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Expanding the Emirates: Clues from Kroenke’s SoFi Stadium and Ball Arena

Jul 7th, 2025 by

A general theory of modern stadium design is that the real money is made by mashing together a sports arena, an entertainment complex and shops, bars and restaurants. The idea is to create as many opportunities as possible to separate as many punters as possible from their cash before, after and between the relative handful of home games in a single sports team’s season. 

Nowhere better exemplifies this ambition than SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. Situated on 121 hectares that was once the Hollywood Park Racetrack, the $5 billion development was masterminded by the billionaire US property developer Stanley E. Kroenke. The name might ring a bell. 

SoFi Stadium

Opened in 2020, SoFi is home to Kroenke’s NFL team, the Los Angeles Rams. It is also rented to the rival Los Angeles Chargers and hosts showpiece college American football games and wrestling tournaments. It will stage eight matches in next year’s FIFA World Cup finals, the NFL’s Super Bowl the year after, and the swimming events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as co-hosting the Games’ opening ceremony.

Taylor Swift, J-Lo and BTS are among many headliners to play tour dates in the stadium. Capacity can be expanded from 70,240 seats to 100,000 for gigs. Lesser lights perform in SoFi’s ‘intimate’ (6,000-seat) performance venue. 

The YouTube Theatre — the naming rights were part of a 10-year digital media, streaming, and tech operations deal between SoFi and Google — sits under the same roof as the pitch and American Airlines Plaza — yep, more naming rights sold — which opens out onto 36,000 square metres of retail space. Offices and apartments will follow. Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching!

So, I hear you ask, how will this creation of stable, diversified revenue streams, as sports investors prefer to call luring in as many people as possible to sell them stuff and experiences as expensively as the market will bear, materialise at the Stadium of Stone?

Self-evidently, the club does not have 121 hectares of undeveloped suburban land to play with. The Emirates sits on a narrow triangle hemmed in by railway lines and buildings. So let us turn for clues to the redevelopment plans for another of Kroenke’s stadiums, the Ball Arena, home to three of his other US pro sports teams, the Denver Nuggets (basketball), the Colorado Avalanche (ice hockey) and the Colorado Mammoth (lacrosse). 

Ball Arena

Located near downtown Denver, this domed indoor arena opened in 1999. It is named for our official sustainable aluminium beverage packaging partner, the Ball Corporation. What? You didn’t realise the Arsenal had an official sustainable aluminium beverage packaging partner? Try to keep up!

Ball Arena, too, is hemmed in by a railway, also a creek and two multi-lane highways. However, being in America, it has large parking lots. One of these will be buried under a newly created public park that will connect to downtown via a pedestrian bridge that is being designed to be a landmark. Three other bridges will connect to surrounding districts, one of which happens to be a recent Kroenke residential development on the wrong side of the creek.

This is more of an urban-regeneration project than SoFi, closer in conception to what has been proposed for the Old Toilet in Manchester. The master plan was submitted for planning permission in April. Phase One, due to break ground next year, includes a hotel, a performance venue and two apartment blocks, plus the park. As a new mixed-use district develops around the arena, central Denver’s population would potentially double, and the footfall, as they say in the retail trade, would become self-generating. That, at least, is the theory.

Ashburton Grove does not have the same scope to be an engine of the urban renewal of Islington. Yet, the club is community-minded, and part of the team’s connection to fans lies in its North London identity. Providing open, if commercialised, public spaces and improving pedestrian access to and from the surrounding streets and transport could help win council approval for work on the stadium itself. 

Arsenal’s Social and Economic Impact Report released last November, laying out the benefits of the stadium to the borough, has the whiff of groundwork for a goodwill campaign.

Immersive opulence

Yet, let us look more closely at what is planned for Ball Arena itself. Capacity — 21,000 for concerts; 18,000-19,000 for sports events — will not increase significantly. What will change —dramatically — will be the experience of attending games through more and swankier hospitality facilities and a significant infusion of technology.

Ball Arena will also have a version of SoFi’s infinity screen, an immersive 120-yard oval video screen above the pitch that is a wonder in its own right (see the promotional video). Under a domed roof, it will probably look more like the ring of video screens in Real Madrid’s revamped Bernabéu. 

On a smaller scale, the plans include using augmented reality technology and real-time AI-driven game data to give fans a more personalised and immersive gameday experience. Kroenke is as big on the digitalisation of the gameday experience as he is on the creation of digital media assets.

The money-generating renovations will come from hospitality suites and private VIP lounges, promised to be of an unprecedented level of opulence and exclusivity, fit for ‘Denver’s celebrity and sports elite fan base’ with fine dining and private butlers.

In line with a growing trend in US sports, these luxury skyboxes and lounges are likely to move from their customary high position closer to the pitch. That implies the displacement of some regular seating. 

Ball Arena will also become fully accessible and include sustainability features beyond aluminium recycling, such as solar power.

It will also get a fan zone — space immediately outside the arena for fans to gather before, after and between games — and spend yet more money. 

