Still feeling a warm glow from Wednesday night? I am! In the cold light of day with adrenaline tide having gone out I don’t think a one goal lead is enough, especially with Barcelona having scored an away goal. Still, an early goal for us in the Camp Nou and it will be game on. As dear old Henry Cooper – himself a Gooner – says, we’ve given ourselves “a puncher’s chance.”
Now we need to put all that aside an concentrate on our visit to Brisbane Road on Sunday afternoon to face Orient in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Don’t give me any guff about bigger fish to fry. The way to build a really memorable season is to take it one step, one match at a time. I imagine that a few players will be rested, especially those who played for their national teams in the recent round of international friendlies and against both Wolves in the League and Barça in the Champions League. I hope that the manager fields a strong side however, together with a strong bench just in case.
Before we kick off on Sunday we and Orient will know our potential opponents in the sixth round, the draw for which will take place after the Manchester City v Notts County fourth round replay to be televised live on ITV. Anybody at home please.
The postman delivered my and my mates’ tickets for the Carling Cup Final on Sunday week this morning. Plaudits and full credit where credit is due to the Football League for keeping ticket prices within the bounds of reason for this game. Especial plaudits for allowing half price concessions for all seats for under 16s and over 65s. I think the Football League board deserves a big round of applause for this decision. Well played.
Conversely a big, huge, festering, smelly pile of pooh for UEFA and the FA for the prices for this season’s Champions League Final at Wembley. The cheapest available to supporters of the two competing teams will be Category 4 tickets at £80. Category 3 tickets will be £150, Category 2 at £225 and Category 1 a nose-bleed inducing £300. As normal, UEFA will fuel the black market by putting tickets on sale to all-comers via a public ballot. Only tickets in Categories 1-3 will be available in the ballot, along with what is laughingly called a “family ticket” for one adult and one child at an eye-watering £338.
It gets better. On top of the larcenous prices, a big increase on those charged for last season’s final in Madrid, if you’re successful in the public ballot you’ll be stiffed with a £26 booking fee. £26! For that price I want UEFA president Michel Platini and FA chairman David Bernstein to hand deliver the ticket to my house and fly me to the game in a private helicopter!
Frankly I’m completely, utterly, totally fed up with having the piss taken out of me. We’ve also had news in recent days that a track-side seat at the Olympic Stadium for the London 2012 100 metre final will cost £600. £600? Are you sure?
I’d registered interest for tickets on the London 2012 website. I wanted to attend some of the football and basketball games. They can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine now. I was a big backer of the London 2012 bid, as I backed the preceding Birmingham and Manchester bids. Handled right the Olympics can be a big boost to both the host city and nation. Just look what the games did for Barcelona, Sydney and Seoul. Do it wrong as did Montréal in 1976 and the host city sees little lasting benefit and bills that take generations to pay off.
And don’t tell me about some less expensive tickets being available. That either means a nose-bleed view in the cheap seats or watching the likes of archery at Lord’s. I mean no disrespect to archers. It’s a perfectly respectable sport which I’m sure those who practice it greatly enjoy. I wish success to all the competitors, especially my countrymen and women. I just don’t see myself paying to watch it live.
And what has this got to do with Arsenal? The board is currently setting prices for the Grove for next season. All this licensed larceny – which includes the recently announced prices for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine – has to have an effect. Tickets for the European Championship final to take place in Kiev have three categories – €50, €330 and €600. The average monthly income in Kiev is UAH (Ukrainian Hryvnia) 3,684 (around €341 or £288). A month mind, not a week. I’m sure the final will be banged out with Ukrainian football fans. Oh yes. Average pay outside Kiev in the rest of Ukraine is half to two-thirds that of residents of the capital. The people’s game, my rear end!
Silver and red Arsenal members have already had a price increase this season with the club passing on the January 2.5% increase in the VAT rate to 20%. Platinum and Gold members will face this increase on season ticket renewals for the 2011/12 season. If the club imposes a price increase on top of this it will be a double-whammy. One that I simply can’t afford. I work part-time as a salaried employee, the rest of the week as a freelance. My freelance earnings have plummeted during the recession. I haven’t had a pay rise for three years in my salaried job.
My rent, food and public transport fares have all increased way above the rate of general price rises (thanks for the latter, Boris. I’ll keep the constant above inflation price rises on the buses, tubes and trains in mind when I go to the polls in the Greater London Authority elections next year). Arsenal ticket prices are already absurdly high. We’re in the teeth of a horrible recession which will only get worse as tens of thousands of public sector workers get their cards with budgets being slashed. In April National Insurance Contributions will go up one percent, taking around £11 a month from my take-home pay. My rent will also go up £25 a month. Public transport fares have gone up by around a fifth in London, taking another £10-12 a month out of my pocket. My Council Tax will be going up in April. The price of food is rising and is likely to soar. I haven’t been able to afford to go away on a proper holiday for four years now. Best of all there’s every possibility that I’ll be unemployed come the end of June. My employer looks like losing all or a substantial part of its funding. Great. The joys of being on the job market at 55. I can’t wait.
And the Government now wants me to work until I’m 68 before I get my State pension, for which I’ve already paid more than 37 years of National Insurance Contributions, as have my various employers.
Of course I’m thankful for what I have. I’ve got a roof over my head, I don’t lack for any of the basics and have quite a few of the little luxuries of life, like my Arsenal season ticket. One in six of my fellow inhabitants of this planet are trying to get by on 65p a day or less. Hundreds of millions don’t have a roof over their heads or know from where their next meal is coming.
Memo to the Arsenal board. No price rises next season please. I simply can’t afford it. As for UEFA and the FA (who share responsibility for this season’s Champions League Final ticket prices as the host association), they should be hanging their heads in shame. I don’t suppose for a moment that they give a monkey’s. Somebody has to keep the Ferrari dealers in business I suppose.
Go on boys. Cheer me up on Sunday as you did on Wednesday night. I’d like to remember this season as a very, very special one.
Keep the faith!
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
