I would baulk at paying that much to see Brighton, let alone England. I have no interest in spending £100 or so (Ticket/travel/food/drinks) to see a friendly.
The FA have really screwed up Wembley. Did it not make a loss of £20m in it's first year? Obviously I was not expecting a profit, but that does seem to be a large amount with so many high profile events taking place.
I notice that the Wembley Club block was near empty AGAIN. Looks painfully embarrassing for all those concern in running the whole sham.
Very true.
I paid 2 x £30 for me and the boy to go along. He'd never been to Wembley, I hadn't been to the new one, so it was something of a tourist trip tonight.
Did we enjoy it ? Yes
Were we impressed with the stadium ? Yes
Will I be going to another friendly ? Nope
Now that I've seen what they've done with the old dump, I'll keep my powder dry for the qualifiers.
I thaught it was worth the £30 I spent for my ticket, plus travel and food/drinks. It was never going to be a sell out for an end of season friendly on a wednesday night and it was shown on BBC!!
The main (and probably only if I think about it) moan Ive got is that getting away after the game is a nightmare (although Im guessing that getting 70,000 people away from anywhere would pose difficulties)
The whole experiance 9/10, AMAZING stadium, food and beer expesive but you expect that and getting away was a pain but again you would expect that
The game, 6/10, a win is a win and it was a nothing friendly with not even a euro squad place at stake so I wasnt expecting a game that sticks in the mind!!
I didn't think getting away was all that bad at all, certainly better than the old days before they redeveloped. We went back to Wembley Park to pick up the Jubilee - left the ground (ie our seats) at 10, and by 10.25 we were on the tube heading back. Considering you're with 70-odd thousand, the majority of whom are heading for the tubes, that ain't bad.
Oh, and a pint of flat Carlsberg in a plastic glass was £3.50. Not brilliant, but not as exhorbitant as I thought it'd be. Also picked up a rather smart polo shirt for £12, and a fridge magnet for £4 (when it should have been £4.50). Bargain !
And another thing. The programme was £6. It is the most boring DIRGE I have ever had the misfortune to read, but it did at least help me get off to a little snooze between Clapham Junction and Burgess Hill.
I paid £40 for my ticket last night.
It was my first trip to the new Wembley so yes it was well worth it. Ok so the game wasn't great but the stadium is mighty impressive and I was actually quite suprised that for a friendly with a fair few empty seats the atmosphere was quite good too.
Like Easy says I won't be going back for another friendly but if I can get tickets for a qualifier then I'd be happy to pay the money again.
Had this game taken place on a saturday rather than a midweek evening I have no doubt it would have sold out. It's not so bad for people from in and around London but the national team are followed by the whole country and it's difficult for many people like myself to make midweek games, I also think the credit crunch is taking effect.
As said previously though, tickets can be purchased for as cheap as £25, which is terrific value.
To be honest, which other country would get 71,000 for a mid week friendly against the might of the US of A. Even taking in the lure of Wembley. Not sure if anyone saw the highlights of the Russia v Serbia game on Sky Sports News. It was played in a ground (Burghausen, Germany) that can only be described as only fit for Blue Square South
Main reason why i went was because i have this week off work so has given me something to do (along with going to the Udder Belly on monday and seeing Indiania Jones)
I got the cheapest tickets and wouldn't have paid anymore than £30 tbh.
Also took along someone who hasn't been before and he enjoyed it, so made abit of a day of it.