The arena plans to show games live there on giant screens for fans who do not have a ticket (or cannot afford one) to be inside. Watching sport live on Jumbotrons in public open spaces is not uncommon in the United States, but usually at some distance from the event, not close enough to join in the singing.

If you have made it this far, first, congratulations, and second, you have been reading a laundry list of things Kroenke has done/will do at his other stadiums that could come to the Ems. He is aware, though, that not everything that fans in LA or Denver expect or will lap up will necessarily translate to N5.

N5

We have scant hard information at this point about Kroenke’s plans for the Emirates, regardless of multiple AI-generated videos claiming to be ITK. Silent Stan keeps his projects in development tightly under wraps. Josh Kroenke, the voice of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment in London, has said little more than the club began exploring expansion options a year ago, and architects and engineers of renown are being consulted.

Rest assured, Stan Kroenke will not simply flick through architectural renderings and pick one that catches his eye. He will have a crystal clear idea of the overarching commercial objectives of the project — the vision, in the parlance of this side of the pond. Technology, creativity and experiences will be at its core, as they were for SoFi and are for Ball Arena.

There is speculation that the design brief includes increasing the Emirates’ capacity to up to 80,000, incorporating more premium hospitality facilities, improving the matchday experience with technology, making the stadium more suitable for multi-use and greater footfall on non-match days. Those would be logical goals, given the need to make the stadium a greater revenue generator

As we have discussed, the Emirates’ site imposes design constraints. An all-around outward expansion to accommodate more seats, in the style seen in recent stadium redevelopment across Europe, would be challenging.

Increasing capacity means digging down (as happened at SoFi) or, more likely, building up. On the upside of raising the roof, as well as making room for more seats and fixing the roof’s maintenance problems, the acoustics for matchdays and concerts could be improved at the same time. On the downside, it would be expensive and an engineering challenge. 

There is a tricky cost-benefit calculation. New seats high under the roof would be the most expensive to build, but also carry the cheapest ticket prices. Additional revenue from the expansion of premium hospitality lounges would need to be factored in, but so, too, regaining capacity lost to more corporate suites, especially if these are to be nearer the pitch. 

A second engineering challenge is the playing surface. Will it need to be able to be routinely swapped out for surfaces suitable for other sports, concerts and events, either using a sliding tray as they do at the marshy end of the Seven Sisters Road or a high-tech solution such as Real Madrid has adopted, a miracle of engineering-meets-groundskeeping that stores the pitch underground.

Another key decision will be whether to move out for a couple of seasons while the renovation is being done, as Barcelona did, or follow Liverpool’s model of expanding Anfield’s capacity in sequential phases.

What the Bernabéu renovation has done for Madrid’s finances underscores what is at stake financially. Matchday revenues in 2023-24, which covered the first six months back in its revamped stadium, were €248 million, more than double the previous season. Half the increase came from new premium seats, including personal seat licences. 

A crude calculation indicates that increasing the Ems’ capacity by a third would add £50 million to our matchday revenues (£153 million in the last published accounts). However, a bias to expanding hospitality and premium seating is likely to result in a much higher take. Additionally, more non-match events and commerce would enhance commercial revenue, while a shiny renovation would raise the stadium’s value to sponsors. That, at least, is the theory — as your wallets may soon attest. 

Posted in Analysis, Opinions, Waffle | 46 Drinks »

Injury, Injury! They’ve ALL Got An Injury!

Jul 4th, 2025 by


Firstly, apologies (not) for the parody of Mr Kenneth Williams. It will be interesting this summer to see if our various ins and outs involve the medical / conditioning team at all. Obviously they will be conducting medicals for ALL our incoming player at least, but what I mean is will any of those staff be moved out and new people brought in.


To be clear, I’m not pointing fingers at anyone – I couldn’t even name anyone on the team – and we all saw the reaction of Bukayo Saka when he scored on his return to the team. He was thrilled and immediately ran in gratitude to the physio who had guided him back to fitness. To be fair, he has played regularly since his return, if not yet up to his best level, has taken a bump here and there with no lasting effect, and everything is crossed that he doesn’t suffer a recurrence. 


But our injury list has seen us make an unwelcome return to the top of the Infirmary League this season though, and it’s not unreasonable to think that a thorough review of training, conditioning and monitoring procedures will be taking place.


So just how bad was our injury situation ?
According to Premier Injuries, the football injury statistics resource founded by Ben Dinnery, Arsenal suffered 36 separate “time loss” injuries last season and lost 1,297 days to them – the fourth highest on the Premier League behind Ipswich, Tottenham and Brighton. Our relative success despite our injuries is a huge credit to Arteta and the coaching staff.

We have, as we all know only too well, suffered an uncanny number of long term and season ending injuries that required surgeries. The great majority of them have involved hamstrings and knees, closely linked of course, and unsurprisingly really for footballers. I can only think, off the top of my head, of Martin Ødegaard (ankle) and Mikel Merino (shoulder) who have suffered much else. Riccardo Calafiori has been plagued by calf strains, also closely linked to knees, and he arrived at the club having already suffered an extremely serious knee injury and reconstruction in Italy. Jurrien Timber had apparently only suffered to a minor extent this season, thankfully, but it now transpires that he too has had to succumb again to the surgeon’s – or robot’s** – knife, although this time requiring ankle surgery. 

