Better the devil you know

Home from a different footballing evening at Arsenal. First thing's first, an injury hit Gunners team got the victory they needed but will be disappointed they won't be taking at least a two goal lead back to Rome. They will have to hope they have a stronger side for the return with a few more options as their bench was weak this evening. Personally, I can see them going out in Rome.

Nicklas Bentner was head and shoulders the poorest player on the pitch. He has the first touch of a baby elephant and his second touch is more often than not a tackle. It was good to see Alexandre Song get on in the second half, although he looks just like the player who left us - too much sideways play and a tad clumsy in the tackle. Also, it was strange to see John Arne Rise again as I hadn't realised he was playing in Italy!

Enough of that, what I really want to tell you about is the Emirates hospitality experience. Their "Club" level is the small tier of seating around the stadium above the lower tier and immediately below the boxes. I would guess it holds 5000 people. I was behind the goal at the South end of the ground and was in one of a number of massive lounges under the terracing above that were pretty smart but what you would expect from a PL club today; bars, flat-screen TV's and poorly paid staff with little customer service experience. So, not a million miles from what you get at the Valley today.

My "experience" included the match ticket which I am guessing would have cost c £60 for this Champions League game (behind the goal)? On top of that we had a buffet which was pretty impressive and included soup, cold meats/seafood, several hot dishes/fruit/deserts/cheese as well as tea and coffee if you had room for all that. Alcoholic drinks pre-match were down to you and it was £3.50 a pint, so again, on a par with the Valley. You also got a programme (£3) thrown in and a pre-match team-sheet.

At half-time you got free drinks and I managed two swift pints here. After the match the lounge was open but it was a paying bar. So, in summary, it was very similar to what I enjoyed at the Valley for the Norwich City F A Cup game, although there two big differences apart from the quality of the football.

The first, was the type of people there. Unsurprisingly, there were a good number of Italians (Suze - unlike the Spurs fans, they clearly hadn't been told to keep schtumm) but I also heard Germans, French, Russians and Scandinavians. Additionally, there were a healthy number of Asians and all of these people looked like tourists rather than residents. So, Arsenal are a global club, what do you expect? Well, on top of that were hundreds of suits (just like me) who there for reasons other than being die-hard Arsenal fans. The consequence of this was that there was absolutely no atmosphere what-so-ever on our tier in the ground. To be fair, apart from the first-half noise of the Roma fans below us, the Library is alive and kicking. If you can't get motivated for a knock-out stage Champions League game, what does get you going?

The second big difference was the cost. At the Valley last month I believe we paid £70 a head. I say "we" because a mate paid and I think that's what he told me it was. Well, the price of Champions League (and other category A matches) football hospitality at the Emirates is a staggering £325! (£60 + £40 + £3 + £7 = £110). A mark-up therefore of £215 or getting on for 200%. I know it's all good revenue for Arsenal and it subsidises what the home fans have to pay (to some extent anyway), but I also know that they pay significantly more than we ever did in the PL for our season tickets. And yes, I know it's not Charlton for God's sake but I couldn't help thinking that I might be more dilliusioned with football today had I grown up an Arsenal fan than I do as an Addick, even one heading for Division Three.