Champions League Qualifying Round 2013

[northbank123]

This is probably re-hashing old ground and in no way vindicates our daylight robbery of fans but aren't our season ticket prices adversely represented due to the fact that they cover 7 cup games (or whatever) whereas most clubs' don't?

[mattyb]

Anyone know if the club will be putting together a travel package? Have tried shopping around for cheap air fares but not much luck thus far.

Just checked with the club over the phone this morning, they have confirmed that they currently do not have an agreement with Thomas cook, but are working to get something in place soon ... ????

WTF !!! did they not know that we will be needing some travel options way back when we got 4th spot ??

Cant find a flight for under £400, and yet they want us to go and support ?

I wouldn't expect the travel club to be any less than £400, they're always more expensive than travelling independently. Fact of the matter is, this is just an expensive trip. Peak summer season, popular holiday destination, 10 days notice...

Yes you are right, i was hoping something in the region of £250 pp, doing a trip with my 13 yo, for 2 days....but as you said summer hols, busy destination etc . . ....cant afford paying near on the same price as a season ticket just for one game...

[g88ner]

It's an expensive trip for a game that might end up being annulled

[Red Gunner]

If we fail to quality do we go into the Euro league?

Surprisingly we would. CL play-off losers go straight into the Europa League group stage.

[highburyJD]

One predictive iPhone typo sweetie, and obviously you understand (phone doesn't like 'tickets')
and yes - tickets at the three big London clubs are the same price

Arsenal charge more than Sp*rs, JD

http://www.arsenal.com/tickets/non-member-ticket-prices
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/tickets/ticket-prices/

Sorry for putting up a link to the scum website

erm... back to you, JD.... JD? JD??

Mon/Tues I have two kids to look after - means I don't have as much spare time as you slackers at work!
can't believe I'm getting stick for a few hours of silence!!

hard to compare - our bigger (and obviously better) stadium has more prices within a tier
they have some shit tiers with poor views
our prices used to be virtually identical on a match by match basis
believe our new pricing means our As cost more and our Cs less
so if you go all the time it's still pretty much the same...

Sperz West Upper costs - A£81 B£58 C£47
we have Upper tier catA for both a tenner more and a tenner less
we even have a few for £126 more than £40 more!
but at CatC we are MUCH cheaper.
For Sperz a £81 seat = £47 for a CatC game
the Arsenal equivalent £83 = £34.50
£74 = £30, £89 = £36, £94 = £38 and even £126 = £51 for us

also our ground is far more accessible, higher % of fans get there by public transport than any other ground
not having to drive represents a significant saving

[highburyJD]

This is probably re-hashing old ground and in no way vindicates our daylight robbery of fans but aren't our season ticket prices adversely represented due to the fact that they cover 7 cup games (or whatever) whereas most clubs' don't?

yes (and no it doesn't vindicate it), Chelski especially massively price gouge for CL games
Sperz have never really had the chance.
There's a big London premium on football tickets - prob even more so on the CL

[_James_]

Anyone know if the club will be putting together a travel package? Have tried shopping around for cheap air fares but not much luck thus far.

Just checked with the club over the phone this morning, they have confirmed that they currently do not have an agreement with Thomas cook, but are working to get something in place soon ... ????

WTF !!! did they not know that we will be needing some travel options way back when we got 4th spot ??

Cant find a flight for under £400, and yet they want us to go and support ?

I wouldn't expect the travel club to be any less than £400, they're always more expensive than travelling independently. Fact of the matter is, this is just an expensive trip. Peak summer season, popular holiday destination, 10 days notice...

Yes you are right, i was hoping something in the region of £250 pp, doing a trip with my 13 yo, for 2 days....but as you said summer hols, busy destination etc . . ....cant afford paying near on the same price as a season ticket just for one game...

I saw Arsenal were no longer on Thomas Cook sport list of football teams a few days ago and was surprised and I thought it was a good money earner for Thomas Cook, but I guess trips like Montpelier not being full don't make money.

