My Matchday - 255 Underhill

Barnet 0v4 Arsenal
Pre-season Friendly
Saturday 17th July 2010

My first trip of the new football season was a family rail day out down to that London. As you would expect we did a bit of sight seeing and went for a drink in Wetherspoons and of course I did my usual disappearing act while the family were shopping so I could attend a game and tick off another new ground, the preferred destination being Underhill - the home of Barnet FC.

The London Borough of Barnet is a suburban area in North London built around a twelfth-century settlement.
The town was the site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471 where King Edward IV and his Yorkist troops killed the rebellious Warwick the Kingmaker and his brother the Marquess of Montagu.
The hill mentioned in the nursery rhyme “The Grand Old Duke of York” in which 10,000 men marched up and back down again refers to Barnet Hill where the conflict took place.

The original Barnet FC formed in 1888, having previously been known as New Barnet FC and later Woodville FC playing on a ground on Queens Road. The club had reasonable success playing in various leagues in North London until folding in 1901.
The current club originates from two local clubs; Barnet Avenue FC (formed 1890) who renamed themselves Barnet FC in 1904 and a dental company Alston Works AFC (formed 1901) both clubs merged in 1912 as Barnet and Alston FC.

The club played at Amateur level as founder members of the Athenian League for over 50 years until turning semi-professional in 1965, renamed as Barnet FC after the First World War.

.
The Bees played their early Non-League days in the Southern League then became founder members of the Alliance in 1979. The club missed out on promotion to the Football League after finishing runners-up on three separate occasions until finally winning the title in 1990-91.
Underhill staged League football for ten years including a season in Division Two(League One) in 1993-94. After relegation to the Conference in 2001 they regained their place in League Two, crowned champions in 2004-05, 12 points ahead of Hereford United.

.

Underhill opened in September 1907 with Crystal Palace providing the opposition, the Alston Works side winning 1-0. Barnet won the FA Amateur Cup in 1946 and finalists in 1948 and 1959, it was in this competition that witnessed the ground’s biggest gate - 11,062 for a 4th round tie with Wycombe Wanderers in February 1952.
The first stand was built in 1926, however it wasn’t until the 1960’s that the ground was developed which included floodlights installed in 1962 and the building of the Main Stand two years later.

The Main Stand sits on the half way line having 800 blue seats, with access gained at the front via the brightly painted orange staircases. The Family Stand sits next to it with the open North West Terrace at the other side.
The covered East Terrace runs pitch length and is shared with away supporters. The stand has both a peaked roof which houses the TV gantry and flat roof towards the south side.
The shallow North Terrace includes a separate seated stand on the east side of the terrace. The residents on Westcombe Drive get a free view of the game but some have now been scuppered with a large board on the back fence with Come on u Bees!! in big capital letters.
The new 1, 061 South Stand was opened in January 2008 replacing the temporary uncovered 700 seats, which in turn had replaced the old West Bank. The stand has a single tier of seats in the club colours, with the new club offices; the Durham Suite in the south-west corner.
Underhill has distinctive floodlights, resembling four large TV aerials but the ground is well known for the slope which run pitch length from the south up to the north end.

The ground is also used by Arsenal Reserves, the clubs pre-season fixture is now as much a part of the start of the football calendar as the Community Shield.
The capacity crowd delayed the kick-off by 10 minutes, so quite a few Gooners would have missed Andrey Arshavin give Arsenal a 90 second lead. The Russian played a clever one-two with Rosicky before taking the ball around the keeper and scoring from close range.
A brace from Jay Simpson before half time, finishing off two typical Arsenal moves made it 3-0 at the break before a fresh side took the field for the second half.
The second half team didn’t fair as well as their predecessors, only adding one goal to the score (maybe because they were kicking up hill…Eddy) when Samir Nasri seized on a defensive howler to grab the fourth on 75 minutes.
Barnet battled throughout, fielding basically a brand new team with only half a dozen players remaining from last season. The Bees new boss Mark Stimson has assembled a new squad and with the likes of Watford, Charlton, Southampton and Peterborough to come to Underhill this pre-season, the new gaffer has time to mould this new side before their League Two campaign kicks off.

As much as I enjoyed my first new ground of the season, I wish I had chose a different fixture to visit Underhill. The match was like an Arsenal home game so I felt like I having really experienced a Barnet home match. Matters weren’t helped by some of the songs chanted from the Gooners, which were basically crap, both lyrically and melodically.
I’ve learned that if the chance arises to visit an uncharted ground then I have take the opportunity, in the likelihood that another chance may not occur. I shouldn’t really complain though, as the game was quite entertaining, with some good football played in glorious sunshine, a nice introduction to the 2010-11 season.

