Tag Archives: travel

Arsenal champion parade “a sensible, safe route”

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First they moaned about the badge changing, and the cannon facing a different way.

Then they moaned about moving from Highbury to the Emirates.

Since then they have moaned about shirt designs (despite also boasting they have not bought a shirt since the 90s), they moaned about the Kroenke’s, then Arsene Wenger, then back to the Kroenke’s and then onto Arteta. Throughout they moaned about a lack of success.

And now we have won the league, they have move on to moaning about the parade.

Is there anything these people will not moan about? A bunch of sad fucks who are reflecting their own failures in life onto Arsenal, trying to spread negativity in the hope joyous fans around them become as bitter, negative and depressed as them.

They are the type of people that probably also blame the Government, migrants, the Tories, etc for their own life decisions and the fact that they still live in a council house because they chose to be a glorified cab driver or spend money poorly.

Firstly they were moaning about the parade being the day after the Champions League final. When exactly did they want it to happen?

You can not shut down huge swathes of Islington on a work day, especially considering the likes of the Holloway Road (also known as the A1), is one  London is a vital, high-volume artery connecting central London to the M25 amid the North Circ. It is one of the most congested roads in the UK.

Add in parades on working days are never fun for anyone, and would exclude more fans than having it on the Sunday!

Factor in that players join up with their World Cup squads on either Monday or Tuesday next week, and there are major events at Wembley the weekend after which require policing, the Old Bill nor Islington Council would never authorise a parade beyond Sunday. It is not the clubs fault.

And then we have the route.

Like clockwork, the usual demographic of fans are now moaning about the route – a 9km circle of the ground, sticking mainly to the bigger roads of Holloway Road, Seven Sisters road, Blackstock Road and Upper Street. It is a sensible route to follow considering up to 1 million fans are predicted to turn up.


Trying to design a parade route for 1m people is not easy. And it is laughable seeing people criticise the route when they can not even organise their own lives efficiently.

Whilst much of the unhappiness is that the players will not stop at either Islington Town Hall or the ground to life the trophy, it is a sensible decision for all involved.

What happened last Tuesday spooked the authorities massively. Over 100k turned up to the Emirates Stadium for a party. It was fantastic. But the club, police and Council were not prepared. And we saw on Sunday how different the congregation was managed.

Islington Council and the police would have had the final say on the route and the celebrations, not the club. The parade would have been presented to the Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG). This a forum for event organizers to discuss safety planning with local authorities and emergency services. It aims to ensure public safety, offering advice to organizers who retain legal responsibility. An event can not go ahead. A major event can not go ahead without sign off from the SAG.

At the end of the day, the safety of fans is the most important factor. We saw at Liverpool’s parade last year how dangerous things can get. A much longer route than normal, alongside the lack of a focus point, reduces the risk of overcrowding and will ensure there is more space for everyone that goes.

Remember, many of those on the route will be with young children. This is an experience they may never forget. The safety of attendees must be above someone being upset because the route has changed from the last parade and it will no longer go under their balcony.

The route is basically a pub crawl around the Emirates. It passes almost every major drinking establishment that fans frequent. And that means plenty of toilets, places to grab a drink, and to grab some shade.

I hope everyone that attends the parade on Sunday has a brilliant, and safe, time. Myself, I will not be attending as I will still be in Budapest.

The parade is a sensible, safe route. Even if the moaners disagree. And if you do not like the route, stay at home or in the pub.

UTA

Keenos

Where have the 1,000 missing Crystal Palace tickets gone?

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I am on 52 credits.

Over a decade of going home and away, although in recent years it has been a little less than normal.

I have never missed out on a ticket for Crystal Palace ticket before, and when the sales phases were announced by the club that they would start at 60, then drop to 55, before going to 50, I was confident I would get a ticket.

West Ham away, with 3,001 away tickets allocated, went to 30+.  For Palace we were allocated 2,687 tickets. Just 314 difference. So it was to my horror when the club announced after the 55+ sale that “only an extremely limited number of restricted view tickets available for this game.”

