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Post by expectedtoulouse on Feb 19, 2009 11:00:09 GMT
Was down in London yesterday, and was passing Wembley on the Jubilee line, so I thouhgt I'd jump off the tube and have a quick look. Yes, it's an impressive stadium, but it's still shite.
1. The tours. £15 for adults and £8 for kids. What a joke. I've been around the Stade de France, Bernabeu and Nou Camp and they don't cost anywhere near that amount. Absolutely ridiculous.
2. Wembley Way. Next to the ramps that go up to the stadium is a big area of scurb land where they've dumped all the fallout from the construction work. How long has it been open now?
3. Official shop. Like my arse. Why does the national stadium shop sell Man Utd, Chelsea, West Ham, Tottenham, Everton, Real Madrid and Inter shirts? FFS. Encouraging gloryhunting or what? Then there was a small selection of overpriced England tat and some reasonable Wembley Stadium merchandise. In the Stade de France you can only buy France stuff, and that's the way it should be here.
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Post by jemma1989 on Feb 19, 2009 11:02:49 GMT
saw the same thing in paris. went in the PSG shop, arsenal, man u, inter, brazil. if nike make it they sold it in that shop.
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Post by wembley4372 on Feb 19, 2009 11:06:07 GMT
Calm down, it's a business if nobody was buying it they wouldn't be stocking it.
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Post by Pugsley on Feb 19, 2009 11:08:29 GMT
Wembley is a national disgrace. Paid for by the poor mans tax (lottery) and abused by corporate shills.
The FA are a bunch of clueless twats.
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Post by Soi Cowboy on Feb 19, 2009 11:08:31 GMT
Was at the World Cup final at the Stade de France. Fantastic stadium but no undersoil heating due to being built on an old gas works and horrible area. The Parc de Princes is very dated, good point re the shop though and around the ground although have seen this in Italy, Holland etc. No one beats Ajax for merchandising though
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Post by mark71 on Feb 19, 2009 11:35:07 GMT
I've been to Wembley about 4 times sice it's been rebuilt, It's absoutley fantastic. If there's a better stadium in the world I'd love to see it.
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Post by knowles on Feb 19, 2009 11:42:50 GMT
Wembley is an incredible stadium. I've been three times now- the best being for England v Brazil (the other two for gigs) and it really is fantastic. The concourses are spacious and the leg room is pretty good. All seats have backs too!! ;D
As for the prices of tours- that is ridiculous but, sadly, it is the country we live in. It's the same inside- about £8 for fish and chips.
Although the old Wembley obviously had all the history attached to it, it was becoming very grotty- the toilets were skanky and the whole place was falling apart. We really did need a revamp.
I've been on the pitch at Parc des Princes and it really does look dated- especially when you campare it with the magnificent Stade de France.
I hate to say it, but Old Trafford isn't a bad ground either!
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Post by th05 on Feb 19, 2009 11:43:58 GMT
A friend from London (West Ham fan) claims that the Emirates is better than Wembley all round. ???
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Post by n01stokie on Feb 19, 2009 11:56:07 GMT
won't go to the wemley unless it's with stoke but from speaking to people who have been and generally watchig games there, it just looks wank to me,no passion, no noise i'm not impressed give me the millenium stadium anyday!
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Post by Beloved Monkfish on Feb 19, 2009 11:56:32 GMT
A friend from London (West Ham fan) claims that the Emirates is better than Wembley all round. ??? Not been to Wembley but The Emirates is a fantastic stadium, best I've been to by a mile. Went the Arsenal Chelsea match there last year. It looks so impressive from the oustide and even more so when you get inside.
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Post by Olgrligm on Feb 19, 2009 11:59:08 GMT
The stadium itself is excellent. I've been there and been about twice as high as I'd be in the JS Upper and had a better view of the pitch.
You're right about the club shop as well. It's an absolute nonsense, all about making a cheap buck from encouraging kids to gloryhunt. I think you cover it spot on - it should only be England stuff in there.
The dressing rooms are the most embarrassing part, although when I went Steve McLaren's glorious reign had just ended. There were enough hairdriers for the players to have two each and there were lots of Wi-Fi points, fancy cupboards, extra warm-up areas and a safe (which had replaced the smaller safe that was originally there because the players complained that it couldn't hold all of the jewellery) but nowhere was there a tactics board. Says it all about the modern prima donas in our national team nowadays, the shameless cheats like both Coles, Wright-Phillips and Gerrard.
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Post by th05 on Feb 19, 2009 12:09:14 GMT
A friend from London (West Ham fan) claims that the Emirates is better than Wembley all round. ??? Not been to Wembley but The Emirates is a fantastic stadium, best I've been to by a mile. Went the Arsenal Chelsea match there last year. It looks so impressive from the oustide and even more so when you get inside. God I hope we dont need something on the last day. ;D
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Post by basingstokie on Feb 19, 2009 12:14:44 GMT
I've been to Wembley about 4 times sice it's been rebuilt, It's absoutley fantastic. If there's a better stadium in the world I'd love to see it. I agree with Mark71, Wembley is a cracking stadium (I've been 5 or 6 times), great view from every seat, plenty of room in the concourses, sound stays in the ground, I could go on ... Emirates is also lovely (been twice), but where Wembley wins for me is the transport links, clearly as part of the construction they invested a load in fast train/tube lines into London which then run trains every 2 or 3 minutes after games, so basically 80,000 can get out quickly. Arsenal didn't bother (or couldn't get permission, or whatever) and as a result it takes ages to get out because everyone has to go to 1 tube station (Finsbury Park, I think) on the Picadilly (?) line.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2009 14:01:41 GMT
won't go to the wemley unless it's with stoke but from speaking to people who have been and generally watchig games there, it just looks wank to me,no passion, no noise i'm not impressed give me the millenium stadium anyday! to be fair i think the passion is more down to the fans at wembley all being suited corporate types rather than a fault of the actual stadium itself (Millennium stadium is full of welsh people even at English play off finals, and whatever you may think of them the welsh are nothing if not passionate)
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Post by Soi Cowboy on Feb 19, 2009 14:07:10 GMT
The problem with the Stade de France was getting away from the place- was still there at midnight and was offered everything from crack to Vietnamese hookers whilst trying to find a bloody taxi or bus etc. I guess they were all celebrating so can excuse them maybe.
