Kevin Whitcher
In the current issue of The Gooner (on sale this Saturday v Villa), Howard Lamb writes on ‘The Ups and Downs of a Gooner’ to relay the tale of how he moved from his upper tier season ticket seat to a lower tier one in the summer of 2012. The writer decided after one season that he preferred life higher up and promptly moved back.
In the light of this, a couple of interesting stories reached me this summer, indicating a change of policy at the club. Firstly, season ticket holders are now allowed to downgrade more than one price band, as Howard did a year ago. This was confirmed by a pair of pals who moved from next to centre upper back seats to the lower tier this summer.
Additionally, people on the season ticket waiting list were previously only offered seats in the upper tier behind the goals. At the new stadium, these seats are terrifically over-priced in comparison with the price structure at other stadiums. If, for example, you went to a Champions League final, the lower tier pitchside seats are equal with the most expensive seats. Those in the upper tier behind the goal are much cheaper. At Arsenal, this is a rather warped legacy of the North Bank Stand at Highbury and the original pricing of North Bank non-bond tickets. And it’s crazy. Those sitting pitchside downstairs are not about to complain, but regards the season ticket waiting list, the suspicion is that the club were finding the goal uppers a hard sell to would be buyers, so have relaxed the policy and now offer seats anywhere – including apparently lower tier.
The demand is now at a level where the club have to be more flexible with the supply. I wonder how many seasons away we are from Joe Public simply walking up to the box office and buying a season ticket without the need to be on any waiting list? This could well be dependent on the success of the team.
Anyway, I don’t need to move downstairs for a season to know I prefer my pew in the East Upper. This is not to do with atmosphere, but my enjoyment of watching football with a good perspective on the patterns of play. When I am near the front of a lower tier stand at an away game, close to the pitch, and realise there are empty seats higher up, I will always make my way up the steps to enjoy a better view and gain a better overall picture of the game.
It’s a preference, and some prefer the more intense atmosphere of being closer to the play and the smell of the grass. However, I am with Howard on this one.
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