This afternoon Arsenal play their last ever home match at Highbury. 93 years of history come to an end with a key end-of-season decider against, er, Wigan Athletic, which will either be a stonking victorious finale or a miserable withering disappointment. And then, after the doors close and the supporters head home, the business of turning this fabled stadium into exclusive housing starts in earnest. The North Bank and Clock End stands will be demolished and replaced by mews, while the more characterful East and West Stands will be transformed (sympathetically, one hopes) into yet more apartments. Meanwhile the pitch will end up as some landscaped memorial garden with gushing water features, no doubt accessible only to residents. Moan as much as you like about the price of a Highbury season ticket but it's still peanuts compared to spending half a million on a two bedroom apartment without even any football to watch.
I headed over to Highbury yesterday afternoon for one last look. I thought the area would be pretty quiet, what with the final match still being 24 hours away and the ground tucked well off the beaten track in the middle of a quiet estate of terraced houses. But no, it seems I wasn't the only fan with a desire to capture sporting history before it vanishes. All around the stadium, in Avenall Road, Gillespie Road and Highbury Hill, Gooners young and old were out with their cameras. Spotty teenagers in redcurrant strip stood in reverence before the glorious Art Deco facade of the East Stand. A patient wife trailed her over-eager husband as he insisted on having his photograph taken in front of every gate and entrance. A succession of avid supporters waited patiently for the opportunity to stand right up close to the front doors and peer through into the marble entrance hall. Two bored brothers sat in the back of their 4x4 while Dad hopped out to take some final photographs. A group of students aimed their camcorder at a local resident and asked for her matchday memories. And I was even forced to pause three times while exiting Arsenal tube station to allow a succession of Nick Hornby types to flash away at the 50m-long 'FinalSalute' mural.
There were also long queues in the Arsenal Shop as keen fans waited to snap up a souvenir of the old stadium. I hope they were buying the tasteful polo shirts (£33) and t-shirts (£12), and not the rather dodgy-looking cushions (£10), red leather filofaxes (£25) and crystal decanters (£50). And all around the stadium local residents continued with their everyday lives, no doubt delighted that they face only one more afternoon of noise, congestion and drunken away fans pissing in their front garden.
Come July, following a lengthy planning battle and several years of construction, the new Arsenal stadium opens less than half a mile away on Ashburton Grove. This is no quaint pre-war antique, this is a modern bowl-shaped arena with 50% greater seating capacity. It has everything a modern football stadium needs, like a tier of executive boxes, several luxury restaurants, a merchandising megastore and heaven knows, maybe even some character. The new stadium is taller and broader than Highbury, and towers over the surrounding area in the same way that the old stadium doesn't. It's been squeezed in on reclaimed industrial land between two railway lines and, to be honest, the view out from the main entrance is pretty grim. Departing supporters will pour down a series of gleaming parallel staircases onto a bleak mini-roundabout surrounded by billboards, rundown buildings and a railway viaduct. A neighbouring row of tumbledown warehouses and small factories has been compulsorily purchased so that it can be torn down to build some snazzy apartment blocks. And, despite the bleating of the Arsenal PR department, public transport connections aren't anywhere near as good as they'd have you believe, not unless you fancy a bracing walk every time you attend a match.
It looks nearly ready, the new ground, unlike certain other national stadia I could mention. The curved glass windows gleam and the interior staircases have immaculately painted red handrails. Soon the long stack of portakabins will be carted away, the perimeter fencing will come down, and the new EmiratesStadium will be open for business. Ghastly name, and I'm not convinced that many fans will suddenly feel the urge to book a flight to Dubai as a result, but financial needs must when a football club is compelled to move on. For a new generation of Arsenal players and supporters the new state-of-the-art stadium will soon come to be called home. But my heart will still be at Highbury, no doubt buried somewhere beneath a flowerbed in a garden I shall never see again.
This afternoon Arsenal play their last ever home match at Highbury. 93 years of history come to an end with a key end-of-season decider against, er, Wigan Athletic, which will either be a stonking victorious finale or a miserable withering disappointment. And then, after the doors close and the supporters head home, the business of turning this fabled stadium into exclusive housing starts in earnest. The North Bank and Clock End stands will be demolished and replaced by mews, while the more characterful East and West Stands will be transformed (sympathetically, one hopes) into yet more apartments. Meanwhile the pitch will end up as some landscaped memorial garden with gushing water features, no doubt accessible only to residents. Moan as much as you like about the price of a Highbury season ticket but it's still peanuts compared to spending half a million on a two bedroom apartment without even any football to watch.
I headed over to Highbury yesterday afternoon for one last look. I thought the area would be pretty quiet, what with the final match still being 24 hours away and the ground tucked well off the beaten track in the middle of a quiet estate of terraced houses. But no, it seems I wasn't the only fan with a desire to capture sporting history before it vanishes. All around the stadium, in Avenall Road, Gillespie Road and Highbury Hill, Gooners young and old were out with their cameras. Spotty teenagers in redcurrant strip stood in reverence before the glorious Art Deco facade of the East Stand. A patient wife trailed her over-eager husband as he insisted on having his photograph taken in front of every gate and entrance. A succession of avid supporters waited patiently for the opportunity to stand right up close to the front doors and peer through into the marble entrance hall. Two bored brothers sat in the back of their 4x4 while Dad hopped out to take some final photographs. A group of students aimed their camcorder at a local resident and asked for her matchday memories. And I was even forced to pause three times while exiting Arsenal tube station to allow a succession of Nick Hornby types to flash away at the 50m-long 'Final Salute' mural.
There were also long queues in the Arsenal Shop as keen fans waited to snap up a souvenir of the old stadium. I hope they were buying the tasteful polo shirts (£33) and t-shirts (£12), and not the rather dodgy-looking cushions (£10), red leather filofaxes (£25) and crystal decanters (£50). And all around the stadium local residents continued with their everyday lives, no doubt delighted that they face only one more afternoon of noise, congestion and drunken away fans pissing in their front garden.
Come July, following a lengthy planning battle and several years of construction, the new Arsenal stadium opens less than half a mile away on Ashburton Grove. This is no quaint pre-war antique, this is a modern bowl-shaped arena with 50% greater seating capacity. It has everything a modern football stadium needs, like a tier of executive boxes, several luxury restaurants, a merchandising megastore and heaven knows, maybe even some character. The new stadium is taller and broader than Highbury, and towers over the surrounding area in the same way that the old stadium doesn't. It's been squeezed in on reclaimed industrial land between two railway lines and, to be honest, the view out from the main entrance is pretty grim. Departing supporters will pour down a series of gleaming parallel staircases onto a bleak mini-roundabout surrounded by billboards, rundown buildings and a railway viaduct. A neighbouring row of tumbledown warehouses and small factories has been compulsorily purchased so that it can be torn down to build some snazzy apartment blocks. And, despite the bleating of the Arsenal PR department, public transport connections aren't anywhere near as good as they'd have you believe, not unless you fancy a bracing walk every time you attend a match.
• Take the Highbury (photo) Tour
This afternoon Arsenal play their 
I headed over to 
There were also long queues in the Arsenal Shop as keen fans waited to snap up a 