This is the second of our run of three consecutive long away trips, and the match kicks off at 7.45 on Tuesday night.
This is of course our first visit since the infamous riot of 1990, and Dorset police made a special request for this fixture to be scheduled for midweek, and at a time of year when we really wouldn’t want to make a trip to the seaside. The home club are also keen to make sure there isn’t any more trouble to mark the occasion.
Dean Court is about three miles to the east of Bournemouth town centre, in the district of Boscombe (and in fact the club were known as Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic when they first joined the league in 1923). If you’re driving you’ll come into town on the main A338 dual carriageway. You will eventually see the tops of the ground floodlights to your left, and you will then need to take the next exit and turn left towards the ground. There is a large car park between the ground and Gloucester Road.
It will of course be impossible to get back to Leeds by train after the game, but I’ve included the following directions for the benefit of those living more locally. The nearest railway station is Pokesdown, which is roughly a mile from the ground but is only served by stopping trains from London Waterloo. Turn right outside the station, then after about a quarter of a mile turn right again into Gloucester Road . Dean Court is at the bottom of this road.
The main Bournemouth Central station is about two miles away, and from here you can either catch a local train one station to Pokesdown or a number 2 bus, which is normally a half hourly service. The last bus which will get you there in time for kick-off will be the 6.58. On the way back you can also catch a 28a or 28b, but the frequency of that service drops to hourly at that time of night.
Given the unfortunate history of this fixture I don’t know if any pubs will be open, and even before 1990 some venues were reluctant to admit Leeds fans whenever we came to town. There is a bar behind the Main Stand, called the Cherry Tree, which usually welcomes away supporters to its downstairs bar, and there is one pub by the dual carriageway, called the Queens Park, that serves Ringwood real ale. One other fine establishment is the Wetherspoons on Christchurch Road in Boscombe (the ‘Percy Florence Shelley’), but they don’t usually allow football colours. Dean Court has been completely re-developed since our last visit, with the pitch rotated by 90 degrees and three new stands being built. The fourth side consists of the temporary South Stand, which is open to the elements. The current away allocation is 1,500 in the East Stand, to the side of the pitch, but this can be increased to 2,000 if required. For some games the South Stand is also allocated to away supporters, which gives the visitors a further 1,100 seats. Both stands give a good view of the action, and beer is usually served in the concourse of the East Stand, though somehow I doubt that will be the case on Tuesday. Adult ticket prices are £21 in the East stand and £20 in the South Stand. Bournemouth’s official website tells us that there will be no tickets on sale on the day of the game, and that anyone who isn’t already on their customer database would have to produce a utility bill with a local address to get a ticket for the home end. The Club still intend at some point to build a permanent fourth stand at the South end of the stadium, which would take the overall capacity to about 12,000, but no firm timescales have been announced as to when this is likely to take place. Many thanks to Cherries fan Pete Wicks for his help with this piece. Some of the info also comes from www.footballgroundguide.co.uk.