first experience of the Emirate Stadium

[maZu]

well i shouldnt have any problems getting to the games on time... i live about a 20 min walk from the stadium

[northbank123]

I arrived late for 3 of the eight matches I got to last season . Its pretty hard to get there on time if coming by tube on the Picadilly line. Its a joke. Ive never yet got there at the right sort of time, im either over an hour and a half early or late The Victoria to Highbury seems much the best way in.

Ive never yet left early, that seems the oddest thing to do to me

v Saints the match kicked off 15 mins late due to the tube, Its embarassing. Annoyingly I was there with plenty of time

Its wrong to be arsey at people arriving late as if they cant be arsed, the other 2 matches I was late for was Marseille, massive queue on the M4 and Manure- again tube... V WBA in the thingy cup spent a good hour in the queue to get off the junction of the M5 The policing of and organising of traffic is pathetic really, and The whole business of the Holloway station is so so poor, hard to make that one up.

Anyway- welcome to the grumblezone

Fair enough if you are struggling to get away after work and then hit travel chaos, or motorway comes to a complete standstill or something like that.

But if you are missing the start of a huge proportion of home games maybe time to start re-thinking your travel plans? In the best part of two decades doing a 350-mile round trip I've not been late so maybe I have an unreasonable lack of sympathy with people who don't give themselves time to allow for some matchday disruption on the Tube...

[QuartzGooner]

Welcome

Hope you can get to more games.

[DB10GOONER]

Always amuses me to see or hear a man who is smaller than our mascots, talk about sight lines in the stadium - not if he was sitting on le cock's knee could he see the pitch

What doesn't amuse me is when the light reflects off some fat bald bastard's bald head and literally blinds you.

Especially if said fat bald bastard is also a culchie goat fondler.

[Ed Hunter The Gooner]

My first game there was DB10's testimonial. Trying to rack my brains to think of what my first impressions of the stadium were.

The facilities are pretty top notch. Puts the likes of Wembley to shame. The concourse etc is a bit better now they've actually realised they should probably not leave all the walls grey and actually give a nod towards that history thingy we spent 120 years building before we went there.

Sadly there's a lot more to a stadium than facilities. It was always going to be difficult to make the place feel like it had any history when it was new and winning a few trophies there would have definitely helped but the club made mistakes.

Sadly the atmosphere is generally appalling. I still enjoy going to the games when I can, if I didn't enjoy it I simply wouldn't bother. But the Cardiff game on New Year's Day was genuinely embarrassing. Loads of people only seeing 70 minutes because of turning up late and leaving early. People far more interested in comparing their various bets on other games on their phone, making jokes about Bendtner for the whole game (grated after 2 minutes) and generally discussing anything other than the game. If people don't really sing, fine, but I genuinely got the impression that people didn't really give a shit about what was happening. We were still top at that point and it was a pretty important game in a busy run, people just didn't care and it was so disillusioning.

First I have to say that I'm not an expert by any means about this issue as I have been at the Emirates only once But I think you nailed it spot on what is wrong with it nowadays. Firstly, the stadium itself doesn't make you feel anything special as it really doesn't have any history. As you said, couple of trophies would have made the difference probably.

In this money driven world there are lot of same kind of examples on what you said about the Cardiff game. It's the ticket prices and sport clubs desire to lure more wealthy people to the venues who spend more money at the venue as well. This has alienated basic fans, those people who used to be the backbone of usual fan base. Nowadays they just can't afford it anymore. There are more and more those kind of people going to games who really doesn't give a shit about the game itself or even the club, but who thinks that it's cool or important to be there. This has happened here in my country as well (in ice hockey - similar popularity in Finland as football in England...). Clubs and associations are trying hard to drive the sport and its image to more elite and that alienates the hard core fans.

When I went to the Emirates couple of years ago, I wished that I could experience the real English football match day experience or a little piece of English traditional football culture. I didn't. Most of the people around us were only tourists who didn't give a fuck about the game. We were sitting besides some Dutch people and all they cared about was to see RVP. There were some English fans who were singing all those Arsenal songs but they seemed quite irritated once and a while as no one around them sang nothing, just blabbered some strange languages

Yes I know, I was a tourist as well but what I'm trying to say here is that I think I have some kind of glue what you mean... or maybe not

Oh, one more thing. I have never understood those people who comes late and leaves early (excluding tube problems ) For me, that is disrespectful to the team and game.

[Gunner Rob]

I have no sympathy with anyone who is late.

there really is no excuse - if you have to work that close to a game then maybe you shouldnt be going in the first place? part of the "matchday experience" for me is having a few beers pre match in the area and a trip to Piebury corner. If I went straight from the tube to my seat at the Emirates I would question whether it was really worth the bother these days.

