Highbury

[Almunia is a clown]

There was plans for 60,000 capacity at Highbury, The NB stand would have been extended sideways towards the Western side, the pitch moved sideways & the East Stand would have been behind the goal. There would have also been another large stand on the Clock End using the land behind, which would be opposite side of the pitch with another new stand behind the goal where the west stand side was.

The club would have had to move to Wembley or elsewhere for probably two seasons & many houses would be demolished on Highbury Hill for the extra room needed.

The Nimby crustie tree huggers types went crazy & the council backed them so that was that!

Wembley moved the pitch sideways for the new stadium so it could have been done. Anfield & Villa Park also knocked down whole adjacent streets to build bigger stands. That new Anfield Stand must be approaching 20K seats!

As many have mentioned, we moved out for 22K extra seats, 7K Club level & 3K boxes, so less than 11,000 allowing for away fans available for traditional supporters.

It wasn't worth moving unless the ground was 70K or above IMO!

List of the biggests football stands here https://talksport.com/football/biggest- ... vealed?p=0

[Nos89]

There were so many ways in which they could have redevelop Highbury but the stadium was no longer fit for purpose, for both supporters and players.
The move was the best thing to do at the time and whilst I miss the old stadium I don't want to go back to it. Just attend a game at Everton or Burnley grounds and they will remind you of days gone by and how poor the facilities were.
I hope that when the Emirates stadium naming rights expires it will be The Arsenal Stadium.

Nos89, I don't agree with barely a single word of this. How was Highbury not fit for purpose? It had good facilities for both players and fans. FFS what "facilities" do fans need? The toilets worked. The access was adequate. You could have a beer before the game if you really needed one. Do we really need hipster bars, cafes, restaurants, WiFi, shops etc in a stadium? No we do not. Eat and drink before the game. Watch football in the stadium. The seating was fine. We could accomodate 38000 no problem. Why do we need a bigger stadium? We don't have 60000 regular die hard match attending fans. And we are getting further and further from that number as the shitfest that is Wenger's management drives the team towards mid table mediocrity. We have won 3 FA Cups in the last 4 seasons and still seldom do you see anywhere near 60000 actually in the stadium. Apart from a couple of back seats in the West Stand the views at Highbury were excellent. In contrast, that poxy fucking third tier at the Conglomerates is like looking down on a Subuteo pitch.

"Days gone"? You mean the days when 90% of the fans at a game were there to actually watch the game and cheer their team on, rather than arrive late, leave early and spend the intervening 60 minutes playing with their iPad or telling people on their mobile that "ya ya I'm at the Soccer ya!"???

I honestly think the worst thing we did was leave Highbury and move into the corporate soulless Conglomerates Stadium. I would go back to what we had at Highbury in the blink of an eye. Back to when we were a proud and successful football club with a genuine fanbase and a beautiful stadium that felt like home, back to before we became a business entity that dabbles in football, with a big chunk of its "fans" being JCL Wenger-worshipping cúnts.

The fan base at the time of the move was above 60,000. There was a need. So would you pay the current £62 a seat for a grade A game? The cost would probably be more with a smaller capacity. There is a fanbase to fill the stadium but the cost and current regime are keeping fans away.
Having the two grade 2 listed buildings would have restricted the redevelopment of the stands. Yes the corners and clock end could have been redeveloped.
Yet, the roads either side of the stadium would mean there was no room to change the dimensions of the pitch, as well as the houses.
I give Anfield as an example of redevelopment we could never have done that at Highbury because of the houses and roads surrounding it. Liverpool redevelopment has been halted because of the roads around it. Therefore the Highbury stadium was stuck in a stalemate.
Also, just to point out between 1971 and 1989 we were at Highbury and didn't have a sniff of winning the league. Moving to the new stadium cannot be blamed for no league titles. Football is cyclical, our time will come again.

[brucers]

Lots of interesting views on this post. The long and short of it is we moved for money, nothing to do with football (or fans for that matter). I did not know that all that was left of Highbury was a glorified wall as opposed to an actual building.....as others have noted 'facade' is appropriate. The only saving grace is that it did not go the way of the Twin Towers. Their demolition was an utter disgrace.

[Allgunsblazin]

When you look back at a lot of stadium rebuilds you will note that they will not withstand the testament of time...
A lot of rebuilds remind me of those shipping containers which are now sprouting all over parts of London..
Blackburn reminded me of that, I dare say Bolton Sunderland are the same, what happened to Roker Park, Ewood Park, Burnden Park, Ayresome Park, The Vetch Field and our own Highbury, to name but a few!
We are not alone into being hoodwinked of good times to come when moving...

