New Wembley, same hoodoo

As expected, New Wembley is all bright & shiny. Whilst I knew it was huge (you get that much from driving round the North Circular), the size still hit me as I walked up from the tube. Funnily enough, there was no money in the Multiplex coffers to update Wembley Way or the shabby kiosks:

Here's me skulking along the side of Wembley Way and hiding in a tree from that aggressive-looking Police horse (I've already been headbutted by one: not something I'm keen to repeat!).

The arch has been designed so you can drive the maintenance cart right through it. (Where do I sign up ?!?)

They unveiled the Bobby Moore statue yesterday, looking down Wembley Way. The word is legend:

Amazingly, the escalators are crocked already, and I had to climb stairs halfway to space to get to my seat (still, it pales into insignificance in comparison with Kaiserslautern's Fritz Walter stadium during the World Cup). When you get up there, it's still huge.

There's now a scoreboard at both ends, though even long-sighted ginger kids were having trouble reading the team lineups. That's how big the place is.

The pitch is huge too (and has a metre or two spare either side, should some footy sadist choose to widen it). Look how the poor Conference players are only filling the left side of it:

Though, to be fair, that had everything to do with Stevenage's keeper being dodgy as hell and only able to kick with a huge swing to the left (if he'd been at Aggborough he'd have cleared the cowshed, and possibly even the railway lines, a couple of times).

Now back to the hoodoo chat. I was really hoping that the new stadium would be a new beginning, and that the match result wouldn't be decided by the toss of the coing to decide which finalist took the Home dressing room, and which the Away. After all, there's now two scoreboards, and the tunnel has been moved to the halfway line, rather than the east end of the stadium.

Unfortunately it looks like seven years of hope may have been misguided. The record goes:

1. 1994 League Cup Final - Aston Villa beat Manchester United - scoreboard end
2. 1995 FA Trophy Final - Kidderminster Harriers lost to Woking - tunnel end
3. 1996 League Cup Final - Aston Villa beat Leeds United - scoreboard end
4. 2000 FA Cup Semi Final - Aston Villa beat Bolton Wanderers - scoreboard end
5. 2000 FA Cup Final - Aston Villa lost to Chelsea - tunnel end
6. 2007 FA Trophy Final - Kidderminster Harriers lost to Stevenage - East (formerly tunnel) end

Anyone spotting a pattern?

Of the game? Utter heartbreak. 2-0 up at half time, with credit going to James Constable for both. The lads had a lot of the game, and even more in the effort stakes, but a couple of lapses in concentration and a couple of pieces of skill from a lad named Dobson (no relation - honestly, why does this happen?) meant Kiddy lost 3-2.