St Mary’s Stadium

For readers of a certain age Southampton Football Club will always be associated with The Dell; the atmospheric old stadium that the Saints called home virtually from their inception until they left the place. There had been talk of leaving the famous old ground even earlier but the powers that be could never quite find the right location. That all changed when the council offered them ground in the heart of the city and work began on building the new ground in 1999.

Both the ground and the club itself get their names from the same place, though in the case of the club it’s actually their nickname. The fact that they were formed as a church football team is why they are known colloquially as ‘The Saints’ and the location of the new stadium as being close to St. Mary’s church, where the club was formed, is the reason behind its name.

General information

Arena capacity: 32,505 spectators

Address: Britannia Rd, Southampton SO14 5FP, UK

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 50°54′21″N 1°23′28″W

Year of construction: August 2001

Construction cost: 32 million pounds

Field: Desso Grassmaster lawn with dimensions of 115 by 74 yards (105 m × 68 m)

Seating plan of the St Mary’s Stadium

The Club moved from The Dell to the new St Mary’s Stadium in 2001. In some ways this saw the Club returning to its roots as it was originally founded as ‘Southampton St Marys’, hence the club nickname ‘The Saints’. To be truthful the stadium looks, quite simply, superb. The stadium is completely enclosed, with all corners being filled with seating. There are also two great looking screens sitting on the roofs at each end.

Running around three sides of the stadium, just below the roof, is a transparent perspex strip allows more light and facilitates pitch growth. On the remaining side, there is a row of executive boxes. The crowd is set well back from the playing action, as firstly there is a cinder track surrounding the playing surface and secondly the pitch itself must be the largest in the League (although the playing area does not use all of it). Outside the stadium behind the Itchen Stand is a statue of former Southampton legend Ted Bates.

As St. Mary’s is a reasonably modern stadium it has also followed the modern trend go having a bowl style design. There are four stand that are all joined together and are all of the same height. Interestingly, Southampton have forgone the phenomena popular in plenty of grounds of naming their stands after famous people from the club’s past and have instead opted to name them after the area of the city that the stand faces.

• The Itchen Stand – Facing the river Itchen from which it gets its name, this stand houses 42 executive boxes, the police control room, the club’s offices, the press facilities, the changing rooms and some corporate hospitality suites.
• The Northam Stand – This is the part of the ground that houses the away fans and, perhaps because of that, the most vocal of the home fans.
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• The Chapel Stand – Sitting behind the goal and with one of the largest sections for disabled supporters, The Chapel Stand can produce a great atmosphere. The corner between Chapel and Kingsland stands is the family section.
• The Kingsland Stand – Plenty of passionate Saints fans call The Kingsland Stand home and there is another excellent area here for disabled supporters. There are also plenty of premium seats here, so if you’re happy to splash the cash then this might be where you’d consider sitting.
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Away fans

Away fans are located in the Northam Stand at one end of the stadium, where normally up to 3,300 fans can sit. For cup games, this allocation can be increased to 4,750. The view of the playing action and the facilities within this stand are excellent. Leg room is good, although the width of the seating seemed to be a bit narrower than other grounds.

The sizeable concourse behind the stand features a Ladbrokes, has TV’s which show the game as it is played and a number of eating and drinking outlets. There are plenty of staff and the queues never seemed to get particularly long, which was a pleasant surprise. There is also a ‘Pie & Pint’ outlet, that as the name suggests, only serves beer and pies. Perhaps they should rename it as ‘Heaven’!

The stadium has (contrary to other reports) a great atmosphere and the facilities are first class. The Club can be particularly commended for the friendliness of their staff, from the stewards to the catering staff. Considering that away supporters are almost treated with contempt at some other clubs, this was a refreshing change.

Coupled with the relaxed attitude of the home supporters and the excellent facilities, then this makes a visit to St Mary’s one of the better days out in the League. Only one minor gripe though, is that away fans are searched before entering the stadium which obviously slows the entrance process down somewhat.

There is an excellent view from all around the ground and the atmosphere is good. Toilet facilities around the perimeter of the ground are accessible prior to the turnstiles opening. Well done Southampton, it’s the little touches like these, for the fans comfort and enjoyment of the day, which make all the difference.

Where to buy tickets?

