Club Level: an experience like no other.

Judging the importance or not of a result in the immediate aftermath is never a good idea for one’s equanimity. The result against Middlesbrough is not what was expected but it has equal potential to be a result we look back on as a vital point or two dropped points that ultimately cost us the title. Which of those transpires to be the truth will be determined by where we go from here. Nothing is written yet.

After such a result it is easy to feel dejected and often that is precisely how I would feel before I had fully processed a result. However, my matchday experience was one such that only a loss would have dampened my mood.

Saturday’s match was my first trip to the Emirates this season and most of the day went by in a bit of a blur. I was offered a ticket in midweek whilst I was away with my family in Bristol and had to hastily change my plans. Saturday started rather sluggishly at 5am as I dragged myself out of bed and packed up our rented apartment in a mechanical stupor. My wife was staying behind for a work team-building day so the driving duties fell to me alone.

I hit the road a little after 8am and made my way from Bristol to the Essex coast with an excitable toddler in tow. Quite how I got home I don’t really know – I seemed to make the entire journey on autopilot and pulled up safely on my driveway just after 11am. My only recollection was the petrol light coming on about 2 miles from home.

Dropping my son off with his grandparents I hastily made my way to the train station via the petrol pumps and made it on to the platform with 2 minutes to go. 75 minutes later I emerged out of Highbury and Islington station and onto Holloway Road. It was at that moment that time seemed to slow down.

The smells of all the different foods that permeate the air; the excited voices of match goers as they wend their way to the stadium; the bustle of the over-packed bars and pubs; the bright colours of the stalls that line the streets; the call of programme and magazine sellers; the awe-inspiring feeling you get as the stadium creeps into view; the tingle as you cross the threshold through the turnstiles and onto the stadium concourse; the deafening rumble as feet clamber up the stairs and the rush of cool air and adrenaline as you emerge onto the stands and see the lush green carpet being delicately sprinkled: I drink it all in. It is a special experience and one that never loses its lustre.

I arrived at the stadium unsure what to expect. My gracious hosts, Arsenal partner Europcar, had invited me to join them at club level and aside from prime seats I expected little else. What was to follow blew my mind.

I met my hosts in the Foundry restaurant where I was encouraged to enjoy the most opulent buffet I have ever encountered. Fillet steak, duck breaks, lamb cutlets, cod, haddock, halibut, speciality sausages, bacon steaks, dauphinoise potatoes, profiteroles, cheesecake and much more that I simply cannot remember. It was a cornucopia of exquisite foods made from the ingredients of the utmost quality. The beer and wine flowed like a river and the quality of the food and drink was surpassed only by the service.

Shortly before the match I was presented with the team sheet and encouraged to wear my complementary Foundry badge featuring the crests of the two teams. At half-time we were plied with more drinks and a generous cheese board, and drinks flowed freely again at full-time allowing us to enjoy the experience further and digest the result as the crowds outside slowly dispersed.

The match itself will be covered in great detail on my sister-site Goonersphere.com so I shall comment purely on the experience. Club Level, as you would suspect given the experience thus far, was a muted place. The view of the pitch was spectacular, the best I have had at the Emirates, but the atmosphere was restrained. Perhaps this was due to the entire ground being relatively quiet, possibly the quietest it has been in my experience, or maybe because the patrons of club level are naturally more emotionally restrained. I would not like to definitively say either way.

Thanks to Europcar for their hospitality and I sincerely hope to experience Club Level again sometime soon but I could not trade the terraces for Club Level full time – I need to be on the terraces, singing until my lungs burst. I adore the terraces and enjoy singing until my voice breaks but I cannot say that the Club Level experience has not spoiled me somewhat. It is something I encourage all Arsenal fans to experience just once. You will either love it, as I did, or you will hate it. Either way I think it will give you a renewed respect for your seat in the stands and a desire to help improve the atmosphere on the terraces.

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