Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Abbeyfealeavfc on March 03, 2020, 09:33:37 AM
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I've been to the Principality Stadium (Cardiff), The Aviva Stadium (Dublin) and to Hampden Park in Scotland. I would rank all of these above Wembley for facilities, views and a competent workforce. Granted the experiences of myself, family and friends on Sunday weren't great (particularly with the staff around the club wembley/bobby moore) part of the ground, but I would be interested to know other views.
I've never been to Twickenham or Murrayfield. I've been to Croke Park, but only an empty one (other than conference attendees) and I wondered how Wembley Stadium would match up to these venues?
Imo Wembley (as a national stadium) ranks even lower than a lot of club stadiums around the country.
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I don't like Hampden because Clyde have a shit record against QP. It's okay, if a bit bland. I don't really see the point in rebuilding it. Just let QP play at Little Hampden and rotate Scotland games between Celtic, Rangers and Murrayfield. It was good when it could potentially hold 150,000 but pointless when it is only the third biggest ground in the city.
Wembley is okay, better than it was. Again I'm not sure why they downgraded in terms of capacity. Should be at least 100,000. Though I suppose it would be even more of a pain in the arse to get out after the game.
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It's a functional stadium, but that's it and there's nothing remotely special about it from the outside.
Pitch wise, the views are great, but the apathy of the middle tier robs the place of a great atmosphere. I couldn't believe it when the 2nd half started, the ground looked half empty.
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Interesting experience on Sunday, can’t complain about the view, we found the staff invariably polite and helpful so well done for that. However, here we are with the corona virus situation and the gents toilets had three basins with cold water, no soap and one hand drier...pathetic and irresponsible really.
Oh, and Principality wins on all accounts easily...great atmosphere, views, facilities. Now getting the train from Cardiff after is another story!!
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I don't like Hampden because Clyde have a shit record against QP. It's okay, if a bit bland. I don't really see the point in rebuilding it. Just let QP play at Little Hampden and rotate Scotland games between Celtic, Rangers and Murrayfield. It was good when it could potentially hold 150,000 but pointless when it is only the third biggest ground in the city.
Wembley is okay, better than it was. Again I'm not sure why they downgraded in terms of capacity. Should be at least 100,000. Though I suppose it would be even more of a pain in the arse to get out after the game.
I think 90000 is generally regarded as the optimum for capacity, view, and getting people in and out quickly and safely. Also, by the time the old Wembley was all seater, the capacity was about 80000. And it was a dump.
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The approach to Wembley is awful, goodness knows what foreign visitors think, like driving through a builders yard. The playing area is impressive but the concourse looks unfinished and the prices eye watering; 2 burgers -no chips etc £15.90, glass of wine £6.80 - and it took 4 outlets before I found wine. Toilets with neither hot water nor hot air from the dryers, no stewards to stop men entering the women's toilets.
San Hamman in the Wimbledon programme whilst the venue was being debated made a plea for the NEC, said he could get there more quickly than to Wembley.
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Wembley is way better than Twickenham but that's because the latter is a particularly bad stadium (until you're in your seat, it's fine then).
The new Spuds stadium is superb.
West Ham's council house is alright but nothing special
For ease of access, Cardiff comes top
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Wembley is way better than Twickenham but that's because the latter is a particularly bad stadium (until you're in your seat, it's fine then).
The new Spuds stadium is superb.
West Ham's council house is alright but nothing special
For ease of access, Cardiff comes top
Agree apart from Cardiff & ease of access, have you tried getting a train after an international? That said, that's not the fault of the stadium, its GWR and their incompetent staff & ticketing system. If you sell 25,000 return tickets from London and only run trains with a capacity post match for 12,000 passengers then you're in trouble.
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Not a massive fan of Wembley really, but have to admit there was a bit of an aura about it when the floodlights came on in the second half.
All-in-all it's not a great overall experience and I do think there are safety issues there. I went to watch a game there as a guest of a friend (non-Villa related) and there was a seriously violent fight in the section of the stadium where we were which raged on for what seemed like ages while the one or two stewards in the vicinity just looked on.
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Twickenham is a horrible stadium. A concrete monstrosity that is difficult to get to, impossible to get out of, and with half time service that makes the Villa Park offering look like a Formula 1 pitstop. The new Spurs stadium looks amazing, the seats and everything are great, but still getting served quickly is beyond them. Wembley is OK, but it feels a bit soulless, and obviously everything about it is an utter rip off. It's pretty easy to get to though, and we were back in Central London within about 20 minutes of the final whistle being blown.
