Can Saints repeat last seasons victory at Sunderland and give themselves some confidence before the League Cup Final ? If you are going some information to help you enjoy the day.

The Ground

Its hard to believe that Sunderland moved to the Stadium Of Light 20 years ago now from their old stadium Roker Park, ironically in the last season at Roker Saints were involved in a relegation battle along with Sunderland and played up there in the last ever floodlit League game at the old stadium, an Egil Ostenstadt goal seperating the sides.

After that the Mackems moved half a mile up the road to the site of an old colliery with the name meant to reflect the light from a miners helmet rather than a tribute to the more famous stadium that is home to Benfica.

The ground itself is a bigger version of St Mary's on two sides in many respects, with an extra tier added on the other two sides that increased the capacity after construction to 49,000.

However perhaps Saints fans who clamour for big increases to St Mary's should take note that the ground is rarely filled and this leads to many games looking like they are being played in a half empty stadium, the average for the past couple of seasons in the Premier has only been a shade over 43,000 and in previous years its barely topped 40,000, in fact most of the games are played before crowds of around 36-38 k.

For the start of the 2015/16 Season the Club opened a Fan Zone which is located outside the South East part of the stadium. The area has entertainment in the form of live bands, large screens etc.. Plus food and drink outlets. This season they have allowed away supporters in and it is open three hours before kick off and for one hour after the game has ended. Entry is free.

Getting There

By Road

Its a long old haul, follow the A34 North to Oxford, hit the M40 and then continue on to the M42 and follow signs to the M1, from the M1 its signposted to the North East via the A1, as you get near Sunderland take Junction 62 off the A1 and follow the A690 towards Sunderland, the ground is well signposted.

Parking

A Park & Ride is in operation again well signposted from the roads heading towards the ground from the A1, street parking around SOL is limited although as usual there are various unofficial car parks, other alternatives include parking in the City Centre which is about a 10 minute walk across the bridge to the ground, being a Sunday this might be a good option.

By Train

Sunderland station is about a 15 minute walk although there are metro stops near the ground if you use that system, strangely St Peter's metro is nearer the City Centre than the Stadium Of Light station and also about the same walk, as from St Peter's.

The Away Section

Visiting fans have now been moved to the opposite end and into the upper tier, which although giving a great view is a little isolated from the rest of the stadium, the two upper tiered sides giving a little bit of an impression that its not quite balanced right.

It involves a lot of stairs to get up to this level so if you arent great on climbing stairs allow yourself a little more time to get to your seat than normal.

The catering in the ground includes all the usual fare including alcohol (£3.40 a pint) and is generally regarded as being better than most Premier clubs in this respect.

Be warned though the stewards and police are very strict and clamp down on both standing and swearing.

Drinking Eating etc

Most places around the stadium do let away fans in although the rule as normal would be to be respectful and be aware that some places may be livelier than others.

On North Bridge Street, the road heading towards the bridge, there are two big social clubs, The Sunderland Companions Club and The New Democratic Club that will allow in visiting supporters, although you are advised to get their early, as you would expect the beer is cheap in there.

The City Centre is around a ten minute walk away and has loads of pubs again we have had little trouble over the years with Sunderland so all should be ok.

Ground Name: Stadium Of Light

Capacity: 49,000 (all seated)

Address:

Stadium Of Light, Sunderland, SR5 1SU

Main Telephone Number: 0871 911 1200

Main Fax No: 0191 551 5123

Ticket Office: 0871 911 1973

Ticket Office Fax No: 0191 551 5150

Stadium Tours: 0871 911 1224

Team Nickname: The Black Cats

Pitch Size: 105 x 68 metres

Year Ground Opened: 1997

Home Kit Colours: Red & White

Photo: Action Images

saintwizzler added 10:31 - Feb 8 Apparently after the game Stadium of Light metro only runs trains north to Newcastle and St Peter's metro trains south into Sunderland only. Possibly quicker walk into Sunderland centre and pick up the metro from its starting station than to queue at SOL station.
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bstokesaint added 12:52 - Feb 8 It would be interesting to see how many fans we would average with a 49,000 all-seater. I reckon last season would have seem some pretty large crowds. I mean if West Ham can fill their ground for a season in advance we should be able to do the same. With regards to the game surely this is a "must win." It's a term I cringe when I hear normally, but if we win and get up to 30 points then it should be plain sailing form there with some room to breathe. If we lose, then... well I don't even want to contemplate that. We've got to be positive and go for this. And we need to be pick up on Defoe. I don't want to be mentioning that man in "The Verdict" on Monday.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 15:03 - Feb 8 If Jack Stephens can't even track a 10 yard Andy Carroll run, how is he going to cope with the movement of Defoe?? We'll have to outscore Sunderland. Puel needs to get the team selection and tactics right. Long and Redmond should probably start either side of Gabbiadini. With the stadium; Lander Sports, who are looking to invest in us, build sports stadiums. So if that deal happens surely they will expand St. Mary's or even build an entirely new state of the art stadium to keep up with the likes of Spurs and Chelsea. They can build it at cost price yet when its valued in the books it could be worth hundreds of millions and immediately increase the value of thier investment. Surely they see this as a way to grow the club and its value. I think actually if we had a 50,000 all seater and ticket prices fell to between £30 - £40 for Premiership games, we'd get some massive crowds and would sell out against the biggest teams and get an average of about 45,000 providing we're playing some decent football!! We've got a huge amount of supporters who only go to a few games a season. A new stadium and lower prices would get a lot of them coming to more games and as long as we're doing well then they'll keep coming.

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dillydog added 17:45 - Feb 8 Some people should change clubs, perhaps FC Cuckooland?
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arfurdent added 18:04 - Feb 8 Sunderland is rough
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TimSaint added 14:32 - Feb 9 When did this game move to the Sunday ? According to every source I have investigated - including both Southampton and Sunderland - we are definitely playing on Saturday !! Looks like this feature has simply been copied and pasted from a previous season, without being proof-read. Please update accordingly !!
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SaintBrock added 16:36 - Feb 9 I doubt the expansion of St Mary's has been mentioned at all at board level since The Don left and one doubts it will be the first thing on the minds of the mythological Chinese investors. In truth fans bang on about having a bigger ground to compete but what would be the point until we can hold on to any half decent player for more than a season or two. These ambitions seem to me to be fuelled by a mentality of 'mines's bigger than yours' with little evidence to show that there is a need for anything other than what we have already. Long time supporters will remember that 30k has always been the peak demand for home matches whatever the opposition, be that at The Dell or St Mary's. After all can we even sell 20k season tickets to cement demand? All the rest must be labelled 'casuals' and you cannot build a business case on people who might or might not turn up to more than a half dozen games per season.

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