Happier at Highbury?

[StuartL]

Said it loud and long we should have never left we were making good money @ Highbury and increasing the capacity to let more corporates and cuntz in wasn't needed .
My argument then was thet we were making 20/30 million profit clear per annum and this would rise over the years .
Regardless of who is or was right we are at the bowl and there we will stay ,but to call it a great stadium is a bit rich.
The lifts upstairs are slow and overcrowded the view from anything above club level is shit and the exits are too small downstairs meaning you cant see the match as *word censored* invariably leave to get the shit F+B or to rush out the stadium to go home 20 mins before the end.

Quite apart from anything else Highbury was one of the "constants" in my life ,I used to pass it everyday for many years on the way to school or work ,I would find excuses to drive past it ,Ive changed house,schools,girlfriends,jobs wives and continents,but Highbury was always there .
When I saw it being pulled down piece by piece it was like losing a favorite relative !

Herd, for an ex hardcore hooligan you must have gone very soft to moan that the lifts are too slow, use the stairs you
big tart !!

I guess that at the time the thinking was that we needed the extra capacity / revenue to compete with Man Utd in the long term, but the likes of Chelsea and now Man City have fucked that up good and proper.

Getting an extra 22,000 spectators in, is in my opinion a good thing even if we have had to endure the season ticket queue jumpers due to living in Islington and the new breed of fan.

The Emirates will not replace Highbury properly until we start winning stuff again - the memories that Higbury held cannot be replaced in a few short (trophyless) years but it can and will be home eventually when we see a trophy paraded, or when the team clinch a title win. The atmosphere this season has vastly improved and hopefully that can continue.

I used to love the first home game of the season at Highbury walk up the North Bank steps (no poncy lifts then Herd) and break into a smile as the beautiful pitch and surroundings came into view.
But memory is very selctive and I can also remember crowds of 22,000 at Highbury, poor atmosphere's, big sections being open to the elements and large queues for antiquated toilets.

Could we have increased the capacity and stayed without going the whole hog and moving ground is another argument, but then of course we couldn't have had the diamond club, etc and all the income it generates.

No doubt some were against the move from Woolwich / Plumstead to Highbury in the first place but that turned out ok in the end didn't it ?

[QuartzGooner]

I used to love the first home game of the season at Highbury walk up the North Bank steps (no poncy lifts then Herd) and break into a smile as the beautiful pitch and surroundings came into view.

Me too.

Apparently there was a little known about lift at Highbury, can anyone confirm it?
Perhaps it was to the Directors box or the equivalent in the West Stand?
I believe was a section of the West or East Stand, or perhaps both, that had carpet and a lift.

As for the Ashburton lifts, I agree with Herd.
They are slow.
But have a good capacity.

[Herd]

Stuart ,I dont use the lifts ,my tickets are downstairs,what I'm saying that similar state of the art stadiums have escalators and this doesn't .
Seen many an old boy complain about having to use the stairs .
The que for the toilets in the dome downstairs not to mention the F+B are as bad as anything Ive experienced at Highbury !
The only thing that moving to the dome has done is make Clock End Danny Fizman much richer than he otherwise would have been and allowed more cuntz into the game every week.

We certainly haven't used our supposed financial muscle to attract better players in fact we dilute the talent we do have every year .

I loved Highbury I hate the dome and all it's brought with it is that OK for ya Stuart ?

Doesn't matter it's here to stay anyways !

[Deise Gooner]

Stuart ,I dont use the lifts ,my tickets are downstairs,what I'm saying that similar state of the art stadiums have escalators and this doesn't .
Seen many an old boy complain about having to use the stairs .
The que for the toilets in the dome downstairs not to mention the F+B are as bad as anything Ive experienced at Highbury !
The only thing that moving to the dome has done is make Clock End Danny Fizman much richer than he otherwise would have been and allowed more cuntz into the game every week.

We certainly haven't used our supposed financial muscle to attract better players in fact we dilute the talent we do have every year .

I loved Highbury I hate the dome and all it's brought with it is that OK for ya Stuart ?

Doesn't matter it's here to stay anyways !

Great point Herd. The money is there and on a financial level you can say the move has worked but the club havent lived up to the promises they made about competing with Europes elite.

[Jock Gooner]

I used to love the first home game of the season at Highbury walk up the North Bank steps (no poncy lifts then Herd) and break into a smile as the beautiful pitch and surroundings came into view.

Me too.

Apparently there was a little known about lift at Highbury, can anyone confirm it?
Perhaps it was to the Directors box or the equivalent in the West Stand?
I believe was a section of the West or East Stand, or perhaps both, that had carpet and a lift.

As for the Ashburton lifts, I agree with Herd.
They are slow.
But have a good capacity.

