Lille OSC- Stade Pierre Mauroy

Visits:1
Lille OSC 0-0 Everton (Europa League Group Stage, October 23rd 2014)
Stands I’ve Been in: Sud Est Level 2
Ticket Price (1st Visit): £16
Attendance (1st Visit):42,000
Address: 261 Boulevard De Tournai, 59690 Villeneuve d'Ascq, Lille, France

Transport

The ground is well served by the city Metro, with two stops both within good walking distance and well signposted with good walking routes. It cost us 2.20 Euro for a matchday special return from the city, though if you were doing a one way journey, its only 1.50 Euro. The ground is also only a few miles from the city airport.

Stade Pierre Mauroy exterior

Food & Drink

Dont bother inside the ground. Dont sell half the stuff they say they do, then their idea of a chicken panini was a half cold food poisoning on a baguette. The ground has quite a few food outlets opposite the away section, I wouldnt definitely recommended taking in one of these before you go in. There are several hotels next to the ground too, which all have bars they are happy to let fans use.

The centre of Lille the afternoon of the game!

Inside the Ground

Brand new and state of the art, reminded me of a mini Wembley. And all the views are fine too...as long as you dont happen to be next to one of those enormous fences that European clubs are a big fan of erecting next to the away fans. Luckily for us, there was absolutely no steward organisation in the away end at all, with stewards openly telling fans to 'go where they want.' So I spent the whole game stood up at the back so I could see over the fence. Like Wembley, it has a large corporate section situated between the two main tiers of each stand. Also like Wembley, it was half empty for this game.

Blues fans pack the Sud

Atmosphere

Lille fans do that really irritating European thing where they have some dullard on a megaphone droning away and getting shouty responses from the rest of the 'Ultras.' No doubt they made more noise than most English grounds do, but whats the point when its so stilted and choreographed? We had thousands there all over the ground. Not as good from us as it should have been.

Lille ultras in the Nord

Anything Else

Same old French and their police treatment of English fans. I go into a lot more detail on my other blog here. An absolute joke. We were also kept in for about half an hour after the game to 'allow the crowd to disperse.' There were still thousands of Lille fans milling about and buying food outside when we finally got out. More like we were kept in to 'allow the riot police to get into position to try and intimidate us some more.' Scumbags.

General view from the back of the upper tier

Overall

The actions of the police, and the enormous fence blocking half my view really soured the experience. Probably a nice ground to visit if you're not English or in the away section.

Stade Pierre Mauroy Photos

Bamber Bridge FC- Irongate Sir Tom Finney Stadium

Visits: 1
Bamber Bridge 1-4 Chorley (FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round, October 11th 2014)
Stands I’ve Been in: All sides
Ticket Price (1st Visit): £7
Attendance (1st Visit):2,214
Address: Irongate, Brownedge Road, Bamber Bridge, Preston, PR5 6UU

Transport

The ground is just off the M6 at the junction of the M65. All street parking, but fortunately for me, my dad works in the area and knew a good little place on the industrial estate next to Sainsbury's. Just a short walk down a little path under the smallest railway bridge probably in the world!

Unprecedented queues to get in!

Food & Drink

Didnt eat inside the ground, good clubhouse at the ground, though very slow getting served with there being such a massive crowd for this game.

View from the covered end

Inside the Ground

Not bad for Evo-Stik level. Uncovered end in front of the clubhouse, and the uncovered grass bank down one side. The seated Main Stand is opposite, while the other end has a covered terrace.

Teams lining up in front of the Main Stand

Atmosphere

Huge crowd for Brig, they had to shut the turnstiles 10 minutes before kick off, the crowd understandably swelled due to Chorley being a local rival, an international break, and even Preston not playing. And for a mostly uncovered non league ground, the atmosphere was great. I doubt it's like that every week though!

The covered end in the second half

Anything Else

The clubhouse end of the ground

Overall

Decent little ground for their level.

Irongate Photos