Changes to FanZone and West Stand Entry
Tuesday, 25th Aug 2026 14:29

Town have announced changes to the FanZone and West Stand entry procedures for this evening’s Carabao Cup tie with Leicester City in the wake of lengthy queues prior to Saturday’s season-opener against Sunderland.

Due to the ongoing development work behind the West Stand, the club instituted new measures for access at the weekend and asked fans to arrive early.

Despite that, some supporters in the West Stand reported it taking more than an hour to get to their seats, a number missing kick-off.

A statement on the official website reads: “The club has held a thorough review of the opening Premier League fixture against Sunderland and acknowledges some supporters will have experienced significant wait times in order to enter the stadium.

“As a result, the following changes have been made in relation to the West Stand and FanZone.

“Entry to the FanZone and West Stand turnstile area is via gates 1, 1a and 1b, located on the perimeter around Constantine Road and Sir Alf Ramsey Way. These are marked on the below map and will all remain open right up until kick-off.

“The club will be increasing the number of security check lanes on entry at these gates in order to improve the flow of supporters into the FanZone area.

“In another change, supporters will only be subject to a security check when entering the FanZone but should be aware that all tickets will need to be ready to be scanned when approaching the West Stand turnstiles.

“All supporters sitting in all areas of the stadium should ensure they have downloaded their digital tickets before they attempt to enter the stadium, in order for all fans to enter Portman Road as smoothly as possible.”

Photo: Action Images via Reuters

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Bazza8564 added 14:33 - Aug 25 Thank the Lord for that, three access points and more lanes is just what we need. We arrived at 2 and were in the bowl by 215 but many around us didnt arrive until KO
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HereWeGo added 15:19 - Aug 25 All 3 gates were open Saturday! The problem , which the club have not mentioned is that not all turnstiles were operating. In the block of 4 that I queued at for an age only 2 were being used.
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whosroundisitanyway added 15:24 - Aug 25 Bazza If you arrived at 2.00 and were in the ground by 2.15 you done some serious queue jumping!
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Barty added 15:33 - Aug 25 Teething problems yes but it was a nightmare Saturday to the West Stand.
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Bazza8564 added 15:40 - Aug 25

No, it only took 10 minutes to get through the security queue which we joined from the Constantine road end and we walked to a turnstile no-one was at, none of the queues at the turnstiles had started by then, there was one lady who couldnt get her Apple wallet open but she stood aside so we were 1 and 2 in the line.

From what others told me I must have either come in at the right time or the bus station end queues were a lot shorter?

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yocal_lad added 16:05 - Aug 25

Not sure that will fix it the 3 gates where open Saturday and tha queue was 20-25 mins so it helps get in yes.

They only security checked you there so tha comment makes no sense. the problem was the fanzone closed and hundreds/thousands of ppl tried to get through something like 12 turnstile split into three groups of 4 - might be more but it felt like a less then before and the volume was higher

It was the number trying to go through turnstiles so close to kickoff, well 30 mins to go that caused the

But they need to try something , tonight won’t be a sell out so interesting to see how it goes

blues1 added 16:39 - Aug 25 Whosroundisitanyway. No, je probably didn't join the queue for tge 1 gate and went to one of the other 2 gates, as my mate did, and just walked in, no problem
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SpiritOfJohn added 16:47 - Aug 25

From what I could see on Saturday most people were queueing for gate 1B, the end of that queue stretching up through Alderman Park. Gate 1A wasn't as popular. No idea what Constantine Road was like. The security checks took no longer than usual. Once inside the compound we then had the experience of queueing again for the new turnstiles and it seemed that most people gravitated towards the nearest ones which, unsurprisingly, had the longest queues. The turnstiles towards the South Stand aka Sir Alf aka Churchman's had the shortest queue but were almost inaccessible due to the placement of a massive marquee outside. I hoped someone from the club was taking notice of these events, but as the kick-off was not delayed and from the content of the article above I don't think they fully appreciate the scale of the problem. No doubt with a lower attendance tonight it won't be so bad, but I won't be surprised if we see similar chaos at the Liverpool game.

Doublepivot added 17:01 - Aug 25

Have to agree with Spirit of John. It was a complete nightmare and the proposed changes will do nothing to alleviate the problem for games v Liverpool etc. It may be better tonight with smaller crowd but basically there are insufficient entrances leading to the turnstiles and the security checks just added to the problem. ITs ok for Ashton and co who are nicely ensconced in their seats . The real fans need this properly sorted

backwaywhen added 17:57 - Aug 25 Arrived at 1-45 and sailed right through goy my beer inside , if you use Fanzone it will delay you for sure , only temporary all this until all is finished .
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Brogan55 added 18:07 - Aug 25 The queues for 1b was long,so a steward said go to 1a and got in quite quickly.(1.50 pm).The turnstiles were quicker.The problem is maybe the people in the Fan zone all went to the turnstiles at the similar time.Understandable.
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Cakeman added 18:25 - Aug 25 The security checks are time consuming and ineffective. On Saturday queues at the Sir Alf stand were very long and this wasn’t all down to the new ticketing arrangement. The security checks took longer than going through Stansted Airport and were not entirely friendly either.
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ChestnutSe added 07:21 - Aug 26

We got in the fanzine area at 2:10.

The beer marquee caused huge problems with accessing the turnstiles at the South Stand end of the fanzone. Only 3 turnstiles were being used until 3pm when a staff member rocked up and said “why is this one not working, is it broken?”. He checked and it was ok ffs. Then they also pulled the gates open and started swiping us through on hand held devices. I suggest they ensure the turnstiles are suitably manned and have more entry points using hand gelds if necessary. We got to our seats about 5 minutes after KO so missed the opening scenes of the new season. Was well pissed off