"Happy birthday darling!!"......my girlfriend came up trumps on the 9th March when she handed over my birthday present. I opened the envelope and was greeted by a panoramic view of the new home of football, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Below the picture were the words Emirates Stadium Tours!! Fantastic!! Opening the sleeve there is a local map of the ground, a pamphlet about the various tours and my e-ticket. On opening the e-ticket print-out I see that my girlfriend has done herself proud as she has booked me on a 'Legends' tour with Arsenal midfield ace Paul Davis. Of course she has booked the tour for two as she is also a keen Arsenal fan.
****Arsenal who?**** FACT: Arsenal football club are the most successful team in London.
13 Top-flight League Titles; 10 FA Cups; 2 League Cups; 1 European Fairs Cup and 1 European Cup Winners Cup; 3 League & Cup doubles; beaten finalists in the UEFA Cup 2000 and beaten finalists last season in the Champion's League Final.
Arsenal football club broke records with their legendary 49 game unbeaten run 2003/2004 landing them the Premiership title without loss!! This feat will probably never be matched in my lifetime!!
Arsenal football club started life as Dial Square FC in 1886. The players were all workers from the Woolwich Arsenal armaments factory. Dial Square FC then became Royal Arsenal and continued as an amateur team until 1891 when they became a professional team and changed their name to Woolwich Arsenal. Woolwich Arsenal were playing their games at the Manor Ground Plumstead South East London. In 1913, after dropping Woolwich from their name, Arsenal made their move to Highbury, North London where they stayed until the end of 2005/2006 season.
In August 2002 Arsenal began work on building their new stadium that would help the club to compete on the European stage. 4 years later in August 2006 the Emirates Stadium hosted it's opening game, a testimonial match in honour of Arsenal great, Dennis Bergkamp, Arsenal v Ajax. The Emirates stadium was completed on time and within budget (£390 million pounds) unlike the national stadium Wembley.
The Emirates stadium stands within a 5 minute walk of Highbury and has a capacity of over 60000. Highbury had a capacity of only 38500.
***The Tours & Prices*** There are 2 different tours available, the standard tour and the 'Legends' tour. Both tours cover the same route, however, the 'Legends' tour is hosted by one of Arsenal's ex-players. (I have listed the Legends later in the review). You can bring Video cameras and cameras to record your visit to the stadium.
The stadium is fully accessible to disabled supporters and those using wheelchairs. Lifts are available between floors and the rest of the tour is on the level. The stadium itself caters for disabled fans with special viewing platforms for disabled fans with seating for a carer each. Great views from these positions I might add!!
Standard Tour & Museum: Adults £12.00 Juniors (under 16) / Senior Citizens £6.00 Family ticket (2 adults 2 children) £30.00 Under Fives and Bond Holders FREE Junior Gunners £3.00 Group Rate (10 or more people) £10.00 per person
Museum Only: Adults £6.00 Juniors (under 16) / Senior Citizens £3.00 Family ticket (2 adults 2 children) £15.00 Under Fives and Bond Holders FREE Junior Gunners £2.00 Group Rate (10 or more people) £5.00 per person
****Legends Tour**** Our 'Legends' tour was booked for 12:30pm Thursday 15th March. The e-ticket stated that we would need to report to the Directors and Diamond club doors 15 minutes before the start of the tour. The entrance is just up from the main Arsenal shop 'The Armoury'. We travelled up from South West London and due to the connections we decided to head for Holloway Road on the Picadilly line. From Holloway road tube it is a 5 minute walk to the stadium up Hornsey Road. The stadium suddenly comes into view at the end of the road like some huge flying saucer that's decided to land in North London. The stadium is simply massive, modern and beautiful. We walk up past the shop on to the main concourse and the Diamond Club entrance. We arrived at 12:15 and were let into the marble reception where we showed our e-ticket. At this point we were cordially greeted and handed our goody bag by one of the Arsenal officials (see below for contents). The goody bag is an extra only available with the 'Legends' tour. The official from Arsenal, chatted with us as we awaited the arrival of Paul Davis, our guide for the tour. Just after 12:30 Paul arrived, smartly turned out in a suit and tie. It's funny how footballers always appear smaller in the flesh!! Paul Davis played for Arsenal between 1979 and 1995 winning a League Cup, two League Championships and the European Cup Winners Cup. My girlfriend had managed to get it out of me who I would most like to meet if given the chance. I chose Paul Davis as he was my era and I'd seen him playing when I used to travel up to Highbury from Tunbridge Wells as a 13 year old. In those days you could turn up on the day, pay your £3.00 and stand on the North Bank. Paul greeted us and then took the 9 of us on our tour. The numbers on the tours can range from below 10 up to 40 people per tour. I personally think that the smaller the group the better. It's more intimate. To get on a smaller group, book a midweek tour during school term time!!
