The game on 12th April 2014

Wigan Athletic had emailed me and asked for my phone number. I was told that their club reporter would contact me to run a feature on their website on our blog in the run up on FA Cup week – this never happened.

This was mine and the Giant Killing Adventure’s first visit to the new Wembley Stadium. It was semi-final weekend so I picked a team of Big Guns to join me on our trip to the nation’s capital.  My last trip to London had been a fantastic experience and I was very impressed by Arsenal’s stadium, their staff and the friendliness of their fans – but I’d made that trip alone.  This time previous blog guests Tim Webster and Mr Tops (aka Lee Topping) joined our party as pundit and statistician. We had a blog guest debutant called Adam Webster (aka Tim’s brother and boyfriend of previous blog guest Zoe) and he was designated driver for our journey.

           It was a 17:07 kick off and we had a lot of miles to cover.  I drove Mr Tops from his house on the Fylde coast as we travelled down the M61 to Manchester.  It was here that we met up with the other two and began our journey via Morrison’s for bacon butties and a sandwich platter. The journey began as we chatted lively and excitedly about the prospects of the day.  The journey was mainly based on eating as much as possible as we eat the sandwich platter; 4 steak pies in support of Wigan; various bags of crisps; chocolate biscuits and mini cheddars. Traffic ran smoothly as we chose the toll road and we had one quick stop off at Jack Starbucks.  

                We arrived in London at 15:00hrs but it took at least another hour to crawl through the heavy traffic and negotiate our way to Wembley Stadium.  Our tickets were corporate tickets and they were in the Wigan end, so we had pre-booked parking in the Wigan car park.  However, the signs for the car park were written on postage stamps and it took us another 30mins to find our yellow car park – which happened to be an Arsenal car park.  We passed the stringent security by saying ‘yes’ when the attendant asked ‘are you Arsenal fans?’  Technically we were neutral fans but there wasn’t a neutral car park or end for neutral fans.

               

We walked up the Wembley way as the excitement and atmosphere built

 

Some Wigan fans were playing drums and dancing outside the stadium

We got inside the ground and Tim and Adam spent nearly £20 on Cheeseburger and chips, with a giant coke. Me and Mr Tops had 2 pints of lager for £10.

 

Our tickets were in Entrance G (hand model Tim Webster)

 

The stadium looked awesome and the teams came out to line up before kick off

 

96 seats had been left open and there was supposed to be a minutes silence in respect of the fans that died at Hillsborough. The Giant Killing Adventure has a lot of respect for the fans and their families and despite what team one supports we think it is important to show respect to rival clubs during these occasions (whether it’s Hillsborough, The Bradford City Fire, The Munich Disaster or any other case in which human life was lost).  This is why we were concerned that two Arsenal fans stood behind us showed no respect and talked through the whole minute’s silence/applause. We were affectively in a corporate area but it was supposed to be the Wigan end of the stadium. We have always showed respect for the other supporters in all grounds during our 13 game journey. In the last round I behaved as an Arsenal fan as I was in the Arsenal end of the ground. Previous to that I had been an Everton fan and a Stevenage fan and a Doncaster fan and a Stourbridge fan etc. In all these games I have effectively been neutral but I was showing respect to my fellow football supporters.

                At half time Mr Tops and I had another 2 pints of larger for £5.

The Wigan stand appeared to be 90% Wigan fans and the Arsenal fans showed respect for this apart from the 2 guys behind us who had previously talked through the minute’s silence/applause.  They were singing Arsenal songs, so when Wigan scored Mr Tops and I turned to them and cheered. Mr Tops tried to shake one of their hands and this was when the Giant Killing Adventure witnessed its first ‘trouble’ in all 1470 minutes of football. The Arsenal fan that had talked all the way through the minutes silence pushed Mr Tops in the face; knocked off his glasses and threatened him with violence for the next 10 minutes. This got worse when Arsenal equalised as he cheered excessively and called me and Mr Tops a naughty word beginning with C and rhyming with hunts. Other Wigan fans in the area were annoyed and he told them all to F**K off and that he had every right to be where he was. I was not disputing his right to be where he was – after all, I was not a Wigan fan either – I just felt he should have kept quiet instead of trying to antagonise a large group of Wigan fans.  There were plenty of other Arsenal fans in that area but they managed to control themselves. In the end a steward moved him 4 rows back but he still called us all ‘the scum of the earth’ for getting him removed.  I know for a fact from the previous round that the majority of Arsenal fans are friendly so I won’t let this one person ruin my opinion.

 

The guy in the black T-shirt is the one that had no respect for Liverpool, Wigan or the reputation of Arsenal fans as a whole   

As for the game – it was an even match until penalties came along and Wigan fell apart and they lost 4-2.

 

The Wigan players celebrated their excellent run in the FA Cup for the second year in a row

 

The fans started to leave the stadium

 

Arsenal fans sang anti Tottenham songs and cheered outside the stadium to celebrate their victory – they are heading to the FA Cup final on 17^th May.

More Arsenal fans joined in the celebrating

Wembley Stadium is lit up at night

 

We crawled our way out of the stadium through tight traffic and had had another great day on our Giant Killing Adventure.  We were tired, it was dark and the energy in the car was low as we yawned our way up the motorway.  This time we didn’t take the toll road and it was a mistake.  The M6 was scattered with road works around Birmingham and we crawled slowly and were taken on a massive detour off the motorway and onto country roads – we stopped off for coffee and doughnuts, more chocolate biscuits and mini cheddars were eaten and I felt tired and stuffed. We arrived in Manchester at around 1am and of course the first thing that Tim did was nip outside and buy a curry – I told you that he likes to eat!

