Post Date: 20th October 2013
Author: Matt Gedge
Although I have been an Arsenal fan all my life and watched some great games from the stands over the years (and a load more from the comfort of my armchair), I had never visited the stadium on a non-match day. Until now.
I was fortunate to have a guided tour around the stadium by the Islington Museum curator, Salim, following on from my journey into Arsenal’s past (see my other Arsenal blog here) as part of the centenary celebrations of Arsenal in Islington.
The stadium tour passes through the startlingly large media room to the press conference room where you can sit in Arsene Wenger’s seat and imagine you are responding to the 100th question about why you’re not spending enough money with a Gallic shrug of the shoulders. Just around the corner are the post-match interview booths, providing an opportunity to fend off questions with a suitably vague football idiom or two (I was half expecting to find a list of them scrolled on the wall).
Then it’s off to the tunnel and a short walk to the edge of the perfectly manicured lawn that is the pitch. It is striking how everything lies in such close proximity, for it’s a short walk to the largest away dressing room in the Premier League. Pretty spartan was my initial assessment, and especially when you then enter the Home changing room, adorned with shirts of the first team and substitutes. Awe inspiring and truly exciting it may be, but I couldn’t resist pretending to have a smoke in Jack Wilshere’s seat. Unfortunately having a dip in the very luxurious baths was not permitted.
The whole tour leaves an impression of grandeur, much in line with the Marble Halls of Highbury, a setting which itself has been lovingly recreated in one room of the new stadium, complete with busts of the great managers Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger. But where I felt it most unsurprisingly was in the Directors’ Box. A glass fronted dining room leads out to a majestic view of the pitch. Sitting in the ever so comfortable padded seats we were so close to the pitch I felt almost like I was at my own local team, which I guess is part of the idea.
On to the museum then, and alongside the displays of great players and teams of yesteryear, there were more than a dozen items which caused my heart to race. Charlie George’s 1971 FA Cup Final Shirt, Alan Smith’s shirt which he wore to score the incredible winner in the 1994 Cup Winners Cup Final, and most amazing of all, the actual boots Michael Thomas wore when scoring the goal which won the League Championship at Anfield in 1989. Wow.
And although the Gunners Shop leaves you feeling like you’ve just been to ASDA, there is enough love and attention here to realise that even in the modern world of multi-millionaire footballers and corporate ownership, the tradition and passion for the game lives on at the Emirates.
Post Date: 10th October 2013
Author: Matt Gedge
Being a walking tour guide of London has its benefits. I am acutely aware how lucky I am to go on walks in the name of research, or study something which is so interesting I spend an unhealthy amount of time with my head in books or on a google adventure. This morning was a case in point:
Today I fulfilled a lifelong dream of wearing the Arsenal shirt and gracing the same space where my football heroes from Charlie Nicholas to David Rocastle and Thierry Henry had their defining moments in the game. With my back to the Clock End I faced the North Bank and took in the iconic art deco stands.
I even walked through the Marble Halls and saw the bust of Herbert Chapman. Along the way I talked to a fan who could recall the double of 1971 and was at the most extraordinary game of the century, Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Anfield on the final day of the 1989 season.
Ok, I wasn’t starring alongside Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil at the Emirates stadium, but instead joined a tour which is part of the 100 year commemoration of Arsenal FC in Islington.
Our guide retold the story of how Royal Arsenal were formed in 1886, became Woolwich Arsenal in 1893 and then The Arsenal in 1914, and finally plain old Arsenal in 1919, dropping ‘Woolwich’ due to the financially necessary move to Islington in 1913. Interesting how some fans still refer to the team as ‘The Arsenal’.
Along the way we heard how a V2 bomb had obliterated Highbury & Islington station, saw the studio of artist and Jack the Ripper contender Walter Sickert and saw old maps showing how the huge green expanse through to Finsbury Park was eroded by late Georgian and Victorian development, leaving Islington as the least green London borough today.
We also heard the apocryphal story of how the pioneering Arsenal manager of the 1930s Herbert Chapman had once asked “Whoever heard of Gillespie Road? It’s Arsenal round here!” which led to the renaming of the tube station 1932. (Arsenal are the only London football team with an underground station named after them).
Today although the North Bank and Clock End were demolished and the pitch now a communal garden, the beautiful 1930s East and West Stands are preserved as listed buildings and frame the apartments. If you focus on the layout and the art deco shell you could just – at a pinch – feel yourself returning to another, more exciting time.
We finished with a tour of the new stadium and museum, which was wonderful in its own way, but it was with a pang in my heart that I left the old and very special Highbury.
If you are interested in taking a tour, check out the Islington Museum. Further free tours are available on 11th & 16th October, while a talk is scheduled for 24th October.