I was going to see how much they charge for an official package but am wondering if they don't want Arsenal fans to travel in large numbers for safety so wont be putting a package together.

[clockender1]

i hope we lose. as i really don't care. we haven't a hope in hell in winning as we dont have the quality or depth in the squad.

i'd rather we go out and we do better in the league and FA Cup.

whereas we used to run Juve, Milan etc ragged, now if we face anyone decent we're going to lose so whats the point ?

what's the point of what? being a football fan...?
99% of fans know their team is unlikely to win trophies yet they all manage it

no, you misunderstood me mate. my point is not that i expect us to win it, rather the opposite - a few wins against high profile clubs - Juve, Sampdoria, Milan, real madrid, valencia, Parma, Porto, Dortmund etc each season well justified the expense and days off work to see the games...

but now, as soon as we get anyone half decent we get tonked - see Milan, Bayern, Olympiakos and Schalke games in 2011,2012 and 2013.

so whats the point ?

[northbank123]

Completely agree with Clockender. The 8 years without a trophy is painful but what's even worse is knowing that we're gonna get knocked out by first good team we face in any competition. Since we moved it's been 7 seasons and the only top team we've knocked out of any competition was AC Milan in 2008 - and although strong they weren't exactly favourites for the competition and we managed to blow it by losing to a Liverpool team in the quarters who we should have smashed.

[clockender1]

I saw Arsenal were no longer on Thomas Cook sport list of football teams a few days ago and was surprised and I thought it was a good money earner for Thomas Cook, but I guess trips like Montpelier not being full don't make money.

I was going to see how much they charge for an official package but am wondering if they don't want Arsenal fans to travel in large numbers for safety so wont be putting a package together.

i'd try via Germany rather than straight from stansted or luton.

i'd also try flights to thessalonka in greece or Izmir in turkey and rent a car. i'm also pretty sure there was a world cup qualifier game in the 90's where we flew into Bulgaria - sofia...

you have to get creative chaps.

[clockender1]

Completely agree with Clockender. The 8 years without a trophy is painful but what's even worse is knowing that we're gonna get knocked out by first good team we face in any competition. Since we moved it's been 7 seasons and the only top team we've knocked out of any competition was AC Milan in 2008 - and although strong they weren't exactly favourites for the competition and we managed to blow it by losing to a Liverpool team in the quarters who we should have smashed.

it's not the losing i mind so much, if we try our best and lose 1-0 or even better 2-1 or 3-2 then I can accept it, but being completely and utterly outclassed/ and total capitulation against gloating home fans is no fun.

its the manner of the defeats, again no thought or preparation or change in tactics, resulting in us getting found out time after time.

no thanks.

[DB10GOONER]

Completely agree with Clockender. The 8 years without a trophy is painful but what's even worse is knowing that we're gonna get knocked out by first good team we face in any competition. Since we moved it's been 7 seasons and the only top team we've knocked out of any competition was AC Milan in 2008 - and although strong they weren't exactly favourites for the competition and we managed to blow it by losing to a Liverpool team in the quarters who we should have smashed.

it's not the losing i mind so much, if we try our best and lose 1-0 or even better 2-1 or 3-2 then I can accept it, but being completely and utterly outclassed/ and total capitulation against gloating home fans is no fun.

its the manner of the defeats, again no thought or preparation or change in tactics, resulting in us getting found out time after time.

no thanks.

Agree totally with both of you.

It also brings to mind a related issue that drives me nuts. We effectively sacrifice the FA Cup and League Cup for the CL. The two domestic cups are absolutely winnable for us if Wenger took them seriously and stopped playing reserves/kids in them. The reason he does it obviously is our squad is too lacking in depth and proper strength to compete in all 3 and the PL. But even with concentrating our best players on the CL, we are always ripped apart by the first good team we meet - usually in the knock out round.

So if we can't win the CL, or even compete in it past the group stages, I'd actually prefer if he put the first teamers on the pitch in the domestic cups that are winnable, and the reserves/kids in the CL that we can't win no matter who we put on the pitch. At least until (if) we ever have a team of top quality players capable of reaching a semi-final or indeed the final of the CL.