I hated the old Wembley- what a derelict ruin it was compared to some off the stadiums in the USA etc. New version looks the part.
Knowles you're right re The Parc De Princes- really is showing it's age. The Maracana in Rio takes a lot of beating for relics though- don't think there was an unbroken seat in the whole place and the moat doubles up as a toilet. May have been revamped since was there though.
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Post by marwood82 on Feb 19, 2009 14:20:05 GMT
The problem with the Stade de France was getting away from the place- was still there at midnight and was offered everything from crack to Vietnamese hookers whilst trying to find a bloody taxi or bus etc. I guess they were all celebrating so can excuse them maybe. No thats just Saint-Denis its always like that. it makes Toxteth look like Monte Carlo. its an absolute hole.
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Post by scfcjaffa on Feb 19, 2009 16:01:39 GMT
Was down in London yesterday, and was passing Wembley on the Jubilee line, so I thouhgt I'd jump off the tube and have a quick look. Yes, it's an impressive stadium, but it's still shite. 1. The tours. £15 for adults and £8 for kids. What a joke. I've been around the Stade de France, Bernabeu and Nou Camp and they don't cost anywhere near that amount. Absolutely ridiculous. 2. Wembley Way. Next to the ramps that go up to the stadium is a big area of scurb land where they've dumped all the fallout from the construction work. How long has it been open now? 3. Official shop. Like my arse. Why does the national stadium shop sell Man Utd, Chelsea, West Ham, Tottenham, Everton, Real Madrid and Inter shirts? FFS. Encouraging gloryhunting or what? Then there was a small selection of overpriced England tat and some reasonable Wembley Stadium merchandise. In the Stade de France you can only buy France stuff, and that's the way it should be here. I was down Wembley for the tour on Tuesday. I can see your point about the Man utd etc section in the shop. Its as big as the England section ffs! The tour cost us £39 for 2 adults 2 children, but this was a fantastic experience. It lasted for 90 minutes but it was a great tour in all fairness. Oh yeah, and it does look like a dump in some places o the ground around the stadium !!!
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Post by crimesy on Feb 19, 2009 16:25:58 GMT
TBH i think they built too early. 10 more years in the Original would have given the New Wembley far more modern features and looking at the new Spurs' ground.. even that looks better! I dont think theres anything special about Wembley anymore, not the magic there was at the old anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2009 16:58:55 GMT
Still havent worked out how when the original was built and the population was 44 million the original wembley held 100,000. Then the population goes to 66 miliion and the new wembley hold 80,000 and it cost double the millenium which at least has that roof.
I think the new wembley is shit. The max capacity should be 120,000 so the ordinary fan can get to the cup final. Imagine Man u v Liverpool half the fans would miss out to corporate religons. Even Stoke v Man u still not enough seats based on average attendances 27,500 and 75,000.
Typical FA no foresight no planning and a crap stadium that serves no one except rich boys
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2009 17:18:40 GMT
what exactly is wrong with the shop??? i'm not a Man U fan (obviously as i don't come from London or Botswana) but at the end of the day Wembley was not built for English football.It was built as a sporting stadium for England NOT just for the English side. Lots of teams play there domestic and also other international sides as well as plenty of other sports (rugby league as well as union, American Football etc. ) and at the end of the day it is a business so they will sell what they know makes money. Did you expect to see lots of Burton Albion, Yeovil and Shrewsbury shirts on display? Whether we like it or not Man U, Real Madrid, Inter Milan etc. are the biggest selling shirts in the world so of course they're going to sell them! Also we should all be aware that England, and more specifically London, is a place where masses of people of different nationalities live and attracts foreign tourists so selling JUST English sporting goods would not make any kind of business sense at all. If it was the Victoria Ground (God rest her soul!) or Goodison (i.e old grounds that were designed purely for an individual football team) then i could see your point but Wembley is not "The home of English football" it is just a national sporting arena that England happen to borrow when they play home matches.
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Post by stokesaint1 on Feb 19, 2009 19:16:44 GMT
I've now been on a couple of occasions, to watch super St Helens winning the RL Challenge Cup. On the positive side, the ground and viewing are superb. On the other hand, the supporter facilities are limited and not brilliant, especially insufficient toilets. The refreshments are also grossly over priced. The surrounding areas are an embarassment BUT the biggest issue is the absolutely pathetic road access to the place. How on earth, the main road into the stadium itself can be through an industrial estate beats the hell out of me and, I'm sure, the other poor sods who have had to queue for ages to get in there.
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