wembley........at last

[Simmo79]

alright, threadjack

What did people think of Wembley on the telly?

I don't like how far back the seats are behind the goal. There's exta pitch length for RL but then another 10 metres of space wasted on a cinder track. You can't see the crowd, just a big old empty space.

What also looked crap was that the middle three bays on the northern side were empty for the first 10 minutes of the second half because the suits were off at lunch so that grandstand looked like Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea Empty Empty Empty Utd Utd Utd Utd. God the FA is a pack of sellouts

A football pitch can be up to 130yds. If the FA used the maximum length, there'd be little or no space behind the goals.

Other than that, I cannot add much to yuor summation Simmo. I've really turned off English soccer in the past three or so years. What has maintained my interest (lower league P&R as well as lopsided giantkilling Cup runs) is unfortunately drowned out by a blatant lack of competition and substance. That's for another thread anyway.

I didn't watch the presentation as I was really tired. Did they go up into the stand like the days of old?

yep. Up to the second level in fact. Prince William is losing his hair fast. As for the pitch size it's the cinder track that I don't like, not the larger RL/full-sized soccer field. It's just dead ground with no obvious purpose.

I agree with the bolded bit. I blame the Champions League. It's such a massive cash boost from TV rights and overseas merchandising that it's created a viscious cycle of constantly rewarding teams that already have tonnes of money. If it was more of a closed system the likes of Villa, Newcastle and Spurs would be able to match Arsenal and Liverpool. Utd's domestic fan base is too large for them to ever be brought back to mid-table obscurity. And as for Chelsea...


Of course me complaining about foreign fans filling the coffers of only the rich clubs is like going somewhere on holiday and complaining about all the tourists.

[dibo]

I didn't bother watching the FA Cup as I was more concerned with getting home from work. The old Wembley used to pride itself on having the biggest ground surface in England. I gather this is no longer the case with standardised pitches.

yeah, it's a standard pitch.

did anyone notice the new-fangled anti pitch invasion devices?



look at the front of the fence - there's a horizontal fence coming out about 2m - presumably instead of vaulting a barrier, it's been determined that it's harder to launch over one of these things. as a replacement for high perimeter fences, it seems a good idea.

[hot_dogma]

The old Wembley after the perimeter fences came down had something similar which went onto the speedway track.

[dibo]

The old Wembley after the perimeter fences came down had something similar which went onto the speedway track.

i didn't know that. it's curious taht this isn't standard practice, as it seems (to a non-expert mind like mine) that it would both prevent pitch invasions and neither obscure views nor crush people to death (any more than a regular perimeter fence like at any of our grounds).

[RobertHeatleyStand]

Am I the only one that thinks the atmosphere was better at millennium stadium???

[britishspud]

btw......carlisle united's brunton park had the largest pitch in england not wembley


other than that i thought the stadium looked awesome on saturday,can't wait for the challenge cup final in august,got my hotel & coach booked,just need a ticket for the game now

[Simmo79]

Am I the only one that thinks the atmosphere was better at millennium stadium???

It does have better acoustics. The stands are on top of the pitch and the roof was often closed.

[hot_dogma]

btw......carlisle united's brunton park had the largest pitch in england not wembley

If that is correct the only reason would be because they tried to realign the ground and Michael Knighton ran out of money. Or more to the point, they just couldn't be bothered finishing it.

[Tancred]

A football pitch can be up to 130yds. If the FA used the maximum length, there'd be little or no space behind the goals.

it can, but IIRC FIFA recommends (and for international matches, mandates) a field of 105x68m.

I would love to find out the truth about just what FIFA and UEFA want. Both seem to keep secret pdf's that only clubs/bidding countries can get hold of.

The FA and Arsenal both claim the extra space behind the goals is to meet UEFA requirments. The latest Liverpool renders also show a massive gap between the fans and the pitch. However new stadiums in Germany are still being built with the fans right on top of the pitch (as it should be).