[StuartL]

hey all

new to the forum and new in the area... just moved here from Sydney Australa

ive become a red member with arsenal so hopefully i can pick up some tickets from the arsenal shop or here

see you all around

G'day mate and welcome - sorry to say you may have missed the mother of all barbies. As a newbie, == '' pictures of your Sheila (not a euphemism) are traditionally posted in the Cannonball's section for our rating / approval.

[RoscommonGooner]

Gotta say that I'm pretty fed up of the stadium now, I'm debating just going over and saving on the €60 - €100 match ticket and just going to the pub instead. That being said the only time there is anything like a good atmosphere in there is for the NLD but that usually costs me €100+ for a ticket. It's a tough decision

[augie]

People talk about the lack of history/trophies in the grove as the reason for it's lack of atmosphere but personally I dont think that is the case - regardless of trophies, highbury was "home" to many generations of Arsenal fans and all the trophies in the world cannot replace the feeling of belonging that highbury had for those people. The fans who dont feel the same attachment to highbury (ie the youth and the jcl's) havent been in the place or been a Gooner long enough to have built up the sense of belonging in The Grove and both reasons contribute to the lack of a home and fortless like feeling

[bang goes the 0-0 draw]

Was the atmosphere at Highbury that great? I doubt it was called the Highbury library for no reason. I went a few times when I was younger with my Dad and I remember the atmosphere to be good for the big games and pretty poor for the lesser games. I don't really see the difference at the Grove.

I get that the stadium like Highbury means more but I question whether the atmosphere is worse at the Grove

[maZu]

atmosphere will always vary depending on how the teams playing... had the same thing back home, when my team was doing badly (which was most of the time) then the crowd would just gang up on the players and coach...

last season the hardcore fans walked out at half time and started chanting outside the stadium that we want the coach sacked.



in regards to seeing more games... i need to figure out whats the best time to hit up the arsenal ticketing site once tickets get released.. i assume they sell like hot cakes for the big games.
really keen to check out some champions league games too

[augie]

atmosphere will always vary depending on how the teams playing... had the same thing back home, when my team was doing badly (which was most of the time) then the crowd would just gang up on the players and coach...

last season the hardcore fans walked out at half time and started chanting outside the stadium that we want the coach sacked.



in regards to seeing more games... i need to figure out whats the best time to hit up the arsenal ticketing site once tickets get released.. i assume they sell like hot cakes for the big games.
really keen to check out some champions league games too

Hope you had more luck than we did

[VoiceOfReason]

Was the atmosphere at Highbury that great? I doubt it was called the Highbury library for no reason. I went a few times when I was younger with my Dad and I remember the atmosphere to be good for the big games and pretty poor for the lesser games. I don't really see the difference at the Grove.

I get that the stadium like Highbury means more but I question whether the atmosphere is worse at the Grove

It wasn't purely the atmosphere that made Highbury so special - there were many other intangibles, such as seeing the same faces every week and a total sense of belonging. It sounds so simple, but everyone was there because they were 100% committed to the Arsenal cause. Now, we're at a ground where people go for a day out and to enjoy the Premier League experience. Whereas tickets at Highbury were really difficult to obtain in the last decade at the ground, pretty much anyone and everyone can get in to the Emirates, which really waters down any potential atmosphere.

I would go so far to say that Highbury on a quiet day was still a hundred times more enjoyable than the Emirates on its best day.

[maZu]

atmosphere will always vary depending on how the teams playing... had the same thing back home, when my team was doing badly (which was most of the time) then the crowd would just gang up on the players and coach...

last season the hardcore fans walked out at half time and started chanting outside the stadium that we want the coach sacked.



in regards to seeing more games... i need to figure out whats the best time to hit up the arsenal ticketing site once tickets get released.. i assume they sell like hot cakes for the big games.
really keen to check out some champions league games too

Hope you had more luck than we did

haha... nah it had no impact.. but he was gone at the end of the season

[Simon]

Welcome to the forum.

If you are a Red Member it's a tough call when to buy tickets. They do sell out quickly for most games and by the time you're able to log in and buy them it's usually only the less desirable/more expensive tickets left.

Don't forget that when games sell out, Arsenal has a Ticket Exchange whereby you can purchase the tickets of season ticket holders who can't make a particular game. It's always worth checking from time to time just in case seats become available, although for popular games they do go quickly and it can be hard sometimes to find a pair of seats together. Plenty of the regulars on here will be able to you out with tickets for home and away games too.

in regards to seeing more games... i need to figure out whats the best time to hit up the arsenal ticketing site once tickets get released.. i assume they sell like hot cakes for the big games.
really keen to check out some champions league games too