[Redarmy]

There was plans for 60,000 capacity at Highbury, The NB stand would have been extended sideways towards the Western side, the pitch moved sideways & the East Stand would have been behind the goal. There would have also been another large stand on the Clock End using the land behind, which would be opposite side of the pitch with another new stand behind the goal where the west stand side was.

The club would have had to move to Wembley or elsewhere for probably two seasons & many houses would be demolished on Highbury Hill for the extra room needed.

The Nimby crustie tree huggers types went crazy & the council backed them so that was that!

Wembley moved the pitch sideways for the new stadium so it could have been done. Anfield & Villa Park also knocked down whole adjacent streets to build bigger stands. That new Anfield Stand must be approaching 20K seats!

As many have mentioned, we moved out for 22K extra seats, 7K Club level & 3K boxes, so less than 11,000 allowing for away fans available for traditional supporters.

It wasn't worth moving unless the ground was 70K or above IMO!

List of the biggests football stands here https://talksport.com/football/biggest- ... vealed?p=0

Really think they fucked up big time with the Emirates....

[Georgeknew]

Miss Highbury so much, was my second home for so many years. AG still doesn't feel like home even now. Nothing has been the same since we left THOF & never will be!

[Sean]

I don't think there was any way we could have turned the Highbury pitch sideways. The pitch was small enough as it was and was hemmed in with the listed east and west stands - not to mention being hemmed in by Avenell Road itself and the houses on Highbury Hill. Incidentally, I believe the Wembley pitch always ran east-west and wasn't rotated for the rebuild.

Another reason we couldn't have copied the new North Bank for the Clock End was basically because the Clock End was the only place they had the executive boxes and we all know how the club chased the corporate coin with Cashburton's Club Level. The greedy wankers make more money out of Club Level alone than they did for the whole of Highbury. It was a shame the corners were not filled in, although I think it was said that the lack of air-flow would have ruined the pitch. Of course, the new North Bank was originally supposed to have corners connected to the east/west stands. Basically, the Taylor Report ruined it all.

I'll also agree that moving for the sake of only 22,000 extra seats was definitely not worth it. Cashburton should have been at least 80,000 in order to outstrip Old Trafford, but the local infrastructure can barely cope with the 60,000 we got, hence all the early leavers for each game. I'm sure we are also very limited in the numbers we could add to Cashburton in the future, so it'd be like Highbury being restricted due to the locality.

Yes, we were lied to. Not only have the club utterly failed to compete (thanks to our fraud manager), they mercilessly fleece the fans, desecrated our history and sold our soul for a sterile bowl filled with Tarquins, tourists and JCLs. Tenner a ticket, my arse!

[StuartL]

I don't think there was any way we could have turned the Highbury pitch sideways. The pitch was small enough as it was and was hemmed in with the listed east and west stands - not to mention being hemmed in by Avenell Road itself and the houses on Highbury Hill. Incidentally, I believe the Wembley pitch always ran east-west and wasn't rotated for the rebuild.

Another reason we couldn't have copied the new North Bank for the Clock End was basically because the Clock End was the only place they had the executive boxes and we all know how the club chased the corporate coin with Cashburton's Club Level. The greedy wankers make more money out of Club Level alone than they did for the whole of Highbury. It was a shame the corners were not filled in, although I think it was said that the lack of air-flow would have ruined the pitch. Of course, the new North Bank was originally supposed to have corners connected to the east/west stands. Basically, the Taylor Report ruined it all.

I'll also agree that moving for the sake of only 22,000 extra seats was definitely not worth it. Cashburton should have been at least 80,000 in order to outstrip Old Trafford, but the local infrastructure can barely cope with the 60,000 we got, hence all the early leavers for each game. I'm sure we are also very limited in the numbers we could add to Cashburton in the future, so it'd be like Highbury being restricted due to the locality.

Yes, we were lied to. Not only have the club utterly failed to compete (thanks to our fraud manager), they mercilessly fleece the fans, desecrated our history and sold our soul for a sterile bowl filled with Tarquins, tourists and JCLs. Tenner a ticket, my arse!

Good post mate,
Given the size of seats and the amount of room you get, I'm pretty sure they could reduce the seat size to get a few more in if they wanted / needed to - but would only be an extra few hundred I suppose.

