Arsenal launch new Gunners legends tour at Emirates

“Get ready to get closer. Closer to legends. Closer to history and closer to the unseen magic of matchday. Get ready to take your seat in the players changing room. Get ready to run down the players tunnel and to imagine the roar of 60,000 fans. “ – Bob Wilson

Those are the words of Arsenal legend Wilson in the video that introduced me to the new Arsenal ‘Self-guided’ Stadium Tour.  Arsenal is one of the first football clubs to offer this service. As with most things, there are advantages and disadvantages.

I think a clear advantage of these self-guided tours is that it means the club is able to cater to many more fans and tourists from many different countries. There is a range of languages that it is available in. These include English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. Already in the first week, there were 500 people that were able to take the self-guided tour. That is more than would have been able to go on the previously guided tours.

Also with the Olympics in 2012, many tourists and impulse visitors will be able to visit the stadium and be able to pay and go on a tour immediately as opposed to have to wait until the next tour is ready.

The standard opening hours for the new tours are:

Monday – Friday  10.15 – 16.20 (Exit by 17.15)

Saturday  – 10.15 – 15.45 (Exit by 17.00)

Sunday – 10.15 – 16.00 (Exit by 17.15)

The typical duration should last between 55 – 90 minutes. The beauty of these self-guided tours is that you are free to walk around at your own leisure. I was given an audio-visual handset which contains all the information that I needed for each section of the tour. Each section was clearly numbered both on the handset and in the stadium. There was also a guide stationed in each section if any help was required.

The tour began with the Directors’ entrance. There was an accompanying audio which educates guests with some general information about some of the great men of Arsenal, including Danny Fiszman, Herbert Chapman and of course, Arsenal Wenger.  When that section of audio was finished, there were arrows which were clearly numbered to indicate the direction of the next stage of the tour. This led me to the Directors Lounge and out onto the pitch. The views are amazing. There were also special lamps which covered large sections of the pitch to ensure that it was kept warm and dry in these winter temperatures. Inside, there were various trophies of Arsenal’s history that were proudly displayed in glass cabinets. The red leather chairs were all embossed with the Arsenal crest.

The next stage of the tour was the very impressive Diamond Club which few are fortunate enough to see. This contained a replica of the famous Arsenal clock. I was told that the original Arsenal clock from Highbury is now behind the scoreboard at the clock end, facing  the Danny Fiszman Bridge, as tribute to him. That’s a nice touch from Arsenal. Everything they do is for a reason and they never fail to show appreciation to those who have been loyal to the club. There is also a bust of Dennis Bergkamp and Arsene Wenger at the end of each of the two bars. Then it is down in the lift, which is inscribed on the inside with pieces of commemorative information about various matches and ex-players from many years ago.

The next part of the tour is the Players Entrance. The walls are adjourned with special moments in Arsenal’s history ie. Frank McLintock, holding aloft the FA Cup in 1971, Michael Thomas’ goal at Anfield in 1989. The handset also shows some footage of each of these moments and players/ex-players memories of them. It’s a really nice idea and brings back good memories. The whole entrance is designed to mentally boost the home team and unsettle the visitors. I think that this is enforced by the wall which dominates the entrance immediately opposite the doors. It contains the words “The deeper the foundations, the stronger the fortress”.  Above it is the Arsenal crest. Below it is the famous Arsenal Time Capsule which will be opened in years to come and contains a small part of Arsenal history.

Next, is the away changing room. It is rectangular in shape, with corners. It’s pretty basic in comparison to the home changing room…obviously! Needless to say that I didn’t loiter in this section for very long! I quickly made my way to the much more luxurious home team changing room. This was more like it. A curved design so there are no corners and everyone is equal, cushioned seats on the benches, a non-slip floor and the ceiling had been adapted so that the sound echoes around the room. Arsene Wenger had this built in so that he does not need to shout. The players can listen to him talking at a lower level. He believes that shouting ensures players are less likely to listen…unfortunately, there were not enough funds left to install this in the away dressing room or a non-slip floor! There is a warm water pool which is kept at a temperature of 40 degrees. There is a large physio room next door.

Now for the exciting part…the Players Tunnel! This took me out onto the immaculate pitch where I was lucky enough to be able to sit in Arsene Wenger’s seat. Arsene has the seat number 13. Superstitious, eh?  It was a great to be able to see and imagine just how the players feel when they run out onto the pitch before a game.  The handsets also had highlights from the previous game already installed. That’s a very clever piece of technology to be able to do that so quickly.

On the way to the last part of the tour, the Press Conference room, I managed to take a sneaky peek (and pics) of the rooms which Arsene and the players do their immediate post match interviews. I was surprised at how small they are. The actual Press Conference room is very impressive. It’s like a mini theatre with seats on an incline so everyone has a clear view of the main table at the front, where Arsene Wenger sits.

That concluded the tour. I then gave my handset and headphones to the concierge desk.

The tour does have advantages but there are a couple of disadvantages that I noticed. It does appear to be slightly impersonal. Everyone conducts the tour at their own pace and there is no social interaction, so I didn’t feel that I could share my experience at the same time with people. The other disadvantage that I found was that, having previously been on the original tour, there was no banter or story-telling from a tour guide. It was really nice when everyone is together in a group and the tour guide would stamp their own personality on their tours. There was room for banter and amusing anecdotes.

It really made the experience special and the tour guides were fun people and all Arsenal fans, so they did have a few stories to tell. On the self-guided tour, there was none of this. They were stationed in each section of the tour. They were helpful but the relationship that was built on a guided tour was not there. The last drawback is that the headphones and handset need to be removed each time I wanted to have a photo taken. It was a bit clumsy as the wires became entangled.

I suppose it’s all about personal preference. The Self-Guided tour will be a real asset to the club. There are amazing photo opportunities to be had on the tour and the audio-visual handset provides a real insight into the club and its history.

JULES WHEELER – Follow on Twitter @TheRealGunner