VBS Community Stadium

Gander Green Lane,

 Sutton,

SM1 2EY

Sutton play at Gander Green Lane – VBS Community Stadium

This is about 13 miles south-west of London, midway between Wimbledon (Tennis) and Epsom (Derby horse racing).

Crystal Palace Women’s football team from this season are playing their home matches there.

Sutton United received the seats for the grandstand at Gander Green Lane from the remodelling of Stamford Bridge and were given to them by the Chelsea F.C.

Away fans are behind one of the goals in the Collingwood Road end.  This can accommodate about 300 supporters – mostly standing, but with just over 100 seats in a temporary stand built recently.

Getting There

By Supporters Coach – The easiest way to get there.

For full details of Away Travel: –

Click here: – FGR Away Travel – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)

Book your coach ticket with your match ticket from FGR.

Discount for FGR Supporters Club members. Supporters Club Members need to book by phone to get their discount.

Click – Tickets | WE ARE FGR

Tickets & Travel: Sutton United (A) | WE ARE FGR

By phone on 0333 123 1889 Monday to Friday, between 9am and 3pm.

Please try to book as early as you can.

By Train

NB a train strike is scheduled for this weekend so please check train times carefully if you are planning to go by train.

Train travel is normally possible (unusually!).  Trains leave Stroud every hour and take a little over 3 hours to get to West Sutton.   Trains usually go via Paddington and normally involve 3 changes.

Sutton United recommend using Sutton station as trains are more frequent (from Victoria & London Bridge) than West Sutton.

Sutton Railway Station is only one stop (or two minutes travelling time) on the train away from West Sutton station that adjoins the ground.

West Sutton is within about 200 metres of the stadium.  As you come out of the narrow station entrance, turn right and the entrance to the ground is down on the right.

Sutton station is a 20-minute walk to the ground.

By Car

Ground Post Code – SM1 2EY

Away Supporters Car Park –

 Gibson Road, the local municipal car park

(SM1 2RF).

Travel to Sutton by car will take a little over 2 and a half hours (about 110 miles from Nailsworth).                                                                                                              Please be aware there is refurbishment work on the A419 (the road leading to M4) at the Highworth junction, near Swindon. The scheme involves replacing bridge parapets and to enable the structural repairs, the northbound section of the A419 will be closed at the junction over the weekend of 1- 4 September.

For Sutton – Leave the M25 at Junction 8 and take the A217 towards Sutton. On nearing Sutton you will reach a small roundabout where you bear left continuing on the A217 towards Central London. At the second set of major traffic lights (the Gander Inn is on the left-hand corner) turn right into Gander Green Lane. The Borough Sports Ground is about 200 yards up this road on the left-hand side.

Car Parking

There is a car park at the ground, but this is for permit holders only.

Away fans should park in Gibson Road, the local municipal car park (SM1 2RF). It takes no more than fifteen minutes to walk from Gibson Road to the stadium and the route brings you in at the east end of the ground, The Collingwood Road End, which is the area reserved for away supporters.

Click here for map & charges etc. – Gibson Road multistorey – Sutton Council

There is street parking available, but it is further away from the ground due to a local residents parking scheme, so please check signage on lamp posts for restrictions

Disabled Supporter Information:

Click here –

Disabled Supporters – Sutton United

Food and Drink

In The Ground

Fan Zone – At the away end with food and drink served throughout the match.

Two-course lunch at the VBS Community Stadium before the game  Join Sutton United board members, sponsors, ex-players, and supporters for two courses and coffee, plus occasional quizzes and pre-match speeches from the Chairman and sometimes the Manager. Away fans are welcome for friendly banter! A two-course meal plus coffee is £20.00 per person (£10.00 for children aged 14 and under), and starts at 12:30pm, with the bar in the MBA Lounge open from 12. Pre-booking is essential. Book online here, clicking on the relevant game, or email lunches@suttonunited.net for more information.

Outside the Ground

The nearby Plough pub has now closed down. Around a ten-minute walk away from the ground at the traffic lights on the main A217 is the Gander pub.

The pub options in the town centre are numerous if somewhat uninteresting.  There is a Wetherspoons called the Moon on the Hill, an ‘All Bar One’ and a handful of other options clustered at the top of the High Street all within five minutes’ walk of Sutton railway station. One of the better options may be ‘The Old Bank’ immediately to the right of Sutton station as you exit. There should be something to cater for most tastes and all the usual High Street restaurant chains are also present.

No. 265 the Winning Post pub (formerly Red Lion) is a piece of rock music heritage. It was here that Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman played their first gigs with the Rolling Stones in 1963, while the impresario Giorgio Gomelsky spotted the band at this pub and booked them for his Crawdaddy Club.

How Are They Doing

In season 22/23 Sutton finished 14th with 58 points.

