Town Announce East Anglian Derby Travel Options
Tuesday, 17th Mar 2026 12:39

Town have released details of four options for supporters travelling to Norwich City for the East Anglian derby on Saturday 11th April.

As previously reported, the usual travel arrangements for Blues games at Carrow Road have been thrown into disarray due to Network Rail engineering work which mean there are no trains between Ipswich and Norwich that day.

Norfolk Constabulary wanted a ‘bubble game’ which would see all Town fans travel from Portman Road on coaches to Carrow Road, a proposal the club saw as unacceptable, as was the case when the same plan was mooted some years back.

The Blues and the police have now negotiated four options for fans travelling to Carrow Road for the match with details of ticket prices and sales dates to be confirmed in due course.

Option one: The club will be putting on extra coaches to assist those who would normally take the train to Norwich, while also assisting supporters with the cost of coach travel due to the inconvenience. Those using these club coaches will collect their match tickets when boarding at Portman Road, before travelling directly to Norwich. To encourage this travel method, which is seen as being the most convenient, coach travel will be charged at a discounted rate of £10 for adults and £5 for concessions.

Option two: Supporters wishing to make their own way to Norwich are being asked to park at the Postwick Park & Ride site, collecting their match ticket there before then taking a coach, organised by the club, towards Carrow Road. Parking is limited for those using this option with travel into Norwich charged at a discounted rate of £4 per adult and £2 for concessions.

Option three: Those supporters who are travelling to Norwich by train from other areas of the country, not using the line between Norwich and Ipswich, will be able to collect their tickets to the rear of Norwich Station, by the exit leading to Lower Clarence Road.

Option four: Alternatively, supporters making their own way to Norwich by road will have the option to collect their match tickets from a designated collection point on Lower Clarence Road.

Town chairman and CEO Mark Ashton said: “No rail travel between Ipswich and Norwich over the weekend of the game has presented challenges outside of the club’s control and, over a period of many weeks, we have been in dialogue with the authorities to fight for the best possible outcome for our supporters.

“We have managed to make significant progress for our supporters during those conversations and, while not perfect, we are pleased we have been able to achieve an outcome which is both practical and affordable for those traveling to the game.”

Photo: Matchday Images

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Bazza8564 added 12:46 - Mar 17 Well done Mark, the options for travel and prices are as good as it can be i think
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RetroBlue added 12:49 - Mar 17 SHAMBLES ...well done Norfolk and Suffolk police force, showing once again you are incapable of managing a derby fixture. How the, Met, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool police forces must be laughing at you lot . Pathetic !
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trulyblue added 12:50 - Mar 17 Option 4 it is then.
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LandOfMickyStockwell added 12:57 - Mar 17 If I pick one of the four arrival options, will Norfolk Constabulary allow me the same route of departure? Seriously, I hope there's some proof on how to get home - we all know what has happened before.
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cookra added 13:01 - Mar 17 Well done to the club for organising other options than Norfolk constabulary's one and only option. Not enough is said about the lengths the club go to for supporters in such circumstances
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RetroBlue added 13:03 - Mar 17

Ive witnessed in the past whereby Town fans who came by car, were forced onto a train to avoid the totally not controlled norwich fans, as they tried to make their way back to their car . That lot up the A140 couldn't organise a p1ss up in brewery . I stopped going to that sh it ole years ago because of the way the police treat Town fans ... they're worse than the norwich fans !!

MickMillsTash added 13:07 - Mar 17 What does this achieve ? 3 ticket Collection points ? I suspect most people will park up and take option 4 where the collection point will be understaffed and it will probably rain. Why Not post the tickets out and still offer option 1 and 2? Employing the unemployable !! Co@k p1ss partridge!!
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blueboy1981 added 13:08 - Mar 17 Get a Life you Idiots not satisfied with that choice - SIMPLE …. don’t bother to go, rather than have the hump, and only cause trouble.
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blues1 added 13:22 - Mar 17

Muckmillstash. You've completely missed the point. If tgey were to loat tickets out, do you really think anyone other than those who normally go by coach, would go for option 1 or 2? Of course they wouldnt. They'd simply drive to Norwich and find somewhere to park. Whether anyone agrees with the reasoning behind this being done is irrelevant. It is what it is. And fans should be grateful that Mark Ashton has been ble to negotiate these options, instead of moaning. If he hadn't have done so, fans would be constrained to what happens in, for instance, the Cardiff/ Swansea derby. Where they have to travel by coach. No options. Unfortunately, some of our fans just have to have something to moan about.