With so much stress being placed on anyone who has remained fit, there has maybe been a surprising absence of back and groin strains by comparison. White, Gabriel, Saka, Jesus, Havertz and Tomiyasu have all been on the operating table with knee and hamstring issues, while William Saliba came off at half time against Newcastle towards the end of the season with similar problems but thankfully did not require surgery. It is a worry, in the present context, that even Reiss Nelson suffered serious hamstring injuries in both legs which severely hampered his efforts to make an impact on loan at Fulham. It’s reasonable to ask whether his preparation at Arsenal could have made him more susceptible to those injuries.


**The improving success of surgery
It’s very early days yet but one possible cause for hope to come from our spate of surgeries is that the likelihood of recurrence seems to be reducing. Technology is making surgery more accurate which in turn is leading to less damage to both bone and soft tissue, reduced bleeding and infection risk and, therefore, quicker healing times. Many orthopaedic surgeries are now guided by robot, albeit with a consultant surgeon still in control! A CT scan (computerised tomography – like a 4D x-ray) is taken of the area to be operated on and aligned by laser with the patient on the operating table. The robot then guides cutting precisely according to the scan, thus improving the accuracy.

Methods of testing for potential fatigue and overuse injuries 
We are all familiar with the “red zone” players are said to be in when they are running a high risk of overuse and fatigue injuries. To avoid such injuries at Premier League level clubs there are many and varied ways of regularly testing the condition of players.

Firstly, to start with the bleeding obvious, good old fashioned communication between player and coaches. The old adage that “players always want to play” is true enough but it is vital that they are honest about how they feel. 

Players are now fitted with GPS tracking systems in all matches and training sessions to monitor the distances a player is running. They can also be used to assess when the number and speed of sprints and recovery runs begins to drop, which are also indicators of fatigue and the need for rest or substitution. That information is constantly relayed to coaches, so when you see Albert Stuivenberg and Mikel Arteta studying the iPads during a match, they are not always only fuming at the latest refereeing bungle.

Fatigue has become a major concern as players are asked to play more and more club and international matches. Far flung club tours are a requirement to raise revenue and international tournaments are invented to fill every possible space in the calendar – the latest of them as a means to boost the ego and bank accounts of some high ranking officials and to subvert the normal competitive process of winning the rights to host a World Cup.

Electronic Methods Of Testing.
Muscle fatigue can be tested electronically using various methods, including assessing force output of muscles; using electromyography (EMG) to measure electrical activity in muscles; analyzing blood samples for biomarkers of stress and fatigue; maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) tests; twitch force measurements in muscle fibres; and electrical stimulation of nerves or muscles. 

Maximal Voluntary Contraction (MVC) tests: these tests assess the force or power a muscle can produce during a voluntary effort, which is a key indicator of fatigue. 

Electromyography (EMG): this measures the electrical activity within muscles. Surface EMG (sEMG) is a non-invasive technique that can detect changes in muscle activity associated with fatigue.

Twitch Force Measurements: these involves measuring the force generated by a single twitch contraction of a muscle, often using electrical stimulation. Changes in twitch force can indicate fatigue.

Blood Analysis: blood tests can reveal levels of lactate – lactic acid – creatine kinase (CK) an enzyme produced by effort in the muscles, and other biomarkers that may indicate muscle fatigue or damage. The lactate stress test is a standard way of assessing the levels of lactic acid produced during a heavy workload.

Mechanomyography (MMG): this non-invasive technique measures muscle micro-oscillations that are related to force production.

Twitch Interpolation: this technique involves stimulating a muscle with a small twitch during a maximal voluntary contraction, again to assess the degree of fatigue.


Muscle Biopsy: in some cases, a muscle biopsy may be performed to examine the muscle tissue under a microscope, which can reveal signs of muscle damage or changes associated with fatigue. 

Nerve Function Tests: these tests evaluate the electrical activity in nerves, which can be relevant in understanding muscle fatigue or weakness.


Manual Methods Of Testing
There are various manual methods of testing muscle strength and fitness, from Observational Tests, Repetitive Movement Tests and operator (eg physio) resistance to player (patient) effort. These are pretty obvious tests like observing players walking on heels or toes, rising from a chair, climbing stairs, and balance tests following long injuries to assess proprioception.


Medical Research Council (MRC) Scale – also known as the Oxford Scale: this is a standardised test using a scale from O to 5 to grade muscle strength against resistance. It measures range of movement, from very impaired to full, against degrees of resistance, again from nil to maximum, as applied by the operator (physio).


In terms of Premier League footballers, these manual tests and observations will really only apply to players returning from injury or surgery, otherwise all these levels of ability will be constantly mechanically recorded. There is though always the ultimate “eye test” of a returning player – how does he look in training – and the player’s hopefully honest assessment of how he feels.

