A few years ago, we got tickets to our first away game.
We were hooked immediately.
It was hours away, but we didn’t care. The away end was brilliant. The noise. The non-stop singing. The limbs when we scored.
After the game, we got stuck in a car park for 90 minutes. We regretted that.
At the next away game, we bought three cremated burgers outside the ground for £20, then found a street food village round the corner. We regretted that as well.
At the third game, the car park we’d seen recommended online wasn’t open. We ended up running to the stadium to make kick-off. That was just annoying.
Time and time again, as we travelled up and down the country, we came away from a ground thinking ‘we won’t make that mistake again’.
What travelling fans told us
We spoke to travelling fans from different clubs. They said the same things:
“We just parked at the stadium - it was expensive and we got stuck there after the game”
“We walked towards the ground expecting to find food vans, but there weren’t any”
“We didn’t realise the car park was pay on arrival, so we got a £70 fine in the post a week later.”
There’s an information gap when it comes to away fans.
Information is scattered across platforms and is often generic.
We’ve tried to do something about this, by creating a series of away day guides written by away fans who’ve been there.
Every guide is based on a real visit. The photos are ours.
Behind this, we’ve done a lot of research - ground by ground, club by club. We’ve been down a few hundred rabbit holes trying to find definitive information. We still may get things wrong!
We’re launching the website with 22/24 Championship grounds visited. We just couldn’t get to Wrexham and West Ham.
We hope that the guides will make it even better when you win or draw. And slightly less bad when your team loses. Whether that’s a parking hack, a good food recommendation, finding the best viewpoint in the area, or just navigating a stadium like you’ve been there before.
We know that we can’t be useful to everyone. Our guides are a combination of what we did, and carefully sourced information. But things change over time. Car parks close down. Pubs close their doors. Restaurants can go downhill. Prices change.
Away fans helping away fans, one ground at a time.