The Tunnel club

[stuartmmcfc]

I thought I’d start a new thread about this because, even though City are the first to offer this, Spurs will have it in their new Stadium and it’s expected Arsenal won’t be far behind.

Yesterday was my first experience of this.
When you park, you have a dedicated car park which is right by the entrance. No trapsing miles in the rain, straight in!
The entrance is through the main doors. You go up a blue carpets and are greeted by some very classy super model types in furry hats, long winter coats etc. You could not get further away from the grid girl look! There seemed to be virtually 1 member of staff for every customer. Above all, they were all extremely friendly and pleasant. There didn’t seem to be a forced smile among them.
We were taken down stairs and shown to our table. It reminded me of a very high end casino in London. Our waitress was very nice (Victoria from London, who was the stereotypical well bred lady who was finishing her law degree)
There were programs and a very nice gift from a jeweller which they engraved for you. The meal was excellent and they really made sure the courses fitted around what you wanted to do.
First thing though was a glass of champagne. And it didn’t stop there, you never had to ask for another and there was a lot of alternative choice of beverage - all top stuff. There was also a card telling you what the schedule was. I can’t under emphasise how helpful everyone was to ensure we had a fantastic experience.
The restaurant area has one way glass all around with the tunnel in the middle, two rooms where interviews take place and the players exit to the side. You could literally be at your table with Sergio being interviewed 10” away!

Firstly we were told the players were arriving. They divided the upstairs room with a glass wall so the team can walk through. One of the great things about being in a wheelchair is that they took me and the wife to the entrance so I could see better.
Pep came first followed by the rest of the squad, literally straight past me. A commentator announced each player (as if I needed that!)
The “hostesses” were with us and one said that Sergio always gets off last. With their encouragement I held out my hand and he high fived me! Now I’m 51 now but I felt like a little boy at that moment!! I’m not saying I was a talisman but he did score 4 later. Just saying

We then went back downstairs and I listened to one of the team tacticians explain what they were expecting. He was great and answered my questions in a very “equal” tone. No patronising answers to my stupid questions. The stats they have on every single player is amazing and the computer equipment makes MOD’s look like Amstrad stuff.
Next we were taken pitch side to watch the warm up. And I mean pitch side!
Somehow I missed the teams lining up in the tunnel but tbh I was to giddy with excitement by then!
Bizarre moment of the day then. The lift door opens and out came Moonchester and Moonbeam, theCity mascots!
The seats were behind the dugout, so you could watch Pep, see when subs were called etc. A great view!
At the end of the game we went downstairs and watched the teams coming in through the tunnel. What a contrast between facial expressions on the 2 teams for some reason!
You then could watch the man of the match award, manager interviews ( interestingly, despite the background sponsor hoarding being the same it’s 2 adjacent rooms.) and then the team leaving with the press stopping them to ask questions.
Bernardo Silva’s fiancée was sat at the next table to us and disappointingly he didn’t come in to collect her, just sent his man. Although I didn’t speak to her she came across as very nice. Despite being very pretty she was as far from being a WAG as possible.
All in all, a brilliant day. At no point were we rushed and the staff literally couldn’t do enough to ensure it was a memerable day. As we left, everyone smiled and thanked us for coming. It made us feel very special.

TL:DR. Costs a fortune but worth every penny, and more

A few photos

[stuartmmcfc]

[stuartmmcfc]

[stuartmmcfc]

[stuartmmcfc]

[p4cks]

Good post, thanks OP.

Sergio looked pleased to meet you and if you look closely he has four fingers, surely an early signal of how many goals he'd get that day.

[stuartmmcfc]

Look closer and there’s one of the super model types in the background.

[mickk]

Looks like you had a great day, I maybe tempted at Spurs new stadium.

[Wacky Racer]

Wonder whether it would work at Stalybridge Celtic?

[mickk]

Wacky Racer said:

Wonder whether it would work at Stalybridge Celtic?

That tunnel's a cage!

[Wacky Racer]

Generally speaking, clubs are very good with disabled people, City are superb.

I remember at Maine Road in the sixties they used to let those small pale blue AC Invalid cars onto the running track, so they could watch Franny Lee, Colin Bell and co from near the corner flags.

[cliffe_mafia]

Great post Stuart - I went a few times in the past to watch the match in the Legends bar and I found it hard work readjusting back to the cheap seats.

stuartmmcfc said:

Look closer and there’s one of the super model types in the background.

That is a rather large hat she's got on