What with all the transfer dealings we haven't had the chance to have a good stadium thread in at least a week or two, so I thought it was about time to rekindle that debate what with the international break coming up and no club footy to keep us entertained! It crossed through my mind as I was strolling in and around the Etihad on Saturday that, in terms of capacity, it's vaguely similar (maybe a little bigger) to TF's ideal size of our new stadium. Whilst I still have significant reservations about whether we could fill a stadium of that size, it struck me that the Etihad was actually a very impressive, well structured and laid out stadium, with excellent facilities and plenty of room to walk around. Personally I wouldn't mind our stadium ending up similar to the Etihad. I particularly liked the clear sections between the top of the stands and the roof, it let so much more light into the stadium and looked great too, whilst the toilets were clean and spacious and, shock horror, I had space between my knees and the seat in front of me! I found the cafe and bar area and all the big screens outside the ground a little weird, but I guess that's part of what makes it a good all-round venue and I wouldn't be surprised to see similar spaces incorporated into the design of our new ground. Anyone else have these thoughts whilst in and around the ground on Saturday?
Its even more impressive when you consider it used to have a running track around it. As someone who travels 2-3 hours to a game, toilets outside the ground are essential. Good facilities will add on 10k to whatever we could fill now, even with no increase in success.
Slightlty different subject but could do with out the" Arent we great and arent you ****" interviews at half time.After spending over a billion on players they should be.Didnt really like that.
Mate, the whole ESPN show was all about how amazing City are and with Waddle saying how much City have dominated QPR (must of said it 100 times) and how they should have put the game to bed. City are miles ahead of us in terms of developent and have spent more money on 1 player than our entire squad....they should be hammering us. The reality was that after they scored their first goal City came of the boil and as the game went on we got better and better....even at one point we were pushing them back into their own box. What REALLY pi$$ed me off, was that when we scored all the commentator said was "well thats football for you" in a slightly dissapointed tone......but when City scored he went mental. Commentators are meant to be neutral or as neutral as possible, but they were anything but and made watching the game as a QPR fan an unplesant experience, especially considering most the people watching would be QPR fans as City were at home. I really felt we gave City a good game cosidering we are a team of strangers.....just hope we dont have anymore games on ESPN!
The pitch at the Ethiad looks way too far away from the Fans. We need to be abe to "reach out and touch" the bloke taking the throw ins - like at LR, and not need Binoculars to see what is happening at the other end of the pitch.
Every stadium built recently is like that. FIFA probably have some minimum distance between the pitch and crowd. Thats why the 1st couple of rows are roped off at places like Anfield in Europe. The way round it is to have the 1st row 6ft high but still within grabbing distance.
You consider yourself lucky - I had to make do with Talk Sport in the car and Stan Bloody Collymore !!
That's exactly why Bayern Munich built the Allianz Arena stadium not so long ago. The old Olympic Stadium (built for the 1972 Olympics) pitch was just too far away from the fans for comfort. Approval for the new stadium had to go through a city referendum beforehand, however this was passed OK by the good folk here. Built on schedule (3-years) and is an excellent football venue. They get sell-out crowds of 66,000 for every home game. Not a Bayern fan but was there once to watch Munich 1860, also a sell-out. Pretty impressive place IMHO.
Did the pitch look the same size as LR? I'm sure I read somewhere that all Premier League pitches had to be the same size this year.
They also have £10 tickets too, thats the way to do it rather than do what Arsenal do and charge £60 and have an atmosphere like a library and struggle to sell out.
I read it somewhere too but the difference is only a couple of yards anyway. The crowd at LR clearly get in the players heads when they say we have a small pitch as we dont. Its just seems to them that they dont have any time or space.
Ha...my blood was boiling.... Im not blind by my bias.....and I more than willing to concede that Man City are a better side than we are.....by a long shot.....but we dont need ESPN constantly reminding us of that case. NO credit was given to QPR at any point during the game.....even when we were on top (in terms of pushing them back) Waddle and his cronies refused to give us credit, instead refering back to Man City should have put this game to bed ages ago. Makes you appreciate how good Sky Sports are.....sorry for going off topic
Posted re ESPN on Saturday and still can't believe Twaddle and his boring 'domination' mantra. Bit like having Manish, Claridge and the blonde (what was the point of her really) again. Come back Sky
