Today I had the opportunity to tour Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC. The tour leader was former Arsenal player (officially a "legend" according to the team website) Charlie George. The tour took us from the Diamond entrance at the side of the building into the directors box, including their lounge and club seats; down the elevator to the garage entrance the players use; to the dressing room including a quick look at the newly refurbished hydrotherapy spa; out of the tunnel and on to pitch level in the manager and player bench area; back into the press conference room; finally leading into the gift shop and the official Arsenal FC museum. Tour guide Charlie George was cordial and friendly, taking pictures with everyone, answering questions very honestly, and demonstrating a professionalism with us that the famously didn't with team management decades ago. The tour lasted an hour and cost 35 GBP (about $65 USD) plus 4 GBP (about $7) for a programme. If you are in London it is worth checking out the Legends Tour at Emirates, IMHO. The new stadium is gorgeous and walking out of the tunnel to the pitch is an amazing feeling, even with 60,000 seats empty. Pictures to follow.
Re: My Emriates tour featuring Charlie George Some interesting things that came up: - The grass is natural but underneath is some kind of mesh that grabs the roots of the grass above as it grows, meaning the real grass on top is stronger and the pitch doesn't get torn up when players slide and scratch it with their boots - When the stadium is paid off Arsenal will instantly become one of the richest teams in Europe because they are generating 30-million GBP a year profit; George claimed that Arsenal could very realistically be the richest team in Europe in the next decade - Emirates signed a sweetheart deal to get their name on the team jerseys (the team could be making 5-10x more elsewhere) but the stadium funding was needed so that sacrifice was made - Arsene Wenger thinks that squares are a negative shape, so the team dressing room is in the shape of a horseshoe; naturally, the away team dresses in a square room - 60,000 seats was the maximum allowable they could get from the city, so they have exactly that many; they'd have made it upwards of 90,000 otherwise because demand was so high - George is convinced Wenger will retire with Arsenal, but hesitated when asked if Cesc Fabregas will stay (thinks he will, but uncertain if another team such as Barcelona will offer him a massive salary which he would be foolish to turn down)
Fantastic notes, speeds. They were really interesting. I was going to have the tour of Emirates when I went my first time but they weren't touring that day. I did have a look around the museum though. It's really exciting to think we'll be that rich in the future! I hope you enjoy the majority of your stay in England, how is it going for you so far?
It's over, we leave tomorrow. We just came back from Paris to spend two more days here getting things wrapped up. It wasn't my first time in England but I was little before and don't remember much, if anything. Its a lively city. I like how it has the energy of a place like New York but it is a little more cultured. The people have been good to us. Paris was fun too but it felt rushed because we only had one full day, with half the day before coming and half the day after going. Roma next year, I reckon.
