The other games today - 2009/10

[Dave]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

[brummie]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Dave is right, that's why we're playing semi finals there.

 

As for the stadium, i was there in February for the CC final, and to be honest, it was underwhelming. When you're in the seat, it is very large scale, but it is the least atmospheric stadium I've ever been in.

 

You think somewhere like the Emirates has its atmosphere killed by the corporate tier, Wembley is 10 times worse. Plus the concourses are horribly dark and dank - almost like they ran out of money at that point and just said "fuck it, pour a load of concrete down and stick some pictures of Geoff Hurst up".

 

I do think the national stadium could only have been in London, though. Politically and financially, it had to be that way.

[madras]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

yip, they could probably have afforded the transport links to go with it aswell.

[brummie]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

 

Disagree. The site they were talking about in the Midlands was near the NEC, purely because it is near the motorway, and has a decent sized airport and a train station on site. The issue with that is it's close enough to London to make it worth actually building it in London.

 

There was never any real prospect of it leaving London. I don't have a problem with that. Personally, I don't think we really need a national stadium at all, but if we are going to have one, it can't be anywhere in the provinces - no provincial city has anything like the extra attractions London has.

[brummie]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

yip, they could probably have afforded the transport links to go with it aswell.

 

The transport links are there at the site they were considering (see above).

[Village Idiot]

The good thing about not having a national stadium, though, is that Spain plays their games throughout the whole country. So fans everywhere have a chance of eventually seeing them live  

 

They very rarely play in Barcelona, though, and haven't played in the Basque Country in decades.

[brummie]

The good thing about not having a national stadium, though, is that Spain plays their games throughout the whole country. So fans everywhere have a chance of eventually seeing them live  

 

They very rarely play in Barcelona, though, and haven't played in the Basque Country in decades.

 

Whilst Wembley was being redeveloped England played their games at various grounds up and down the country, and it was pretty successful.

[madras]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

 

Disagree. The site they were talking about in the Midlands was near the NEC, purely because it is near the motorway, and has a decent sized airport and a train station on site. The issue with that is it's close enough to London to make it worth actually building it in London.

 

There was never any real prospect of it leaving London. I don't have a problem with that. Personally, I don't think we really need a national stadium at all, but if we are going to have one, it can't be anywhere in the provinces - no provincial city has anything like the extra attractions London has.

no provincial city has those attractions because...........................

 

 

of that sort of thinking.

 

 

 

anyway would you be put off going to an england game because you couldn't squeeze in an hour at the whitechapel art gallery beforehand ? most england supporters from outside the south east go and get out as sharp as possible.

[brummie]

The good thing about not having a national stadium, though, is that Spain plays their games throughout the whole country. So fans everywhere have a chance of eventually seeing them live 

 

They very rarely play in Barcelona, though, and haven't played in the Basque Country in decades.

 

I went to see us play at Athletic Bilbao in the UEFA cup 12 years ago, and it is without a doubt the best place I've ever seen us play football.

 

Fantastic people, unbelievably welcoming, and we made a lot of friendships that day. That's a great place to play football.

 

(Unlike Atletico Madrid, where we mostly got beaten up by riot police).

[Foluwashola]

The good thing about not having a national stadium, though, is that Spain plays their games throughout the whole country. So fans everywhere have a chance of eventually seeing them live  

 

They very rarely play in Barcelona, though, and haven't played in the Basque Country in decades.

 

Whilst Wembley was being redeveloped England played their games at various grounds up and down the country, and it was pretty successful.

 

Aye, we were lucky enough to see the mighty Albania come to town I believe. The city went into a state of hysteria.

[Stifler]

I don't even see why we need a national stadium. A lot of our stadiums are up to scratch at club level, atleast in the Premiership and few in the lower leagues are of a decent level. England could easily play in a number of stadiums across the country, and the FA Cup final (and the Play off finals). That could of encoraged clubs to build/rebuild real stadiums and get away from the flat pack stadiums aswell, giving clubs a real chace to host something special and creating a special stadium in the process. It would also mean that police, travel infastructure and such wouldn't of been streched when you have FA Cup semi's on each day in one weekend and the play off finals over 2-3 days, each of them could of been spread out across the country so that you don't have 40k fans of 4-6 teams all in one area over a weekend.

 

I mean loads of teams are planning on building newer and bigger stadiums aswell as re-developeing existing ones, for example Spurs, Liverpool, Everton, this could of given them the push to get on with it.

 

To me national stadiums are now for countries thatcan only afford to pay for one stadium that can handle the pressure of FIFA and whatever other organisation requirements, we can afford plenty of stadiums that fall into this catergory. Offering these events across the nation could give everyone a real chance to see these games for themselves without having to pay sky high prices to get to London, hotel prices to stay over, and the high prices they expect for food aswell. It could of been a real boost to local business's (and football clubs, which as it has been known a lot of clubs could do with the finacial gains this could of offerd) and each and every town and city that would of been able to of hosted these events, sadly though this all falls back into London's pocket.

