Hello and welcome back to The Football Ground-Low, as this is my first football ground review in three weeks. For this one, I took a short bus journey from my house to the Sadiku Stadium, home of Kings Langley FC (and Watford FC Ladies), in a Southern League Premier Division match against Gosport Borough. Langley, who started the game in 12th position, ran out 3-0 winners against the team 4 places below them, with all three goals coming from striker Mitch Weiss.
FACILITIES
The stadium is at the smaller end of the scale when compared to others of this level, with a capacity of just 1,963, however it is perfectly suited to the needs of Kings Langley FC, which is village/suburb in between Hemel Hempstead and Watford. Kings Langley also enjoyed three successive promotions at the end of 2015/16 meaning that it has been hard to match the level of the ground to the stature of the team. Having said that, the ground is nice and well maintained, with lots of area for fans to stand to watch the game as well as seating the side of the pitch and in a tiny stand behind one of the goals. Also has a good bar on site as well as a full-size football pitch (with netted goals) that can be used to have a pre-match kickabout if you please!
6/10
FOOD AND DRINK
Hot food and drink is served form a burger van inside the ground while alcoholic beverages can be bought from the bar. I decided to go for my normal option of a portion of chips for £1.50 and, sorry Kings Langley, but they were the worst chips I’ve had at a football ground that I can remember. They were far too skinny for my liking (basically fries) and while some too soggy or under cooked, others were too hard and basically a crisp! I wont even go into the lack of pepper!
To be fair the burgers they were serving did look quite nice and you do get a decent sized portion for the price (£1.50 chips and £3 burger) but I was not impressed with the quality.
Snacks are also available for the same venue such as chocolate bars, sweets and crisps.
3/10
FANS
Although they made little noise throughout the game (I only heard one chant all game coming from a section of about a dozen Langley fans!), I was impressed with the turnout of 165, which is good considering the size of Kings Langley, the proximity and ease of access to bigger clubs (London teams, Watford FC, Hemel Hempstead FC) and that it was very close to Christmas, meaning many people could’ve been out shopping or put off by the cold!
6/10
MATCH PROGRAMME
The match programme is very basic and lacks the slick look that other clubs at this level go for, however it contains all useful information about the two clubs such as history, squads and recent results all while costing just £1. You are also given a print out of the official team sheet with purchase of a match programme which is a nice touch.
5/10
PRICES
The prices to enter the match are £11 for adults £7 for concessions (students and over 65s) and £2 for under 16s, which are all fairly standard for this level, although many clubs do have a slightly cheaper concession price. Prices inside the ground are very good, with the cost of food and drink and match programme being especially reasonable (prices shown below) although £1.50 for crisps seems a little high?
6/10
OVERALL
To summarise, this is very pleasant non-league ground that offers a good match day experience for home and away fans with decent prices and facilities available for all ages, although maybe avoid the chips! Can be easily accessed from around the country, with the nearest train station; Apsley, a 20-minute walk away while the 500 bus, a service that runs from Watford to Aylesbury, can drop you right outside the ground.
26/50
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