So how can injury be prevented ?
The first thing I would do to help prevent knee injuries is impose a complete ban on the knee slide goal celebration. The most certain way of tearing or weakening an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is to force the head of the femur over the head of the tibia, that is, exactly the action of a knee slide. I accept that none of our current crop has been incurred in that way, but if I was an insurance company the knee slide would be top of my exclusions list. 

Watching the videos online of Arsenal training sessions, I was surprised to see players going through their warm up jogs and lazily kicking a bent leg across the body. Of course an individual exercise needs context but I was absolutely left wondering what this is supposed to achieve, especially under the gaze of someone as intense as Mikel Arteta. Dynamic stretches of some sort, maybe? Sorry, but not at this level of engagement. It made me wonder what the quality of stretching really is at first team level. In particular, I wondered whether a great Arsene Wenger innovation is still used at the training ground – that of the Plastic Stretch.

When Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal the famous back four / five he inherited were all of an age where they would normally have been approaching the ends of their careers. I remember them being amazed at two hour sessions when they did nothing but stretching exercises. The result was that they played for probably an extra five years – and I don’t ever remember an injury crisis in Arsene’s time that came close to the one we have just experienced. (That is apart from when all the young players like Walcott, Wilshere, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jenkinson, were suffering recurrences of connective tissue problems associated with immature bodies.)

So, what is plastic stretching? There are three basic types of stretching:

1 – Ballistic stretching: This is the typical Sunday morning footballer’s 10-15 second bouncing stretch to touch toes. The bouncing, or ballistic stretch does not actually stretch at all, but causes muscles to contract. It’s the sort of thing you see sprinters or skiers doing in the start blocks to prepare muscles to fire into action when the start gun goes off.


2 – Viscous stretching: This is the 30-40 second stretch before an activity begins. It will generally last for the duration of the activity and then everything reverts to normal.


3 – Plastic stretching: This is a series of long, slowly progressing, passive stretches where the target muscle is not active during the stretch. Typically, it will involve gently stretching the muscle for around 3 minutes, carefully extending the stretch with breathing as it becomes possible. There will then be a 1 minute rest. The whole thing will be repeated 3 or 4 times before moving on to the next muscle group. So anywhere between 10-15 minutes to stretch a single muscle group. Nothing I have seen or read suggests that this kind of thing still happens. I would be pleased to be corrected if anyone knows better.


Another way of avoiding stress and fatigue injuries is obviously to rotate players more regularly in order to reduce the number of hours / minutes they are playing for. That, of course, requires a bigger squad of more even quality. Last season we incurred injuries at such a pace that there simply weren’t enough fit players left to choose from.

So Why Did So Many Injuries Occur ?
With so many ways of monitoring, testing and, therefore, avoiding injuries, the obvious question is how did we finish up with so many. We were very unlucky last season to be hit by a number of freak injuries. Knocks and impact injuries can reasonably be put down to bad luck and can happen at any time. Martin Ødegaard was unfortunate to pick up a serious ankle ligament injury caused by a tackle in an international match. Mikel Merino was landed on by Gabriel in his very first training session after his transfer from Real Sociedad, which resulted in a broken shoulder. Riccardo Calafiori was also unlucky to be hit by a low flying Frenchman in an international match, which resulted in a serious calf muscle tear.

But we suffered so many serious muscle and ligament tears and ruptures that pure bad luck does not seem a likely explanation for these. Again, I would be happy to be proved wrong if anyone in the know is reading, but it seems that either our preparation and conditioning was inadequate, warning signs were being ignored or a sufficient level of testing was not being carried out.

Due to our squad size and composition maybe we were ignoring warnings of necessity – there simply weren’t enough fit players to draft in, but the basic question remains – how did so many players become affected ? 

If anyone has the answers ….. the Drinks beckon …..

Posted in Analysis | 83 Drinks »

On The Road Again

Jun 29th, 2025 by

The author and son at Portman Road, Ipswich

This piece originally appeared in the Online Gooner a couple of weeks ago and is reproduced here by kind permission of the Editor. Four GHF writers write for the Gooner, TTG, myself, CER and 21CG. If you don’t have a subscription to both the Online and Print editions, why not?

When it comes to following The Arsenal, I am a fortunate individual. I have a season ticket in the North Bank Lower and since 2013 have been building up my away credits. Therefore I go to a lot of games. More than most, but not as many as some.

In season 2024/25 my son and I went to 43 games, 30 at home and 13 away. My stamina and health (I’m 68 and walk with a stick, with my son being my constant companion and co-driver) mean that I can’t manage European aways. The grounds at Bournemouth and Brentford are too small for me to have any chance of getting tickets and Crystal Palace and Fulham sell out before they reach my level, being “easy” London aways. So the only grounds where I could get a ticket, but circumstances meant I couldn’t go, were both Newcastle games, Everton and Liverpool. Kudos to those who went to all 58 games last season.

The away games I did go to were:

Aston Villa
Spurs
Manchester City
Preston North End
Chelsea
West Ham
Brighton
Wolves
Leicester
Nottingham Forest
Manchester United
Ipswich Town
Southampton

We drive to football, even at home (and I’m not going to reveal my reliable, cheap parking spot 10 minutes from the Emirates), using parking apps, often on people’s drives or company car parks. Last season we drove a total of 5,452 miles to and from football. Hence the title of this piece. I have no idea what it cost me in tickets, travel and food, and frankly, I don’t want to know. My pensions are sufficient to allow me to do it, and I have a very tolerant wife, so once again I count my blessings. 

