ARSENAL!

**Ghlli** · 1st May 2006, 06:43 AM

O YEAH ARSENAL ROXXXXXX!!!
GO ARSENAL!

**Google Adsense** · 1st May 2006 06:43 AM

**shambhavi** · 1st May 2006, 02:38 PM

i think they have one of the most free flowing games, the way they play is simply a treat for the senses, hope they strengthen their defense

**Ghlli** · 1st May 2006, 07:03 PM

yeahhhhhhhhhhhh i luvvvvv arsenalllllll......the have the most supporters in the south of england

**Raikkonen** · 2nd May 2006, 10:23 AM

Arsenalku oru Boo Podu

**Thiru** · 6th May 2006, 03:16 AM

Arsenal's Highbury stadium closes after 93 years
By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer
May 5, 2006

LONDON (AP) -- Arsenal's 93-year-old Highbury stadium has been featured in two movies. Muhammad Ali fought Henry Cooper there 40 years ago, and its Art Deco East Stand is a registered historic building.

Highbury even survived a bomb in World War II.

Now it's time to say goodbye to the 38,500-seat north London landmark, which closes after Sunday's game against Wigan. About 700 luxury apartments will be woven into the stadium's old facades, and a garden square replaces the soccer field.

Highbury, which opened in 1913, is the spiritual heart of a crowded residential neighborhood. A fish and chips shop stands on one corner, 100 yards from the stadium, while 100 yards in the other direction is a London Underground stop named -- what else? -- Arsenal.

Peter Gosnell attended his first game at Highbury on May 6, 1939. He's missed only a handful of games since and, 67 years later -- almost to the day -- he'll be on hand Sunday.

He's been legally blind since his 20s and, at 78, he's now lost all of his sight. But he still pictures Highbury and a more gentle time.

"When it was built and for the next 50 years it set a standard," he said. "There was nothing like it. The whole place is style. There was a story many years ago in the early 30s that Arsenal wouldn't sign a player if he had bad table manners."

When the West Stand opened in 1932, it was the most modern in England. The East Stand came four years later, its marbled entry hall and bust of former manager Herbert Chapman making an impression in the austere prewar years.

Michael Hart, who covers soccer for London's Evening Standard newspaper, calls the closing of Highbury "the symbol of a bygone age of English football."

"Some will claim Highbury is a cold, old-fashioned relic of a lost empire with no place in the modern world," Hart said. "There may be some truth in that, but it is also the finest stadium in the Premiership."

From the top of Avenell Road, the white superstructure and glass walls of the new 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium loom over a neighborhood of row houses, where narrow steps and gardens dump on to narrow sidewalks. The Gunners will begin playing in the new stadium next season, a move some dread.

"It's terrible, it's heartbreaking," said June Gosnell, Peter's wife. "It's a lovely building, but now we have more followers than you can get in there. I think the atmosphere will change. Here it's more for family and friends."

Among landmarks in the stadium's history:

-- the first game at Highbury on Sept. 6, 1913, with Arsenal playing Leicester Fosse.

-- the Gillespie Road Underground station was renamed Arsenal on Nov. 5, 1932.

-- the movie "The Arsenal Stadium Mystery," filmed in 1939.

-- the stadium was closed during World War II and used as an ambulance and air-raid warning center; the North Bank was hit by an incendiary bomb.

-- Ali stopped Cooper in the sixth round of a heavyweight title fight, May 21, 1966.

-- the 1997 movie "Fever Pitch" was adapted from Nick Hornby's novel based on an Arsenal fan's obsession with his club.

Arsenal has won the Premier League three times, the old first-division 10 times and the FA Cup 10 times.

The move from Highbury coincides with a key moment in the club's history -- facing Barcelona on May 17 in the Champions League final in Paris. A victory would bring Arsenal its first European championship. The income from reaching the final -- and the new stadium -- should allow the club to compete with giants such as Manchester United, Chelsea, AC Milan, Juventus and Bayern Munich.

Taking photos of Highbury's East Stand, Sara Brogden said she bought season tickets for the new stadium for about $1,800. But she can't find a ticket for Sunday.

"You can't get tickets for love nor money for that day," she said.

Stanley Kay, a longtime Arsenal fan and a London dentist, said he has a ticket for Sunday but can't go. Instead, he's going to a party to celebrate his sister-in-law's 70th birthday.

"You think you could get a toothache for me, as an excuse," he joked. "My wife has made it very clear I'm going to the party."

On pub-lined Upper Street, a mile from the stadium and a gathering place for Arsenal fans, Sunday tickets would fetch a premium.

"I think any Arsenal fan who didn't have a ticket would pay a couple hundred quid (pounds)," said Scott Harwood, a 27-year-old fan wearing a team jersey with midfielder Cesc Fabregas' name and No. 15 on the back.

The new stadium's price tag is $660 million. The club will earn about $51.7 million more each year in game-day income.

"I suppose it's progress," Peter Gosnell said. "It's money, money, money. People want these stars and it's an expensive business."