Up For The Cups

I don’t know about you but I’m still bathing in the warm glow of the prospect of our first Wembley final since Toon in the FA Cup in 1998. All our domestic final appearances since then have been at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. I’m really looking forward to walking down Wembley Way looking up at the big arch at the end of next month. I only hope we have our first trophy since 2005 to celebrate at the end of the evening. 

We now know that our opponents will be Birmingham City. For a considerable part of Wednesday night’s game at St Andrew’s it looked like it was going to be West Ham United. They’re still in the FA Cup, at least until their home tie against Nottingham Forest on Sunday. If they play like they did at St Andrew’s they could very well be “concentrating on the League” come Sunday night. 

I hope that we’ve learned the lessons of unfocussed, lackadaisical performances against both Ipswich Town away and Leeds United at home in recent domestic cup matches. Arsčne Wenger deserves credit for listening to us Gooners and taking the cups more seriously this season. Long may that trend continue. Disappointingly, there remain tickets available for general sale for Sunday’s game. Huddersfield has only taken the lower tier of the North Bank, just over five thousand seats. Leeds United took their full nine thousand entitlement which helped the game sell out as there were only around six thousand left to sell to silver and red members after discounting the away entitlement and season ticket holders. 

The Everton home league game also went on general sale. I hope the board takes this into account when setting prices for next season. I was disappointed that the club decided to pass on the VAT increase to fans. They could have afforded to swallow the £2 million or so full year cost of this without too much difficulty. Despite only one price rise in seven seasons (and none for the top bracket of both general admission and Club season tickets), ticket prices are still ludicrously high, both at Arsenal and generally across the board in England & Wales. 

I haven’t had a pay rise for three years now. My rent, food and other bills continue to rise. I can hardly afford away games anymore. I’m struggling financially. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I join the ranks of the unemployed in the near future. 

Even if I can stay in work I don’t imagine my pay will go up to match my increased essential bills. Football needs to AT LEAST freeze if not reduce admission prices or face declining crowds. That trend is already evident at many clubs. On the field we need to maintain focus in every competition. We’re still in contention in all four. It would be significant achievement to still be so when the sharp end of the season comes in April and May. 

The first step on that path is beating the Terriers on Sunday. 

Keep the faith!

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Vic Crescit

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