[Albion] Wembley a Disappointment

[Simster]

I can see what the poster was saying in terms of it being a knock-out and 1-0 equated to 10-0 in terms of advancing to the next round, or in our case, the final. And if it had been either of the other semi-finalists, then his point would have been very valid indeed. But surely the reality is when playing one of the best teams in the world is to try and stay in the game and hope to nick it late on, which we almost did when that header was hooked away. I just hope that these are not the tactics in the next two home matches, as they seemed to be against the Stains - lose either one of those matches due to perceived ultra negativity and the atmosphere could turn quite toxic

His point about knock-out and it not mattering whether it was 1-0 or 10-0 is little more than a truism - as such, it isn't really a point that anyone can fail to see is it? Other than that, I agree with you - we shouldn't be playing like that except in away matches against the top 6 and home matches against the top 2 or 3. But this is analysis of our cup match, where playing as we did was 100% the correct thing to do in order to give ourselves a chance.

To re-iterate, I'm going to be as stroppy as anyone else if we play like that against Bournemouth on Saturday.

 

[Brovion]

Proof that Brighton fans will always find something to moan about.

Wembley isn't perfect but it's still bloody brilliant.

The only issue was Man City's dreadful support and the fact semi finals should be played at neutral grounds.

Jeez, I think we're entitled to say if we found the Wembley stadium 'experience' a bit underwhelming. That's not to detract from the actual event, but a lot of us, especially those who hadn't been there before, weren't that impressed with the physical building itself. If you think it's 'bloody brilliant' that's fine. It is admittedly way better than the old Wembley, but I'm sorry, as stadiums go I just prefer the Cardiff one.

And what happened to Wembley Way? I'm sure it used to be much more open with the stadium dominating the landscape. If it wasn't for the arch sticking forlornly over the skyline you'd hardly know it was there at all what with all the other high-rise buildings in the neighbourhood.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Yes, it was generally good. Strangely, as others have mentioned it, I too thought the signage outside was slightly confusing, but I would not say for one moment that this is a major issue.

The sinage was confusing. We were trying to make our way back from entrance H to the Orange coach park, and saw a sign saying Orange at the top of a set of steps. When arriving, we'd had to climb two flights of steps outside the main exterior concourse, and as the level we were on, was quite busy, we went down the two flights, only to find ourselves coming up against a concrete wall just 50 yards further on.
My ankles and knees were protesting at having to go back up those steps again and then on round to block B, opposite the original steps down.
I know there was a shuttle bus to the car parks but that was for the wheelchairs and mobility scooter disabled people.
I wonder if the disability access legislation was actually applied in the case of the new Wembley as I didn't see any ramps.

While wonderwall was annoying (having watched the recording you can hear us over it which was great) the pre-match music annoyed me more, they played an Oasis track which the City fans could just be heard singing along to so I thought they would then play a FBS song, I even thought for a second they were playing SBTS (I thought the PA was awful, I couldn't make out much of what was said) but no they played the Will Grigg song.

I heard Right Here, Right Now and Praise You being played.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Well the common wisdom on here before the game was that we'd get stuffed 5-0 and the most wished for thing was that we'd give it a good go. Which IMHO we did within our obvious limitations. Those limitations being that altbough we've got a Premier League Top Ten level defence, we've got a flakey defensive-minded midfield and a - no disrespect intended - powderpuff attack. I'd say that within the scope of those limitations we're doing pretty damn well and probably punching above our current weight.

Exactly and none of this took away my enjoyment of the day.

 

[LamieRobertson]

His point about knock-out and it not mattering whether it was 1-0 or 10-0 is little more than a truism - as such, it isn't really a point that anyone can fail to see is it? Other than that, I agree with you - we shouldn't be playing like that except in away matches against the top 6 and home matches against the top 2 or 3. But this is analysis of our cup match, where playing as we did was 100% the correct thing to do in order to give ourselves a chance.

To re-iterate, I'm going to be as stroppy as anyone else if we play like that against Bournemouth on Saturday.

You narf talking a lot of sense today Simster

 

[zefarelly]

Makes a pleasant change eh ;-)

Sat is a massive game to show our intent to stay up.

You narf talking a lot of sense today Simster

 

[melias shoes]

You ARE kidding me, right? I used to watch the dog racing there in 1980. Christ, what an absolute dump. And I used to go to Sunday market there in the car park. Cracking schmutter. You'll be harping on about how we will never replace Alan Gilliver and Kenny Beamish, next

The twin towers Harry. Yes it was a dump. Yes it was a crap view . As soon as I saw those twin towers for the first time as a boy it gave me goose bumps. The arch doesn't do the same for me . Yes the new Wembley is state of art with good views but it doesn't have the same aura for me.
Beamish wasn't bad but then again Ward wasn't bad either.

 

[Weststander]

The twin towers Harry. Yes it was a dump. Yes it was a crap view . As soon as I saw those twin towers for the first time as a boy it gave me goose bumps. The arch doesn't do the same for me . Yes the new Wembley is state of art with good views but it doesn't have the same aura for me.
Beamish wasn't bad but then again Ward wasn't bad either.

The Towers - also goosebumps for me as a kid, with 100,000 daytime or 92,000 evenings in for England. Magical, dreamt about it years later.

But by 1991, crikey the place was a dump. Rusting, awful sight lines, concrete that showed its age.

