This season’s trip to Hull City is tomorrow night with kick off at 7.45, and it also sees the return of the red button on Sky Sports. How we’ve missed it for the last three years!
You’ll find the stadium now known as the MKM a mile or so to the west of Hull city centre. If you're driving from Leeds you need to stay on the M62 right till the end, where it becomes the A63. On the edge of the city you should continue along the A63 (Clive Sullivan Way) till you come to a roundabout where you need to take the 2nd exit at a roundabout, following signs to the Stadium and Hull Royal Infirmary.
Turn left at the lights and then go over the flyover, right at the next lights and the ground is down on the right. The stadium has a massive on-site Car Park with the entrance in Walton Street, costing £5, but the drawback is that it takes a while to get out after the match. I wouldn't try to park in any of the surrounding residential streets, which are for permit holders only and are patrolled by an army of traffic wardens.
Other options are to use the Park & Ride service from Priory Park, which is signposted from the A63, or park at the Infirmary, where parking is only £5 for 4 hours. It's a 10-15 minute walk to the ground from there. You could also use one of the city centre car parks, as it’s not too far to walk from there.
The railway station is a 20 minute walk from the stadium, and Hull’s official website has finally got round to giving us directions. They suggest that after leaving the station Hull Paragon through the main exit we should turn right towards the traffic lights at the junction of Anlaby Road and Ferensway.
Then we need to turn right onto Anlaby Road and follow the signposts to the stadium, passing Hull Royal Infirmary on the right, turning right after the hospital onto Argyle Street. The footbridge on the left and takes you all the way to the MKM. Though in any case you should be able to get your bearings when you pass the stadium on the way into Hull.
Of course it's just possible that the local bobbies will be kind enough to provide an escort, to make absolutely sure that we don't get lost. And after the match it has been known for the police to keep a Leeds train waiting at the station, to make sure we catch it and we're not left hanging round on their patch. We should be OK for getting back, as the last train to Leeds is at 23.08.
Most of the pubs around the stadium are ‘home fans only’ for any game. But the ‘Park View’ virtually opposite the stadium car park entrance usually allows away fans in, as does the nearby Walton Street Social Club, though the latter costs £1 to enter. And you can also try the ‘Boot Room’, which is further down Walton Street, on the corner with Anlaby Road.
There are quite a few other options in the city centre, such as the Wetherspoons ‘Admiral of the Humber’ next to the railway station, and an upstairs bar next door called the 'New King Edward'. Also recommended is the nearby ‘Punch Hotel’ next to the Princes Quay shopping centre, which does great homemade food.
Inside the stadium away supporters have their own bar called the Pitch Side and as well as alcohol it also sells cold food and snacks, including sandwiches. But it stops serving booze 45 minutes before kick off and for some ‘high profile’ matches (which probably includes us) they don’t sell alcohol at all.
The stadium formerly known as the KC was opened in December 2002 at a cost of £44m, and is owned by the Hull City Council. It's home to both the towns Rugby League & football clubs, and as with all new stadia it has excellent facilities, but seems a bit bland and identikit to old farts like me, who prefer old football grounds with a bit of character.
It's got all the important stuff, including 2,000 square feet of conference and exhibition space, 28 executive boxes, a restaurant and 4 banqueting/hospitality suites. And there won't be much danger of the game being postponed, as the water porosity of the pitch is 25-30mm per hour, which I think means it can absorb a lot of rainfall. To make sure we all behave they have a total of 57 CCTV cameras to keep an eye on us.
The usual away allocation is 2,510 tickets in the north-east corner (out of a total capacity of 25,586), but for this game they’ve only given us 2,083. At least the prices are quite reasonable, with adult tickets being £20 in the north stand and £24 in the east, with various categories of concessions from £3 through to £16. Inevitably they have now sold out.
And the tickets for all the home stands have now sold out, so clearly we’re not famous any more! Their official site says "We would of course like to thank you once again for your incredible support”, though rumour has it that one or two local Leeds fans have helped to make up the numbers.
If you didn't manage to get a ticket, the good news is that you can see live coverage via Sky Sports on the famous red button, as you will for all midweek league matches this season.
At one time they had plans to add an additional tier to both the East & South Stands, which would increase the capacity of the KC Stadium to around 34,000. But at the moment there is no sign of this going ahead, so presumably it’s on hold until they manage to get back into the Premier League, which might take a while.
So if you’re holding your breath waiting for a decent away allocation in Hull, the chances are that you will suffocate.
Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com .