The stadium is a couple of miles to the west of Northampton town centre, and it’s easy for the motorist to find, as it’s just off the dual carriageway ring road. But although these out of town grounds are supposedly good for car drivers, you actually get mired in more congestion, as a higher proportion of the crowd come by car. Sixfields is no exception, and it can take ages to clear the car parks after the game.

One of the roads running past the stadium is ‘Walter Tull Way’, named in honour of a former Northampton star. He was one of the first black players to grace English football, before being killed on active service during World War one.

If you’re driving, you need to leave the M1 at Junction 16 and take the A45 towards Northampton and you will come to the ground on your right. There is a fair sized car park at the ground, which costs £2, but make sure though that you arrive early as it has been known for it to get full for the bigger games. Like this one. There is also a council owned car park behind the away stand which costs £3.50, but don’t be tempted to park in the nearby cinema and restaurant car parks, as you might end up being clamped. 

Sixfields is over two miles from the train station, but in fairness this is probably no further than it was to from there to the old county ground. When I looked on the official website for public transport directions, all it said was “it’s probably best to hire a taxi”. It’s a shame that nobody has seen fit to organise a special matchday bus service from the town centre and the railway station. But you can at least catch a service bus to within half a mile of the stadium, by catching the 1/1A or the 40 from the bridge over the railway at the south end of the station.

You can’t get a train back to Leeds after a night game, but I’ll include some directions for the benefit of Leeds fans who live closer to Northampton. If you feel like you need the exercise you can take a 25-30 walk by turning right outside the station and following the road past the express lift tower, passing the Wickes store on the left. Continue down to the Leisure Centre, turn left down the path beside it and then turn right onto the road. You will see the stadium in the distance in front of you. 

Another disadvantage of out of town stadia is the lack of decent traditional pubs and takeaways nearby. Within the leisure complex you can find the ‘Magic Tower’, which is for home supporters only, the ‘Sixfields Tavern’, which doesn’t allow any away colours, and the ‘Sports Bar’. If you are coming into Northampton from the M1 via the A45, you will pass the ‘Turnpike Pub’, which is okay for away fans, but my favourite pub in Northampton is the real ale ‘Abington’ near the cricket ground. Food-wise there are a couple of fast food places in the leisure centre, as well as restaurants like ‘Old Orleans’, ‘TGI Fridays’ etc.

Northampton used to play on the other side of town at the County Ground, where they had the privilege of being the last club to share their home with a county cricket club.  The football part of the venue only had three sides, and part of the pitch used as a car park whenever the cricket was taking place. In 1985 the wooden main stand was condemned by the regulations that followed the Bradford fire, and they had to make do with the temporary ‘meccano’ stand. Quaint as it was, the County Ground was never going to reach the standards demanded by the Taylor Report, so they moved into their new home at Sixfields in October 1994.

Most clubs outside the top two divisions are allowed to use terracing, but infuriatingly the government advisors to the Football Trust decided that all new stadia should be all-seater. So although Northampton have never been outside the bottom two divisions since the Taylor report came in, they haven’t been able to offer standing at the new stadium, and we will have to pay extra for seats that we don’t want. 

Sixfields has three small covered single tier stands, with a larger main stand down one side, and it has a total capacity of 7,653. Away fans are given something called the ‘Paul Cox Panel & Paint South Stand' behind one goal, but the whole end only amounts to 850 seats. Fortunately the larger visiting clubs like our good selves get an additional 300 seats in the Alwyn Hargrave Stand. Like all new stadia the facilities are pretty good, but the whole place is rather lacking in character. 

The Cobblers’ official website said yesterday they were still selling ‘home’ tickets for some parts of the stadium, but to to those on their customer database. Even so, the police have issued a statement saying "Any Leeds fans wearing colours and creating a problem in a home stand will be ejected. They will not be directed to the away stand. They will be taken out of the ground and will miss the remainder of the game. We are not expecting any trouble from supporters but any criminal activity will not be tolerated”. So do they think that Leeds fans who go in the home end as the only way of getting into the game are actually criminals?

The local constabulary have also said that an "appropriate" police presence will be in place and patrols will be stepped up in and around the stadium and Northampton town centre ahead of and after the match. Presumably this all follows on from the incident at a pub when we visited in February, from which four people are still on police bail. Oh, and they’re also going to search us for banned items, like flags.

They have a two tier pricing system, with ‘Gold’ games being more than ‘Normal’, and guess which category this game falls into! That’s right, we have to pay extra just for being Leeds fans. Ticket prices are £22 for Adults and £18 for Concessions, with Under 16's at £15 and Under 7's free. 

The Club have now bought a 150 year lease on Sixfields Stadium, and have announced plans to increase the overall capacity to 15,000. This will mean extentions to the North, East & South Stands as well as executive boxes being added to the West Stand and a hotel behind the South Stand of the stadium. This is due to take place in the next five years, so if we have to play them again at that time we might just get a decent allocation. 

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.co.uk and thanks also to Mike O’Brien, who helped with some of the details.

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