My! What a contentious issue! It seems to me that the pessimistic fans out there have several gripes about this new stadium. These are as follows: Not enough atmosphere, fans who arrive late and leave early, and the plain old ‘It’s just not Highbury’.

As a season ticket holder in the redaction section, I have witnessed first hand the immense atmosphere that can be generated. Anyone who complains about a lack of ‘matchday experience’ knows where to sit – orange quadrant, lower tier. I give you the new north bank. The home of the Arsenal voice. As for the rest of the ground, acoustics have enabled the sound generated by the rest of the fans to carry effectively around the stadium. Nonetheless, there are some fans of every club in the country (not just Arsenal) who don’t want to sing. We’ve never been the most vocal of clubs, and anyone who expected Ashburton Grove to deliver a dollop of vocal character was living in cloud cuckoo land. It must be repeated – if you want to sing, you know where we are.

Tardy fans are the ones missing out. Not those of us already in our seats, eagerly awaiting the day’s first glimpse of our heroes. They’re contributing in their own way. If they genuinely aren’t excited, their interest in on the wane, and suffice to say they’ll find it difficult to justify the investment in tickets in the future. Sometimes however, come hell or high water, it just isn’t possible to make it on time. Whether it be traffic, work or a prior engagement, some of these people are doing their best just by turning up at all. Fans who leave early may just be trying to beat traffic or extensive tube queues – it’s human nature to want have more time with your family, or even to get home before midnight (for those Gooners who are so committed that they come from outside London to support the team they love). It’s funny, but of all of the Gooners I’ve met on my travels, the most ‘hardcore’ are the ones that come from outside the M25. Cock-er-ney Gooners are usually dull, pretentious and without a clue in the world as to why they’re so lucky to follow the Arsenal.

Finally, to the ‘It’s just not Highbury’ crew. Well done to you. Ten gold stars. You pillocks. Do you want to know why it’s not Highbury? Because we’ve just built it at great expense so that we can fit in more fans, generate more revenue, and invest more cash into the club. It’s the envy of the Premiership champions, let alone the Spurs, West Hams and Fulhams of this world. We now sit up there with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and AC Milan – in as far as we can now call ourselves a genuine ‘big club’. I loved Highbury. The first time I was taken there as a young ’un I was absolutely amazed. The atmosphere cut through me like a knife (even if it wasn’t that loud), and I fell in love instantly. Ashburton has the same effect on me now. When at Highbury though, I always had the impression that we were a normal club, operating under the pretence of being ‘big’. Now, with this marvel of the modern game, I think we can hold our heads high. But I suppose, if history has taught us anything, it’s that change is always received badly by those most effected. With hindsight, I’m sure we’ll come to think of this as the start of something amazing: the start of a golden age.