What's all this "USA! USA! USA!" business?

"Europe here we come"?

Tiger, is that you?

Convey and Hahnemann are both American - Hence, our cries of 'U.S.A' at the end of home games.

what am i doing awake at this hour >?><><>>?

The Emirates is a fantastic stadium. I expected it be nice, but even so, I was still surprised at how fantastic it was - certainly the best stadium I've been to.

Still don't understand why they went for a stadium with 'only' 60,000 capacity - they can sell that out easily, why not go for more?

Oh, and I don't like this business of not having actual paper tickets, either.

Welcome to our world at Man City. We have season cards as opposed to tickets but I very much agree that the paper ticket should not have been replaced.

As for the capacity, I suppose planning permission may not have allowed it to be bigger, it would have cost a bit more to build (the fact that the revenue generated from the extra ticket sales would eventually more than cover these costs would still leave the club short of funds in the short-term) and after a year or two, novelty wears off and attendances tend to plateau, particularly if the team's fortunes should dip.

quote:

Originally posted by Bracey:
After a year or two, novelty wears off and attendances tend to plateau, particularly if the team's fortunes should dip.

I can see this happening for a midtable club - but for a team like Arsenal, I think they'll easily sell out 60,000 for a long time.

Despite the increased capacity, it's still hard to get hold of tickets - I only got mine as a bloke I know was taking his son to University over the weekend.

Just got back from Dinamo Zagreb v Auxerre in UEFA cup. 60 kuna (£6) to stand behind goal with Bad Blue Boys. Didnt see them v Arsenal but they weren't much cop really - poor standard league if they're the best. England play Croatia in same ground soon - the police looked pretty tooled up and ready for action!

quote:

Originally posted by MICHAEL_LA_VIOLA:

I can see this happening for a midtable club - but for a team like Arsenal, I think they'll easily sell out 60,000 for a long time.

Rather confident, eh?

Yeah! Despite recent problems and extravagent ticket prices, I think that figure is more than achieveable for a good few years yet.

quote:

Originally posted by verno:

quote:

Originally posted by Curva Fiesole:
Just back from Oxford Harlequins RFC v Reading RFC. 35-35, excellent match.

My Pops used to be the director of Reading RFC. Nearly every saturday of my childhood was spent there. Great days.

My son's form tutor plays centre for Reading, hence why we went.

Saw Gloucester v Northampton on Saturday, another good win for the Cherry & Whites.

I'm off to Palermo this thursday for the uefa cup game. Then I'm seeing Rimini vs Modena on saturday and Padova vs Ivrea on sunday.

Port Vale v Nottingham Forest tonight.

The Villa v Tottenham this Saturday, Holte End and can't wait!

Hibs v Hearts this Sunday.

Cheltenham v Doncaster this Saturday.

Should hopefully be able to wangle a ticket to watch Reading beat Chelsea this weekend

The Eternal Sufferers Vs Sheff Utd, Saturday.

quote:

Originally posted by juventino:
Should hopefully be able to wangle a ticket to watch Reading beat Chelsea this weekend

Well we showed them what the games all about. Gang of pansies, rolling round the pitch every chance they got. The ref was an absolute disgrace - How he is still working in football is beyond me. Should have been 1 a peice as we frustrated them and they created sod all. As a fan of Italian football it a shame to see shevva in such dire form. He just looked disinterested until he was subbed, the rest of the team didn't fare better. Remarkable that a team costing millions scraped a goal against a team that is enjoying their first spell in the prem. Crowd were FANTASTIC once again, behind the team for every minute of that game....

quote:

Originally posted by Shaker Beads:
The Villa v Tottenham this Saturday, Holte End and can't wait!

Gareth Barry is a legend! Was on his right foot as well. Can't say the same about Baros or Angel, they just looked fairly useless to be honest - Baros's missed chance just before half time sums him up. That's the one thing Villa are missing, someone who can score goals. I can't see Sutton doing that, oh well really can't complain! Just glad we got a point, wouldn't have been fun losing. Villa didn't really play well till about the last twenty minutes, passing was a bit poor and had nothing much going through the middle which is a shame with a player like Petrov in the team. Bit too reliant on Agbonlahor methinks lumped everything out to him a lot of the time, he's got pace but I don't think he beat his man very many times at all and don't really think he can cross either, not his position though to be fair. Good atmosphere 42,000 sell out and noisy too. Got my photo taken with Bella the Lionness mascot too we were looking for her Lion mate but couldn't find him, next time!

I went to Leicester City v Southampton yesterday, and for once there was some entertainment on show. Iain Hume scored 2 great goals, and the whole team in general worked hard and deserved the win, even if our midfield is hardly great.

quote:

Originally posted by Bracey:
The Eternal Sufferers Vs Sheff Utd, Saturday.

I haven't seen a game as bad as that since we played Portsmouth at home in August, all those months and years ago.