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Wembley has its good points - every view I've had there has been fine, they seem to have sharpened up on stewarding in recent years, getting in is usually okay although it can be a bit crowded outside afterwards if you have to go against the flow. Leaving by public transport is a lot better than Villa Park and there's so much choice in the surrounding areas that anyone who relies on the catering inside is a bit daft. The only problem I can see is that leaving by road can be horrendous and this is where the Principality wins out. Wembley brings chaos within a fifty mile radius whereas Cardiff always seems fine once you're a couple of roads away.
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Wembley is okay, better than it was. Again I'm not sure why they downgraded in terms of capacity. Should be at least 100,000. Though I suppose it would be even more of a pain in the arse to get out after the game.
Football stadia above 90k capacity are pretty much non-existent. I would imagine that it comes down to the quality of view that can be achieved when you go beyond that point. Fundamentally you would have sections of the ground that are just considered to be too far away from the pitch. As it is, all stadia above a certain capacity tend to morph into the same form because they are essentially dictated by the distance from the furthest part of the pitch (so a radius from the opposite corner flag).
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Wembley brings chaos within a fifty mile radius whereas Cardiff always seems fine once you're a couple of roads away.
Yep, I've been in Cardiff when events are going on at the Millennium. If the roof is closed, you'd not realise anything was happening
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Wembley is way better than Twickenham but that's because the latter is a particularly bad stadium (until you're in your seat, it's fine then).
The new Spuds stadium is superb.
West Ham's council house is alright but nothing special
For ease of access, Cardiff comes top
Agree apart from Cardiff & ease of access, have you tried getting a train after an international? That said, that's not the fault of the stadium, its GWR and their incompetent staff & ticketing system. If you sell 25,000 return tickets from London and only run trains with a capacity post match for 12,000 passengers then you're in trouble.
I normally drive to events in Cardiff. If I'm with a group, we use the P&R off the A48(M).
We did the train for one of the Autumn Internationals a couple of years ago. Admittedly, that wouldn't have been as busy as after a 6N game but we had no queues
If I'm on my own, I drive right into the middle and park up.
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Of course, all these stadiums are nothing compared to............
(https://blogapi.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20170729_MI_Aerial_053-1080x540.jpg)
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Of course, all these stadiums are nothing compared to............
(https://blogapi.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20170729_MI_Aerial_053-1080x540.jpg)
Very nice, but imagine that with English weather.
Wembley looks pretty good, the Arch is a nice touch and compared to Wembley, Twickenham & Cardiff look pretty souless from the outside.
The views at Wembley all seem excellent to me.
But in terms of inside experience, Cardiff is fantastic. Views are great and it retains an excellent atmosphere. It's so good, I did wonder why the FA spent £800m building Wembley when they could have just copied the blueprints for the Millenium which costs less than £200m, and put a few bells and whistles on it for aesthetics.
W Ham is awful, as you expect with a converted athletics track. So glad we haven't got something like that.
Paris Stad de France is a pretty beautiful stadium although there's a fair distance between the pitch and front seats in places. They have a proper fan park areas where you can have a decent drink at a decent price outside the ground, unlike Wembley.
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I don't have a problem with Wembley.
It is big, you get a good view from every seat. It isn't really that hard to get to either (there's a mainline train station to take you directly back to the Midlands, and a motorway not too far up the A40).
If i had a criticism it is that it is incredibly bland from the outside. Mind you, so is the new Spurs stadium. It looks amazing inside but from the outside it has all the dramatic charm of a branch of Carphone Warehouse.
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But in terms of inside experience, Cardiff is fantastic. Views are great and it retains an excellent atmosphere. It's so good, I did wonder why the FA spent £800m building Wembley when they could have just copied the blueprints for the Millenium which costs less than £200m, and put a few bells and whistles on it for aesthetics
Because it's way, way more expensive to build something that big in London than anywhere else in the country.
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Twickenham is a horrible stadium. A concrete monstrosity that is difficult to get to, impossible to get out of, and with half time service that makes the Villa Park offering look like a Formula 1 pitstop. The new Spurs stadium looks amazing, the seats and everything are great, but still getting served quickly is beyond them. Wembley is OK, but it feels a bit soulless, and obviously everything about it is an utter rip off. It's pretty easy to get to though, and we were back in Central London within about 20 minutes of the final whistle being blown.
I was shocked at how hard it was to get 4 pints of lager at half-time. In Club fucking Wembley! The self-service machines in the Lioness Bar were mostly fucked, the staff kept rebooting the OS on the screens but nobody had the frigging password to log in and activate the beer app. Shambles! Pity because it was fun pumping your own £6.50 pint of piss before kick-off. Still, we got four pints from the Budweiser stand right at the end of HT and Risso's mate distracted the door geezer while we all slipped through and enjoyed a cold pint while in our seats watching the second half.
It is easy to get out of though: we were straight on the Tube asking loads of Citeh fans why they weren't watching the presentation of the trophy.
