If you are still on that ten year waiting list for a season ticket at the Ems here’s a thought. The stadium just got smaller.
Not much smaller compared with the number of AAA fans who have (at least according to their own propaganda) thrown their season tickets in the bin or failed to renew. But still a bit smaller.
So far 30 seats have been removed for cameras from the general seating areas that the likes of you and I take. Eight have gone in the directors’ box too.
Arsenal’s official take is that “there will be more affected with restricted view, which will only become clear after our first live match, and we do have plans to offer discounts on these impacted seats”.
I must say that if I suddenly found out that I could only see part of the pitch and then said, “oh sorry you can’t see the last third of the pitch, but here’s 33% refund, we didn’t realise until you told us” I’d probably say no thanks to the refund, and demand a different seat, and threaten to sue them for deliberate false selling of an item they couldn’t deliver. Even the offer of another seat would be annoying because I’ve got quite used to sitting next to Stefan.
But neither the clubs nor BT Sprout and Sky say it is their fault. They say it is the Premier League who negotiate everything away promising as they do more and more access and pictures from more and more places, in each match.
One prediction now being made is cameras in dressing rooms within three years – which I think is ludicrous. That’s where the tactical work goes on before the game and at half time and it would be utterly destroyed by cameras intruding.
This whole business of the camera on the manager all the time is ludicrous, and there can be little doubt that much of it is being done to excuse the fact that BT Sprout’s people can’t count above three while they and Sky totally fail to recognise the huge difference in the way that different teams are refereed.
Indeed BT Sprout is now travelling in the opposite direction by having a ref watching the game for them who spends most of his time saying that the ref on the pitch was right. What on earth is the point of that, if not to deflect from the growing discussion concerning the error-strewn performances of referees, and the huge bias that is being shown in favour of some clubs and against others?
Scudamore of the League will have none of it however. “The attending fan is our most important fan” he said, and “We want the stadium full. That’s where the clubs are rooted in their community.’’
But then he threw all that out of the window saying, “Is there a way of making the experience better for the international fan?
“Technology will probably do that for them. Huge screen TVs, super HD, immersion technology with people recreating that stadium experience digitally in their own environment.”
So the Premier League has made its priorities clear, and since they ultimately call the tune as to what the broadcasters can and can’t say that is what will happen.
Last season 95.3% of all seats were sold throughout the Premier League. But there is a concern about the decline in away support, almost certainly not caused by the cost of tickets (the cost for an away fan must be the same as the cost for a home fan in a comparable part of the ground) but the insane times at which matches are put on, both in relation to the time of day and the time of the year.
According to the League most fans live virtually next door to their clubs, but of course that is nonsense. And so to put on a mid-week game in December or January is crazy, given what is happening to our weather. Putting on games at 5.30pm on a Saturday is ludicrous too, and ultimately will have an impact on crowd sizes.
But many clubs don’t give a toss about loyalty – they have debts and they want money now, no matter what the cost.
In fact by focussing on the cost of tickets, supporters groups, clubs and others are ignoring quite simply the fact that the growth in annoyance about football among supporters is to do as much with the way the Premier League hands over power to the TV Companies, as it has anything to do with ticket cost.
But that’s the bit the executives don’t see. They don’t see fans leaving home at 11am to get to a home match, because of the distance. The fans who travel to Arsenal from Ireland, Belgium, and all other parts of Europe. The fans who decide not to go to a mid week winter game because even though they have a ticket and the weather five hours before the game is ok, there is a fair chance that the snow will come down and disrupt road and rail travel.
No, all things considered, the fans who go to the games are always at the bottom of the list.
Recent posts
- Oh look brather Mathieu is back: the fighter against ridiculous transfer fees
- Ref Review 2012/13: Liverpool – you should blame the refs!
- Champions League – I’m Having A Laugh!
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
10 year waiting list? Har har har.
I reached the ‘front’ of the waiting list but wasn’t able to take up the offer.
Arsenal BO kept calling and emailing to say they had season tickets available.
They last contacted me less than 48 hours before the Villa game.
Hell you could probably phone them now and get a season ticket
AAA nonsense aside – well said
GoonerDog,
Are you one of those AAA? Why does it bother you so much?
All too true.
Something that is bothering me is this Sundays NLD.
When the fixtures came out the game was Sat at 12.00pm. The police put it there due to crowd violence worries. i.e. get them in early, less time to drink and be in the state to get into fights.
Just because BT Sport want the game it’s now been moved to Sunday 4pm.
That gives fans hours to get tanked up. I predict fights aplenty due to this.
I won’t even go into the poor sods that will have to travel to the other end of the country or abroad after the game on a Sunday night with work the next day.
Quote AW: “while admitting Niklas Bendtner will return to the Arsenal team”.
I wondered why his name was still on the list of strikers at Arsenal.com. Oh come on now. Are we for real?
Anyway we are going to still beat Spuds whatever.
We need a sense of perspective. When we talk about season ticket holders who live on the other side of the country or overseas how many are we talking about? 10? 100? 1,000? 10,000?
Unless it’s a big number then, with the deepest respect for those fellow Gooners, we can’t really let them sway policy decisions.
Like the PL give a monkeys about the fans anymore as long as the games can go live to the far-east and Africa that’s what’s important.
There were plenty of punch ups on the Holloway Road last year Pete and that was a Saturday midday kick-off.
I saw pint glasses and bottles being thrown at Spurs fans myself.
