This season’s visit to Sheffield Wednesday is at 8pm on Friday and once again this fixture is live on Sky Sports. We’re not famous any more! The only surprise is that the police allowed an evening kick-off instead of insisting on Saturday lunchtime.

You'll find Hillsborough three miles to the north-west of Sheffield city centre. The best way to get there by car is to leave the M1 at junction 36 and follow the A61 towards Sheffield, which will bring you all the way to Hillsborough.

There is some street parking to be had if you arrive early, though you need to look out for signs, as some of the roads near the stadium are for residents only. Otherwise there are some unofficial car parks along the A61 that charge in the region of £4, or there are some official parking options available for £5, which you can find here.

Until the 1980s there were soccer specials to the former Wadsley Bridge station near the stadium, but although that railway line is still used by freight trains, it doesn't look like that station will re-open any time soon. So we will have to make our way to Hillsborough from the main Sheffield station, and one way to do this will be to take bus No.53 (to Ecclesfield), which runs from the main bus station to the ground every ten minutes, with the journey time being about 30 minutes.

Another option is to get the Supertram from the railway station. When we last visited they will withdrew their service to Hillsborough because the previous year “saw serious incidents including vandalism and damage to our trams, and more seriously intimidation to our staff with physical and verbal assaults. This resulted in our services having to be suspended due to safety concerns.”

This time they are running a service, merely warning that this line will be busier than usual. From the railway station you need to catch the blue or purple line to the city centre, then the yellow line towards Middlewood, getting off at Leppings Lane. After the match they have an army of ticket inspectors on the Leppings Lane stop to make sure that no one sneaks on board without paying.

The nearest pub to Hillsborough area that usually accepts away fans is the Railway Hotel on the A61 Penistone Road, which is about ten minutes walk from the stadium in the opposite direction to the city centre. It serves real ale, but as it’s quite small you’ll need to get there early. If you are coming by car from Leeds you will pass the 'Norfolk Arms' and the 'Red Lion' a bit further out on the A61, both of which are safe for away fans, while on the same road in the city centre direction you could try the ‘New Barrack Tavern’.

Other options if you’re coming by train are the 'The Howard pub’, opposite Sheffield Railway Station, or the ‘Hillsborough Hotel’ near the Langsett/Primrose View tram stop. The best of the takeaways are the Trafalgar Chip Shop on Trafalgar Road (just off Halifax Rd), Lily's Pork Shop, just 5 minutes from the ground on Penistone Rd, and the Four Lanes Chip Shop, which is opposite the away end.

According to Wednesday's official website, "Hillsborough Stadium is one of the finest stadiums in the country, with a tradition to match". This ground was originally built in 1899 and at the time it was out in the fields. Many people questioned the wisdom of moving the club so far from the city centre, but the directors were vindicated when the ground was surrounded by Sheffield's growing suburbs during the next few years.

The area was originally called Owlerton, hence the nickname 'the Owls', but the ground was renamed Hillsborough in 1914, when it became part of the parliamentary constituency of that name.
In 1961 the north stand became the first cantilever stand in the country, and the ground was further developed in 1986 when the kop end was roofed for the first time.

Following the 1989 disaster the Leppings Lane was made all-seater, but the capacity was increased by 3,000 when a new tier was added to the south stand in time for Euro96. Near the main entrance is a memorial to the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough in 1989, and it's normally covered in flowers left by those who want to pay their respects. The current capacity of Hillsborough is 39,732.

Our allocation for this game is 3,869, and we seem to get slightly fewer each time. These are in the upper tier of the West Stand (the Leppings Lane end) and it has of course sold out. As Wednesday didn’t agree to a reciprocal deal the ticket prices for this game are £36 for adults and £26 for the over 65s and, under 21s with tickets for the under 17s on offer at £15, under 11s at £10 and £5 for the under 5s.

It looks like the tickets for all the home fans have sold out, either that or their website wouldn’t let me see them because I didn’t have a login. In the past they have restricted sales to those with a previous history on their database.

Inside the away section there is a large tea bar on the concourse and plenty of counters, where they have quite efficient service, so the queues don't get too long. Alcohol will be on sale before the match, but not at half time. You can get bottles of Bulmers, Heineken and Fosters , but the Beer and food kiosks are separate, meaning that you may need to queue twice, which is annoying. The grub itself is the usual football fare of pies and hot drinks, etc.

There are a number of supporting pillars in the West Stand, which impedes the view from some seats, though on the plus side we've always been able to make a bit of a din by banging the wooden seats. A message on the Leeds United official website is asking us not to stand on our seats, so they’ve obviously given up asking us not to stand in front of them.

Our club are also asking us to “please remember that we are all representing not only Leeds United Football Club, but also the city of Leeds, and we ask that you always show respect to other fans, staff and players. Discriminatory language, tragedy chanting, and inappropriate gestures are not acceptable, and you could be breaking the law.”

A couple of years ago Wednesday announced plans to increase the capacity at Hillsborough to almost 45,000. This was primarily through the proposed expansion of the Leppings Lane End, including the building of an additional tier and the 'filling in' of the corner between this and the South Stand.

But this depended on England winning the bid to stage the 2018 World Cup, when Hillsborough was listed as one of the potential venues, and the failure of that bid meant the plans have been shelved for the time being. They won’t be 'dusted off' till the Wendies gain promotion to the Premier League, but you never know, this could happen.

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com .

Reuters

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