unless you want to go shopping, its easier, and convenient for the journey home afterwards.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:42:22 +0000

I’ve visited St Mary’s twice to watch PAFC – once on a saturday afternoon and once for an evening game – both games finished 0-0 !
I drove in for the Saturday game and I concur that parking anywhere near the Stadium is a nightmare – I followed a Southampton fan that I knew and we ended up parking nearby in a scrapyard specifically opened for the game and was charged £10, by my recommendation would be to park in the City centre and get in another way.

For the evening game, I stayed at The Jury’s Inn hotel which was excellent. A short walk to the ground and missed all the traffic trying to get away afterwards – much more civilised.

The ground itself is excellent – no pillars to spoil the view and very good legroom for the seats (I’m 6’7″ tall & I was comfortable). The facilities in the ground are very good, with beer being sold alongside pasties, pies, burgers etc.

Overall, one of the better away grounds that I have visited – I would definately go there again.

By: John

John — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:35:05 +0000

We visited St Marys in 2005. Getting to the ground was a bit of a nightmare by road for a couple of reasons – we were staying in Poole and decided to drive in, parking in the “football park and ride” car park. I think on a normal day that would give you a pretty clear run, however on this day one of the main roads from Poole to Southampton was closed for roadworks, and it was also the first day of the Southampton Boat show, meaning the city centre was also gridlocked.

When we finally got to the P&R, it all worked pretty smoothly from there, although there were horrendous queues for the buses after the game, some of which were attacked by Southampton “fans” and which seemed to crawl back to the P&R car park.

The stadium itself is pretty impressive, although rather “bowl-like” in appearance. The view of play cannot be faulted, and we were very close to the home fans, which made for an excellent atmosphere (much more than the footie itself which was a 0-0 draw).

I was really impressed with the speed at which food and drink was served in the ground. No sooner had you ordered, than your grub and booze was plonked in front of you by someone else, and you handed your money over – Why can’t every ground understand that waiting until someone’s ordered 3 pints and then pouring 3 pints isn’t going to work when you have 1,000 people all wanting a drink in the hour before the game?

I’d certainly come back to St Marys, but I’d check that it’s not the bloody boat show and that the roads are open next time!