We began the season on 25 credits and finished on 38. In the off season my credits will be reset, taking off those from 2022/2023. By my calculations I earned 10 credits in that season, so will start next season on 28 credits. 

Best games

This is mainly about away games, but I can’t ignore the magnificent home victories against Real Madrid and Manchester City. The Madrid game had the best atmosphere at the Emirates that I’ve been to, even better than the game against Barcelona in 2011. The City game was cathartic, the first time we’ve given them a thorough drubbing in longer than I want to remember. For away games, West Ham was great fun. Four up in 35 minutes we rolled out the songs. “Who put the ball in the West Ham net? Half our fucking team did!” When the West Ham fans began to leave on 30 minutes it was “Everywhere we go, stadiums get empty!”. One lad in the West Ham seats closest to us was all in, offering all 3000 Arsenal fans out after the game. So we sang, “Cry in a minute! He’s gonna cry in a  minute!”. All good clean fun. The game at Leicester was also fun. Eighty minutes of dross followed by ten minutes and two goals from Mikel Merino. A new song was born. The games at Ipswich and Southampton were easy, sunny and comfortable. 

Worst game

Has to be Brighton away. A dour nil nil played out in the second half to lowering skies and increasing sleet. Queuing for 45 minutes in that, by now driving sleet, for the Park and Ride bus. Then real snow on the motorway reducing our speed to 30mph until we got north of London, scuppering plans for a curry. It’s by no means all glamour (for the Preston game, thanks to roadworks on the M6 it was past 3am when we finally got home. Worth it for that Ethan goal though). 

New stadium

Perhaps surprisingly, I’d never been to Portman Road before. Living in Cambridgeshire it was an easy drive, a short walk to the ground and very friendly natives. The only downside was wall to wall Ed Sheeran music ….

Footy scran

At home, friends from this blog had a few excellent boozy pre match lunches, usually at El Rincon (an Ecuadorian restaurant on Holloway Road) or The Alcedo which is right next door. For away matches the clear winner is the Bombay Bridgeford, a quite superb Indian Restaurant by the Trent Bridge Inn, close to the City ground. We had several excellent breakfasts at the American Diner near Grantham, when heading north up the A1. Honourable mention for the pies at Brighton (why can’t we have pies near Block 7 at the Emirates?). 

The away fans

Oh my word. The reason for going to away games is to be part of that crowd. They are positive, funny, loud, usually just the acceptable side of being well offensive, and never stop singing. Every team member has his own song. New songs this year included one for Martinelli, the somewhat hackneyed “He’s one of our own” for Ethan Nwaneri and 49, 49 Lewis Skelly. Even Raheem Sterling has a song, brought out at Ipswich and Southampton. “If Sterling scores, we’re on the piss!” Not, please note, “we’re on the pitch” as reported by the denizens of the press box. Chapeau to every member of every away crowd. I’m proud to be amongst you. It’s been nice to see fellow ‘Holics, CER and 21CG steadily building up their credits this season. 

Next season

We lose Leicester and Ipswich (both to my regret) and Southampton (not so much). Up come Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland. We’ve been to all three of those grounds, so the highlight of next season will be Everton’s new ground at Bramley-Moore Docks, to be called the Hill Dickinson stadium (who?). We’ll miss Goodison.

So that’s another season done. Frankly I’m knackered. Time for a holiday and some cricket at Lords and The Oval. We’ve already been this season to Trent Bridge where we bumped into The Editor of the Gooner playing hookey. TTG was going to join us but unfortunately his wife fell ill and he couldn’t. 

My season ticket is renewed and I look forward (I think) to the transfer dramas and the new fixtures coming out. Next year …..

Come on you Gunners!

Posted in Fan Experience, Opinions, Review, Waffle | 48 Drinks »

One Club. Two Teams.

Jun 24th, 2025 by

A couple of months ago, Arsenal Women beat the mighty Barcelona Femeni to win the Champions League with one of the all-time great Arsenal performances. It was a special day in the history of our club.

There are so many good things happening on the women’s side of the club that they would never fit in one article. Wondering what to focus on for this piece, I found myself reading this typically excellent (highly recommended) post https://arseblog.news/2025/06/arsenal-women-and-emirates-stadium-is-a-significant-success-story/  from the inimitable Tim Stillman. He has done so much to report on the Arsenal women’s team, and his huge efforts (and the wonderful quality of his output) have enabled me to engage and to grow my own fandom, so it is only right to say at the outset a huge thank you to him and to everyone at Arseblog who has contributed to what I consider (from my limited knowledge) to be the best coverage of a women’s team in the country.

So, having acknowledged that I am standing on the shoulders of giants, and that so many great pieces have already been written about our recent success, I am simply going to offer a personal view of how my relationship to our women’s team has developed, and hope I turn up some interesting nuggets along the way.