Southampton have one of the easiest to understand ticketing policies in the Premier League. They break matches down into different categories as follows: Category A matches are against Bournemouth, Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Tottenham Hotspur. Games against Everton, Newcastle and West Ham are Category B, whilst Category C matches take in Aston Villa, Leicester City, Norwich City, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Watford and West Brom.

Once you know the category of game you want to go and see you can then decide where in the ground you want to sit, whether you want premium seating and who it is you’re buying tickets for. You’ll find the prices are different depending on whether you’re an adult, concession, Under-17, Under-11 or you have a disability.

So, like a number of Clubs Southampton have a category system (A & B) for the pricing of match tickets, whereby the most popular games cost more to watch. Category A prices are shown below with Category B prices in brackets.

Home Fans

1. Itchen Stand (Premium Centre): Adults £52 (B £46), No Concessions Except Disabled.
2. Kingsland Stand (Premium Centre): Adults £49 (B £42), No Concessions Except Disabled.
3. Itchen & Kingsland Stands (Outer Centre): Adults £46 (B £38), Concessions £42 (B £34), Under 22’s £35 (B £29), Under 18’s £31 (B £26), Under 11’s* £19 (B £14).
4. Itchen & Kingsland Stands (Wings): Adults £42 (B £34), Concessions £37 (B £30), Under 22’s £31 (B £25), Under 18’s £25 (B £21), Under 11’s* £16 (B £12).
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5. Northam & Chapel Stands: Adults £40 (B £33), Concessions £35 (B £28), Under 22’s £29 (B £21), Under 18’s £23 (B £19), Under 11’s* £14 (B £10).
6. Family Enclosure: Adults £39 (B £32), Concessions £27 (B £22), Under 22’s £23 (B £19), Under 18’s £19 (B £16), Under 11’s* £12 (B £8).
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Away Fans

As per an agreement with all Premier League Clubs, away fans will be charged a maximum price of those shown below for all League games:

• Adult £30;
• Over 65’s £27;
• Under 22’s £22;
• Under 18’s £18;
• Under 11’s £12*.

* Under 11’s tickets only available when purchased in conjunction with an adult ticket.

Southampton have a comprehensive and reasonably easy to use website that should be your first port of call if you’re hoping to pick up some tickets to see the Saints play. You can also phone the ticket booking line or call in to the box office at the stadium.

Tickets go on sale to Official Membership holders first before being released to the general public, and you can become an official member by paying a fee to the club. There may be people offering to sell tickets to you near the stadium on the day of the game, but we’d strongly recommend against purchasing your ticket in this manner.

How to get there?

Southampton is out on the South coast, so it isn’t the easiest of places to get to to be honest. The club knows it, though, so there’s excellent information on the official website including a journey planning tool. We’ll give you some brief guidance here too, though.

From the M3 take the A33 into Southampton. Continue on the A33 until you reach the junction with the A3024 Northam Road and turn left onto this road towards Northam. Then turn right onto the B3038, Britannia Road for the stadium.

There is hardly any parking available at the stadium for away fans and there are parking restrictions in force for the local area. Most fans seem to be just heading for the city centre car parks and then embarking on the 15-20 minute walk to the stadium. After the game the roads around the city centre become almost grid locked.

Alternatively, fans also parking around the Marina area and then taking the ten minute walk to the ground. Parking in this area has the advantage that at the end of the game, you can avoid the city centre gridlock, by heading along the coast on the A3024 and then onto the M271/M27.

The Marina is called the Ocean Village which has plenty of parking, but it does charge to park there (it costs £1 per hour, but is free after 6pm). It is no more than a ten minute walk to the stadium, has a pub on the complex (which had a decent mix of home and away supporters) as well as plenty of food outlets.

Please note though that due to the popularity of parking at Ocean Village it can take quite a while now to exit the car park and get back onto the main road (30-45 minutes). So if you are looking at a quick getaway then it maybe advisable to park further away from the stadium.

You can park in Woolston (on the other side of the Itchen Toll Bridge which costs 60p) where there is plenty of street parking, and made the 15-20 minute walk from there to the ground over the Itchen Toll Bridge. To get there, you leave the M27 at Junction 8 and follow the A3025 to Woolston.

There is a public car park (free for first 5 hours) located just south of the Woolston side access to the Itchen Bridge. It is on Oakbank Road and the entrance is at the junction of Bridge Road and Oakbank Road. For those without the benefit of sat nav, as you approach the bridge along the A3025 there is a roundabout at the entrance to the toll booths, take the first exit left onto Portsmouth Road down to the traffic lights, turn right into Bridge Road and the car park is immediately on the left.