[Almunia is a clown]

I'll also agree that moving for the sake of only 22,000 extra seats was definitely not worth it. Cashburton should have been at least 80,000 in order to outstrip Old Trafford, but the local infrastructure can barely cope with the 60,000 we got, hence all the early leavers for each game. I'm sure we are also very limited in the numbers we could add to Cashburton in the future, so it'd be like Highbury being restricted due to the locality.

We actually have better transport links than any of Sp£%^s, West Ham, Chavs & Wembley, more stations both underground & overground & more rail lines running through the local area. The nearest tube station to WHL is the same distance as Archway is from our ground, yet we have several nearer, 7 overground & 6 tube stations with 7 rail lines inside the same distance.

How does Wembley manage 90k & the London Olympics manage 80K crowds with less stations & lines available?

Amazing how Sp£%^$&s & Chavs managed to get planning permission for new 60K stadiums with fúck all local transport.

As a local I really don't understand how this subject is even a issue, unless the club wanted to keep the capacity low & admission prices high!

[A11M11]

I think that like FFP the club were duped into believing that the TV rights were about to be relaxed so that Arsenal T.V would be doing a pay for view service and therefor a massive stadium would not be necessarily. Basically if you look at the way the stadium was designed the lower tier was for the plebs, the upper for corporates and tourists and the rest for restaurants and fine dining while you watched or not.
Kroenke originally came in for the TV rights but it did not go the way he wanted and that's why Arsenal TV is so crap , no money in it , so no investment. ( sound familiar ? )
The new ground has been an encumbrance , it's dragged the club down and alienated most of it's core support. Had we stayed at Highbury however we would have melted back to being a mid table club , but then again that's what we are becoming anyway.

[Sean]

Good post mate,
Given the size of seats and the amount of room you get, I'm pretty sure they could reduce the seat size to get a few more in if they wanted / needed to - but would only be an extra few hundred I suppose.

Thanks mate

You're right about the seats too, any extra would be negligible condering all the work they'd need to do. There was an April Fool once of them planning to add a few hundred seats though

We actually have better transport links than any of Sp£%^s, West Ham, Chavs & Wembley, more stations both underground & overground & more rail lines running through the local area. The nearest tube station to WHL is the same distance as Archway is from our ground, yet we have several nearer, 7 overground & 6 tube stations with 7 rail lines inside the same distance.

How does Wembley manage 90k & the London Olympics manage 80K crowds with less stations & lines available?

Amazing how Sp£%^$&s & Chavs managed to get planning permission for new 60K stadiums with fúck all local transport.

As a local I really don't understand how this subject is even a issue, unless the club wanted to keep the capacity low & admission prices high!

True enough. With all those rail and tube links and they make Holloway tube exit only and Drayton Park is always closed at weekends, which only makes the overcrowding worse

I heard there was supposed to be some deal between the club and TFL to do up the local stations, but the club went back on it I doubt it's safe to use Holloway tube anyway, when they only have a couple of lifts and no escalators. They wouldn't want thousands going down the spiral staircase.

[Natural Born Gooner]

Just standing outside our beautiful and unique old home, and managed to walk into the inside for the first time since we played there!

An absolute crying shame wandering about and thinking about all the fantastic memories....the flats don't even look that nice from the outside, in fact I was disappointed with the quality of the site.

It wuch a lie that they said they couldn't expand on that stadium, thinking back on some pics posted by another poster showing how they gutted the stands and the surrounding area!

I know this may get deleted or moved as a vanity thread, but just felt compelled to vent as for, me, leaving Highbury felt like it would never be the same club I grew up with!

[Allgunsblazin]

The mergemeister will be over you like Donald will be over your North Korean avatar...
Get ready to be moved to the Highbury thread for all those sad souls that lost their way to the Emirates....

[Herd]

The quality of the flats are piss poor and inside they are B and Q . A mate had one and stripped it out n started again, the service charges are outrageous too !

Crying shame !

[Clash]

I watched the Arsenal Stadium Mystery last night. First time I've seen it in about 30 years and I really enjoyed the Highbury footage at the start and the end of the film. What a club we were in the 1930s. Not just compared to everyone else at the time but compared to everyone else now too. Some fine acting from George Allison and its noticeable how little Highbury changed in the 60 plus years from 1939 to 1992.

On a different note, does anyone here remember a film in the mid 80s where (I think) an Irish lad is taken to Arsenal by his dad and it is filmed on a matchday at the clock end? Nobody else I know remembers seeing this but I am hoping one of the Irish lads on here will back me up and even better remember what it was called so I can find it again.

It must have been post 1984 too because U2's Pride (in the name of love) is playing.