Took my son to his first game on Sunday. Booked his mum and him in the family enclosure thanks to his JG membership and the loan of a silver from a mate. On the plus side, the seats at the new stadium are so wide that I was able to join them and the three of us sit on two seats with the boy in the middle. He’s five, but I was amazed that he did not seem to get bored at any point during the 110 plus minutes from kick off til the game finished.

The kid is absolutely petrified of Gunnersaurus. We were in row 10 and nowhere near the front, but he was still freaked out by this vision in green. Having said that, he runs away from Father Christmas, so I guess the instruction not to talk to strangers has certainly had its effect. Funniest moment was at half time. I spotted a snapper who works for one of the pic agencies that supplies the printed issue of The Gooner with images behind the goal. I went to give him a shout before he moved up the other end so he could take a pic of myself and my son, what with it being his first Arsenal game. Then Gunnersaurus just happened to appear from wherever he disappears to when the match is on. So my five year old is gone. Crawling under seats and back a couple of rows in sheer terror. I have never seen him move so fast.

Still, enough of this self indulgence, the reason I am writing about the afternoon is the crap view from behind the goal. Did not really have much of a clue what was going on at the other end and could certainly not describe the goals with any accuracy until I caught them on ‘Match of the Day’ later that evening. I’ve sat lower tier at Ashburton once before – to test out the view I swapped seats with someone for the game v Porto and was about six rows in front of the press box. From the side, it was okay. But this was the first time behind either goal, and I was in row 10. God alone knows what rows 1 to 9 must be like, because this was not good. I’m spoiled – even at the back – of the Upper Tier, although in truth, that is why I sit up there. For an extra £300 a season I have some concept of what is going on during the game. But the gradient of the seats downstairs is simply appalling.

The height restriction in the planning permission is obviously the reason they don’t go up very much row to row, and yet, I feel that, if they could have accepted that some overhang from the tiers above is a necessary sacrifice in order to give people a decent view of the match, it didn’t have to be this way. It’s a shame as it would be nice for kids to get an idea of what is occurring during the match positionally, but that would be a tough ask anywhere below row 18 behind the goal in my opinion.

Still, at least I can move for the next match to my season ticket seat, able to afford a half decent pew. The atmosphere is better downstairs, and that will not surprise anybody. In fact it was probably too good in the family enclosure with some teenagers behind me issuing expletives occasionally. If I asked them to remember there were younger kids present it would have made it worse. You know the mindset. Still, it’s these types that will keep the atmosphere at the stadium noisy, so it was just a case of them doing it in the seats they could afford and me hoping that my son won’t be repeating any of it at school. I think most of it passed over his head.

I’m sure my boy will be badgering me to go again – although I had him down as a potential Jonah until the equaliser. However, his mum can take him into that family enclosure on her own next time. I’ll choose to watch a game of football from somewhere I can make sense of it.