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Twickenham is a horrible stadium. A concrete monstrosity that is difficult to get to, impossible to get out of, and with half time service that makes the Villa Park offering look like a Formula 1 pitstop. The new Spurs stadium looks amazing, the seats and everything are great, but still getting served quickly is beyond them. Wembley is OK, but it feels a bit soulless, and obviously everything about it is an utter rip off. It's pretty easy to get to though, and we were back in Central London within about 20 minutes of the final whistle being blown.
I was shocked at how hard it was to get 4 pints of lager at half-time. In Club fucking Wembley! The self-service machines in the Lioness Bar were mostly fucked, the staff kept rebooting the OS on the screens but nobody had the frigging password to log in and activate the beer app. Shambles! Pity because it was fun pumping your own £6.50 pint of piss before kick-off. Still, we got four pints from the Budweiser stand right at the end of HT and Risso's mate distracted the door geezer while we all slipped through and enjoyed a cold pint while in our seats watching the second half.
It is easy to get out of though: we were straight on the Tube asking loads of Citeh fans why they weren't watching the presentation of the trophy.
After the final whistle, it was walk-up and get served straight away in that Three Lions bar. Got served food straight away before kick off, too.
Mind you, there were shed loads of empty seats where we were (City end, to the left of the scoreboard) so the place wasn't being put under much load.
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If you're judging it against league grounds, then it would pass muster reasonably well. The views from the seats are very good.
However, for a national stadium, it would be struggling to avoid relegation.
Considering it's a 'new' build, albeit on an old site, the surrounding concrete jungle is awful. There is no scenic or grand approach that would befit such a place.
The access into the stadium is chaotic, unless you get inside about an hour beforehand.
The lower tier concourse is a bit better than the upper tier, where it's a horrid melee before the game and at half-time, whilst the lack of facilities, toilets, basins, driers etc is awful. I know it's not helped by the greater than average consumption of drink, but nonetheless it is shocking.
The tube at Wembley Park is ok but the railway station is not.....and all that is without mentioning the exorbitant prices and the food quality inside.
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regardless of how good or bad Wembley stadium’s is
I’d still like to return there as often as possible in the future
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The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is my favourite 'new' stadium by far, and for me the model football grounds should try to follow. The new Wembley's ok. Better than the old one, but that's faint praise. Hampden Park's okay. It's a bit bland, as mentioned before, but it's functional and doesn't offend me. I'd rate them as Millennium Stadium, then a big gap, New Wembley, Hampden, Old Wembley. Outside of those, I quite like Arsenal's new ground. I went to the Elizabeth Stadium for the Olympics - good athletics stadium. Not sure how it holds up as a football ground.
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Every time I’ve been to new Wembley it’s been pretty painless. There was a bit of a queue to get in on Sunday despite it being well before ko. Didn’t use any of the facilities. I’ve sat high up and low down and always had a great view.
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I found the old Wembley a lot easier to get to than the new Wembley
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Millennium stadium tops Wembley for me - closer to the pitch and better atmosphere with fewer corporate seats. Of club grounds, once inside I was very impressed by Spurs new stadium this season, and if you went in the away a
End and then far, far right there was a bar that was surprisingly quiet whilst the main bar was 4-5 deep. I was served and the server pulled a pint so I could video that bottom up pouring system they have. Which she promptly threw away!!??
Twickenham and Stade de France are soulless for me. I much prefer the Parc des Princes to both. West Ham’s council ground should have remained an athletics stadium I would guess, though I haven’t been to a footie game there.
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I actually like the approach to Wembley or even passing it on the train from Euston/Marylebone. O.k it's not the Twin towers but the arch still makes the place stand out. The area is also a lot better than it used to be with all the apartments and shops around it now.
Inside to me it's just a bigger Emirates. Big and good sightlines but just a bit bland. I agree about the middle coporate tier but that's pretty much a must for all the modern stadiums now.
Shame we never played a cup final in Cardiff as that certainly to me is the ideal venue right in the heart of the city.
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If you're judging it against league grounds, then it would pass muster reasonably well. The views from the seats are very good.
However, for a national stadium, it would be struggling to avoid relegation.
Considering it's a 'new' build, albeit on an old site, the surrounding concrete jungle is awful. There is no scenic or grand approach that would befit such a place.
The access into the stadium is chaotic, unless you get inside about an hour beforehand.
The lower tier concourse is a bit better than the upper tier, where it's a horrid melee before the game and at half-time, whilst the lack of facilities, toilets, basins, driers etc is awful. I know it's not helped by the greater than average consumption of drink, but nonetheless it is shocking.
The tube at Wembley Park is ok but the railway station is not.....and all that is without mentioning the exorbitant prices and the food quality inside.
