The St Mary’s Stadium

Not a Southampton fan but working in town for over a full season so got a season ticket because I love football.
Dealing with ticket staff in person and over the phone — five star service, very helpful with all the questions I had
actually quite well marked with signs to walk to the stadium from most directions.
very spacious once you enter the ground through the turnstile.
variety of refreshments available inside the ground.
Just about all the seats are undercover, except the first few rows at pitch level.
for the handful of games I have been to so far it is a very clean stadium and the atmosphere inside is fantastic.

So Joseph was doing what he thought was his wife, and then the moon came out from behind a cloud and he realized it wasn’t her. He said «This ain’t Mary!»
Indeed it wasn’t, and the name of this stadium was born. Along with baby Jesus.
First-​Hand Experience: More info about my personal experience at this stadium — well it’s the home team of my sister-​in-​law, so a lot of her family are huge fans. For this reason, I’ve been to this stadium as recently as about 8 months ago when I was hanging out with the lovely family.
I love the walk up to this stadium… in a tight little Soton neighborhood… past all the Chip Shops. And then you go through the turnstiles, and bam. It’s one of my fave stadiums to visit. I’ve only been maybe 3 or 4 times, and 2011 was the very first time. They had a home game on the same day as one of my concerts, so I was able to have 2 awesome experiences in one day in Southampton.
I’ve been to virtually every significant stadium in the UK & US, due to a lifelong obsession with travel, sport & especially footy (soccer to Americans). Born and raised in England, I followed Oxford United (my hometown team) to many stadiums all over the country at away games, and later followed Liverpool (my fave team) around. Every stadium review — like all my reviews — are from personal experience at these stadiums from multiple visits. In 2011, I was on music tour in the UK, and visited these stadiums then, also. As recently as Fall 2014, when I was «stuck» in the UK for 3 months, I visited all of the stadiums as I travelled around the country. I have pictures of many of them which I will post in future. Also, when I’m back in the UK I plan to take more pictures, and add more stadiums too! So watch this space!
*** return to regular review ***
So it’s one of the better stadiums in the UK. It’s virtually brand new and spiffy and clean and has a great atmosphere for one of the great provincial teams of the UK down on the south coast. It’s got some nice chippies near it.
It can hold 32k people and is the largest stadium in the South of England outside London. It is a bowl with a roof which keeps the rain away and keeps the noise inside, so it really has everything going for it.

I don’t know much when it comes to soccer stadiums and there was nothing wrong with St. Mary’s at all — except maybe the beer rule, but we’ll get to that in a minute — but I don’t really have anything to compare it to either. Any time I’ve actually seen a soccer game live it has been in what is traditionally an American football stadium.
To learn now that the fans sing like crazy people WITHOUT much alcohol in them makes the tradition that much more impressive. Due to a national ordinance there is no alcohol allowed during game play. And I don’t mean just in the stands, I mean not even to be sold. That was quite an interesting ‘twist’ to events for this group of Americans.
If I could complain about anything — and I don’t know that the football club really has any control over it — but transportation to/​from the stadium would have been nice. In my research prior to leaving, I found mention of shuttles that ran between the tube station and the stadium. Those shuttles seemed to be nonexistent.

This is really my favourite place to come to. Great entertainment, friendly crowd (unless your from Pompey!) Visited here loads of times, and go home sometimes full of joy.

I’m like Gemma, I cannot give the «Saints» more than 3-​stars but I can give the stadium some props.
We parked about 8 blocks away as we were running late for the start of the match between Southampton and Manchester United.
The fans, oh my, the fans are LOUUUUUUUUUD. They beat on the exterior walls while chanting and from outside the stadium it sounds like rioting going on inside!
The fans are very passionate and excited about being promoted up to the EPL this season and they chanted or sang nearly the entire 90-​minutes.
Like most matches, you are not allowed to bring beer into the stadium seating. So, hey, get down out of your seat and swig it down between halves!
It’s situated in a fairly convenient location and there are many routes you can take to get to it, or park near and around it. Of course, you could park for free way south of the stadium on the other side of the bay and walk across.
Overall a good experience and remember, do NOT try to take any liquids in the stadium. If you do, you’ll get it confiscated but don’t worry, you will get it back when you leave. They seem to have a good plan worked out in order to get the items back to you.

A good modern stadium. Passionate fans. Food and drink is average but as expected. Good views from all seats, parking is a bit of a knightmare and quite expensive but that’s no different to any other UK stadium.

Firtsly, let me say that Southampton is not my team, consequently I cannot give them any more than three stars!
However, after my visit yesterday to watch my team put them out of the FA Cup (!) I felt I wanted to review them…
Southampton are currently in League One — two below the top. However, their stadium is worthy of top flight football. Having replaced the old Dell ten years ago, St Mary’s is a shining example of what football should be about. It’s well located, has a megastore, hospitality areas — all the things that a football club should have. The stadium is well designed with ample seating, and looks like it provides a great view from all areas.
However, the main reason for this review is the stewards — as an away fan, you quite often get treated pretty badly, regardless of age, gender or creed. But at Southampton, every steward we came across was so friendly and helpful, really wanting to have a laugh with the fans and generally making everyone feel safe and welcome. This maybe just down to the fact that this was such a big game from them and there is less rivalry than a league match, but it was certainly a nice experience, I hope they are like this for all teams.
Oh, and no telling us to sit down all the time, another pleasant experience!!!
All in all, a top day out.
(I may not have been so pleasant about them had we lost!!)