Topic: The New Wembley Stadium

[Alan_X]

Don't forget. This is the way the FA and UEFA and FIFA like it and the way they like stadia to be designed. They do not want participation. They want spectators customers. Sit down, pay up and shut up.

Corrected for you Peter. I thought it was telling that the twat of an announcer kept talking about 'guests'.

[CraigDS]

Personally thought it was shite.

'Every seat has a good view' is all well and good, but spacing was just ridiculous. Saying that, the actual seating side is the best thing it had going for it.

The concourse (I was in the upper tier) were small for that size of stadium. Layout for the queues to get a drink were stupid and the way the bars were run did not speed things up. Cardiff (and City of Manc stadium) had this right with people pouring the beers and getting the food and others just taking the order and cash. Made things so much quicker. Also seemed like their were about 3/4 as many toilets as actually needed.

For me it doesn't have a dime on Cardiff.

[kevlumley]

Talking bout the space between the seats, during one of the goals i ended up tangled between the seat back and the seat in front of me, such was the intensity of my celebrations to the first equaliser.

Forgot about the shit pa announcer robot.

[paisley to god]

Best part of the day was discovering the "One Carat Club" right next to the stadium. The shutters were down, but an LFC banner hinted at some activity inside. We cautiously followed a few fans around the side entrance, got past the bouncers and found a huge hall serving cold cans of beer for 3 quid a pop, chock full of reds, passing round a microphone for a variety of drunken singalongs. If/when we go back, this is definitely the place to congregate for a bevy before the game!

Personally I thought the stadium was great.

[gatcliffe]

Simply a bigger version of the old wembley, could not believe no toilets outside ground anywhere wembley way or car car parks ! oh and the ones inside were so small. Seemed very easy to bonk in too ! 2 guys infront of us managed to sneak in 6 or so cans of larger which they happily drank thru the game security obviously up to scratch.

[Em5y]

Seemed very easy to bonk in too !

[Peter McGurk]

Ta as always Peter. Was just chatting about it on Wednesday is all and wondered.

Been thinking about lessons learned from the weekend....

"If you’re going to build new, forget the HKS design (‘brought up to date’ ie., with boxes added, lower tiers lowered and NFL injected). Forget the second AFL design and even the first, the 2003 design.

If you’re going to build new, drop the boxes. Drop sections. Lower prices. Produce whole stands of seating at steeper angles. Ok, far enough from the pitch to keep UEFA happy but two fingers to FIFA and their ten metres (how much additional cost for maybe two World Cup games a life time?)

Stick with the minimum legroom (still more than we have now) and the minimum seat width. Provide much, much better food, beverage and hospitality facilities for all. Build a lower, flatter and more rectilinear roof to keep in the sound. ‘Lean in’ to the pitch. Get close and in your face and scare the opposition witless.

What would it look like? A bit like the Millenium Stadium, a lot like Westfalen."

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[CraigDS]

Simply a bigger version of the old wembley, could not believe no toilets outside ground anywhere wembley way or car car parks ! oh and the ones inside were so small. Seemed very easy to bonk in too ! 2 guys infront of us managed to sneak in 6 or so cans of larger which they happily drank thru the game security obviously up to scratch.

That's nothing, 3 lads in front of us managed to roll & smoke about 5 or 6 joints whilst sat watching the game. Plus the odd bit of coke.

Not one steward walked up or down the stairs once during the whole game. Plus were obviously oblivious to the smoke!

[1021]

Though it was great to 'go to Wembley' it stadium itself was a bit souless, the location was a bit bleak, and in all honesty I preferred Cardiff in just about every department.

[David H]

Can only dream about us building something similar to the Westfalen.

[Danny Boys Dad]

That's nothing, 3 lads in front of us managed to roll & smoke about 5 or 6 joints whilst sat watching the game. Plus the odd bit of coke.

Not one steward walked up or down the stairs once during the whole game. Plus were obviously oblivious to the smoke!

Was that behind the goal? Could definitely smell it, seemed like pretty good shit 

[CraigDS]

Was that behind the goal? Could definitely smell it, seemed like pretty good shit 

No, in block 524 mate!

[fewmin' bedwetter]

Been thinking about lessons learned from the weekend....

"If you’re going to build new, forget the HKS design (‘brought up to date’ ie., with boxes added, lower tiers lowered and NFL injected). Forget the second AFL design and even the first, the 2003 design.