I had the opportunity to get into the directors box on a couple of ocassions and do not recall there being a lift. Plenty of carpet and posh fittings in the 'entertainment' area though. Funniest moment was when Lee Dixon scored that peach of an own goal against Coventry in the early 90s. GG was sat right behind me talking to Stewart Houston on the phone link to the dug out when Dixon chipped Seaman. At that moment you understood why GG was miles away from the board members, wives etc as he was effin and blindin like a bleeding maniac. Brilliant. Give me Highbury anyday.

[flash gunner]

Answer to thread title . . . Does the pope shit in the woods

[Eboue-Why?]

Answer to thread title . . . Does the pope shit in the woods

As a Catholic I resent that comment.....it's it's an absolute disgwace. Who is in charge here please?

Older fans will never take to the Emirates and will always wish that we'd stayed at Highbury. Younger fans the opposite.
60000 fans now but with too many plastics who sip coffee from their flasks. It isn't the same atmosphere and even though The Old Girl was quiet at times, it didn't bother me one frickin bit. So many memories. Move with the times? Yeah right, bullshit on so many levels

[I Hate Hleb]

Answer to thread title . . . Does the pope shit in the woods

Well, don't keep us in suspenders ........does he?

[Gooner_Sam]

Absolutely,

Highbury was beautiful, elegant and steeped in history. Some of the best days of my life were at that ground. Remember walking down Avenell Road with my Grandad surrounded with the smell of burgers and onions, peering over the top of the clock end to see the bright lights of the west stand, heart leaped every time I got into the ground.

If I could evict all those lucky bastards with flats at Highbury and rebuild Highbury just the way it was before the old north bank/clock end was refurbished I would

Still have dreams at night of that place,

[QuartzGooner]

the smell of burgers and onions,

That was one thing I did not like.
Used to sit in the West Stand and the smell would permeate during the game.

[Lee1]

Nostalgia..when my dad first used to take me as a little kid in the seventies,remember going in via the ''boys pen'' and stewards opening up gate to let me through to the North Bank with the old man. Smells,sounds so very evocative...happy days.

[northbank123]

Older fans will never take to the Emirates and will always wish that we'd stayed at Highbury. Younger fans the opposite.

Probably a fair point overall but I'm 21 and deep down I'll always wish we stayed there. Granted I was lucky enough to have a season ticket at Highbury for 9 of the best years of our history, but even at my age the mark that Highbury left on me will remain forever, even if we start winning trophies at the Emirates. Objectively speaking it's a fantastic stadium but it not the fans' in the same way Highbury was, the legends that most people grew up watching have absolutely no connection with the new stadium. I imagine any stadium move will be painful in this respect but Highbury held so much history and the Emirates is such a generic stadium.

I don't live in the area but I stayed over a mate's after the Barcelona game a few years ago. I had a few hours to kill the next morning and I spent most of it walking around Highbury. Seeing the remnants of the stadium was a strange feeling, even walking around the streets around the ground was special and emotional even though it's a stone's throw away from the new ground. For me, the Emirates will never hold the same allure.

[WHL71/2004]

Stuart ,I dont use the lifts ,my tickets are downstairs,what I'm saying that similar state of the art stadiums have escalators and this doesn't .
Seen many an old boy complain about having to use the stairs .
The que for the toilets in the dome downstairs not to mention the F+B are as bad as anything Ive experienced at Highbury !
The only thing that moving to the dome has done is make Clock End Danny Fizman much richer than he otherwise would have been and allowed more cuntz into the game every week.

We certainly haven't used our supposed financial muscle to attract better players in fact we dilute the talent we do have every year .

I loved Highbury I hate the dome and all it's brought with it is that OK for ya Stuart ?

Doesn't matter it's here to stay anyways !

Great point Herd. The money is there and on a financial level you can say the move has worked but the club havent lived up to the promises they made about competing with Europes elite.

We were sold the lie that we were moving to compete financially. They took us from our home, a place that had so many memories, glory and history. A ground no side wanted to come to, friendships were made and kept between proper arsenal. Now we are richer than ever and going backwards. Felt like i lost a part of my club the day we left.

[mikeyb772001]

Until we start making history at the grove it will never be home. Last season there were flashes of how it could be when we went on that run. The spud game, the Newcastle last minute goal, city game and the millan 3.0 first half were examples of the crowd/stadium feeling like home. It hadn’t felt like that since we moved in and something did change during those games.

However we need to win trophies at the grove and keep our best players year on year in order to stamp Arsenal on the bowl. Happy memories trigger nostalgia amongst fans and the players and without fond memories it will remain soulless.

Do you really think Henry would have “such a special bond” with highbury if we would of finished 2nd,3rd or 4th for every year he was there?