What will be ,will be .Lets all enjoy the ride .Goodnight all .Contemplate on this . From…
http://www.bartleby.com/246/1165.html
It May Be – Percy Addleshaw
IT may be we shall know in the hereafter
Why we, begetting hopes, give birth to fears,
And why the world’s too beautiful for laughter,
Too gross for tears.
I’m a gooner from Australia and I’m coming from an international point of view, if I want to watch a mid week fixture I have to either stay up to all hours of the night or wake up at say 1am to watch a 4pm BST fixture which leaves me in a dilemma with sleep and work, if they really wanted to help international fans they would play more fixtures at better times for multiple time zones, Asia has a very large footballing fan base and all players from big clubs have and would say they love the fans in Asia as they are fanatics about the sport.
That said they arent really catering for the international fan at all so that complete and utter bollocks.
Ever since the arrival of professional football, the folk who pay to watch have been a natural source of income to those who run the clubs.
From the moment the home and away fans go through the turnstiles they are a captive audience and, depending on the solvency of each club, they are treated accordingly.
Uncovered terraces are becoming less, seating more prevalent and the safety aspect has at last reached top priority.
But there is much still to be done.
The escalating costs of players wages and transfers has meant that ticket prices have also rocketed to a quite obscene level. Clubs have sought additional income through the high cost of generally poor quality catering.
One of the worst examples, IMO, of excesses by clubs in the treatment of fans, is the annual issue of newly designed shirts, home and away…..a near essential expensive buy for many.
Yes, the poor old captive fan is preyed on from a great height but for how much longer?
The golden goose of ticket prices cannot continue rising at the present rate. And when the bubble bursts and the return to sanity begins, one would hope that the fans will be the first to benefit.
@Nicky
I think your cause and effect are wrong.
Sky money = Premiership teams become richer.
Richer clubs = more word class players
More world class players + better stadiums (post Hillsborough Taylor report) – hooligans = more demand
More demand = Higher ticket prices
@MOW,
I deliberately refrained from stating the cause of the rising costs in professional football. That was not the object of the exercise.
It is well accepted that global satellite TV and advertising
along with the natural increase in the standard of living are the main causes. As far as TV is concerned it was and is “a licence to print money”.
The fact remains that football fans should be entitled to better treatment by the clubs they support.
And most important should be the lowering of ticket prices.
@Nicky
You said: “The escalating costs of players wages and transfers has meant that ticket prices have also rocketed to a quite obscene level”
That comes across as cause and effect to me.
“The fact remains that football fans should be entitled to better treatment by the clubs they support.
And most important should be the lowering of ticket prices.”
And also how is I possibly a “fact” that football fans are “entitled” to lower prices?
@MOW,
I think you are now indulging in a little nitpicking.
The title of the article says “The fans who attend the games are always at the bottom of the list”.
That is the FACT on which I based my comment.
Dear anonymous writer,
I’d say the long-standing fans who can’t afford to attend the games are at the bottom of any true-to-life list. Compared to that, I’d say it’s a bit hard to get worked up over the inconvenience of it all. Relatively speaking, you write from a position of wounded entitlement.
why moderation for my 11:28?
A change of pace , after all that, me ! Me ! Me !Open your eyes to the plight of others .
GOOD FRIENDS ARE HARD TO COME BY
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls.
He looked down into the eyes of a little boy. “Mister,” he said, “I want to buy one of your puppies.”
“Well,” said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, “These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money.”
The boy dropped his head for moment.Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.
“I’ve got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?”
“Sure,” said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. “Here, Dolly!” he called.
Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse.
Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid.Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up…
“I want that one,” the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy’s side and said, “Son, you don’t want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would.”
With that, the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so, he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.
Looking back up at the farmer, he said, “You see sir, I don’t run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.”
With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully, he handed it to the little boy.
“How much?” asked the little boy… “No charge,” answered the farmer, “There’s no charge for love.”
The world is full of people who need someone who understands.
Chill out and count your blessings .
This e-mail I received just now ,asked me to forward to 4 of my friends – I think I just did a million fold !
Is the opposite of burying your head in the sand ? I didn’t think so too !
http://www.fakeposters.com/posters/gamers-logic/
Think Before Talking
Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him. In court the old man told the Judge: ‘They were just comments, didn’t harm anyone.’
The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man to ‘Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home; throw the pieces of paper out and come tomorrow to hear the sentence.’
The next day, the judge told the old man: ‘Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.’ The old man said: ‘I can’t do that. The wind spread them and I won’t know where to find them.’
The judge then replied: ‘The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can’t speak well of someone, rather don’t say anything wrong…
‘Let’s all be masters of our mouths, so that we won’t be slaves of our words.’
Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee – Which are you? From…..
http://verybestquotes.blogspot.com/2013/08/carrots-eggs-or-coffee-which-are-you.html
A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.
Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, “Tell me what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft.She then asked her to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked. “What’s the point,grandmother?”
Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity–boiling water–but each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her granddaughter.
“When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
Think of this: Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?
Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Nice one Brickfields Gunner, just keep them coming. The spunks have spent more than 110 million pounds but still want a fourth place!! I don’t understand I thought they will be challenging for the big one why fourth! Could someone out there let me know?
KampalaGun,
Isn’t it ironic that Spurs are being praised for showing ambition to make 4th by spending while we are are being slagged off for lacking ambition by keeping the core of a team that made 4th?
I am so looking forward to tomorrow’s game. One thing is for sure: the loser of that game will face monumental ridicule. Except Arsenal is already used to being ridiculed, especially by its own ‘fans’. But if Spurs lose….
Bring on the North London Derby!