Matchday stats

BFC 0 AFC 4(Arshavin 2, Simpson 16,45 Nasri 75)

att.5,701

Admission £18

Programme £3

Ground no.255 Underhill - Matchday Web album(18 pictures)

My Matchday Pics - 119 Emirates Stadium

Arsenal 1 v 1 Newcastle United
FA Premiership
18th November 2006
att.60058

After residing at Highbury in the London Borough of Islington for the last 93 years The Gunners have shifted home just around the corner(well,they're settled in the area) to their new home at Ashburton Grove, or to give it it's current title for at least the next 15 years, The Emirates Stadium', thanks to a £100m sponsorship deal with the Dubai based airline.

This 17 acre site was build at a cost of £390m, and is a four-tier bowl type stadium decked out in comfy red seats with lots of leg room (I only discovered this in the half-time interval,due to the usual standing up at away matches stance amongst the Toon Army) The bowl shape is very stylish and I especially like to use of giant windows at the back of the top tier which lets in lots of natural light. Instead of advertisements the stadium is surrounded by a gallery of honours which runs inbetween two of the tiers, listing the clubs achievements from their first FA Cup win in 1930 through to their latest trophy win in 2005.

A refreshing change when attending an away game in the Premiership is meeting a friendly bunch of ground stewards. The lads employed at the Emirates spent a lot of time laughing and carrying on with the Newcastle fans, and didn't have the 'power-mad-jobsworth-type-attitude' which I've come across in the past. The men in orange coats in the section of the ground where we were standing(not sitting)were always smiling and seemed to actually enjoy their job, or were they Spurs fans in disguise? Happy to see that the Gooners were getting beat 1-0!

I hatched a very cunning plan in locating my way to the match, my mate Big Ian(100FGC squad no.2) drove myself and his son Lee to Cockfosters Tube Station, the most Northenly point on the Piccadilly Line, we then hopped on the tube and within half an hour arrived at Arsenal Station, this meant missing out on the chaos of the London traffic and saved a lot of drinking time. I then arranged to meet up with Wanstead based Geordie exile Decka T, we arranged to meet up at a pub called the 'Drayton Arms', but after asking several locals on the whereabouts of this drinking establishment, no-one seemed to know where it was or weren't interested in helping, I eventually got told how to find the pub by a helpfull hotdog seller. This reminded me of the words of the legend Paul Weller on The Jam's hit 'StrangeTown' the line being "when you ask in a strange town, they say I don't care and I've got to go mate" I know it's sterotypical to suppose that our friends in the South are unfriendly and not helpfull towards strangers, but when I found out the pub in question is opposite the ARSENAL entrance(see above pic)and surely everyone who supports Arsenal must know where it is, so maybe there's some truth in the fact some(not all)Southerners are pig ignorant. It can be compared to an away fan arriving at St James Park and asking where 'The Strawberry Pub' is and me saying "ah divvent knaa"

This was 'The Gunners' 10th game at their new home, winning five and drawing the other four, but in the Premiership they've played six, winning 3-0 three times and drawing 1-1 three times, so what was it to be for Newcastle's visit, any betting man would suggest the 3-0 scoreline and I would categorically agree, but Newcastle being as unpredictable as ever came away with a welcome and well earned 1-1 draw.

After all those glorious years spent at Highbury and only being residence in their new home for four months the Emirates Stadium probably still doesn't feel like 'home' yet to both players and supporters. The old ground was often criticized for lacking atmosphere and with a new 60,000+ stadium you would think this would be resolved, but I'm afraid it's the same as Highbury, with only a pocket of 200 odd fans in the opposite corner of the ground trying to stir the fellow Gooners into vocal action and a 5 minute spell after Henry's equaliser awakining the fans tonsils.

The club could have taking advantage in moving into a new development by asking fans when purchasing their season tickets if they would maybe like to sit in a specially designated 'singing end' of the ground, this would benefit both supporters and most of all be a great lift to the team, but sadly this mustn't have happened because it appears that the mighty Arsenal have moved from the quiet library to the quiet art gallery.

match report@-http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6138794.stm

'Simple Piemans' view @-http://pieandmushypeas.blogspot.com/2006/11/arsenal-fc.html

(click for larger pics)

Arsenal Stadium,Highbury 1913-2006 RIP

Before hitting the boozer,I had a some spare time to take a look at the current state of Highbury,which is in the process of being turned into a major residential area called The Stadium-Highbury Square.
The progress that has been made since Arsenal's final game at Highbury last May is the South Stand is now demolished,with the North Bank on it's last legs with half the stand and the last corner section remaining.With the East Stand being a Grade 2 listed building the facade along with the famous Marble Halls will remain,along with the West Stand facade thus becoming part of the Highbury Square project.
A nice touch about the new developement,is the area occupying The Gunners hallowed turf is to become a garden square,following the exact dimensions of the former pitch,the 711 apartments and flats will face inwards and become the vocal point of Highbury Square.