Arsenal and Chelse stadium visits

Today I visited both stadiums of Chelsea and Arsenal. As two of the most well-known clubs and organizations in the world, it was good to see the enterprise in action. Both were quite impressive and I will eventually comment on the "better" one.

First visit was Chelsea this AM

Chelsea is right smack in the middle of a city surrounding it. The original stadium was very old as was the original Arsenal grounds. I would say that in both venues, I can see that they are made for watching soccer. The farthest seats are still pretty good compared to Gillete for example.
A interesting fact noted by the tour guide and verified right in front of us. A Falcon is brought around each day to scare (and more?) the pigeons. Pretty cool as I hate pigeons and their trappings...


Lots of winning tradition at Chelsea as seen by the museum (Better than the museum of Arsenal) Lots of trophies and emphasis/recognition that the names change but the tradition continues.



 Second was Arsenal in the afternoon

The arsenal tour is "self-guided" meaning they give you a headset and small hand held player with video that walks you through the tour and offers extra vidoes at each part.I liked it as I was not rushed and could get away from the morons I was on tour with. (I think today and my attitude about obnxious teenagers and their obnoxious parents and clueless families, implies I have had enough of tourists even I as Know I am one.   Just clueless.)


Arsenal spent a lot of time emphasizing how perfect the stadium is for football. From the shape of the roofing to allow light and air, to the irrigation system and computerized grass growing process. Everything at the place revolves around the perfect soccer experience for the players. Arsene Wengner sounds like he had an orgasmic opportunity to impact these details as coach and manager.

The locker rooms of both were nice,but the facilities at the Arsenal venue were amazing and surprisingly superior to Chelsea's.The most interesting thing to me was in interviews with the Wenger, he continued to emphasize things like the shape of locker room (to push communication between players) and the Jacuzzi being a place players could hang out after the match. The lights in the locker room, the ability for players to get in the groove however they wanted....




The fields were just amazing. During both tours they were mowing the lawns with multiple machines. Beautiful grass, worn in certain places enough to let you know it's real (Mid field and corners). It was similar to how spots at the WYS fields are worn from where the bad coach mandates the defender should stand.......