Cheshire_Blue added 13:23 - Mar 17 Norfolk Police have created a shambles for this fixture going back many years and it doesn't look as though this year will be any different. Will they ever learn ? Other Police forces manage much bigger crowds much more expediently and efficiently with far less hassle to the supporters.
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Blowedifiwinit added 13:26 - Mar 17 Meanwhile, we give their fans a whole pub within five minutes walk from the ground!!
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blues1 added 13:27 - Mar 17 Retroblue. What has this got to do with the Suffolk police? Purely down to the Norfolk Police.. In fact, thr suffolk Police football officer was trying to find other options as well. Should just be grateful thatcMark Asgton has managed to get these other options, instead of just moaning.
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PortmanTerrorist added 13:32 - Mar 17

Norfolk Police have may have created a shambles Cheshire_Blue, but not on a par with Greater Anglia...who are a disgrace. Whilst this is hardly perfect, and am no Ashton apologist, he simply does not have final say....he could push back as hard as you/we like but Norfolk Police have final say. This feels nuts, but probably least worst scenario with at least 1 solution suiting most fans.
PS love the (over)reaction when so few will get tickets anyway...that farce is yet to come!

scooby added 13:37 - Mar 17 So where is the choice of having your ticket on your phone. Driving to Norwich, parking in one of the city car parks and walking to the ground just like we do anywhere else. What on earth has football come to.ncfc hang your head in shame we are people not animals
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NR1blue added 13:38 - Mar 17

The issue here is that Norfolk plod don't want hundreds of fans roaming the city unsupervised. Lower Clarence Road is where they usually park all away coaches so in effect all 4 options will end up at the same place. I suspect that once tickets are collected, supporters will not be allowed to go off in groups to The Town House(or any other pub) and everyone will be frogged marched down to the ground. Just my guess.

algy added 13:43 - Mar 17 So this will cost our club money subsidising the coaches, presumably staffing the collection points, while as usual people buying tickets are giving their money to to the opposition as away fans do at league games.
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victorysquad added 13:43 - Mar 17 Quite bizarre. The 2,000 supporters that attend this fixture will be top tier points holders, and there really are no trouble makers in that lot. Maybe a few youths that might try and give it the big un (and thats about it), but seriously OTT stuff from the police.
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victorysquad added 13:45 - Mar 17 can I just add if anyone was that hell bent on causing trouble (unlikely), then they would just drive up there!
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algy added 13:48 - Mar 17 I haven't been to a derby there for a long while but remember we'd be met off the train and escorted out the side exit into that road then over a bridge to the ground. Escorted back after the game too. Pity it's being done but that road looks the obvious place for collection.
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philpott2 added 13:56 - Mar 17

Having been to the home game V Norwich earlier this season, I was shocked, disappointed, incredulous at some of the mindless ITFC fans in the SirBRS.
The vitriol spouted, some of the young lads around us were spitting, drooling, hurling obscenities throughout, it was like being sat (stood!) in front of rabid dogs let out for the first time in 12 months....it was shameful. Never mind all of the songs about Delia Smith in the concourse. Some of the comments and abuse hurled at the players and fans were disgraceful.
If they in Norwich are expecting the same feral characters, level of aggression and abuse to be reciprocated, then they have every reason to be treating some of our fans like criminals.
It isn't just a normal game like any other week, is it!!
My comments are not related to the despicable treatment of the general public by the train service, this is about the controlling and steering of Town fans to certain points in Norwich only.

FabianMalyon added 14:26 - Mar 17 I was about to post to say that I was surprised that Norfolk Police seem to be treating Town fans like Millwall fans but reading @philpott2's post, I can see why. Banter with the Budgies is fine but if people are acting like animals then they shouldn't be anywhere near ITFC.
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EatonBlue added 14:29 - Mar 17 Greater Anglia are to blame for the chaos - in particular their regional people at Norwich Station who failed to communicate with us earlier.
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RetroBlue added 14:31 - Mar 17 Blues 1 : BOTH police forces work together during the derby fixtures. Its combined operation and its poor IMO . I was told of this collaborative working by a Suffolk Plod..so take your pathetic down arrows back mate !
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Cheshire_Blue added 14:32 - Mar 17 Yes Portman Terrorist, Greater Anglia may have contributed this year, but I was speaking from experience of many years of this farce created by Norfolk police not being able to cope properly with the situation.
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Gforce added 14:40 - Mar 17 Philpott........A fair comment, however i watched the abuse & vitriol ,up close,coming from the Norwich fans,in the upper Portman stand via a you tube clip,it was horrendous and was being shouted from people of all age's, including young women ! All obviously aimed at our fans in the lower churchmans.
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