I was at Wemberley last night...

[Man Friday]

...and it made me appreciate Reading...
Our stadium - Wemberley is too big and you're too far away from the pitch to get a good view and feel involved. A good view at the Mad stad wherever you sit.
The atmosphere - often rubbish at the Madejski but even worse at Wemberley last night
People leaving early - bad at the Madejski but terrible last night. People were starting to leave after 78 mins. By the 85th minute the stadium was half-empty
Getting away - Trying to get away from Wemberley (and get on a train) made the problems with the Mad Stad seem insignificant.
Idiots - one minute silences always observed at the Madejski. Not at Wemberley last night.
The football - In the first half I was genuinely thinking that Reading play better than this.
Food/drinks prices - High at Madejski, ridiculous at Wemberley.
Queues for food - even worse at W - staff seemed to be on a go-slow.

[RoyalBlue]

Programmes £6!!!!

My son said that the stadium was way more than half empty with 5 minutes to go.

Tip to get away quicker. Catch a Chiltern Line Train from Wembley Stadium to Denham or Gerards Cross.

[NWL Royal]

Wembley**

[Man Friday]

Programmes £6!!!!

My son said that the stadium was way more than half empty with 5 minutes to go.

Tip to get away quicker. Catch a Chiltern Line Train from Wembley Stadium to Denham or Gerards Cross.

We did! (well, High Wycombe)

[Skin]

Wembley**

but coloquial spelling does make me larf

[RoyalBlue]

Programmes £6!!!!

My son said that the stadium was way more than half empty with 5 minutes to go.

Tip to get away quicker. Catch a Chiltern Line Train from Wembley Stadium to Denham or Gerards Cross.

We did! (well, High Wycombe)

Perhaps you had seats on the opposite side of the stadium to Wembley Stadium Station?

My son was home soon after 10.30pm.

[TheMaraudingDog]

I have to say that I found all the problems listed above on my recent visit to Wembley when we played Croatia.
I got home at 11:45 (to Maidenhead) and glad I parked my car in Acton or I fear I may never have got back via public transport. Once in the car we flew, so to speak.

woof woof

[LWJ]

you should of gone to the brazil game then the atomosphere was okish until about 70 mins then loads of people left and still took us 2 hours to get back to the station, and then germany game was about 30 mins better.

[Royalee]

What a load of rubbish.

I went last night and it was a fantastic experience - enjoyed it more than I have any of our games this season.

Lovely stadium, great acoustics to keep the noise in. I was 7 rows from the back of the third tier and could see perfectly, so I can only assume you need to get to an optician pronto.

Of course people will leave early as people have generally travelled a lot further to get to Wembley (from all over the country) as opposed to the Madejski, and it was a friendly, get over it. I'm sure if it had been an important qualifier and it was close then people would have stayed.

As it happens, I left on the final whistle and didn't hang about and I was on the underground at Wembley Central before 10 aftewards. I can only assume you went out as slowly as possible, so what did you expect?

As for the quality of football not being as good as at Reading, LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. When have you seen Reading score a well-worked goal like Wright-Phillips' or a bit of skill like Joe Cole's this season? I've seen every game but Spurs home in the cup and I bloody haven't.

[Man Friday]

Programmes £6!!!!

My son said that the stadium was way more than half empty with 5 minutes to go.

Tip to get away quicker. Catch a Chiltern Line Train from Wembley Stadium to Denham or Gerards Cross.

We did! (well, High Wycombe)

Perhaps you had seats on the opposite side of the stadium to Wembley Stadium Station?

My son was home soon after 10.30pm.

Yes we did. That must have been it.

[Man Friday]

What a load of rubbish.

ooohhh, get you!!!

Lovely stadium, great acoustics to keep the noise in. I was 7 rows from the back of the third tier and could see perfectly, so I can only assume you need to get to an optician pronto.

ooohhh, get you again!!!

Of course people will leave early as people have generally travelled a lot further to get to Wembley (from all over the country) as opposed to the Madejski, and it was a friendly, get over it.

...and again

As it happens, I left on the final whistle and didn't hang about and I was on the underground at Wembley Central before 10 aftewards. I can only assume you went out as slowly as possible, so what did you expect?

I'd hate to cross you if you react like this to a fairly innocuous post

As for the quality of football not being as good as at Reading, LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

It was sterile (in my view - if I dare give it).

[Huntley & Palmer]

Journey home not helped by major delays on trains out of Paddington due to a fatality at Burnham

[Barney]

Typical blinkered England view on this board.

For those that did not go, and want to know the truth.

Pricey, poor atmosphere (if you go and watch England, do not EVER knock the atmosphere at the MadStad), place was 60%-65% empty when the final whistle went. And the fans turned on the new manager after 35 minutes !!

