The walk into Stamford bridge can be strangely quiet for a Premiership ground. Obviously it depends where you park but for the number of people in the ground you would expect it to be heaving. Unfortunately I didn’t think the same could be said for leaving the ground itself - it all seemed a bit too squashed and with the merchandise vans parked up at the exit there is even less room.

I’ve been there twice with a Chelsea fan (I’m not especially a football fan at all, just like the free day out!) and have been mildly disappointed each time. I’ve not been to that many grounds in this country but as guernican says, it has had a lot of work done over the years but it kind of looks that way, all bolted on and not quite right.

Been twice, on a match day and once just out of interest. Unfortunately it has neither special architecture nor a particularly interesting history compared to most other London clubs (I support Aston Villa before anybody accuses me of favouring Fulham or anything!). I suppose it would mean more to a Chelsea fan, but the same applies to their football and that’s not too pretty either.

It’s not really fair to criticise poor old moneybags Chelsea for being an expensive ground. The dubious honour of “most expensive ticket in English football” goes, of course, to Arsenal, but then they do have pay off that big mortgage on the Emirates.

The Bridge has had an awful lot of work done to it over the years. In fact, if you’ll excuse the brief analogy, where the Emirates Stadium is a fresh-faced piece of jailbait, the Bridge is Joan Collins. Speaking personally, I’d rather play Scrabble with a woman that knows what she’s doing, but that’s just me.

When the previous regime bought it back in the early 80s, it was a nasty old piece of terracing sitting incongruously in a very expensive part of London. Mr Bates and Mr Abramovich have, in the last 20-odd years, performed a fair bit of cosmetic surgery on the place and now it’s surrounded by all the accoutrements of a modern club: Megastore, several bars, restaurant or two… you get the idea.

Now a note for the non-Londoner or non-footie regular: don’t turn up on a Saturday afternoon expecting to get a ticket. It’s not 1976, and the majority of games these days are sold out well before the match. If you are going to give it a go, choose a game with relatively unfashionable opposition. You might manage to find a ticket for Middlesbrough. You’re not going to stroll into the Liverpool game, though.

Inside, it’s tight - as all footie stadia are - but you get a wee bit of padding under your behind and the Upper Stands even get space heaters when it’s chilly out. As a Leeds-based acquaintance of mine said when sat under just those heaters for an evening European match, “You lot don’t know you’re born”.

Emirates aside - and this is an assumption on my part, as I’m damned if the Arsenal board will ever see the colour of MY money - the Bridge is the most well-appointed ground in the capital. And you can wander out and get a drink and something to eat in the reasonably savoury environs of Fulham when you’re done. Which is more than you can say for the Holloway Road.

Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea!

Well guys, I AM a Chelsea supporter, and I didn't mind forking out £50 to sit in the rafters and watch my team thrash Tottenham Hotspurs 2-0! I took my Dad who was stoked because he hasn't seen Chelsea play live in over 30 years since emigrating to Australia. He has bad knees and the Stewards were great, they really looked after us. Called us at the end of the game and took us down the members lifts - we got to walk out where all the kids were waiting for autographs.

Chelsea's megastore has so much more than Adidas or any of the sports stores in Oxford St, we got a new polo shirt for only £20 - noice!

And the rafters did give us a great view, there was no shortage of atmosphere and blasphemous chanting, which we wholeheartedly joined in!

No matter what team (although getting your team's away game is a hell of a lot cheaper) a trip to the footy is a British essential for any traveller!

"That'll be £65 please sir." GREAT.

It's really expensive to go and see Chelsea play. I'm a Fulham fan, so i'm used to cheaper tickets. After i got over the wallet trauma, i actually had a really good time. Chelsea beat Villa 2-1 and it was a cracking game. The stadium facilities are excellent and even though we were in the nose bleed section, i still felt like i had a good view of the game. LOTS of good pubs around the stadium. Perfect for post match boozing.

This is the stadium for Chelsea Football Club. When I went here I did not see any football as I went for a meeting but the stadium itself is worth writing about. It is very modern and very beautiful. We had a suite overlooking the pitch which was very large and built for royalty. Around the stadium the ground are really nice with lovely restaurants, including one of Marco Pierre Whites. It is definately worth a visit to the stadium and to the shop if you like football. It is extremely close the station, not even a 2 minute walk.