I miss Highbury.
Let me just state for the record that I live in Boston, USA.
I have not been to the new Stadium, Emirates… and I haven’t been to London since Spring of last season to see MY last game at Highbury. But I have this nostalgic feeling towards Highbury… and the area surrounding the stadium and neighborhood. I have “that itch” every season to get there and be a part of the atmosphere and people. I would long to be back at Highbury… Arsenal Stadium… the Home of Football.
I would love to hear from some of the folks who have been to the new stadium. Their impressions of the place. Comparisons to Highbury… the good? the bad? the ugly? It doesn’t seem like the atmposphere is close to what I have experienced at Highbury… but its hard to decipher from 3000 miles away watching on TV. Whats the new place like, anyway? I just don’t have the same gravitational pull yet about “getting to Emirates”… but maybe I should.
15 Responses to “Highbury Highs…”
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October 7th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Well, I haven’t been yet, but I will be! And I’ll get to experience Emirates for both a day game and a night game, league and Europe. Its like winning the lottery ? but a lottery that sucks the money out of your wallet. Hell, I don’t care. I can’t wait. That’s what money’s for. There’s no place on earth I’d rather be.
Also, word is out that the club is allowing banners to be hung over the bland concrete that circles our majestic new home of football until they figure out what they want to do with the space. Personally, I would love to see some pictures, or a mural, of great moments and players. We need to bring some Highbury history into the new grounds ? or more specifically, near the pitch ? so it feels more like home. Anyway, I say ArseAm make a banner. Something huge, something cool. This is a new era, and the passionate fanbase in the States needs to represent. I’ll hang the damn thing myself.
From now until the the 18th of November will be just filler and downtime as far as I’m concerned. Getting to Emirates is essential to me letting Highbury go. Like stag, I loved the place. It weird because I’ve only been there twice yet I’ve felt drawn to it for the last ten years. I’ve decorated the main hallway in my condo in its honor, and when I heard the clock end was coming down, I nearly cried. So being able to see The Arsenal at the new ground, playing like they are, will help me attain some closure. And you can bet I will be going to the site and saying goodbye and thanks, which I know will be quite an emotional moment for this yank.
So let’s think of a banner and get it up for the NUFC game. And then, we need to sing our hearts out. I want everyone who leaves the ground on that night to be able to say that American support is a good thing for the club…essential even.
UTAKTCKTF.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I too, stag, love the place - Highbury. I always have a fond spot to those old-fashioned, terrace, house-in-the-background type of “old grounds”. From there, you not only see the stadium, you see the surrounding as well, the trees, the houses etc. It soft of gave u an unique feeling of every ground.
With the modern stadium, all you could see is the stadium (from TV), and everyone of them looks rather similiar.
Funny, one of the landmarks i miss most is the white clock on the top of the clock end. Every time i saw it at the past, it gave me a feeling that this is “home”, home of the football club I love. ‘Cos nowhere else, you could see a same old clock like the one on the roof of clock end. Only at Highbury.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Ol’ highbury. Although it was a bit of a dump I still miss it like hell. I think Arsenal has changed in Henry’s eyes because of it’s demise as well. He will still give 100% for the cause but at highbury you felt as if Henry was playing for memory of Herbert Chapman himself at times. It might actually help his game as might not have those “tight” games that afflicted him against certain big teams at highbury. He will be more detached and like that he is at his best in my opinion.
My own memory of highbury will the two glorious weeks I spent doing work experience, basically pissing around helping to fix seats and stuff. I alternated stands every day from which to have lunch, west stand on monday, north bank on tuesday…etc. It was even a pleasure cleaning Gunnersaurus boots.
It’s weird, when I think of highbury I don’t think of a certain game or goal. I think of those golden ten days spent strolling around highbury alone without a care in the world. Every other day I would walk by Charlie George. It doesn’t get any better than that.
October 7th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Mazza, definitely agree with the Henry part u mentioned abt.
I sum it up with two lines here - There was no player played BETTER on the Highbury pitch than Thierry Henry… And Henry hasn’t played BETTER in anywhere than in Highbury.
When Henry said he loved Highbury, I believe him.
