Mansfield Town

I am a powerchair user and my husband is a white cane user. We visited as away fans travelling in our Club’s official away travel accessible bus. We have previously visited the One Call Stadium in 2018 but sadly failed to write a review of that visit.

Arrival and Entry to the Ground
The away end backs on to an out-of-town retail park which is where our coach stopped to drop us off. As it was a Tuesday evening match, stewards told our supporters who were asking about parking at the retail park and could not find any information about parking charges that cars were “not usually ticketed in the evening”! I have not heard anyone saying since that they were ticketed. We then entered via a gate at the far-left side this was because the right hand side of the away stand, which was where I remembered being last time, was being used for home fans. Immediately through a large metal gate we found ourselves in a long narrow congested area (essentially the back of the stand but outside of it) with gents toilets quite open in front of us and away fans standing around drinking alcohol. Not sure how this would have worked had it been raining.

Seating Area
All the away fans entered the seating area further to the left through a pretty narrow entrance. Level access seating was provided in two small platforms on either side of this entrance, before some steep steps down to pitch level, where fans going to the main part of the stand, then turned right or left to climb steep steps up to seating up behind the flat access platforms. There was I think 3 rows of seating in front of the flat access platforms going down to pitch level, accessed from the steps in that area, where families with young children and those who could not cope with the steps to the higher main seats sat. We had 3 wheelchair/scooter users and their companions on one of the flat access areas where there were flip downs seats with wheelchair spaces in between them and those who could not cope with any steps sat in the opposite side which had flip down seats without any wheelchair spaces. Good to see these different seating areas in one stand. I recall that when we last visited, we were on the other side of the stand which this time was being used to accommodate home fans. I recall that it was a mirror image in respect of seating areas. The view from the flat access areas was good, only very slightly obscured by those sat in the first row in front. The passage past the flat access areas did get very crowded with everyone using it but this did not present problems and it was good to be able to speak to fellow fans as they went past and also have those at the front of the main seating area wave and shout to us. It was a dry night and I have just realised I never looked up to see if you would get wet if it was raining!

Audio Described Match Commentary
Available. My husband described it as excellent, clear, helpful and fair commentary from two commentators who were both very knowledgeable and well informed. As audio described commentaries are available at so few League 2 grounds this was much appreciated. The Club website says to phone 01623 482482 to pre-book a receiver. When we did phone, we were asked to collect and return the receiver to the Kevin Bird Suite. When I explained that this would be difficult for us as away fans in the dark, it was agreed that we could ask a steward when we arrived to collect a receiver for us and return it at the end for us, which happened without any difficulties. Thank you Mansfield.

Toilets
One accessible toilet on the left as you approached the seating area. Not radar locked. Not large enough for me to turn my 6-wheel powerchair in and certainly not large enough to do a side transfer. I could not find any warm water, there was soap but the hand drier looked like a very old model that would not dry hands even if you waited all night. The overall impression was that this toilet had been put in some time ago in the cheapest way possible and was more than in need of an update. Not least, this is the first time I have sat in an accessible toilet worried that someone was going to pop their head over the top of the wall as it had no ceiling in it! The mother of a severely disabled fan told me that as she could hear fans talking around the top of the toilet walls, her and her son became very anxious that they would be able to hear her necessarily intimate conversation with her son, in a way that was totally unacceptable and afforded them no privacy. Some remedial work on this toilet to bring it to an acceptable standard would be much appreciated. I seem to remember that when we were located in the other half of the away stand there was an accessible toilet there and I can’t remember it being this bad? That said, the main issue with the one accessible toilet was that it was the only toilet available for all the female fans to use, putting a totally unacceptable demand on it. This was because the decision to use half the away stand for home fans meant that away fans had no access to the area where the female toilets were located. We have since been told by the Club Secretary that the decision to split the stand was made only the day before the match and failed to take into account the toilet situation. They had located 3 portaloos in the away half of the stand but they did not flush, had no lights in them (for an evening game) and had no hand washing facilities. In fairness to the Club Secretary at Mansfield, she responded within 20 minutes to my email complaining about the portaloos and was extremely apologetic, saying that this was a completely unacceptable situation which should never have been allowed to happen and which she would be ensuring was never repeated.