Across Oakbank Road are steps which take you up onto Itchen Bridge and St Marys is visible across the river to the right. There is also the option of renting a private driveway near St Mary’s Stadium via YourParkingSpace.co.uk.

Post Code for SAT NAV: SO14 5FP

By train

The stadium is located around one and a half miles away from Southampton Central Railway Station (where there is also quite a large car park), which should take about 30 minutes to walk. There is also a shuttle bus in operation taking fans from the station to the ground. This operates from the Blechynden Terrace bus stop outside the station. It starts two hours before kick off and costs Adults £3 return and Under 15’s £2 return.

Turn left out of the station’ s southern entrance and walk up Western Esplanade, which becomes Civic Centre Road. Remain on the Civic Centre Road and walk between the Civic Centre and the Marlands Shopping Centre. Eventually a crossroads is reached with the Nationwide Building Society on one corner and Lloyds Bank on another.

Cross into New Road and follow this road across a park and past a college. Eventually you will reach a complex road junction with a number of traffic lights. Cross Kings Way into Northam Road and follow this road for quarter of a mile until you reach the ground on your right. There are signs provided by the local council, which direct fans from the station to the ground.

Thanks to Scott Lydon, Jeff Manning & David Furnell for providing the directions.

You can also walk to the ground from St Denys Station, which is about a 25 minute walk away. This area also has some good pubs. Kay Wilkinson provides the following directions: ‘Leave the station on the platform 4 (South Western Arms Pub side) and proceed past the pub, which is on your right hand side and continue on down this road, past the Junction Inn and over the Horseshoe Bridge (this goes over the railway.)

Take the next left, Empress Road and follow this for about 3/4 of mile past various industrial units and round past Mount Pleasant School, which is on your right.  At this T junction turn left into Mount Pleasant Road and walk over the railway (tip if the train gates are down use the footbridge – you can sometimes wait here for 20 minutes). You then continue along this road, which changes into Radcliffe Road, past the mosque on your right and this road will take you all the way down to the underpass to the Stadium. This is the most direct route.

If you want to visit the Dolphin Pub mentioned above you exit the Station on Platform one side using the bridge across the road and the Dolphin is directly in front of you. To visit the Rockstone pub (formerly called the Bevios Castle) follow the directions into Dukes Road and half way down this road is a right turn, this will take you out into Bevios Valley, turn left and the pub is about 3 minutes walk away on a road junction on the right hand side.

To get to St Marys from here you can either walk up the hill following the road continuously, past the hospital and the fire station on your left, when you reach the main road, Northam Road, cross and pass through the bridge to the ground. Alternatively you can walk down the hill and take the first right, Mount Pleasant Road and follow the directions as from St Denys Station above’.

The South Western Arms and the Junction pubs near to St Denys Stadium are both excellent real ale outlets and are football fan friendly. The Junction also serves good food. Allow around 25 mins to get to the ground in good time. Basically you just follow the crowd, but recently the council have put in a rather pleasant boardwalk alongside the western bank of the River Itchen thus saving the walk over the railway bridge and down Empress Road to the level crossing at Mt Pleasant. The boardwalk comes out in a small industrial estate the stadium side of the level crossing. From there follow the directions above.

Booking train tickets in advance will normally save you money! Find train times, prices and book tickets with Trainline. Visit the Trainline website below to see how much you can save on the price of your tickets.

Bus

Buses are operated from throughout the town by BlueStar, First Bus and Velvet Bus companies, so wherever you’re hoping to travel to the stadium from they’ll have you covered. Buses 8A and 18 will take you from the station to the ground.

Taxi

A taxi from the train station to the ground will take less than 10 minutes and will cost you a little over a fiver.

Facilities

The modern design of the stadium means that the facilities at Southampton are better than at plenty of older grounds in the Premier League. There are places on the concourses to buy both hot and cold food and drinks, you’ll be able to place a bet in one of the numerous kiosks around the place and the toilets are clean and modern.

Hospitality

As a reasonably new stadium the hospitality packages available at St. Mary’s are top-notch. There are different options available for you depending on what you’re after and how much you’re willing to spend. We won’t go through every single package that the club has to offer, but we’ll talk you through some of the most popular because we’re nice like that.