If you’re going to build new, drop the boxes. Drop sections. Lower prices. Produce whole stands of seating at steeper angles. Ok, far enough from the pitch to keep UEFA happy but two fingers to FIFA and their ten metres (how much additional cost for maybe two World Cup games a life time?)

Stick with the minimum legroom (still more than we have now) and the minimum seat width. Provide much, much better food, beverage and hospitality facilities for all. Build a lower, flatter and more rectilinear roof to keep in the sound. ‘Lean in’ to the pitch. Get close and in your face and scare the opposition witless.

What would it look like? A bit like the Millenium Stadium, a lot like Westfalen."

more

Is steeper necessarily better though? One of the points from earlier in this thread was this from Barry Banana...

"Too big. The person in front of you is about 2ft in front and 3ft lower. Doesn't make for a good atmosphere. Great views."

I myself have been in stadiums (new Wembley and Old Trafford (to see our boys!)) and been high up in a steep stand and I've just felt detached from the game, remote. Compare stadiums with a gentler slope, like the old Wembley, and I think the atmosphere was much better.

And I would put that alongside another truism, which is that more roofing is better "because the sound bounces around more" - on the contrary, I've found the sound can better where the roofing is more minimal. I'm not a sound engineer or anything but I think too much roofing could actually have a dampening effect, with the sound reflecting back on itself - athough that's conjecture only. For example, I haven't been in Wimbledon Centre Court with the roof over but from the impression I get on TV, it seems completely dead in there with the roof over.

[Peter McGurk]

Is steeper necessarily better though? One of the points from earlier in this thread was this from Barry Banana...

You get those big “2ft in front and 3ft lower” gaps because of the slightly artificial way the sight angles are worked out. But steepening up the stand and reducing the over-generous legroom would reduce the gap for a better view. It's because of the long, low lower tier and the height of the boxes that the seats in the upper tiers are detached and miles away.

In the ‘gentle slope’ of the old Wembley (I’m talking the old Wembley) you were only a foot behind the guy in front (gut permitting) - a completely different experience.

There’s a lot more to the acoustics than just the roof but the same stadium without a roof is appreciably quieter than one with. Wimbledon is tiny in comparison. Direct sound is much more important at short distances than reflected sound at longer distances but who knows what TV sound engineers get up to there.

The point stands - boxes make stadia bigger, are more expensive, push the angle of the lower tier down and split up the fans with a ‘ring of silence’. Shallow tiers have poorer views and push the stands behind them further away from the pitch to compensate.

[ultimatewarrior]

Just out of curiousuty , what is the minimum row dept in a new stadium Peter? And what is the row dept at Wembley?

[kevlumley]

No, in block 524 mate!

Block 110 stank of grass. If it was coming from 524, then that was strong shit.

[Peter McGurk]

Just out of curiousuty , what is the minimum row dept in a new stadium Peter? And what is the row dept at Wembley?

The guidance changes all the time. The last time I looked it was 700mm with a recommendation to consider the future likely minimum of 800mm.

As for Wembley, I believe it's 800mm. I need to start carrying a builder's tape measure to be sure but nurse said I couldn't have sharp objects after the last time...

[ultimatewarrior]

The guidance changes all the time. The last time I looked it was 700mm with a recommendation to consider the future likely minimum of 800mm.

As for Wembley, I believe it's 800mm. I need to start carrying a builder's tape measure to be sure but nurse said I couldn't have sharp objects after the last time...

Haha! It funny you mention that. I did the tour of the San Siro last year and was kicking myself for not bringing a tape. I ended up puting a mark on the side of my shoe and measured it when i got back to the hotel. Its somewhere between 700-750mm and that seemed to be ample legroom and I'm 1.9m tall.
Some of the tighter areas at Anfield must be about 600mm.

[Peter McGurk]

I did the tour of the San Siro last year and was kicking myself for not bringing a tape. I ended up puting a mark on the side of my shoe and measured it when i got back to the hotel. Its somewhere between 700-750mm and that seemed to be ample legroom and I'm 1.9m tall.
Some of the tighter areas at Anfield must be about 600mm.

Yes they are and yes about 725mm seems to be plenty for most if not all people.

It depends more on weight than height. I haven't grown much in height since I was 18 and I fitted into the Kemlyn Road fine (just the once, for Sir Roger's testimonial). If I'm ever there now... no wait, I wasn't that old!

The recommendations keep going up. We're not getting any taller, so I guess we must be getting bigger.

[SpartanTree. No deccies or lights.]

Block 110 stank of grass. If it was coming from 524, then that was strong shit.

I was in block 110 and it definately smelled like good shit.......