 

[melias shoes]

The Towers - also goosebumps for me as a kid, with 100,000 daytime or 92,000 evenings in for England. Magical, dreamt about it years later.

But by 1991, crikey the place was a dump. Rusting, awful sight lines, concrete that showed its age.

Agreed.
It was even worse in 1999 for England vs Scotland.

 

[Saunders]

Jeez, I think we're entitled to say if we found the Wembley stadium 'experience' a bit underwhelming. That's not to detract from the actual event, but a lot of us, especially those who hadn't been there before, weren't that impressed with the physical building itself. If you think it's 'bloody brilliant' that's fine. It is admittedly way better than the old Wembley, but I'm sorry, as stadiums go I just prefer the Cardiff one.

And what happened to Wembley Way? I'm sure it used to be much more open with the stadium dominating the landscape. If it wasn't for the arch sticking forlornly over the skyline you'd hardly know it was there at all what with all the other high-rise buildings in the neighbourhood.

Wembley Way is no different to what it was. In some ways its more open now. What has changed is that Wembley was a pearl in the turd that was a massive west london industrial estate. Wembley Way was an iconic lead up to the stadium and the towers going to it and the place they would funnel and kettle them on the way back to Wembley Park closing off all exits. The developments around the area are now so massive that you cant actually see the stadium from afar and even in the one place you can on Wembley Way it kind of seems underwheming now when there are seemingly larger buildings each side.

This was my first visit to the new stadium. I have been to the old one many times and for me the experience is way better now overall. Though I would like to watch England once last time in the terraces with a 100,000 crowd.

 

[Saunders]

Agreed.
It was even worse in 1999 for England vs Scotland.

It wasnt designed to be a seater stadium and was falling apart. One seat I got for the 1996 euro games was "restricted view" I was literally sitting directly behind a steel roof support one foot in front of me I moved to an empty seat. Glad I missed the 1999 game.

 

[drew]

I do wonder what some people expect from a stadium that holds 90k!

 

[Happy Exile]

The only thing surprised me on my first visit to the new Wembley was how rubbish the security was. No plastic bags of any size meant people were having small, clear, plastic bags with bananas in taken off them while rucksacks bigger than their regulations were being allowed through, as long as they were carried by kids. There was one guy walking around who seemed to have gone to the Nike outlet and bought a new pair of trainers. So paper bag and shoebox = fine, small, clear plastic bag = not fine. Then at the pat down on the way in I was asked what was in my pocket and the guy took my word for it that it was a glasses case, and my child and their bag were completely unchecked. It's a classic case of rules being applied because they are rules, without any thought behind the intent for those rules.

 

[CAPTAIN GREALISH]

The Towers - also goosebumps for me as a kid, with 100,000 daytime or 92,000 evenings in for England. Magical, dreamt about it years later.

But by 1991, crikey the place was a dump. Rusting, awful sight lines, concrete that showed its age.

so was the goldstone but will always be home ?? and magical?

 

[nicko31]

so was the goldstone but will always be home ?? and magical?

Yeah some false nostalgia on here

The Goldstone was far from magical by the early 90's, it was pretty depressing. The ground was falling apart and only noise in the ground was from the north stand and the away part of the east terrace.

I remember taking my American relative there in 1992 and he described it as a 3rd world experience...

 

[Simster]

Nothing about Wembley makes me think it was worth rebuilding. I prefer the Millennium stadium frankly, and that cost a tiny fraction of Wembley to build. If we had to have a national stadium, it should have been built in or near Coventry. It would have cost about a quarter of what it did, regenerated an entire city, and would have been far more central (with a nod to the more populated south east of the country).

If the mortgage had been manageable, the pressure to play semi finals there would have diminished as would the need for quite so many corporate seats.

And it's not as if London needs Wembley is it? If you include Twickenham, it already has four other rebuilt all seater stadiums seating over 55,000 with Chelsea potentially adding another soon.

 

[Worthing exile]

Jeez,

And what happened to Wembley Way? I'm sure it used to be much more open with the stadium dominating the landscape. If it wasn't for the arch sticking forlornly over the skyline you'd hardly know it was there at all what with all the other high-rise buildings in the neighbourhood.

We walked from Orange up the steps but never saw Wembley Way or anything prompting us to look for it. It was only after the game I realised. The area is far too over-developed. And I agree it should have been built somewhere cheaper in the midlands.

 

[CAPTAIN GREALISH]

Yeah some false nostalgia on here

The Goldstone was far from magical by the early 90's, it was pretty depressing. The ground was falling apart and only noise in the ground was from the north stand and the away part of the east terrace.

I remember taking my American relative there in 1992 and he described it as a 3rd world experience...

magical to me

 

[DavidRyder]

The last trip to Wembley for a game was 1991. I seem to remember swathes of open space all around the ground for parking.

Naively, I was expecting us to park next to the ground in similar fashion on Saturday. Instead, I really couldn't believe how built up it is now. Wembley Way now looks like a normal walkway, not the grand entrance it used to be.

I think they call it progress. To me it just made my heart sink a tiny bit.

 

[Wozza]

Nothing about Wembley makes me think it was worth rebuilding. I prefer the Millennium stadium frankly, and that cost a tiny fraction of Wembley to build. If we had to have a national stadium, it should have been built in or near Coventry. It would have cost about a quarter of what it did, regenerated an entire city, and would have been far more central (with a nod to the more populated south east of the country).

But you can't be arsed to go from Reigate to Falmer?!