Catering
As on our last visit all the away fans located on the flat access platforms were provided with a complementary hot drink shortly after the start of the match in recognition that the catering counter was not accessible to us. Our orders were taken and the drinks were served to us by a very pleasant member of staff, who sorted out the tea bags, milk and sugar for each of us. The disposable cups were of the rigid type and a bottle of water was provided for someone who was unable to have hot drinks. A much appreciated gesture. The only slight improvement could possibly be if the cups had tops to help keep the drinks warm and reduce spills by wobbly hands as I remember they did last time.

Club Staff
Everyone spoke well of the stewards, even when we were complaining about the toilets which they dealt with without getting defensive. When my husband spoke to the Stand Manager about his audio commentary, they acknowledged they knew nothing about them but said they would find out and did so. It was also one of the stewards who took the lead in pushing my very heavy powerchair up the ramp into the bus when it was too steep for my chair to cope. I have already detailed the Club’s excellent, timely response to the complaint I sent after the match.

Leaving the Stadium
We happily waited for all the other fans to leave, to make our exit easy. Once outside I had to go to the opposite end of the stand to find a dropped kerb to get onto the car park to board the bus but not a problem. By the time the bus came to depart, the car park had emptied and there were no traffic delays leaving.

Overall
We would happily go again. Only problem was the toilets.

Attended as an away wheelchair fan, parking was not too bad as it was only a friendly match so wasn’t to busy, upon arrival the stewards were very nice they held the gates open and scanned my tickets for me, they showed us to our seats and told us we’re everything was, they was very helpful, I was going to go to buy a cup of coffee but was told not to bother as the disabled fans will get one fetched to them for free when the match starts, which was very nice of the club to do especially considering we were away supporters, the view for the disabled away fans was pretty decent to be honest, (image uploaded from our seating area) the only downside I had was the weather, it was raining and the wind was blowing the rain all over us so we did get a little wet, but we won 4-2 so was worth it lol, overall nice little ground with very helpful friendly staff.

We bought our tickets in advance direct from York

Prior to the match we had a meal at the Widdecombe Fair pub (fayre & square) at Mansfield.

On reaching the ground we parked in the overflow car park which I had booked 2 weeks prior to the match. The main car park was sold out. £5 charge. This was a bit of wasteland & very uneven, not reallysuitable for wheelchairs, but we were grateful for the space.

Entering the ground we passed the accessible toilet & the wheelchair spaces were on a raised platform just in front of us and on the right side of our own supporters. As there were only 2 wheelchairs there, there was plenty of room to choose our positionsfor the best view of the pitch, though not all spaces had an unobstructive view.

There were 3 rows of seats in front of us, but they were covered over so no-one could sit there.

The refreshments were a few yards from where we were but if your under 5 ft or in a wheelchair don’t bother going. Someone else bought us a meat & potato pie which was cold & horrible.(went in the bin)

There were plenty of programme sellers inside & outside the ground, so we didn’t enter the club shop.

Although I knew where the stadium is there was no signage to it for strangers to the area. We went up Midalnd Road and parked ouotside the disabled entrance as there was room for 6 with blue badges and on a first come first served basis, otherwise you would have to park in the retail outlets opposite.

Plenty of wheelchair spaces (2 areas of 12 spaces each) elevated although not very high. Only 3 rows high and the seats in front are not netted off so supporters stand up. Not fully undercover and would get wet if it rained. Carers are supposed to sit alongside but if the wheelchairs are at the back of the area they cannot see as there is a concrete barrier with a handrail on it for the other supporters to use when going up steps.

The Tannoy system is terrible and you cannot hear it at all. Stewards helpful but disappeared at 3pm when match started.

Travelled to Mansfield from Liverpool via the Buxton route, easy to find stadium. Because of the large crowd we had been permitted to park in the retails park at the rear of the away end cost £5 given reciept to put in car window, otherwise can only park for 2 hours and fines are handed out otherwise.

Entry into stadium was easy from the car park, decent accessible toilets. Access into wheelchair area easy but with three rows of seats in front little scared incase those in front stood up, but thnks to them they sat down and the view of the game was good.

Stewards on the day were reasonable although they had been drafted in for such a big game, and many were door staff who may not have understood the needs of football fans, but thnakfully I encounterd no problems. This is a small stadium but I would visit again without hesitation all in all a good day out, getting away after the game was also easy.