Barbarians v Samoa August 29th

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

What are technically the cheap seats?..............................

I'd say they'll be the very back rows from the corner flag, round behind the goals to the other corner flag.

[Pop Robson]

If anyone gets the chance I'd love to see some pictures from what will be the £289 poor seats

20000 on the waiting list for ST, I reckon most are after these

I know of 6 in my local alone that are after the cheap seats

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

I don't doubt it Pop.

If I get one all well and good, but I have a feeling there'll be quite a few on-the-day tickets available for all but the Sky Darlings.

[mitford]

The game is being shown on itv 4 for anyone that's interested

[gavrosh]

On way to the builders arms then the stadium....

[Kitt the car]

As I previously said, I went today, it was the first time I had been to the OS & oh my god what a thing of beauty!

I was sat in the upper tier, block 216, row 44 and I really enjoyed the view. I currently sit in Row C in the STBL so I'm used to being close to the action & have fully accepted I would not get anything like that in the new stadium. I also fully understand that with any bigger stadium (and the away trip to the Emirates confirmed this to me) you will be further from the pitch however the need for binoculars is certainly not necessary from where I was sitting which was half way up the upper tier on the corner as my following photos will show.. The temporary seating works but I can see why people may hate it, it didn't affect me but I did have a wonder down there after the game & the view was very good. Bare in mind that this temporary seating is for the rugby before ours gets made!

The roof is spectacular and really does keep the noise in, at the end of the game when 90% of the fans had left some guy ran on to the pitch, the noise was so loud from the cheering of those that remained in their seats. It really surprised me. Attendance today was 41,000 and there were some gaps in both tiers so we need to do well to sell out & make it look full, something Man City are struggling with.

Please bare with me and my following posts, hopefully the images won't be too big.











More photos to come

[Kitt the car]

[Kitt the car]

[The Terminator]

Looking good

[Nelone1]

Kit

These are the seating being used, the walkways and the dark platform at the back of the seating are the temporary parts. It will look different next time you see it, work starts tomorrow.

[Aztec Hammer]

Fwiw, it looked atrocious on tele.

[WestHamIFC]

I was in the Lower Tier today. Loved it!

Awesome stadium, felt very close to the pitch, great views, and superb acoustics with the new roof. It felt far, far more intimate than Wembley or the Millennium Stadium.

Sound travels really, really well and clearly. I can't wait for the first match and hearing us sing "Bubbles" as the team comes out. It will be spine-tingling!

The 'curve' of the seats actually helped me see the corner furthest away on my side far more clearly than in a conventional football stadium!

My fears/concerns are absolutely gone, can't wait for the WHU branding to be added and for us to move in!

Got a few pics I'll post tomorrow at some point. :raver:

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Thanks for all the pictures

[Mr P]

Was in block 225 upper tier in the corner behind the posts. I would imagine these will be the cheap seats and I'd be more than happy with those for under £300.

My ST is in the 1966 seats in block 237 so took a wander along to take a look. Absolutely amazing view. Really don't understand people complaining about views or distances if they haven't seen it for themselves. You can't tell anything from photos and really need to see it with your own eyes. Very, very impressed and very excited about the move

[Yabish]

I hope the goals will be pushed back in 'football mode'

[Big George]

*edited, images didn't work so uploaded links from twititer*

Its was an interesting day yesterday.

In terms of pictures most people have shares their ones but take a look at this. I was about row 7 in the upper tier by the corner flag.

The play was in the far corner, what can you see..

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Not much eh?

Second half we sneaked into the lower tier near the dugouts, presumably 66 club/corporate seats. View was immeasurably better. Different class. The problem with the upper tier is the sheer distance between your seat and places were the action was taking place. You're talking binoculars

Getting in an out was a nightmare too. We were entering by turnstile C. We had 6 adults and 4 kids, not an unreasonable group for a home game. It took us 28 mins to get from the tube platform to the edge of the bridge by the aquatics centre. Then it took another 20 odd mins to get to the turnstile. This was almost two hours before kick off.

Reasons? Westfield was moderately full but I've seen it worse. There was some building work going on but mainly there were too many people arriving for the area to cope. It wasn't dangerous, just painfully slow. The Cow and all the restaurants were rammed and spilling onto "The Street" which also slowed everyone down.

Coming out was worse. As I said, we were as far away from Stratford station as it is possible to be. We were held in queues with rain coming down. They kept trying to push us to Hackney Wick (not a lot of use to me) Then they tried to march us round the bus station both at the entrance to Westfield and when we got close to the exit of Westfield. Again inside the station they tried to push us round the houses. We managed to blag through these barriers by playing the "we have four wet kids" card but it still took us over an hour until we were on the tube platform,

Being held in the Olympic Park
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Being held outside the Cow in Westfield
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Its going to take a lot of sorting out.

I got speaking to a woman at the game who was an Arsenal fan at Highbury but gave up her ST after one season at the Emirates.As you know we have hired the Arsenal team to do our move. The used the same playboook there, all the nonsense about the comparable view, the club needs the money to compete. She feels she was repeatedly lied to and doesn't go at all any more. As an example, she was told her ST at gthe Emirates woould be next to the Corporate area, what she wasn't told was that it the away corporate area. She hated iit, complained and they refused to help. The problem is they have some many "new fans" ready to take the seats.

That's where we are. Like it or lump it.

PS I took a load more pics and posted them on twitter https://twitter.com/SGFMann" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AlfieG]

Good to hear your feedback BG.

I hope that people will take some time to look at your pictures on twitter....

Some worrying points highlighted.

I too experienced the management of fans trying to get away after the game yesterday and I have to say that it was p1ss poor especially when it is raining...... I suspect that an angry group of football fans will not be so compliant with their stupid rules.... We will see....

Oh and finally, I suspect that you will now be accused of being a negative moaner because you do not fully agree with the clubs view that this move is 'fantastic' for the supporters.....

[Big George]

I'll live with it

[gavrosh]

I went to the builders arms before the game and walked into the park via the rail tunnel on carpenters road. Seems we were the only people to have the gumption to do that.

Admittedly it is a pain going all the way around to the west stand but leave that concern to the prawn sandwich brigade.

Had one of the best views in the house as I'm on crutches after a cruciate ligament op and the view at least from there was superior to most at the Boleyn.

My brother, who doesn't go online to argue out the minutiae of the move was mystified about the idea that anyone would think this worse than being at the Boleyn as it is now. The Boleyn as it ended in the early 90s fine, but not it's current incarnation.

Will post up pics shortly.

[sutts07]

Fwiw, it looked atrocious on tele.

Maybe in your opinion... I think it looks decent...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6dq35bqaBA