I spent yesterday evening looking into this, and checking out X accounts of those in the know. The only conclusion from everyone was that around 40% of away tickets had been held back by the club. Over 1,000.

Now it is usual for tickets to be held back and given to players, coaches, support staff and sponsors. It was never normally an issue, although the last few years the amount held back seems to have increased.

By 10.01 this morning, by the time the website had woken up, all remaining tickets were gone. I had been logged on since 9.30.

So around 1,000 tickets will not go to away fans like me who have followed the club loyally through some very dark days. Been to your Stoke’s, Swansea’s, Sunderland’s and Cologne’s. Thousands spent, arriving home in the early hours of a Monday morning with work a quick nap away.

Instead, we will see more tickets going to friends and family of players, and plenty held back for sponsors.

We will get a cousin of William Saliba from Paris who has never been to an Arsenal get game a ticket. Some Instagram tart who doesn’t care about football, just footballers, who a player gives tickets to because he is trying to get in her knickers. Someone who works for whichever dodgy betting or crypto company we are currently partnered with getting tickets, and probably selling them on for huge profits, and so on.

I have no issue missing out on tickets if those getting them have been to more games, have got more credits. But to lose out because the club have decided to hold back 40% to appease those who have not done their time leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Especially when you consider over the last couple of years the club have gone on the attack against the away fans.

First they got rid of the away scheme. Then they introduced disruptive ticket collections. All under the guise of that tickets were being used by the right fans, the fans that were going week in, week out.

On the tele against Palace, the TV cameras will zoom into your kids. This will be celebrated by the club like it was against Bournemouth a few years ago. But these young kids would not have been to enough games to have the 55+ credits, so how have they got a brief? Through a sponsor? Through a player? Or just gifted by the club.

It just is not right.

And what is most annoying is I will go again next season. Do my time. My travels. And it will happen again. Non-regular fans will queue jump just because they work for a company that has a box. Distant cousins and family members will get tickets despite never having been to a game. And all the while the club will continue their attack on the normal away fan.

The final point is “where were you when we were shit”.

My biggest frustration right now is fans only complaining about tickets now that we are doing well again. They were no where to be seen in those dark days. And once those days come back again, which they will, these players families, those sponsors, the drips with their Club Level season ticket that they got 3 years ago will disappear. They will find another hobby. Meanwhile I will still be there. Hoping for us to have good times again, with the knowledge that when they arrive I will be screwed over again.

Thanks Arsenal.

Keenos

Arsenal fans face train issues to Brighton

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Good morning from a replacement Central Line bus.

I was already not really looking forward to the trip due Brighton due to the Central Line being suspended from Leyton into Central London. That meant replacement bus services to Stratford, before jumping on the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon, to catch the Thameslink down to Brighton.

Not a huge issue, the replacement bus would be fairly quick. And I decided to use my time on the bus to write the blog.

Then about half an hour ago someone stuck in the WhatsApp group about Brighton train cancellations.

Since this update at 4am, it looks like things have cleared up a little and some trains are running from St Pancras / Farringon / London Bridge. But it does look like a lot of the Victoria trains are cancelled.

Brighton is just an hour train journey, so the reported additional hour is not a huge delay. It will just mean a couple of extra beers on the train, and a couple less in Yates in Brighton.

This is just what away fans have to deal with on a regular. Especially in this current age where there are strikes and overtime bans! This time the delay is caused by a landslide (out of the train companies control).

I often see online about how “dedicated” foreign fans are, getting up at 2am to watch a game. But setting an alarm, rolling over and turning your laptop on is not tough. Try being stuck in Birmingham for 5 hours waiting for replacement busses due to train cancellations and getting home at 5am!

Hopefully by the time we embark on our return journey in about 10 hours time, the situation has further improved. I really do not want to be scrapping around brighten looking for a cab that will take us back into London.

I will continue my journey. Should be into Stratford soon and then it is onto Farringdon. Couple of beer in the John Oldcastle. They we will continue our journey to the South Coast.

UTA.

Keenos