Saints Bar calls itself ‘your favourite pub in the heart of St. Mary’s’, so that should give you an idea of the sort of atmosphere they’re hoping to create. You’ll get pub style food, a cash bar and a drink at half-time. Not the most all-encompassing of hospitality lounges but certainly one of the most fun.

The President’s Lounge is a slight step up in terms of quality, calling itself a ‘stunning contemporary setting’. You’ll enjoy a pre-match buffet and all-inclusive drinks package, a match day magazine and you’ll be welcome after the game, too.

The Markus Liebherr Lounge is named after the man many consider to be the ‘saviour’ of modern day Southampton FC, The Markus Liebherr Lounge is one of the top-end packages on offer at St. Mary’s. With a three-course fine dining experience pre-match, an all-inclusive premium drinks package, half-time refreshments and a full-time cheese board, what more could you ask for? Not much, but you may well be treated to a player appearance and you’ll get one car parking space per four people you go with.

Private hire

There is virtually no part of St. Mary’s Stadium that isn’t available for private hire if you’re putting on an event and looking for somewhere to host it. Fancy having a get together in press lounge? No problem. Got a big party and want to dance the night away in the Matthew Le Tissier Suite? You’d be more than welcome.

Form the club’s boardroom and press conference room through to executive boxes or even a SuperBox, there will almost certainly be a suitable part of the stadium for your event to be hosted in. The club welcomes events as diverse as an awards ceremony or a family christening through to a wedding ceremony and breakfast. Being in the heart of Southampton, the ground is an ideal location for whatever you’re up to.

St Mary’s Hotels

As a seaside town there are obviously loads of bed and breakfasts to choose from in Southampton. There are other options, though, so we’ve got a couple for you here.

1. The Star Hotel – £45+. Address: 26 High Street, Southampton, SO14 2NA. Located less than a mile from the stadium and with a bar and lounge on offer, The Star Hotel has 3 meeting rooms and free Wi-Fi, should you be looking to do a bit of business whilst you’re on the coast.
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2. Jurys Inn Southampton – £77+. Address: 1 Charlotte Place, Southampton, SO14 0TB. A three star hotel with a restaurant an a bar, you know what you’re going to get from a hotel in the Jurys chain. There’s a conference space, multilingual staff and, of course, free Wi-Fi. the hotel is half a mile from the ground.
3. Grand Harbour Hotel – £116+. Address: West Quay Road, Southampton, SO15 1AG. The Grand Harbour hotel offers an indoor pool, a full-service spa and a restaurant as well as a bar/lounge area. It is on the waterfront, so expect good views, and also has a strange pyramid design that is reminiscent of the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. It’s more like a mile away from the stadium, but it’s still not going to take you long to get to the game.
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Pubs & Bars Near St Mary’s

There are not many pubs located close to the stadium, so the choice for away fans is limited. One exception around a 10-15 minute walk away from St Mary’s is Browns pub on Millbank Street. This pub which also has Sky Sports normally has a mixture of home and away fans in attendance. In the Ocean Village, you can find “The Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis” public house. This large establishment had an excellent choice of beers, friendly bar staff and a convivial mix of both home and away fans.

Most fans seem to end up in the city centre before the game, where there are plenty of pubs to choose from. There is Yates Wine Lodge in the central shopping area. There are also a lot of away fans in the Slug & Lettuce next door. Away fans should avoid pubs along St Marys Street such as the Kingsland Tavern, Joiners and Isobar. Please remember though that if you do drink in the centre, that the stadium is a good twenty minute walk away. Otherwise, alcohol is served within the ground at a cost of around £4.20 a pint.

History

The Saints moved in to St. Mary’s in August 2001 having departed The Dell at the end of the previous season. Their former ground could only hold about 15,000 by the end of its life, less than half of the amount that can fit into the new stadium. The capacity at St. Mary’s is technically 32,505 including the director’s box and the press section, though it will rarely be as full as that because of segregation rules between home and away fans.

When the ground was first opened it was called The Friends Provident St. Mary’s Stadium because of the stadium sponsor. When flybe.com took over sponsorship duties in 2006 they chose not to take up naming rights and so the place reverted to merely St. Mary’s Stadium.

Ted Bates was a Southampton player who later became a manager, a director and even the president of the club. He was so heavily associated with the place that he was known as ‘Mr. Southampton’ and a statue to commemorate him was unveiled outside the ground.