"Amazing ground, terrible atmosphere, lovely area of London"

From doing my ground hopping I managed to get a Preston away ticket for there FA cup match with Chelsea. For £32 it was a bargain compared to the usual prices for a Chelsea ticket, so I would recommend for anyone else looking to try get an away ticket for maybe a smaller team they draw in a cup (as the prices are capped).

The ground looked breathtaking, huge and commanding in one of the post prestigious areas of London, and therefore the world. The firework display at the beginning gave you a feeling of being somewhere special. However there was quite a lot of off putting processes with the ground and experience.

As first timers there we wanted to get a photo outside of the Stadium, however away fans are not allowed through the barricade of security who are stopping anyone anywhere close to the stadium. Instead of being allowed to roam around the stadium, you are forced to stay out in London. You then go through 3 layers of security and sniffer dogs, emptying everything out your pockets before being allowed in. This slightly ruined the experience, however I guess it is a London thing, and I am not quite used to this level of security and invasion of privacy.

I had been excited for weeks before, thinking that the atmosphere would be amazing. I gather it is only a FA cup game but I genuinely did not hear the Chelsea fans chant once. Not one single 'Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea' rang out for the whole match.

I would definitely visit again, as I loved visiting the local area of Kensington of Chelsea, however I would advise people against paying crazy prices for tickets as there are much better football experiences to be had for far less money.

Location

Lovely area of London, with fantastic travel routes around. I rented out someones drive for several hours on YourParkingSpace for £20 and walked around 1 mile to the ground through a very posh area of London. I even walked past Sam Thompson the I'm a Celeb winner.

View

Amazing view of the pitch, I was up high and right in the corner in the Shed End, but had one of the best views of Football I have ever had. You feel so close to the pitch, and yet high up. They do not have the long sloping stands that some have, and you feel very much involved in the game.

Facilities

Toilets were terrible, only 1 cubicle in the Males toilet Shed End upper side. With the amount of people there this is no where near enough.

Food & Drink

Was not as expensive as expected, for the center of London. However massive queues due to the amount of people there.

Police & Stewards

Far too much security for my liking, I completely understand having some further level due to terrorism e.t.c however it felt like way to much. At one point near the end of the match, stewards exit from the tunnel to protect the pitch, and there was honestly so many of them that came out the Preston away fans thought something serious was happening.

It felt like there was almost 1 police/security/steward for every 5 fans which is crazy. Is this what our tax money goes on?

Atmosphere

The atmosphere was awful from the fans, there was no singing or chants at all. The one redeeming feature was the fireworks and lights display at the beginning which did give you a feeling of grandeur.

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