I write as a supporter regarding the fiasco that was the Piccadilly Line closure and subsequent chaos around the area of Ashburton Grove after the Arsenal v Reading match on Saturday 3 March. It has been debated in the Gooner for a while about the transport infrastructure (or lack of) around the stadium and the events of the aforementioned date support my view.

The official line from the club was that they wanted to get 80% of supporters arriving at Ashburton Grove by public transport, which is fine. But, what they did not bank on was when the tube system would cock up in the style that it did on a match day. As we all know too well, London Underground is unreliable at the best of times so expecting season after season without transport hitches was a bit fanciful by the club to say the least.

The problem the club has, in essence, is that there have been no transport improvements apart from a few more rails at Arsenal tube and the four coppers at the top of St Thomas' Road and in the vicinity of Finsbury Park. Allegedly, Holloway Road would have cost £60m to be upgraded and Arsenal didn't want to pay it, but if they could pay £50m for a waste recycling plant at Lough Road that has no benefit to Arsenal Football Club or their supporters, then surely they could have found the money to upgrade Holloway Road and there would not be as much congestion at Arsenal. (Ed’s note – from memory, Arsenal were asked to stump up something like £7 million for transport improvements which they did. Transport for London then decided how to spend it, and were unwilling to spend so much to upgrade Holloway Road) I appreciate this had nothing to do with 3 March’s unfortunate events but this is part of a wider view. Drayton Park station is closed evenings and weekends because apparently there is not enough demand - which is rubbish because it's the closest station to the stadium so the whole situation stinks to say the least!!

The problem now is that the fun of going to football games is being sucked out because we have to spend ages on trains, crammed in like sardines and if they do muck up then we suffer significant delays and it is not fun any more. I love watching Arsenal, but I don't want to be crammed onto a train there and stand in long queues on the way back. This is Islington Council's and Arsenal's fault because of the ridiculous parking restrictions that are in place. Me and my father used to be able to drive to the area and park about a 25 minute walk away from Highbury but that just is not possible because of the ludicrous parking controls in Islington. It's like living in a communist state!!

The club have to do something because this situation is becoming fast intolerable, supporters don't want to put up with it and I feel that some sort of campaign needs to be made about this. As the Reading game demonstrated, if the tube stops working for some reason then thousands of supporters are going to be inconvenienced and it causes major disruption.

The reason I am submitting this for posting is because if I write to the club then I will get some dismissive mail merged letter as a response and by telling you, I feel I am getting in touch with people who care more about the supporters than the patronising board of directors do.