 

Then again, this could of been the stupidest idea and post I have ever came up with.

[brummie]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

 

Disagree. The site they were talking about in the Midlands was near the NEC, purely because it is near the motorway, and has a decent sized airport and a train station on site. The issue with that is it's close enough to London to make it worth actually building it in London.

 

There was never any real prospect of it leaving London. I don't have a problem with that. Personally, I don't think we really need a national stadium at all, but if we are going to have one, it can't be anywhere in the provinces - no provincial city has anything like the extra attractions London has.

no provincial city has those attractions because...........................

 

 

of that sort of thinking.

 

 

 

anyway would you be put off going to an england game because you couldn't squeeze in an hour at the whitechapel art gallery beforehand ? most england supporters from outside the south east go and get out as sharp as possible.

 

No, no provincial city has the attractions London does purely because London is one of a handful of global mega cities, there's no way Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds etc can compete with that, and unfortunately, if you're going to have a national stadium, it is going to have to be near to "the action".

 

I'm not saying it is right, I'm saying that that's the reason and there is a certain amount of logic behind it. For all the talk, there was never really any chance they were going to take it out of London.

[Village Idiot]

The good thing about not having a national stadium, though, is that Spain plays their games throughout the whole country. So fans everywhere have a chance of eventually seeing them live 

 

They very rarely play in Barcelona, though, and haven't played in the Basque Country in decades.

 

I went to see us play at Athletic Bilbao in the UEFA cup 12 years ago, and it is without a doubt the best place I've ever seen us play football.

 

Fantastic people, unbelievably welcoming, and we made a lot of friendships that day. That's a great place to play football.

 

(Unlike Atletico Madrid, where we mostly got beaten up by riot police).

 

San Mamés is a great stadium, and the Bilbao crowd are some of the most welcoming and great fans you'll find in Spain. The reason Spain doesn't play there is  because of the terrorist threat.

 

[Foluwashola]

Personally I'm quite pleased with the fact that we have a national stadium and although with semis being played taking some of the gloss of it is still something special to go to Wembley and I can't wait til we get the chance to go there.

If people want to see England play so desperately they can get themselves to London, its hardly a difficult place to get to in these days.

[brummie]

Personally I'm quite pleased with the fact that we have a national stadium and although with semis being played taking some of the gloss of it is still something special to go to Wembley and I can't wait til we get the chance to go there.

If people want to see England play so desperately they can get themselves to London, its hardly a difficult place to get to in these days.

 

I agree with that, but it is becoming less and less special, and one of the main reasons is the playing of FA Cup semi finals there.

 

 

[Guest kingdawson]

I preferred old Wembley to the new Wembley anyway tbh.

[madras]

I preferred old Wembley to the new Wembley anyway tbh.

even though it was a shithole when i went at least there was the history etc. now it's pointless.

[Mowen]

The good thing about not having a national stadium, though, is that Spain plays their games throughout the whole country. So fans everywhere have a chance of eventually seeing them live  

 

They very rarely play in Barcelona, though, and haven't played in the Basque Country in decades.

 

Whilst Wembley was being redeveloped England played their games at various grounds up and down the country, and it was pretty successful.

 

The vast majority were played at Old Trafford though weren't they? And doesn't this start a problem with giving a benefit to clubs that already have a good ground? I know a reason Kent can't compete financially in County Cricket at times is that they'll never get the £1m windfall from hosting a test match.

 

Wembley is exactly like the Emirates imo. Beautifully made, very impressive but just...dead. Being on a vast expanse of concrete doesn't help (for either).

[Foluwashola]

I preferred old Wembley to the new Wembley anyway tbh.

even though it was a shithole when i went at least there was the history etc. now it's pointless.

 

The Whitley Bay team won't agree and their word is gospel.

[Stifler]

Personally I'm quite pleased with the fact that we have a national stadium and although with semis being played taking some of the gloss of it is still something special to go to Wembley and I can't wait til we get the chance to go there.

If people want to see England play so desperately they can get themselves to London, its hardly a difficult place to get to in these days.

Getting to London in most cases is fairly easy, most (if not all cities) have a direct train route, a major road route, and a lot have direct flights. However for all of the public transport London offers it can be rather difficult to actually travel in London once you arrive. Also the question has to be asked is, why should London beneift from all of these games, after England games are national games, so surely every corner of the nation should have a chance of benefitting from hosting national games, and why should London gain from games that could be played between two clubs (for example the FA Cup games, and the play off's) that arn't from London all the time?

[brummie]

I preferred old Wembley to the new Wembley anyway tbh.

 

Really?

 

Christ, I didn't. It was a dump which should have been rebuilt at the very least 30 years before it was.

[Mowen]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

 

Disagree. The site they were talking about in the Midlands was near the NEC, purely because it is near the motorway, and has a decent sized airport and a train station on site. The issue with that is it's close enough to London to make it worth actually building it in London.

