"It's not Saltergate!"

Chesterfield's new ground pulled the club into the 21st century. It looks nice from the outside and the four stands look pristine with blue seats unsullied by any slogans or lettering. The curving roofs on the side stands are also good to look at but do have the unfortunate effect of making the two ends look a bit basic in comparison.

Location

Chesterfield's old ground had a great town centre location and the new one is a bus ride away, but at least there are houses around and although the stadium is next door to a big Tesco it's not in the middle of nowhere. You will at least know you are in Chesterfield when you visit.

View

The view is great. No pillars get in the way and because the ground is relatively small no-one sits in the sky with players looking the size of Subbuteo men.

Facilities

Under-stand concourses are something Chesterfield fans could only dream of at Saltergate. There is even warm water in the toilets!

Food & Drink

I'm a vegetarian. I don't feel well catered-for at the Proact Stadium to be honest. The bar is actually too popular, since some fans don't think an afternoon's football is complete unless they drink too much ale before the match kicks off. I preferred the old smell of fag smoke to the modern football aroma of second hand beer.

Police & Stewards

Stewards are lazy and failed to take action against a moronic racist at a game I watched from the home end. Hopeless, really.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is terrific when Chesterfield are doing well but some fans are never satisfied and think everyone else should have to put up with their drunken ranting for the entire 90 minutes. Since Chesterfield have never been a particularly successful club you'd think a nice new ground and a place in the Third Division would be worth celebrating but there aren't half some moaners in the stand when the team is off form. Additionally, I'd rather hear home fans singing their own team's praises rather than chanting insults at the opposition which, disappointingly, seems to make up an unusually large part of the Chesterfield supporters' repertoire.

Write your own review of SMH Group Stadium

Have you been to SMH Group Stadium? Write a review!