The Times, They Are A-Changin’

When I was a kid, I knew nothing about ‘Arsenal Ladies’, as they began. Gradually, although I could not quite say when, I became aware that we had a women’s team and that they were the best. I was glad of that, and wished Vic Akers’ side well, but took little further interest. Kelly Smith was probably the first player I could actually have named, even recognised. By the time we won our first Champions League, in 2007, I was interested enough to check the BBC website as the second leg of the final played out. After the men’s team had lost their own final the year before, I liked the idea of the women scooping up some of the glory we had missed out on. I was proud that we had such a good women’s team and wanted them to win. But I never actually watched them play. Unless you went to the games, it wasn’t an option.

Things kept evolving. The world kept changing. More money was invested in women’s football; still a fraction of the men’s game, but enough to provide some security to players who could start to take football seriously as a profession. The standard of play went up and up. A few years ago, The Arsenal, always at the forefront of the women’s game, began to play a few matches at the Emirates. I was interested and went along when I could.

The first time I saw Arsenal Women play their counterparts from Barcelona was in December 2021 at the Emirates Stadium. I had taken along a female friend of mine (Leyton Orient fan) who has played the game in local leagues for over twenty years and who I knew would enjoy the experience and appreciate the football. In the end however, very little of the football that we both ended up admiring so much came from the Arsenal.

Instead, Barcelona produced a masterclass, running away 4-0 winners as we chased their shadows all evening. As we left the stadium, my friend had seen enough from the Spanish side to opine “Well, they’re a bit good.” Indeed, they were.  We had catching up to do.

Apparently, there were 12,232 fans in attendance to witness that dismantling of a decent Arsenal team. That felt like a pretty good turnout but only six months later stadiums were full up and down the country as we were swept away by the Lionesses, who triumphed in Euro 2022 to bring football home. Chloe Kelly’s winning goal and iconic celebration was a moment of pure sporting adrenaline that was roared on by record numbers of viewers. Women’s football had arrived. The public cared.

Arsenal, as always, showed the way, capitalising on the mood in England to pull thousands to the Emirates on matchdays. I went when I could, and I loved it. But we were no longer the pre-eminent team, our dominance broken by richer clubs in variant shades of blue.

Cut to Lisbon. Two months ago, we returned to the pinnacle of the women’s game. In a remarkable fifteen game campaign, we overcame Europe’s best to win the Champions League for a second time. This time the final was broadcast live around the world. I’d spent the season watching the players, I knew the team, how we played, how tough the opposition were. And I knew that we were The Arsenal and that no group of players could do more justice to what that means than those that took to the field that day. I was already proud of them before a ball was kicked, but then something special happened.

I felt that game. It mattered. I kicked every ball and every nerve in my body was jangling. We stood firm. We played some good stuff. We scored a goal. I went nuts. And then, after an eternity, the final whistle went, and I found tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, and I had to keep pumping my first and shouting ‘YES. YEEEESSSS!’ just to let some of the emotion out. This was my team, and we had won.

Winning is a funny thing in football. Most teams don’t win trophies, and it isn’t what matters most to fans, despite the impression social media gives. Of course, we want to win, but only a few teams have a realistic chance of winning their league; the rest just try to get through a season without a relegation scrap. Winning trophies is not a prerequisite for our support.

We all want different things from our teams, but I think a common thread is that we want to care, and that means that we want our teams to do things worth caring about. For some, that means simply how well they play or how successful they are. Fans may be willing to ignore all sorts of difficult questions if their team is winning. You don’t have to look far in the men’s game to find examples of that.

But, for others, we want teams we can connect with. People who represent values that align with our own. We want to be proud of them. For me, that is important. However, there is no doubt that winning matters. When your team wins on the biggest stages it provides validation for how you feel about them. This is professional sport, and it is only when you win that everyone else pays attention to what a special group you are. The good qualities that fans see every week become visible to the wider public, the plaudits flood in and the good times roll.

I have never previously felt the same level of intense emotion at a women’s game as I did that CL final victory. It surpassed even the Lioness’ triumph. It was up there with the best days of the Wenger years. You cannot fake that feeling and it doesn’t come along often. It is the high point in the life of a fan, the rush we dream about, an intoxicating mix of elation and vindication. That performance gave me the ultimate footballing fix, and I loved it. It will go down with Anfield ’89 as a game when every man and his dog had written us off and yet, against all the odds, we believed, we fought, we won.

It is an experience that I have thought about often in the time since, surprised by how deeply I felt it. It marked an overt realisation that something has happened that I thought was impossible – I care about another team in the same way that I care about Arsenal. Except, of course, that team is Arsenal too!

What it means to support the club has shifted for me. In a way that I cannot neither fake nor deny, I have become a fan of the Arsenal women in their own right.

Even after a season of watching every game I could, it is still new to me to recognise how much I care, how seriously invested I am. I can also see that I support the two teams in subtly different ways, although in a sense, I find the entwined strands of my support incredibly complimentary of each other. I am fulfilled in a slightly different way by both teams and the way I engage with them, and I am getting even more from my Arsenal fandom. And I am very glad and grateful for that.