That sums it up.

[Huntley & Palmer]

In what way pricey? £15 for my ticket, £3-50 for a pint which actually tasted better than the shite they sell at the Madejski. If you are stupid enough to eat there then you deserve to be ripped off

[Man Friday]

moderate your insults, moderator, or is your only role to lock posts that you deem boring and/or covered elsewhere?

Incidentally, I didn't eat there - for the reason that you give: too expensive but also because the queues were too long.

Not sure what your point is - to agree that the food is too expensive or to have a go at me for eating there? (which I didn't because the food is too expensive)

[Huntley & Palmer]

I was simply replying to the 'truth' from Barney, I didn't even reply to you it actually was not that overpriced whatsoever. A non England FAN member price was £25 in the top tier. Yes it's high up but once you got used to it the view and seat were decent. The queues were large but the concourses are cavernous so it's not a major problem, got my beers in under 10 minutes in my block.

[RoyalBlue]

What a load of rubbish.

I went last night and it was a fantastic experience - enjoyed it more than I have any of our games this season.

Lovely stadium, great acoustics to keep the noise in. I was 7 rows from the back of the third tier and could see perfectly, so I can only assume you need to get to an optician pronto.

Of course people will leave early as people have generally travelled a lot further to get to Wembley (from all over the country) as opposed to the Madejski, and it was a friendly, get over it. I'm sure if it had been an important qualifier and it was close then people would have stayed.

As it happens, I left on the final whistle and didn't hang about and I was on the underground at Wembley Central before 10 aftewards.

Having worked next to Wembley stadium and walked to Wembley Central on numerous occasions, I suggest you check your watch is telling the right time! Either that or you got Superman to fly you out of the stadium, over the crowd and back to Wembley Central!!

In what way pricey? £15 for my ticket, £3-50 for a pint which actually tasted better than the shite they sell at the Madejski. If you are stupid enough to eat there then you deserve to be ripped off

£6 for a programme?!! I would call that pricey, particularly when the FSF were giving away copies of their fanzine!

[Volvicanus]

I've loved it every time I've been there. And I've thought the views were fantastic (though I did have great seats). No complaints at all really.

[handbags_harris]

Went there for the Israel game and had very few problems with it at all. Transport links to and from seemed fine (was back at the Bishop & Bear within an hour of the final whistle). Was in the 3rd tier about 2/3 up and the view was fantastic. Atmosphere was ok, had no problems with that, excellent acoustics and could hear the band from the opposite corner of the stadium (and John effin Westwood's effin bell).

To be quite honest I haven't got a clue what people are moaning about. If you have 90,000 people in one place and leaving within 10 minutes of each other there's always going to be some delay in leaving! It was a friendly match and the atmosphere was never going to be great! The food is pricey but that's not just been sprung upon us suddenly has it, it's been well publicised that the pricing is hideous!

[KC Royal]

...and it made me appreciate Reading...
Our stadium - Wemberley is too big and you're too far away from the pitch to get a good view and feel involved. A good view at the Mad stad wherever you sit.
The atmosphere - often rubbish at the Madejski but even worse at Wemberley last night
People leaving early - bad at the Madejski but terrible last night. People were starting to leave after 78 mins. By the 85th minute the stadium was half-empty
Getting away - Trying to get away from Wemberley (and get on a train) made the problems with the Mad Stad seem insignificant.
Idiots - one minute silences always observed at the Madejski. Not at Wemberley last night.
The football - In the first half I was genuinely thinking that Reading play better than this.
Food/drinks prices - High at Madejski, ridiculous at Wemberley.
Queues for food - even worse at W - staff seemed to be on a go-slow.

Having gone to Wembley for the Estonia game back in October I can agree with a lot of this. My dad and I were in Club Wembley and its easy to see why there's always empty seats in the 2nd half. Not only did the bar we were queuing at have to be closed for a while because someone burnt one of the burgers (i think, whatever it set off the smoke alarm) we were also served by the slowest checkout guy i've ever seen. Combined with the fact its easy to sit in the lounge area and drift off and forget about the game, in all we missed the first 10 mins of the 2nd half, not that we'd missed much! We went by coach, but the traffic around Wembley was still a nightmare, and we arrived before midday too. It didn't help on the way back that the coach driver decided to follow his sat nav religiously which meant going down some pretty narrow back roads which didn't seem to make any difference.

I didn't realise at the time but apparently the Wembley pitch has been moved 40m further north, which did seem apparent almost as soon as we got there. With the old Wembley the flight of stairs took you straight into the stadium, whereas now they take you up to a walkway that goes right round the stadium.