I am a fairly regular visitor to the wba rivals board; I like it there, the posters have an older profile than here and the humour is very dry. In the last week or so I’ve watched the build up to the most lucrative game in the world. There is a thread, the last thread started by a lad who died in an accident in December, that they have kept in view and decided to try to get to 1000 posts by the final. The thread made it with a couple of days to spare, thanks to help from the Owls. Apart from that, the primary topics of conversation have been tickets and travel; how to get them, where to get them, how much to pay, where to park, which train to get. The message board did not tolerate any touting and anyone asking for more than face value for a ticket was reported/banned or otherwise sent packing. Buyers refused to pay more than face value. Any tickets on ebay were reported and taken down. Derby fans collaborated with phone numbers and contacts for Club Wembley while they were selling packages. There was panic, there was desperation but in the end it seemed everyone was either sorted or accepted they would watch it at home. No-one mentioned the team. For my last trip to the old Wembley stadium I had such a crap seat, right at the top under the rafters so I couldn’t see the far side of the pitch without ducking down and I was looking forward to my first experience of this wonderful new building, with no restricted views or cramped stairwells. Plastic Baggie had bought top price tickets and at first sight we were pleased with our seats, 18 rows from the front, mid-way between the half-way line and the penalty area, opposite the tunnel. Until we began to get wet. Seventy-two quid and you get rained on! The fifteen thousand empty seats were a disgrace and the sooner Wembley and the Football League come to some agreement over them the better. There is no segregation issue. The only segregation anywhere was a bit of netting over a band of seats. The problem is apparently a disagreement over sharing the revenue from Club Wembley tickets. That both parties would rather see empty seats than compromise is an insult to all fans. The band of empty seats has a crippling effect on the atmosphere as it separates the lower and upper tiers of fans. It will be interesting to see what happens for the Brazil game when the seats will be occupied but by ‘non-singers’. The stadium will look better, but will it sound better? WBA started well but didn’t seem to create many goal-scoring opportunities. When Robbo lost the ball right in front of me, I knew it would result in a goal. He plays with heart and we all love him for that but sometimes that clenched fist raised to the crowd blind us to his lapses on the pitch. Mowbray made some tactical substitutions to get more attacking options but the game never caught fire. It was nothing like Cardiff last year and when the final whistle went I don’t think anyone was too disappointed. For many, the Premiership is a bleak prospect for a newly promoted team, especially one going up via the play-offs, not having established supremacy in the Championship as Reading did. As we queued quietly in the cold and rain for the train, the Derby fans walking by weren’t singing or celebrating or even smiling very much. There was hardly any noise at all apart from the station announcer and the odd baggie happily contemplating a trip to Blackpool, until a lone voice started to sing, to the tune of “She’ll be coming round the mountain,” “You can stick your sixty million up your arse……” And so say all of us!
Excellent read. It is a disgrace that you can get wet in that stadium. Hasn't something like 5000 seats been replaced as well due to fading into pink due to the sun as well? Not exactly the element free stadium it was meant to be.
I've just read that keeping fans dry is one of the things Wembley has to achieve in order to get a 5 star rating and be able to host events like Champions League finals and World Cups. If the rain had been coming straight down we would have been OK but when does it ever do that? It was windy and bizarrely the rain was coming from behind us ie the area of stand deeper under cover. The seats that were not sat on were getting wet in the upright position and had to be wiped.
Only disabled people have to be covered as part of the criteria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Stadia_List I think the key was in the wording: every seat is covered. Sounds silly but that doesn't mean you won't get wet
I read from here:http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/news/article2542368.ece "The roof will not close completely, but if it rains - once that faulty section has been dealt with - only the players should get wet. Keeping spectators dry is a necessary part of earning the Fifa five-star rating which Wembley must have in order to host future Champions League and - dare we say it - World Cup finals."
Good read. I'm seeing my Baggies mate later and will be trying to cheer them up. They've been very supportive towards me and Watford this season so i was gutted for them when Derby scored.