Which national stadiums are you comparing it to out of interest? It's got better sightlines than Rome, Berlin or Hampden. Stade De France also got a running track behind the goal. Some of those aren't in great areas either.
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If you're judging it against league grounds, then it would pass muster reasonably well. The views from the seats are very good.
However, for a national stadium, it would be struggling to avoid relegation.
Considering it's a 'new' build, albeit on an old site, the surrounding concrete jungle is awful. There is no scenic or grand approach that would befit such a place.
The access into the stadium is chaotic, unless you get inside about an hour beforehand.
The lower tier concourse is a bit better than the upper tier, where it's a horrid melee before the game and at half-time, whilst the lack of facilities, toilets, basins, driers etc is awful. I know it's not helped by the greater than average consumption of drink, but nonetheless it is shocking.
The tube at Wembley Park is ok but the railway station is not.....and all that is without mentioning the exorbitant prices and the food quality inside.
Which national stadiums are you comparing it to out of interest? It's got better sightlines than Rome, Berlin or Hampden. Stade De France also got a running track behind the goal. Some of those aren't in great areas either.
Yes, no dispute about the view as I said it is very good. For the millions they (over)spent though, they could have done a much better job with facilities inside.
I understand about the surrounding area as well, but again they could have made it look so much better. I think revamped stadiums like the Luzhniki in Moscow and the Olympiastadion in Berlin are examples of better planning.
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Of course, all these stadiums are nothing compared to............
(https://blogapi.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20170729_MI_Aerial_053-1080x540.jpg)
Much prefer Wrigley.
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Wembley is probably the third best Football stadium in London now, which isn't great for a 'National stadium'.
The area around the stadium is undergoing huge development, but it was desperately needed.
My biggest complaint is that the acoustics are rubbish. You can see people singing near you, but you can't hear a thing. The result is five different songs going on at once, cancelling each other out!
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It's alright. That's about it.
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Wembley's brilliant when you win but horrible when you lose.
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Wembley's brilliant when you win but horrible when you lose.
Absolutely.
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The old Wembley was shit in many ways but at least had a bit of character .
The new one is just a big nondescript bowl.
One of the reasons it cost so much was because they decided to dig up the old foundations unnecessarily.
They then forgot to place the ducting.
There were all sorts of shenanigans regarding the main contractor ( that went bankrupt) and the subs.
It was a disaster from a project management perspective.
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It was a disaster from a project management perspective.
Yep, I’ve done a tour of the new Wembley and the guide explained that the plan had been to have a fully retractable roof so that events could be held ‘indoors’ like Cardiff but they ran out of money so we’re left with that strange roof that just moves backwards and forwards a bit on non match days to let more sunlight on to the pitch.
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I don't think it's all that good as a football stadium. I also don't like fact that virtually a town has grown around it.
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I don't think it's all that good as a football stadium. I also don't like fact that virtually a town has grown around it.
Too true, it was an iconic landmark, now you struggle to see it through the high rise hotels and car parks.
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New Wembley/old Wembley, I still found found myself paddling through piss at half time in the bogs.
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Not having the twin towers has ruined Wembley for me.
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As was said earlier the Parc des Princes is brilliant. really steep stands so everyone feel close to the pitch. I suppose they just aren't allowed to make them like that any more.
The Maracana was pretty good. Miles away from the pitch mind you and it was falling apart when I went. Still magical. Fluminense 4 - 4 Vasco Da Gama.
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Not having the twin towers has ruined Wembley for me.
They could have kept them but some idiot decided to spend tens of thousands knocking them down.
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Of course, all these stadiums are nothing compared to............
(https://blogapi.uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20170729_MI_Aerial_053-1080x540.jpg)
Much prefer Wrigley.
Looks a funny shape to me, each to their own i suppose.
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The pitch seems to have loads of sand on it, too. Pretty poor.
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The pitch seems to have loads of sand on it, too. Pretty poor.
That was the first game on the newly laid pitch. The sound system and the LED floodlights are have also been upgraded.
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Great Views but that's about it .
Food & Drink offering is not great but The Hot Dogs are quite Tasty, so they should be for the price
I have been to the new Atletico Madrid Stadium which is very similar and the concourses are even worse there
I nearly choked on smoke in the Toilets and had to walk through Urine as the lads in there said "This is just like the old wembley" about the only thing that is
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New Wembley/old Wembley, I still found found myself paddling through piss at half time in the bogs.
At least it's not in the concourse now.
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We got freebie Club Wembley seats at the last minute, which was nice enough, but best of all we were right next to the media section, so I got the chance to go and shake Garry Thompson by the hand and tell him was my first Villa hero, which was super nice.
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Croke park is very impressive
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There is nothing wrong with the "new" Wembley. It is the fact that it is stuck in the middle of a retail park that is the problem. The area is a sh**hole.