Thursday Night Is Failure Night: Europa League 2017/18

[Eggchaser]

Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Where's the Wing Commander when you need him?

[Nocturnal Submission]

All this noise at an Arsenal home game must be coming as a terrible shock to the local residents.

[Jah Womble]

Córdoba from the halfway line, etc.

"The defender's Holding, the goalkeeper's Horn"

...is something that might be said tonight

Very good.

But is he battling a Little or Big Horn?

[E10 Rifle]

Proper atmosphere at Arsenal for a change. And yeah, they've fucked this up big time. Empty seats all over the home sections, thousands of away fans either in there with them or locked out. Arsenal gave Lincoln 9,000 last season, they gave us 9,000 in 2011; no reason why they couldn't have done this for a match that has comparable "rare big day out" factor for Koln.

[Antepli Ejderha]

All those empty seats but the official attendance will still be near enough capacity. What a shambles.

[tee rex]

"Worst feeling at football in 40 years of watching home and away" says Arsenal fan on BBC.

Must have missed an awful lot of games then. Maybe the "0" is a typo.

[Ray de Galles]

Exactly, is there any proper football fan not watching/reading about this thinking "This sounds great, wish I was there!"

[EIM]

Videos from the concourse looked amazing. And every goal is a million* times better in atmosphere like that.

*rough estimate

[tee rex]

"And now we cross live to Barry Davies, in Stadium Continentale, where there's a sea of red ... "

Cue Barry bursting with pride.

[Ray de Galles]

Arsenal have got a couple of vital away goals here.

[E10 Rifle]

Koln fans all over the place in London this afternoon, reminiscent of Dortmund's pre-CL final in 2013. Both pepped up the atmosphere about the place in general

[G-Man]

Köln fans are saying that the gates were still locked 20 minutes before the scheduled kick-off. Even Köln's president's intervention was futile. And as the ticket-holding fans were getting restless, more and more people arrived. Arsenal and the police were doing all they could to create a disaster.

As for the game, Köln's toothlessness in front of the goal and lapses in concentration in defence undo all the good work done in midfield. Losing Hector in the first half was a blow; Jojic did OK, but he is an attacking player rather than a holding midfielder.

And that Köln kit was disgusting.

[G-Man]

Video of Köln fans in London yesterday.

[George C.]

I was going to mention this afternoon about the Koln fans taking up the usual 6,000 empty seats at Ashburton Grove and more but it really has been borne out.

'usual'6k ???

Complete rubbish!!

[George C.]

Proper atmosphere at Arsenal for a change. And yeah, they've fucked this up big time. Empty seats all over the home sections, thousands of away fans either in there with them or locked out. Arsenal gave Lincoln 9,000 last season, they gave us 9,000 in 2011; no reason why they couldn't have done this for a match that has comparable "rare big day out" factor for Koln.

They did with Dortmund the first tme they played each other in the CL.

It's partially up to the visiting club and the Met Police also.

[Nocturnal Submission]

'usual'6k ???

Complete rubbish!!

Nearer to 7,000-8,000 you reckon?

Anyway, how did the Koln fans get their hands on so many tickets, do you think? Were they on general sale or would they have been bought by Arsenal season tickets holders/members and then sold on?

[Ray de Galles]

'usual'6k ???

Complete rubbish!!

The Met Police's own figures are that there is an average of 6,000 empty seats per game at Ashburton Grove so, fair point, I suppose a Thursday night Europa League game may have had far more but for the presence of the Koln fans.

[Guy Profumo]

This strikes me as quite negligent by Arsenal

The German press have been full of stories about how many Koln fans were traveling for at least the last week, yet it seems as if the club were surprised at the turnout.

Köln

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Nearer to 7,000-8,000 you reckon?

Anyway, how did the Koln fans get their hands on so many tickets, do you think? Were they on general sale or would they have been bought by Arsenal season tickets holders/members and then sold on?

I was wondering about this, from the angle that I assume Arsenal's ticketing system is advanced enough that cup games get 'loaded onto' a plastic season ticket / access card, and they don't issue season ticket holders with printed tickets? In which case it would be a hell of a job for said season ticket holders to get their cards back afterwards. Ever the worrier about practicalities, me.

[G-Man]

Reports seem to suggest that the tickets were bought through open sale though Arsenal lament that many wee sold on the blackmarket.

Well, assholes, don't give a club that has 20,000 willing buyers an allocation of 2,900 then.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I was wondering about this, from the angle that I assume Arsenal's ticketing system is advanced enough that cup games get 'loaded onto' a plastic season ticket / access card, and they don't issue season ticket holders with printed tickets? In which case it would be a hell of a job for said season ticket holders to get their cards back afterwards. Ever the worrier about practicalities, me.

Well, I've got a season ticket at Chelsea, but my plastic card is for Premier League games only. I get first dibs to retain my seat for cup games but, if I take up the option, I'm issued with a physical ticket for the game. If Arsenal have a similar system it would be easy enough for them to be sold on but similarly easy to track back to the original recipient.

[Third rate Leszno]

Well, I've got a season ticket at Chelsea, but my plastic card is for Premier League games only. I get first dibs to retain my seat for cup games but, if I take up the option, I'm issued with a physical ticket for the game. If Arsenal have a similar system it would be easy enough for them to be sold on but similarly easy to track back to the original recipient.

Liverpool have a bit of a variation on that theme - if you're a season ticket holder or a member, cup ties get loaded onto your ST or membership card and you swipe in with that - but they issue paper tickets in the local sale (L postcodes only) and if any games go to general sale, they'd be paper too.

[Benjm]

I went to a concert at The Garage opposite Highbury and Islington station last night and there was a noticeable number of Cologne fans around but I wouldn't say that there and the top end of Upper St was busier than on a standard game night. Afterwards was apparently a bit more chaotic, but travelling back on the Overground from Canonbury at 11.30ish hardly anyone got on at H&I (to the point where I did wonder whether the station had been closed).

After the show we couldn't get into the Hen & Chickens (well known comedy pub) without showing Arsenal tickets, which was inconvenient.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Well, I've got a season ticket at Chelsea, but my plastic card is for Premier League games only. I get first dibs to retain my seat for cup games but, if I take up the option, I'm issued with a physical ticket for the game. If Arsenal have a similar system it would be easy enough for them to be sold on but similarly easy to track back to the original recipient.

It's the same at Carlisle (though obviously we have far fewer cup games to worry about, let alone 20,000 away fans turning up to one) - although the original intention when they brought in plastic cards was to load cup games on (and they might even have managed it for a season or two before changing systems, I can't quite remember).

Like G-Man reports above, I suspect the majority of these have actually been bought in the general sale as print at home tickets - even where there are some restrictions in place on these systems all it takes is putting in a realistic address and post code, it's not like they are going to go round and knock on the door to check you're there. Some American ticket websites insist on a zip code even if you select the UK as your country, so my go-to answer is 90210.

EDIT - just seen Arsenal's statement which reckons no tickets went on general sale and no new memberships created after the draw could be used to be tickets, so ignore the above.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I read that Arsenal are claiming that no tickets were put on general sale and that they were only sold to club members who had signed up before the EL draw was made which all seems to suggest that tickets were sold on by Gooners, though I'd imagine that there are quite a few club memberships held by touts.