Chelsea's Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge is one of the most famous grounds is England and at the time of writting, is home of the current Premier League Champions. An unusual ground with unusual facilities, it isn't one of my favourite grounds but it's certainly not my least favourites.

Please note that all of the pictures below were taken whilst on a stadium tour on 26th February 2011 before Lincoln played Barnet. I hope that sufficiently explains why there are plenty of sun lamps on the pitch. 

Arguably there's not a single ground during the last 20 or so years that has undergone a bigger facelift. When the Premiership started Chelsea had one main stadium and was otherwise surrounded by an athletics track and terraces. The current version of the stadium was finalised in 2001 but you'll never get a more different experience in the different ends. The home fans get plenty of leg room, but the away fans seem to get virtually none, and Stamford Bridge is the only ground that I know of that has X-Box 360s and vending machines in the stand to keep the kids entertained at half time.

Chelsea is a relatively easy ground to get to in London terms. Getting to London is a pain in the arse generally and takes a long time for most in the country, however, Stamford Bridge does have a London Underground station near enough right outside of it. Fulham Broadway is less than a minute's walk away and includes it's own mini shopping centre included. There also appears to be a lot to do immediately around the ground as it appears to be right in the middle of the area's main shopping district......obviously if that doesn't take your fancy then being in London, there's plenty to do in a reasonable distance.

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THE SHED END - THE LEFT HAND SIDE IS THE AWAY END

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE AWAY END.

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 At the ground there were several things to do as well. There's the tour that these pictures were taking from, although it's not actually that informative to be honest. You don't get told a lot of indepth information, nor are you shown any form of trophy room (I'm pretty certain Chelsea have one) and in reality I'm surprised they made it stretch an hour....then again, I'm not a Chelsea fan so maybe that's why I didn't find it interesting.

There is also the world's thinest club shop, I didn't take a look around because I was trying too hard to try and find away out given the amount of people blocking lanes. Without driving on any of the three occasions I have been to Stamford Bridge, I couldn't even begin to tell you about the situation with parking, but there's plenty of the outer stations of the underground which have excellent parking facilities that you can then get the tube trains in.

Once you eventually get into the ground, you're met with a highly compact stadium and it doesn't seem to be over 40,000 seats, but it is a reasonable stadium, aesthetically speaking.

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EAST STAND

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I've sat in both the home and away ends at Stamford Bridge and it is a very strange experience in both. The East Stand is very strange in terms of a football stand. It has vending machines, as well as the normal food outlets, and houses some X-Box 360s to keep the kids entertained when the game's not going on. The view from the lower tiers of this stand isn't great to be honest, but the upper tier did offer an excellent view when we went in briefly on the tour.

The Shed End offers a great view of the action and offers a unique view from an elevated position. Unlike Brentford and Bradford, you don't struggle to see the goalmouth and can easily tell when there's been a goal. The view from the away end is excellent and is mostly unrestricted.....I say mostly because there is a ladder leading up to a camera gantry which blocks the view from some seats.

The stand opposite is near enough identical, although is obviously only for home fans.

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THE MATTHEW HARDING STAND

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The final stand is another unusual stand in that although not awful to lok at, the double use of the word "Chelsea" does seem exceedingly like a case of overkill. It would have looked far nicer if Chelsea was just on there once, or at least have one of the Chelseas on the upper tier.

To be honest I've never found the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge to be that impressive, although there was a half decent level of noise on the second occasion I went to watch them. However, other than that their atmosphere wasn't that good.

Chelsea's programme is average, it contains a LOT of adverts, which is always a negative

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THE WEST STAND

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Overall I wouldn't say I was in love with Chelsea's grounds but for what it's worth, it's better than a lot of the other Premier League grounds I have been to and does it's job well. It's not an eyesore and the view all around the ground is generally excellent.