 

There was never any real prospect of it leaving London. I don't have a problem with that. Personally, I don't think we really need a national stadium at all, but if we are going to have one, it can't be anywhere in the provinces - no provincial city has anything like the extra attractions London has.

no provincial city has those attractions because...........................

 

 

of that sort of thinking.

 

 

 

anyway would you be put off going to an england game because you couldn't squeeze in an hour at the whitechapel art gallery beforehand ? most england supporters from outside the south east go and get out as sharp as possible.

 

Yeah, I'd be just as inclined to spend a weekend taking in an England game if it was in Coventry

[brummie]

Personally I'm quite pleased with the fact that we have a national stadium and although with semis being played taking some of the gloss of it is still something special to go to Wembley and I can't wait til we get the chance to go there.

If people want to see England play so desperately they can get themselves to London, its hardly a difficult place to get to in these days.

Getting to London in most cases is fairly easy, most (if not all cities) have a direct train route, a major road route, and a lot have direct flights. However for all of the public transport London offers it can be rather difficult to actually travel in London once you arrive. Also the question has to be asked is, why should London beneift from all of these games, after England games are national games, so surely every corner of the nation should have a chance of benefitting from hosting national games, and why should London gain from games that could be played between two clubs (for example the FA Cup games, and the play off's) that arn't from London all the time?

 

Not really.

 

I left the CCF 5 mins after the final whistle (as, staggeringly, did lots and lots of Man U fans who couldnt be arsed to wait around for the final whistle, let alone the trophy presentation. I guess that's how it is when you're so successful), walked down Wembley Way, got on the tube and was back in Harrow to get in the car with the absolute minimum of fuss. And that was with 90,000 people there.

 

 

[madras]

I must say I kinda envy your Wembley tradition. We just play our cup finals in neutral venues, and the semis in home/away legs and it doesn't have that special feeling. But we have never had a "national stadium".

 

 

Our FA trampled all over our Wembley tradition when they started holding Cup semi finals there. it totally devalues the mystique of Wembley if you get to go there for the semi final too.

seconded brummie.

 

Agreed. Problem now is they'd never pay for the new stadium without doing so.

pretty sure they could have afforded a better, cheaper stadium if it didn't HAVE to be in london.

 

 

massivly overpriced and in a crap part of the country. especially when the majority of folk would rather the majority of england games were played in the regions.

 

Agree with all that too. Should have been somewhere in the Midlands IMO.

 

Disagree. The site they were talking about in the Midlands was near the NEC, purely because it is near the motorway, and has a decent sized airport and a train station on site. The issue with that is it's close enough to London to make it worth actually building it in London.

 

There was never any real prospect of it leaving London. I don't have a problem with that. Personally, I don't think we really need a national stadium at all, but if we are going to have one, it can't be anywhere in the provinces - no provincial city has anything like the extra attractions London has.

no provincial city has those attractions because...........................

 

 

of that sort of thinking.

 

 

 

anyway would you be put off going to an england game because you couldn't squeeze in an hour at the whitechapel art gallery beforehand ? most england supporters from outside the south east go and get out as sharp as possible.

 

Yeah, I'd be just as inclined to spend a weekend taking in an England game if it was in Coventry

would you spend a weekend for an england home game ?. the majority of england fans go to the game then go home, if they are stopping over they'll look for somewhere to drink and eat.................does only london offer this facility ?

 

 

why not think of which is best for england fans to get to transport wise and what it would probably bring to some other area ?

[Stifler]

Personally I'm quite pleased with the fact that we have a national stadium and although with semis being played taking some of the gloss of it is still something special to go to Wembley and I can't wait til we get the chance to go there.

If people want to see England play so desperately they can get themselves to London, its hardly a difficult place to get to in these days.

Getting to London in most cases is fairly easy, most (if not all cities) have a direct train route, a major road route, and a lot have direct flights. However for all of the public transport London offers it can be rather difficult to actually travel in London once you arrive. Also the question has to be asked is, why should London beneift from all of these games, after England games are national games, so surely every corner of the nation should have a chance of benefitting from hosting national games, and why should London gain from games that could be played between two clubs (for example the FA Cup games, and the play off's) that arn't from London all the time?

 

Not really.

 

I left the CCF 5 mins after the final whistle (as, staggeringly, did lots and lots of Man U fans who couldnt be arsed to wait around for the final whistle, let alone the trophy presentation. I guess that's how it is when you're so successful), walked down Wembley Way, got on the tube and was back in Harrow to get in the car with the absolute minimum of fuss. And that was with 90,000 people there.

 

 

It all depends where about you come from, I mean not all trains go to Kings cross, and not all roads and such lead you directly to Wemberly, infact public transport is surposed to be rather poor around there. And also, since the Man Utd fans stayed behind after the final whistle for the trophy you were only up against half of the crowd, so thats about 45k, thats less then the crowd at most games at SJP. Imagine how much harder it would of been for the fans of Man Utd who did stay behind?

 

As Madras said, why not think of what games like these could bring to other areas?