October 8th, 2006 at 1:16 am
I went to my first game in 1959 (that dates me!)I was a season ticket holder for God knows how many years. East Stand Upper Centre Block right behind the seat where George Graham used to sit and make his phone messages to the dug-out. Having done all my growing up at the place it was a real wrench to let go, but the new stadium is the absolute business. It really does take your breath away and feels absolutely right, to the point where I wouldn’t want to go back to the old place even if it wasn’t being turned into yuppie flats. The new stadium is the start of great things for the club. Make no mistake of that!
I’m in California for a couple of months on holiday (tough life, isn’t it?)and we haven’t missed a game on the box yet. Mark Barbeau and the rest of you Arsenal America boys do a great job in keeping things going over here. A massive pat on the back.
October 8th, 2006 at 6:03 am
Even though I’ve followed Arsenal since 1978, I’ve only seen them play at Highbury for the past 6 years. I can’t claim the strength of association of longer-term supporters or season ticket holders, but Highbury leaves a mark on anyone who’s been there.
It was sad to leave Highbury, but I have to say The Emirates is phenomenal. I’ve been twice, once for Members Day and once for a league game (the frustrating draw with Middlesbrough). The stadium manages to be intimate and close to the pitch (it affords the same great views all round as you’d find, for example, at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff) but at the same time is light, spacious and comfortable. I feel very at home there. And as for the atmosphere. . .I’ve found it to be awesome. It’s amazing to look around the ground and see nigh on 60,000 Arsenal supporters urging the team on. We know we’re a ‘big’ club - well, at The Emirates, that’s now visible to all!
The Highbury magic is still there. For me, the journey in hasn’t really changed. I just have to remember to turn right instead of left when I emerge into the light from Arsenal tube station! I buy my copy of The Gooner in the same bustling, terraced streets as before. So I still get the unique atmosphere, but with a great new stadium. Best of both worlds.
October 9th, 2006 at 4:14 am
Highbury was a classic old english stadium, caught in the middle of houses and hustle and bustle of North London.
Many would argue Highbury lost a lot of its magic when it became an all seater stadium. I used to pop down to the North bank as a child of 11 or 12, get right to the front and wait for the wave of people as the ball moved close to the goal. That was real atmosphere, perhaps 15,000 people in one single storey stand, standing and singing and all for a few pounds.
It was not safe either but as football is a working man’s game that is where it has come from.
All seater stadia reduced numbers increased prices and some say removed some of the working class, therefore the roots of the game were removed.
The new stadium is what football is the third millenium is going to be about.
Amazing views, good quality food, if a bit over priced.
The other thing to bear in mind with the stadiums is the quality of football.
I was there when Terry Neil was the manager and we would finish about 6th or 8th.
As the stadium has improved so has the quality of the football. Whilst the price of a ticket has increased so has the size of the squads, the speed of the game and it is now a real day out of entertainment.
October 9th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Sigh. I wish I could miss Highbury. I never had the chance to go. By the time I made enough money to consider going, I had kids, which sort of changes one’s priorities. I do enjoy reading about everyone else’s experiences though.
October 9th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Take the kids.
Introduce them, and yourself… to a bit of what its all about.
Even if its a once in a lifetime “pilgrimage”… the trip to see English Footy LIVE is definitely…. “all its cracked up to be”.
Seriously.
And London ain’t bad either as a tourist city… there are about a million things to do and see…
October 9th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
Oh, I plan on it. Right now they are only two and the idea of traveling from Seattle to London with two year old boys makes me cringe a bit. When they are a little older we will definitely go though.
October 9th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Thats the ticket!
October 10th, 2006 at 9:05 am
This kind of fits the subject, but its mostly for stag.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc5BMFBiAw0&eurl=
October 10th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
What did Bergkamp say? Patrick could ruin a whole a midfield by himself? Definately the case in europe ;^)
October 10th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh… yes.
I know… you know… what he said!
RULE the midfield… and that he did.
Best Arsenal Midfielder Ever.
October 10th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Scotty…
that was MUCH appreciated…
I hadn’t seen that… and enjoyed it a great deal.
Thank you.
I take it you are going on the Arsenal America trip… you are booked and all that jazz?
I MIGHT try to sneak a cheap flight over… and get tickets on my own thru my mates… funds are low at the moment… so gotta see how it works out.
Cheers.