They are currently  in the second relegation place, 23rd, with 3 points

Recent Results

Wycombe  Sutton (EFL Cup)

Newport 3 Sutton 1

Sutton 0  Wimbledon 3

Sutton 0 Gillingham 1

One to Watch

Harry Smith

With the departure of ex-FGR Omar Bugiel Sutton’s main goal threats come from Harry Smith (2 goals), Harry Beautyman (2 goals) and Omari Patrick (3 goals).

Striker Harry Smith has previously played for various clubs including Millwall, Macclesfield, Northampton & Orient. He will be returning from suspension.

Midfielder Harry Beautyman is in his second spell at Sutton having played for Peterborough, Northampton & Stevenage in between.

Winger Omari Patrick joined Sutton from Carlisle in the summer having also played for Bradford, Wrexham, Burton & Yeovil amongst other clubs.

Manager

Matt Gray

Matt Gray – A youth product of Spurs and Cardiff, Gray had an unassuming senior career in the non-league. He began his senior career at Barnet, with stints at Hayes, and Havant & Waterlooville where he was appointed the captain. He ended his playing career at 25, due to various injuries.

After retiring as a footballer, Gray began coaching. His first stints were as the assistant manager at Eastleigh. He was also the assistant with L2 clubs Aldershot  and Crawley In December 2018, he was appointed as one of the coaches at Sutton.

On 22 April 2019, the long-term Sutton United manager Paul Doswell stepped down. Matt Gray was appointed interim manager for the last matchday that season in the National League alongside Ian Baird, and Micky Stephens. On 1 May 2019, he was formally appointed as the manager for the team.[5] In the 2020–21 season, his second with Sutton United, Gray led the team to promotion into the EFL for the first time in their 123-year history. He was named the National League manager of the year for the 2020–21 season.

Rovers Connections

Omar Bugiel will be remembered by many Rovers fans.  The German-born Lebanese striker played for Rovers between 2016 and 2018, making 35 appearances and scoring 8 times for FGR in both the National League and League 2.  After a move to Bromley, Omar moved on to Sutton (141 appearances, 22 goals) in 2019. He has now moved to nearby Wimbledon and played against FGR last Saturday. He has represented Lebanon on 10 occasions, scoring once.

Goalkeeper Steve Arnold joined Sutton in the summer 2023, although he hasn’t been their starting goalkeeper so far as he is out with a hip injury. He played for FGR between 2014 – 2016. He made 43 appearances. His last match was the 3-1 defeat to Grimsby ln the Conference play-off final at Wembley.

Omar Bugiel

Steve Arnold

Club History

Sutton Utd played the first ever EFL game in their 123-year history at The New Lawn. The match in Nailsworth was memorable – an opener from Matty Stevens on 30 minutes, an Omar Bugiel (ex-FGR) equaliser on 69 minutes, then an Ebou Adams winner in injury time securing a 2-1 win for Rovers.

Promotion to the EFL had one big downside for Sutton.  They had to replace their 3G playing surface with grass – the EFL doesn’t allow artificial surfaces.  Sutton chairman Bruce Elliott branded the EFL ‘dinosaurs’ for their attitude to synthetic playing surfaces.  Elliott believes the 3G surface encouraged Sutton’s passing game and helped them achieve promotion.  He believes the cost of grassing the pitch at Gander Green Lane is probably around £500,000.  Part of this cost was the loss of revenue that the club used to earn from hiring out the pitch – he says the ground was used constantly, but that has now changed.

It is Sutton’s FA Cup exploits that have brought them most fame.

In 1988–89, Sutton completed one of the biggest FA Cup shocks in the competition’s history, defeating First Division side Coventry (who had won the competition in 1987) 2–1 in the third round. On 28 January 1989 Sutton lost to Norwich of the First Division 8–0 in the fourth round.

Sutton made all sorts of headlines during the 2016–17 season. Starting with the 4th Qualifying round when they knocked out FGR.  They then reached the Fifth Round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating three Football League teams, Cheltenham, AFC Wimbledon and Leeds Utd on the way.

They finally lost 2–0 at home to Arsenal but all the headlines that day were about their 45-year-old, 23 stone, reserve goalkeeper, Wayne Shaw. Wayne was pictured tucking into a pasty in the 83rd minute of the tie and became an almost instant celebrity.  But things took a turn when the Gambling Commission launched a probe and found that there were odds of 8/1 pre-match that Wayne would be pictured eating a pie during the game.  Wayne was forced to resign!

For a complete history of Sutton click here – History – Sutton United

What Are They Thinking

Sutton United Fans Forum – Fans’ Forum – Sutton United

Mascot

Sutton have one of the league’s more unusual mascots, and at 9ft, probably one of the tallest.  Jenny the Giraffe lays claim to being one of the very few female mascots and has been strutting her stuff around Gander Green Lane since 2009.

Jenny took part in the 2010 Mascot Grand National and finished 5th out of 41 runners.

Don’t worry giraffes are not native to Surrey.

Sutton – Places to Visit