It’s About The People

For the second part of this piece, I’d like to look at some of what makes Arsenal women so special, and for me it is the community of fans that I want to highlight.

If you have been lucky enough to get to the Emirates for a women’s game and a men’s game any time recently then you will have had no trouble recognising the different vibes. The women’s team has a hardcore following of fans who travel home and away to games, sing vociferously and have songs for every player. But most of the fans on an Emirates Stadium matchday don’t know many of the words. Me included!

The atmosphere is far more chilled out than at men’s games. There are more kids around, and there is often a sense of celebration in the air; a different crowd bring a different vibe. I like to think that Arsenal is always a welcoming place on a matchday, whichever team is playing, but there is no doubting that the women’s games have an overt air of inclusion that extends to people of all ages, genders, sexualities, races, religions and any other group you can think of. Seeing all these people come together for the Arsenal is pretty special, and if you haven’t been then I can’t recommend it enough.

Inside the stadium, the atmosphere is quieter. Lots of people chat to each other as they watch the game, perhaps more like the crowds at cricket or another slower game, pausing to cheer when there is some action, but not necessarily generating energy for the team to feed off of in the same way. There is a sense of encouragement and goodwill, rather than the vociferous (potentially alcohol enhanced) baying and chanting that crackles through the best men’s games. It’s probably less natural to start a chant about the onanistic activities of the officials when you’re surrounded by seven-year-olds who, quite literally, don’t know the words. The referee’s a what, daddy?

However, when The Arsenal score and ‘Freed From Desire’ plays out in the stadium the whole place starts dancing and cheering, scarves get swung, and it is hard to get the smile off your face. It’s pretty special. Na na na na na na na, na na na, na na!

I have another friend who has never been a football fan but over the years my Arsenal fanaticism has intrigued her and gradually drawn her in. She still is not bothered about watching the men’s team, even if she is pleased when they win, but she has started making it a habit to attend women’s games because it is such a good afternoon out. This season, she took a ragtag crew of workmates, friends and even her mum to watch us beat Spurs 5-0. None of them had any allegiance to Arsenal, none of them had even been to a live football match before, but they all went, and they all had a brilliant day. Even from afar, I was so chuffed about this. This sort of thing is simply not possible at a men’s game.

Even non-fans are turning up and starting to see Arsenal as a positive and inspirational institution. Which is exactly what we are. The Arsenal Foundation is incredible, the club do so much leading charity and community work, and the women’s team is plugged right into the heart of that. My friend gets updates from the Gay Gooners Instagram account and it’s a simple way to be part of a growing community, all brought together by football and The Arsenal. How good is that?

The availability of tickets and the craic on offer is drawing and engaging a whole new set of people who would not have access to tickets for the men’s games and who probably wouldn’t want them anyway. Something new and exciting is developing on matchdays at the Emirates. There is an energy about the women’s team that is joyful and vibrant but based on the highest standards of professionalism and quality within the entire staff. They are a special group, led by a special manager and backed by the club. And they are drawing in new fans and old to experience football in a way that is fresh, energised and downright fun.

The football played by the team is fantastic, top players all playing for each other, and they are great to watch. I see them on TV far more than at the stadium, but you can still hear the travelling gooners regularly out sing the home fans. Even if you live on the other side of the world, you can feel the energy the team and the fans transmit, the bond between them somehow more intimate than in the men’s game. 

I shall be cheering on Rene Slegers’ team next year, I cannot wait to see how we do in our efforts to bring home the WSL after too many years. And I’ll be thrilled to see us defend our European crown.

There were 10,000 people outside the Emirates to see the Champions League trophy hoisted, against the backdrop of a banner featuring the last team to do it, which rightfully adorns the side of the stadium. There are many more fans around the world who support from afar, inspired by what this team and this club stand for.

Even as Champions of Europe, this still feels like the start of the journey. 

Whatever the final destination, I can’t wait to be along for the ride, and I can’t wait to share it with you all.

Until next time, ‘holics.

Posted in Arsenal Women, Tribute, Waffle | 33 Drinks »

Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? Is it a Centre Forward…

Jun 20th, 2025 by

Silly season is well and truly upon us. Prepare to be bombarded with three months of vague phrases such as;

  • Interested in the player
  • Monitoring the situation
  • Gentlemen’s agreement
  • Agreed personal terms

It really is all rather tedious. But signings must be made, and it is up to us to sift through the endless mounds of Twitter compost as we attempt to decipher what is genuine and what is horse manure – spoiler alert, this makes up about 98% of your timeline. We’re all sick of everyone and their nan claiming to have some sort of insider information about player X and how they’ve received intel that he’s made Arsenal his “number one priority” and has informed his brother, brother’s wife’s second cousin’s godson’s babysitter’s driving instructor’s third wife that he will be joining Arsenal no matter what. You see what I mean by tedious?

I think you will all agree when I say the transfer window has reached unbearable levels over the last six or seven years. The rise of twitter has a big part to play in this. Nowadays it is easy to know about a deal months in advance meaning we get constant “updates” from certain journalists essentially just pumping out information we already know because they’ve already told us 143798 times over the last three months. For example, according to Fabrizio Romano we’ve agreed personal terms with Martin Zubimendi at least half a dozen times since January. That’s a lot of personal terms. 

