11Moments- A New Beginning: The Emirates | 11Gunners: The Unofficial Arsenal FC Blog and News

11Moments- A New Beginning: The Emirates(Part11)

Posted by TheGooner | Posted in 11Moments | Posted on 02-11-2009

Tags: 11Moments, arsenal, ashburton grove, emirates, Highbury

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The Emirates: A New Beginning

Change is indeed the only thing permanent in this world. Arsenal’s relocation to a new abode was a necessity, so as to redeem its status as Europe’s one of the biggest forces. Highbury had given us innumerable fond memories but its small size was no longer sufficient for the ambitions of a club where sky is the limit! So in the summer of 2006, we made the switch, a strange ambivalence of longing for an old home and the excitement of a new, colossal home at the same time, 11Gunners replays back the days in its last installment of 11Moments..

Standing aloft in Holloway in the London Borough of Islington is The Emirates, the proud home of a proud Football club. The conceptualization of this miracle of sorts was done as early as 1999. Highbury’s miniature capacity of 38000 was not fulfilling the clubs ambitions financially. The new project was never a smooth sail but then coming up with something special has its own hardships along the way. Financial constraints, planning complexities and local opposition were factors that staunched the flow of the project. What was initially planned to commensurate by 2003 would now take 3 extra years.

When the construction formally began in 2004, things started falling into place. Astonishingly the stadium was complete by August 2005, the size and structure make you feel it would have taken a mammoth effort to build it in such short period. 2005-06 season would be Arsenal’s last at their erstwhile home and after a poignant farewell it was time to set foot into a new home, a new beginning in this timeless journey of our club.

The inaugural match was played on 18^th July 2006 and quite fittingly it was the testimonial of one of our greatest ever, Dennis Bergkamp. The game was played between the “Legend” sides of Arsenal and Ajax. It was more of a carnival than a game and for the trivia lovers, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has the recognition of scoring the first goal at our new home while Thierry Henry scored our first in the same match.

Our first competitive game was against Aston Villa in which rallied back to earn a draw. The initial games were never going to be easy but once we found our rhythm we just tuned ourselves and our record at this place is nothing short of phenomenal.

If Highbury was the place where we grew, Ashburton Grove a.k.a. The Emirates, is the place where we unleash ourselves upon the footballing world!!

With this we conclude our series of 11 Moments, do tell us how you felt reading about Arsenal’s History all through. For now, Keep Gunning..