**Director's Box** First stop was the Director's box which is accessed via a lift. We passed through the plush private lounge into the stadium arena where we got to see what it is like to watch a game from plush leather seats overlooking the halfway line. The comfort of the seats and the view is amazing. Each director has a row of seats available to him, marked by small plaques on the ground beneath the seats. Paul and the Arsenal official chatted freely with everyoen answering all sorts of questions. Did you know that the Diamond Club seats cost £100000 for 2 seats for 3 seasons including a £25000 deposit. For your money you get halfway line seats, a 3 course meal cooked by Raymond Leblanc and free drinks before during and after the game. You also get a parking space below the ground!!!!
**Home Team Changing Room** This was probably my favourite part of the tour. The changing rooms like the stadium itself are state of the art. As you walk into the changing room you enter a large open space where the players warm up and stretch before taking to the pitch. Around the corner and you find the Hydroptherapy pool and showers to your left and the physio room to your right. The hydrotherapy pool looks fab decked out in chrome fittings and black mosaic tiling. The players soak in here after the matches to soothe those aching limbs. The physio room is large with at least 6 treatment tables for post match massage and treating knocks received in the games. Finally you reach the actual changing room which is large, bright and airy. The sound of the hydroptherapy pool echoes through the area making it very peaceful and calming. Around 3 of the walls are the wooden changing areas for the players. Replica shirts are hung up in the same places that the match shirts would be. I took the time to sit in Henry's & Fabregas's seats and posed for some photos!! My girlfriend went straight to Freddie Ljungberg's seat to have her photo taken...typical woman!!...apparently he looks good in boxers?? In the changing room we could see the match notes and tactics from the previous night's FA Youth Cup semi-final 1st leg victory over United. As we were at the game the night before we found this very interesting.
**Tunnel, Pitchside & Dugout** When we left the changing room the security shutter for the tunnel had been raised and we could see down the red plastic tunnel to the pitch. My girlfriend immediately ran off down the tunnel!! As you walk out of the end of the tunnel you are surrounded by this awesome arena. On matchdays this is heaving with over 60000 supporters. The pitch is like a billiard table. For people new to the stadium this will probably be one of the highlights of the tour, I on the other hand get to experience this every home game as my season ticket is front row near the corner flag. It was interesting to see that the managers have the same seats as the fans and there is no special shelter for them to guard against the elements. As with all Premiership grounds you aren't allowed on the pitch as walking on grass ruins it!!
**Press Room** Back up the tunnel we are guided into the press room where Arsene Wenger does his weekly press conferences. The room is like a small auditorium with very comfortable seats for the press. The group is told to sit down and take the time to ask Paul all manner of questions about his time at Arsenal and Arsenal in general. As the group was so small I found that I was able to ask 3 or 4 questions and got good answers for all of them. After the Q&A session we had the opportunity to take photos of each other sitting in Wenger's chair as if taking a press conference.
**Media Room** On our way to the refreshments we passed through the huge media room which is decked out with about 30 cubicles for the press to sit at to prepare and send off their stories directly to the papers. Incidentally the whole stadium is served by WiFi.