For me it just saps all the excitement out of the transfer window. We all have a pretty good idea of who Arsenal might sign. That wasn’t the case as recently as 10-15 years ago. I remember when we signed Özil not so long ago. we had just beaten Spurs 1-0 the day before Deadline Day and Arsene Wenger was asked in his post-match interview if Arsenal had anything up their sleeve regarding late signings. Wenger, normally watertight and coy when it came to these things merely smirked and remarked, “Maybe we will have a surprise for you.” The next morning, we woke up to the news we were advancing on a deal for Mesut Özil and by the evening we had smashed our transfer record and Özil was a Gunner, sparking wild celebrations outside the Emirates. And this was only 12 years ago. social media did exist, but it wasn’t the phenomenon we know it to be now. That kind of thing would be very difficult to imagine happening now with all the constant non-updates we are bombarded with on social media. 

Let’s say Arsenal pull of the signing of Rodrygo from Real Madrid. I think that one’s unlikely FWIW. Whilst it would spark a great deal of excitement within the Arsenal community, the chances are, we would all know about it at least some weeks in advance. Sometimes, the element of surprise is what makes these things so special to fans. I’m far too young to remember the days of transfer news being distributed to the masses via carrier pigeon or Morse code, but even in the last ten years our sources of transfer news has shifted a lot. Arsenalnewsnow was a big site back in my day. I remember one summer in particular when my friends and I were constantly refreshing the page to see if we had finally agreed a fee for Higuain/Benzema/Suarez (£40 million plus £1.50 perhaps?) or Draxler. We had not. Of course, Sky Sports News was the place to be for a lot of breaking transfer news back then but now that simply isn’t the case. It amuses me now seeing how much slower they are on the uptake than everybody else, constantly regurgitating information we’ve all known for weeks. 

These days, as we all know, the place for transfer news is the cesspit we know as Twitter. Yes, it is 99% garbage, but when genuine news does break, it will break on Twitter first. But it becomes interminably dull, all this constant scrolling and refreshing in the vague hope we’ve signed someone. To be honest, I can’t be bothered with all that faff. The problem we have now is everybody will declare we are doomed if we haven’t signed 17 players by the second week of the transfer window. And obviously lots of people feed into it and you are left with a platform of doom-declaring doom scrollers and it all makes for a very unpleasant online environment. In many ways the most toxic part of the football season is when there isn’t any football at all. 

But as I’ve mentioned, what is just as bad is the people who pretend to know things when they have no more idea than the rest of us. It seems people care more about gaining traction than being right. but we now live in an age in which opinion and speculation appear to be worth more than actual facts and reality, meaning it is incredibly easy to spread lies and misinformation and gain traction. Gaining lots of likes and retweets doesn’t make you right all it proves is you are a person with fingers and access to the internet. Or at least the address for an internet café. We see all sorts of information apparently from different sources regarding potential signings. Nearly all of them are made up. These are just some of the things I’ve read about Arsenal’s striker saga:

Sporting Lisbon President: We’ve told Arsenal we will only sell Gyokores for a minimum of 14 billion euros plus a lifetime supply of pastel de natas and a 50% discount for the Timeout Market. We are yet to hear back. Although we made the same offer to Man United and they said Luke Shaw was very interested in the TimeOut Market and asked if they do meat pies. 

Gyokores: Please don’t make me go to Man United. I’ve got Gary Neville in my DM’s promising me a lifetime supply of Huel if I join. Personally, I think I’ll pass on half a decade of sneering, nasal manc pundits questioning my Pashun and Desiyah after every 3-0 loss at home to Bournemouth.

Gyokores’ Mum: I don’t care how much Arsenal decide to bid for my son, he’s going nowhere until he unloads the dishwasher, takes the chicken out of the freezer and folds his pants and puts them in the correct drawer instead of shoving them under the bed as usual. As if I won’t check there first. 

Sesko’s evil identical twin brother: I promise you, I haven’t seen my brother anywhere. No, his body is not currently dissolving at the bottom of a septic tank. How dare you make such an unfounded accusation against me. 

I am sure you were able to figure out, these quotes are indeed fake. I completely made them up which means they are every bit as true as 95% of what you read on Twitter. I, like you, have no intel on who we might sign. My prediction is we will sign some players between now and September and some of those players may even have two legs and two arms. Who knows? Over the years I have learned not to believe everything I read, and not to get drawn further into the inescapable rabbit hole of the Arsenalsphere of Eternal Doom with every day that passes. Maybe one day we’ll finally sign Julian Draxler, Steven Nzonzi and Yann M’villa. 

In fact, as I was about to finish this article, I checked Twitter and it would appear that the lesser-spotted Martin Zubimendi is in London to have his medical. Don’t you just love it when a transfer just manufactures itself out of the blue? The magic of the transfer window has bestowed itself upon us at last!

Posted in Opinions, Transfers, Waffle | 25 Drinks »

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