Yeah, I know it would never happen but for me football should be about competing for, and sometimes winning, actual trophies/cups.

[goonersid]

Completely agree with Clockender. The 8 years without a trophy is painful but what's even worse is knowing that we're gonna get knocked out by first good team we face in any competition. Since we moved it's been 7 seasons and the only top team we've knocked out of any competition was AC Milan in 2008 - and although strong they weren't exactly favourites for the competition and we managed to blow it by losing to a Liverpool team in the quarters who we should have smashed.

it's not the losing i mind so much, if we try our best and lose 1-0 or even better 2-1 or 3-2 then I can accept it, but being completely and utterly outclassed/ and total capitulation against gloating home fans is no fun.

its the manner of the defeats, again no thought or preparation or change in tactics, resulting in us getting found out time after time.

no thanks.

Agree totally with both of you.

It also brings to mind a related issue that drives me nuts. We effectively sacrifice the FA Cup and League Cup for the CL. The two domestic cups are absolutely winnable for us if Wenger took them seriously and stopped playing reserves/kids in them. The reason he does it obviously is our squad is too lacking in depth and proper strength to compete in all 3 and the PL. But even with concentrating our best players on the CL, we are always ripped apart by the first good team we meet - usually in the knock out round.

So if we can't win the CL, or even compete in it past the group stages, I'd actually prefer if he put the first teamers on the pitch in the domestic cups that are winnable, and the reserves/kids in the CL that we can't win no matter who we put on the pitch. At least until (if) we ever have a team of top quality players capable of reaching a semi-final or indeed the final of the CL.

Yeah, I know it would never happen but for me football should be about competing for, and sometimes winning, actual trophies/cups.

You are all overlooking one thing, Wenger in his deluded state of mind believes we can win it.

[DB10GOONER]

Completely agree with Clockender. The 8 years without a trophy is painful but what's even worse is knowing that we're gonna get knocked out by first good team we face in any competition. Since we moved it's been 7 seasons and the only top team we've knocked out of any competition was AC Milan in 2008 - and although strong they weren't exactly favourites for the competition and we managed to blow it by losing to a Liverpool team in the quarters who we should have smashed.

it's not the losing i mind so much, if we try our best and lose 1-0 or even better 2-1 or 3-2 then I can accept it, but being completely and utterly outclassed/ and total capitulation against gloating home fans is no fun.

its the manner of the defeats, again no thought or preparation or change in tactics, resulting in us getting found out time after time.

no thanks.

Agree totally with both of you.

It also brings to mind a related issue that drives me nuts. We effectively sacrifice the FA Cup and League Cup for the CL. The two domestic cups are absolutely winnable for us if Wenger took them seriously and stopped playing reserves/kids in them. The reason he does it obviously is our squad is too lacking in depth and proper strength to compete in all 3 and the PL. But even with concentrating our best players on the CL, we are always ripped apart by the first good team we meet - usually in the knock out round.

So if we can't win the CL, or even compete in it past the group stages, I'd actually prefer if he put the first teamers on the pitch in the domestic cups that are winnable, and the reserves/kids in the CL that we can't win no matter who we put on the pitch. At least until (if) we ever have a team of top quality players capable of reaching a semi-final or indeed the final of the CL.

Yeah, I know it would never happen but for me football should be about competing for, and sometimes winning, actual trophies/cups.

You are all overlooking one thing, Wenger in his deluded state of mind believes we can win it.

Not overlooked, sid. I just can't type those words without pissing myself laughing and then crying inconsolably for about 2 hours....

[highburyJD]

Of course we can win it, Porto won it after fluking past ManUre
then avoiding facing a good team in the knockouts

Also not beating a top team in 'any competition' is obviously wrong
our record against top 4 last season was terrible, wasn't the case in the few seasons before
we've had good wins against top teams whilst disappointing in terms of final position