**Tea, Coffee, Biscuits & Autographs** At the end of the 'Legends' tour you are given tea, coffee or orange juice and a selection of biscuits in the press refreshment area (I don't think that this is available in teh standard tour). The service is top class and the coffee was excellent. We now had the opportunity to carry on chatting with Paul and get one item each signed. I had dug out my 1993 Arsenal shirt and had brought a thick permanent marker to get this signed. (***Bring a marker for autographs, no-one else had one and this is the best way to have your photo signed!!***) We managed to get my shirt signed, a photo and the tour booklet, we also had the chance to pose for a picture each with Paul. The tour ended with us being led through the underground carpark into the back of the huge club shop. (The bonus for us was that Arsenal left-back Gael Clichy was also doing a photo shoot for the programme or club magazine so we got to see him too...although very briefly!!)
**Arsenal Museum** As part of the tour you also have free access to the new Arsenal Museum which is superb. I will leave this to another review as there is a lot to cover here!! Let's just say that we left the Museum at 3.30pm!!
***Tour Time*** Our 'Legends' tour took over an hour. We spent half an hour in the club shop and then a further hour in the museum, so a total of 3 hours overall.
***Goody Bag*** A splendid Arsenal carrier bag for showing off your allegiance to the mighty Gooners!! Inside you get an A4 magazine called 'Inside of Arsenal 2006/2007' (This will obviously change every year) containing loads of stats and info about the club. A letter from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger welcoming you to the tour. A double-sided large postcard depicting the current squad photo on one side and the Arsenal first team head shots with corresponding autographs on the other side. A glossy 7" x 5" photo of the legend hosting the tour (To get signed at the end of the tour). A small black box tied up with an Arsenal ribbon, inside which is a small velevt pouch containing a really nice silver-plated (Assume it's silver-plated) key-ring with an Arsenal crest and a miniature of the stadium. Very nice, although this won't be seeing any keys I can tell you!!
***The Legends*** There are currently 7 legends to choose from to host your 'Legends' tour:
Charlie George - Scorer of the 1971 FA cup final winner against Liverpool. Arsenal won their first League and Cup double.
Bob Wilson - The goalkeeper for the double-winning '71 season. Most people will recognise him as he is a TV pundit & presenter.
John Radford - Another member of teh '71 double-winning team.
Sammy Nelson - FA Cup winner 1979 in the dramatic 3-2 win over Manchester United.
Kenny Sansom - League Cup winner 1987 and full England international.
Paul Davis - League winner 1989 & 1991, League Cup winner 1987 plus 1993 European Cup Winners Cup winner.
Perry Groves - League winner 1989. Cult following amongst Arsenal fans...We all live in a Perry Groves world.
***Booking your Tour*** You can book your tour online at www.arsenal.com or by phone on +44 (0)20 7704 4504.
You can email enquiries to tours@arsenal.co.uk
***How to get there*** Travel links to Emirates Stadium are pretty comprehensive:
Mainline rail: Travel into London to any mainline station and use the tube system to make your way to the ground.
Tube: Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park on the Victoria Line. Arsenal station and Holloway Road on the Picadilly Line. (It's worth noting that Holloway Road tube is shut on match days for 45 minutes after the end of the game as the station is too small for the volume of supporters trying to use it).
Bus: 43 from Friern Barnet Library 271 from Highgate Village 4 from Archway 91 from Crouch End Broadway 29 from Wood Green 259 from Edmonton Green 393 from Clapton 236 from Hackney Wick 254 from Aldgate 106 from Whitechapel 271 & 153 from Liverpool Street 43 from London Bridge 4 from Waterloo 29 & 91 from Trafalgar Square 19 from Battersea Bridge 253 from Euston 259 from King's Cross 393 from Caledonian Road
A comprehensive map of routes is available on the Transport for London website www.tfl.gov.uk. Look for Bus maps for Islington and Arsenal Emirates Stadium has its own map.
***Conclusion*** The basic tour will probably suit most people who want an insight into behind the scenes of a Premiership stadium, not just Arsenal fans.
The 'Legends' tour is best suited to long-term Arsenal fans and makes a great present for special occasions as it is a day to remember.
I would definitely recommend this to any true football fan and every Arsenal fan!!
