This season’s visit to Burton Albion is on Boxing Day, and you’ll find the Pirelli Stadium about a mile to the north of the town centre. It still has a 3pm kick-off despite being on Sky Sports, as the rules state that it’s only on a Saturday when games have to be moved away from this time for live coverage.

If you’re driving down from Leeds you’ll be coming into town on the A38 from Derby. Come of at the Burton North exit and follow the A5121 towards Burton. Go straight across a roundabout and you will then pass a McDonalds on your right. Just before the next roundabout you will see the stadium on your right.

There is a large car park at the ground which costs £5, however this gets full pretty quickly. Alternatively car parking is available at the Ryknild Trading Estate (also costing £5), just off the roundabout right by the stadium. Otherwise there is street parking, but keep an eye out for residents’ only markings in the immediate vicinity of the stadium.

Unfortunately there are no trains on Boxing Day, so that won’t be an option for getting to the game this time round.

With Burton’s long and distinguished history as a major brewing town, you would expect there to be some file ales on offer, and it doesn’t disappoint. You can find out about it all at the National Brewery Centre museum in Guild Street, just off the A511 on the northern edge of the town centre.

The nearest pub to the stadium is probably the 'The Beech Inn' which is around a ten minute walk, up the A5121 Derby Road (going in the opposite direction to Burton town centre) on the left. Also close to the Pirelli are the Tower Brewery on Glensyl Way, and Great Northern pub, on Wetmore Road, which leads off the roundabout near to the stadium entrance, go up and over the railway bridge and the pub is on the left.

Near to the railway station are the Roebuck, Devonshire, the Last Heretic micropub and the Cooper's Tavern which are all recommended. And en route from the station to the ground, you will pass the Albert Ale House on your left. In the town centre you can find the Fuggle & Nugget Micropub in the High Street, which welcomes visiting supporters, and a little further along is the Burton Bridge Inn.

In 2005 the Club left their Eton Park ground, which had been their home since 1958 and moved to a new £6.5m stadium on the other side of the road. Like most new stadia it does look a bit identikit, but for the time being it can give fans the pleasure of standing on a terrace, at least for the first three years of their life as a club in the Championship.

The capacity is only 6,912, which is very small by the standards of English football’s second tier, but they were a non-league club as recently as 2009, and have made remarkable progress since. The usual away allocation is just over 1,400 standing on the Coors East Stand Terrace at one end of the ground, plus a block of 400 seats.

I make that 1,800, but Leeds have only got 1,600 tickets for this game. Work that one out. Our allocation was sold through the ‘attendance tracker’ scheme, and it’s no surprise these have now sold out. Ticket prices are:-

Seating
£24 adults
£22 senior citizens aged 65+
£22 young adults 17 to 22 years
£14 juniors under 17 years

Terracing
£20 adults
£18 senior citizens aged 65+
£15 young adults 17 to 22 years
£7 juniors under 17 years

The Burton official site says that “any away fans who are found to be in possession of a ticket for any of the home sections will be refused entry and no refunds will be given.” So if you have managed to get a ticket in one of the home stands you will need to avoid drawing attention to yourself on the way in, and presumably during the game as well.

As you would expect from a modern stadium, the facilities and the view are good, with no supporting pillars to block the view. Alcohol is also served within the stadium, with away fans being 'treated' to their own little inside bar/refreshment area, where beer costs £4 a pint.

All in all it sounds like a good day out, but will we back to enjoy the experience next season?

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

Photo: Action Images

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