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1. Why you were looking
forward to going to the ground (or not as the
case may be):
Having gone to Old Trafford last season
to see Leeds knock out Man Utd, I didn't want
to miss out on a similar occasion this year.
Also I'd never been to the Emirates before and
there's no better way to go than with your
team.
2. How easy was your journey/finding the
ground/car parking?
We got the train from Newcastle to Kings Cross
and from there got the tube to Islington, and
a 10 minute walk or so got us there, but the
ground isn't visible, so we relied on locals
and signs.
3. What you did before the game pub/chippy....
home fans friendly?
We stopped off at a burger van pre-match and
then entered the ground. There were 8,000
Leeds fans all in one end, making such noise
that we drowned out the Arsenal
supporters. I was surprised by how close
together both sets of fans were
situated, in fact in
talking distance, but there was no
trouble.
4. What you thought on seeing the ground,
first impressions of away end then other sides
of the ground?
The ground is by far and away, the most modern
ground in England, however it seemed more
of a theatre than a football stadium. Still
there were large padded seats for
all, and the stadium as a whole looks
quite smart, although surprisingly it looks
bigger inside than out.
The Leeds fans got the whole lower tier behind
one of the goals and half the upper tier,
including two corners, there was a middle
tier of corporate seats in-between
the Leeds fans, which isn't a great idea, but
I'm told the usual amount of away fans is just
the lower tier corner of that end.
5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere,
stewards, pies, toilets etc..
The game was tense for Leeds, however as per
usual the Leeds fans sung from start to
finish. Leeds went one nil up thanks to a
Snodgrass penalty shortly after half time,
this created ecstasy in the away end, with all
8,000 of us bouncing around. Arsenal equalised
with a Fabregas penalty at the death however,
but we were happy simply to get a
replay. Stewards were fine, toilets
probably the best I've seen for a football
ground. Food was very expensive and names such
as hand-crafted pies took away the
traditional, working class feel of a football
ground.
6. Comment on getting away from the ground
after the game:
Leeds fans were kept in for about 15 minutes
after the game compared to one hour the
previous year at Old Trafford, and when we
were let out, there was very big crowds
queuing for the tube, however no trouble
occurred with both fans bantering instead.
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:
Good game, Nice Ground, Friendly all be it
quiet fans!
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