I'm one of the first to mention how bad the atmosphere at the Emirates can be, but it's not always the case, there are times when the place is really rocking, us v barca or us v sp*rs as examples. But I do agree with most of your point.Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie
I will add I do think our away support is the best in the league.
The atmosphere can be very good but it can be very bad, but it's not just at The Emirates, lots of clubs have this problem because they've priced out the more traditional support, Arsenal have relentlessly marketed themselves at the middle classes (who tend to be a bit less raucous) so that's what they've got
If the council weren't such complete dicks with us and contributed some money towards it and the transport improvements that would be needed, maybe we could expand the stadium to 80 or 90 k we could then have a section of cheap tickets for local kids ....... that'd probably be the best way to improve the atmosphere.
Unfortunately the relationship between Islington council and the club has been sour for a while now.
I never understood the transport thing.
Our stadium is within walking distance to Finsburty Park, Arsenal, Holloway Road, Caladonian Road, Highbury & Islington and Drayton Park.
That's 2 Tube lines, London Overground (which might not have been built when the stadium was) and an Overground line.
Our transport links are much better than Wembley which can be a pig to get away from.
They're good enough to get on the score sheet against any team, or at least should be if our manager didn't turn them into a slow,boring and predictable unit. He drills possession into their heads so much that it's the only thing they understand.
Give Wenger six months with Aguero, Silva and Yaya and he'll turn them into toothless, sideways passing idiots too.
I dunno, whenever I've been (which hasn't be for a good few years now) it's always a bitch to get out of with both the nearby "Arsenal" and "Finsbury Park" station completely jammed. There's probably some kind of health and safety rule thing at any rate about the maximum capacity of tube stations near public arenas/stadiums.
I was reading up on this the other day on a few blogs/articles and they reckon the cost of the transport upgrades would be around the 100 million mark, with TFL unlikely contribute any of the money themselves hence the entire cost would have to be borne by us. That also doesn't factor in the cost of the stadium expansion which probably would be a similar figure so in total you're looking at around half what we paid for the Emirates in the first place. So given the sacrifices we've had to make the past decade to finance the Emirates, it's something I doubt the club would be prepared to do again, especially when you're not going to make much of an immediate return on the extra capacity by flogging the tickets cheap. Mind you, given the astronomical figures we're getting for TV and starting to get for commerical deals these days, 200 million isn't as overwhelming as it was back in the early 00's.
It's really quite annoying as both the Scum and West Ham are benefiting a lot from help their local authorities/councils for their new stadiums/expansions, either through public funds, help with getting planning permission or in the case of West Ham a free stadium delivered to them. They realise the economic benefits to the local area of having a successful major football club, from the money brought into local businesses to the community spirit it develops. Yet Islington council treat us with almost contempt. They also refused our request to increase the number of concerts we could hold a year (an easy way to increase revenue) and we had to take them to court over it (sadly we lost). Meh ... they're probably all Tories who prefer Fox Hunting to football.
Letters.
tl;dr - We'll have to cope with the shit atmosphere.
Who's the team bottom of the league - it says English football team but it must be wrong - far too embarrassing if it is, wouldn't like to be known as an English football team who's wages are lower than the Memphis Grizzlies!!In related news: (Juventus is conveniently underlined)
We can't expand the stadium now, but I never saw an issue with us building a bigger one in the first place.
Dad and me used to walk to Caledonian Road, it's about a 15 minute walk but by the time you get there there's no crowd and as we go north we were getting on the train before most of the crowd, we often got a seat.
Us
I use Highbury & Islington, it's always the most rammed because it's closest to Euston and Kings Cross. When you've got up to 60,000 people using public transport at the same time I'm not sure really what solutions there are to ease congestion. I actually think stadiums in London are far more accessible with ease than others around the country.
this is also the side-effect of buying players from smaller clubs, which we mostly do. they are still on learning curves and demand less from fellow squad members and the manager. clubs that buy in the big players have more freedom to control the game as they wish, push the coach to listen to their perspective in times of trouble. barca this year being a good example.
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