Crewe Alexandra

This was my umpteenth trip to Crewe but only my third as a wheelchair user so I knew what to expect. The first thing to do when you have purchased your match ticket is to ring their ticket office and book disabled car parking besides the away turnstiles. It’s only small but if you’re quick you can get booked in easily enough. This particular car park is usually free but this season they have started to charge £6.00. If this gets full, then just use the pay & display car park at the front of the ground on the main road. Alternatively, use your blue badge and park wherever is safe. Permit holder spaces are fair game with your badge, so parking wise it’s pretty much covered.

Just a 3 to 4 minute walk away you can find the Cheshire Inn pub that welcomes away fans but gets very lively and busy as it’s close to the train station with the added bonus of a chippy just across the road. There is a YMCA that does Tea/coffee & really good food & cake nearby too which the locals & my friend recommend should you not fancy the pub.

Once inside the ground it is pretty much flat with an elevated dedicated wheelchair section at the side of your own fans. The disabled toilet and refreshment facilities are in the adjacent Family stand which has easy access. There are a few additional away seats and wheelchair spaces in this corner too to allow for overspill from the away end which is cool. The stewards are friendly and helpful and remember me from seasons past but be warned, they use agency stewards too and they do not have a clue. My carer wanted an alcoholic drink which are not served in the family stand, so you have to leave the disabled section which is railed off from everyone else to go around the back of the stand. However, the gate is locked. She asked a steward how to get around this issue and he said he did not know. She asked another steward who just stared at her blankly and shrugged his shoulders. She came back around the front and I explained to the Lady steward who knows me from past visits that she wished to go to the bar with her own fans and using her common sense shouted down, let her through the gate at the bottom, which they duly did. Obviously not many rocket scientists in Crewe, trains yes but not rockets! From friends comments underneath the stands is not wheelchair friendly so it’s best avoided and stick to tea, coffee or bovril and a pie in the family stand as the bar & toilet area is extremely congested. Fans have complained about this for years with many stating they are amazed it passes the annual safety checks. That said, it’s a very old stand and far from today’s standards.

One point to note. Both the family stand if you’re allowed in it due to any overflow and the main disabled section are both covered stands which is a blessing if it rains.

As with most grounds, getting away on the narrow roads can be time consuming but once you’re past the main ½ mile of it, it’s plain sailing back to the motorway.

All in all it’s a decent place to visit with no real issues other than the non-regular stewards being totally clueless. If this gets sorted out by Crewe Alex, which there is no reasonable excuse, then it should definitely be on your away day list of grounds to visit.

We had decent seats in the away end. But on the way in, the access steward said to the person who was accompanying me that she “wasn’t disabled” (she has a limb impaiment) and then wanted us to sit in the home end on the viewing platform (this felt very separate but equal).

Fortunately I stood my ground and went on the away platform (where there was a great atmosphere) and most people sat down once they realised they were blocking my view if they were standing up, which was nice).

My only concern about where we were seated was that in the second half loads of mostly-blokes were standing on the steps blocking the path and inevitably causing a trip hazard if there had been a surge if we had scored) – but no one did anything about this.

A lovely club to go to. Very helpful stewards. We parked directly outside the ground and were directed to the disabled entrance for away fans. We were told there were 2 areas we could sit in. One gets fans standing in front but is under cover the other is part covered but you do not get anyone in front as it is elevated. In this one there is a refreshment bar directly behind and the disabled toilet is nearby too. This has HOT water, the only ground we have found to have it. There is also just inside the ground a supporters lounge that visiting supporters can use if it is not full. On exiting after the match the coaches are directly outside the ground which is very good especially if it is dark. Would definitely go again.

This was our first visit to Crewe as away fans. The ground is right next to the station but a bit more complicated to find from the M6, not least as I did not spot any signs (follow town centre). We travelled in our club’s wheelchair accessible mini-bus which the first stewards we met were expecting and had saved parking for. Pity therefore they didn’t let us know where our entrance to the ground was and had disappeared by the time we got off the bus. This was around the 40th ground we have visited and we gave it the prize for the most difficult to gain access to. With no officials around, we followed where it seemed everyone was going along the pavement. With hindsight we think people were going to what looked like the excellent chip shop across the road (we noted this was closed at the end of our evening match)! After going round two sides of the ground until we could go no further we saw on our return journey a sign that said “Disabled fans entrance” so we waited there, until we saw a steward, when we were greeted with the warm welcome of “you’re away fans? – you can go home!”. What the sign does not make clear is that, that is the entrance for home disabled fans. The entrance for away disabled fans is down the passageway on the side nearest the station beyond the entrance to the Club’s bar, where they had actually parked our minibus!

The area for away wheelchair users is a raised platform at the back of the away stand looking across the 18 yard box. The platform is covered. There are no marked bays but there is room for I would guess around 6 wheelchair users. Plenty of clean dry seats (not bolted to the ground so you can place them wherever is convenient) were also provided. The only disappointment was that the away stand was filled from the opposite end of the pitch to the wheelchair platform so, as the only wheelchair user (until half-time when I got welcome company!) with a small away crowd (Tuesday night re-arranged fixture with a long journey), my husband and I did feel a bit like we had a contagious disease which required us to be kept separate! Perhaps the gain of this is there was no one to block our view which may have happened had the seats in front of the platform been occupied. We did have an excellent view which was not obscured by club officials walking past as can happen at some grounds.

The refreshment kiosk, no lowered counter, (which closed at the beginning of the second half) is in the adjacent family stand – flat access. The accessible toilet is beyond the refreshments on the left, clean with hot water, hand wash, paper towels and hand drier. The toilet cubicle is a good size but the door is stiff and heavy to move, I think the wood has swollen. It has an alarm but I noted the cord finishes around 5ft up from the floor so if you fell you could not reach it.

Crewe’s website states that it provides a headset commentary for visually impaired home and away fans. When we phoned the club to request one we were told that to have a headset you have to sit in the home stand.

Having been once and found the entrance, we would happily go again.

Be prepard to cue for your tickets, and once you’ve got your tickets you are escorted to where you can watch the match. We was with our own supporters, which is always good. The stewards where helpful and friendly.

Parking We got there early so there was plenty of disabled parking, which is at the far side of the ground.

Facilities They are good and the disabled toilets was clean and large. I had a problem though with one of the doors, it was very stiff and hard to open, I ended up badly bruising my hand.