This is a good example of a new non World Cup stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LTU_ ... teiner.jpg

[britishspud]

btw......carlisle united's brunton park had the largest pitch in england not wembley

If that is correct the only reason would be because they tried to realign the ground and Michael Knighton ran out of money. Or more to the point, they just couldn't be bothered finishing it.

no it's always been the largest pitch in england...it's a famous pub sports question,everyone thinks it was wembley but it's not..

[swede]

A football pitch can be up to 130yds. If the FA used the maximum length, there'd be little or no space behind the goals.

it can, but IIRC FIFA recommends (and for international matches, mandates) a field of 105x68m.

I would love to find out the truth about just what FIFA and UEFA want. Both seem to keep secret pdf's that only clubs/bidding countries can get hold of.

The FA and Arsenal both claim the extra space behind the goals is to meet UEFA requirments. The latest Liverpool renders also show a massive gap between the fans and the pitch. However new stadiums in Germany are still being built with the fans right on top of the pitch (as it should be).

This is a good example of a new non World Cup stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LTU_ ... teiner.jpg

FIFA/UEFA want a 105 x 68 m pitch within an area of 120 x 80 meters.
So minimum space behind the goal is 7½ meter and 6 meters on the side.
Adverts etc can be inside that area but any kind of barrier cannot meaning Wembley´s horizontal fence needs to be added making it - roughly - around 10 meters from seat to pitch

Wembley is quite close to that in the corners but then bends away as the side stand is slighly circular making the distance bigger near the the middle.
I think there are good reasons for that.

It increases capacity. If it didnt bend away, several good centre seats would be lost. Its mainly the best seats that are pushed a bit further away. It evens out the quality of view to build in this way.
Alternatively they could have increased the height of the stand but I think its high enough. I think the view will be better at Wembley than for instance from the third tier at Old Trafford.

Also, of course, it increases capacity for concerts to have a larger area (and its Wembley, London, there will be plenty big events) but even for football alone it does make sense for large-capacity venues to move the stands away from the field.
If a theoretical 200,000 capacity stadium was to be built, it would be impossible without some distance between pitch and stands

[Egan]

Welcome Back Swede, been a long time no post.

[swede]

Welcome Back Swede, been a long time no post.

You´re right, Egan, I shouldnt forget those regular pro-London posts
especially now where a further three 60,000 football stadiums are being planned, taking the London total to six.
Lord´s have also announced plans to expand up towards 40,000 and this october both The NHL and NFL will make history by visiting the world sports capi...er.. I mean London.

Anyway, Wembley, comparing it to stade de France really shows that those gaps arent really an issue.
The worst seat in the SdF is 2 meters further away from the centre spot than the same Wembley seat (137 v 135 m) and thats in an 80,000 capacity stadium with smaller seats (48 cm v 50 cm) and less legroom (75 cm v 80 cm).
Had Wembley gone with the same seats/legroom, capacity would have been 100,000, and all closer to the centre circle than the poorest seat in the 80,000 SdF. Wembley also has more than twice as much "circulation" space, which shows just how massive it is.

I only see two disappointing things.
The roof takes far longer to open and close than planned, meaning the decission on whether to open or close will have to be made far earlier making it more difficult to get the weather right.

And then the fact that capacity is in effect only 75,000 for lower league games as wembley refused to re-sell the Wembley season ticket seats for any of the three play-off games this weekend.
Its pathetic to stage these games with 15,000 empty seats while thousands cant get tickets. Hopefully they can fix that.

[britishspud]

it's not that wembley refused to re-sell the club wembley tickets but wembley & the FA could'nt decide how the profits from the re-sold club wembley seat could be split....daft really..

[weatherhead]

I know this is sorta stating the plain obvious - and sure to fire up a few - but IMO this is how Telstra Stadium should have been. The stadium suffers from not being an 'in the round' design where the grandstands circle the entire ground.

Wembley will be an awesome experience full!