Chesterfield's B2Net Stadium

Chesterfield moved into the new B2Net Stadium in the summer of 2010 and it didn't take long to establish that it was a far cry from their old Saltergate ground. The new all seater stadium is as you would expect from a brand new stadium, a bit bland, but then again it has tried to be different with it's style of roofing and I suppose we should give it credit for that alone.

Chesterfield moved into their new B2Net Stadium after spending most of their history in the rather old Saltergate Stadium. The two stadiums are worlds apart from each other, set in very different areas and boasting very different facilities.

The journey from Lincoln is fairly simple, last around an hour or so on good days and the only real difficulty comes when you actually approach Chesterfield. There is a very busy roundabout not too far from the ground and this impacts on travel times both to and from the ground. However, once you're beyond the roundabout, you can see the ground and then comes the issue of parking.

There are streets nearby where you can park, although spaces appeared few and far between. You can't park at either the ground unless you have a permit or most local car parks unless you are a home fan. There is a large Tesco nearby, but again it's not worth trying to park there as fans have been clamped.

Luckily there is plenty to do around the ground, including several restaurants, the aforementioned Tescos and the ground is not too far from the town centre. Also, unlike Saltergate, the ground has a proper club shop inside of it, rather than the portacabin that you would find at the previous ground.

The purchase of match tickets is similar to that at Northampton, by that I mean that there's a random portacabin outside of the away end that you need to buy your ticket from before hand, the turnstiles also open a rather unusual 2 hours before kick off. I don't think I've been into a ground outside of the Premiership that actually opened that early.

Directly at the ground there was a club shop but it didn't sell a plethora of items, with the main ones revolving around leaving their previous Saltergate home.

Once inside the ground and you automatically see the massive difference between this and Saltergate. Although all four stands are near enough identical to each other in terms of height and style, the main difference between this and most other new grounds is that the style of roofing is rather unusual, not to mention the fact they don't have a scoreboard, something that is extremely unusual for new grounds.

The view from the away end is excellent and the pitch isn't overly long, meaning you get a decent view of the other end. The away end (above) is a reasonably sized stand, but you don't feel that far from the pitch when at the back of the stand. The facilities below are decent enough and in a rather unusual feature for a football ground, they sell Pepsi instead of Coke, the only ground where I've seen this.

Other than that it's not too different from your bog standard away end.

Karen Child Kop

Whilst Chesterfield have seemingly left behind everything that they had at Saltergate, the one thing they did bring with them is the poor atmosphere. I visited Saltergate four times and rarely heard chants, that includes standing in their "Kop" on one occasion, and unfortunately the seems to have come over to the new ground, with only a brief spell of singing after they score goals.

The away end seems to allow for a lot of noise for created if they ever get a team in there capable/willing to sing for 90 minutes.

One thing I certainly like about the new ground though is something you don't often get in newer grounds, leg space. I'm not an overly tall person (5 ft 11 to be precise), but I often feel cramped in most away ends, something I don't get in the B2Net Stadium.

Overall, I am a bit mixed about the B2Net Stadium, it certainly has it's many plusses, such as the attempt to make the ground a bit different with the unusual roofing, and the Chesterfield fans seem friendly enough. However, would it be a ground I would come to for a random game if City weren't playing? Probably not.