I will be saying goodbye to Wigan and the DW Stadium for 2013/14.

I forgot to buy a program – it’s the first time this has happened and I am annoyed.

Ticket price – free as they were corporate.
Attendance – 82, 185

Excellent Geeky Stats time…    

RIP Stadiums and teams from the Giant Killing Adventure – 17^th April 2014

RIP Team	RIP Stadium
St Helens Town	Brocstedes Park
Ashton Athletic	Brocstedes Park
Marine FC	Arriva Stadium
Lancaster City FC	Giant Axe Stadium
Curzon Ashton	Tameside Stadium
Workington AFC	Borough Park
Biggleswade Town FC	The Carlsberg Stadium
Stourbridge FC	The War Memorial Ground
Doncaster Rovers	Keepmoat Stadium
Stevenage	The Lamex Stadium
Swansea City	The Liberty Stadium
Everton FC	Goodison Park
Wigan Athletic	DW Stadium

The Giant Killing Adventure number of fans – 17^th April 2014

Team	Stadium	Round	Fans
Arsenal v Wigan	Wembley Stadium	Semi-Final	82,185
Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	6th Round Proper	59,719
Everton FC	Goodison Park	5th Round Proper	31,498
Stevenage FC	Lamex Stadium	4rd Round Proper	6913
Doncaster Rovers	Keepmoat Stadium	3rd Round Proper	3899
Stevenage FC	Lamex Stadium	2nd Round Proper	2160
Stourbridge FC	War Memorial Athletic Ground	1st Round Proper	1603
Stourbridge FC	War Memorial Athletic Ground	3rd Qualifying	633
Workington AFC	Borough Park	4th Qualifying	519
Curzon Ashton	Tameside Stadium	2nd Qualifying	302
Lancaster City FC	Giant Axe	2nd Qualifying	249
Marine FC	Arriva Stadium	1st Qualifying	223
Curzon Ashton	Tameside Stadium	Preliminary	101
St Helens Town	Brocstedes Park	Extra Preliminary	71
Ashton Athletic	Brocstedes Park	Extra Preliminary	58

 The Giant Killing Adventure League table for FA prize money – 17^th April 2014

Team	Prize money/Round	Total Winnings
Arsenal	£360,000 6th Round Proper £900,000 semi-final winner	£1,260,000
Wigan Athletic	£450,000 semi-final losers	£450,000
Everton FC	£90,000 4th Round Proper £180,000 5th Round Proper	£270,000
Stevenage FC	£27,000 2nd Round Proper £67,500 3rd Round Proper	£94,500
Stourbridge FC	£7,500 3rd Qualifying Round £12,500 4th Qualifying Round £18,000 1st Round Proper	£38,000
Curzon Ashton	£1,925 Preliminary Round £3,000 1St Qualifying Round £4,500 2nd Qualifying Round	£9,925
Ashton Athletic	£1,500 Extra Preliminary Round	£1,500

 Extra Preliminary Round £277,500 was paid in prize money (185 winners).

Preliminary Round £308,000 was paid out (160 winners).
1^stQualifying Round £348,000 was paid out (116 winners).
2nd Qualifying Round £360,000 was paid out (80 winners).
3^rdQualifying Round £300,000 was paid out (40 winners).
4^thQualifying Round £400,000 was paid out (32 winners).
1st Round Proper £720,000 was paid out (40 winners).
2^ndRound Proper £540,000 was paid out (20 winners).
3^rdRound Proper £2,160,000 was paid out (32 winners).
4^thRound Proper £1,440,000 was paid out (16 winners).
5^thRound Proper £1,440,000 was paid out (8 winners).
6^thRound Proper £1,440,000 was paid out (4 winners).
Semi-final £2,700,000 was paid out (2 winners and 2 losers).
Total Prize money so far equals £12,433,500

The Giant Killing Adventure Program Price league table (cheapest first) – 17^th April 2014

Team	Program Cost
Lancaster City FC 01st October	£1.50
Curzon Ashton 31st August, 28th September	£1.60
St Helens Town 17th August	£2.00
Marine FC 14th September	£2.00
Stourbridge FC 12th October	£2.00
Doncaster Rovers 4th January	£2.00
Workington AFC 26th October	£2.50
Stourbridge FC 9th November	£2.50
Stevenage FC 7th December 25th January	£3.00
Everton FC 15 February	£3.00
Arsenal 8th March	£3.00
Arsenal V Wigan 12th April	?

 The Giant Killing Adventure Goal Scorers – 17^th April 2014

Matt Warburton 3 (Curzon Ashton)
Ryan Rowe 3 (Stourbridge FC)
Luke Benbow 3 (Stourbridge FC)
Steven Naismith 3 (Everton FC)
Chris McDonagh 2 (Curzon Ashton)
Simon Lakeland 2 (Curzon Ashton)
Adam Gilchrist 2 (Ashton Athletic)
Jamie Oliver 2 (Stourbridge FC)
Will Richards 2 (Stourbridge FC)
Francois Zoko 2 (Stevenage FC)
Olivier Giroud   2 (Arsenal)
Per Mertesacker 1 (Arsenal)
Mesut Ozil      1 (Arsenal)
Mikel Arteta       1 (Arsenal)
Jordi Gomez    1 (Wigan)
Romelu Lukaku 1 (Everton FC)
Leighton Baines 1 (Everton FC)
Lacina Traore 1 (Everton FC)
John Heitinga 1 (Everton FC)
Magaye Gueye 1 (Everton FC)
Jonathan de Guzman 1 (Swansea City)
Peter Hartley 1 (Stevenage FC)
Darius Charles 1 (Stevenage FC)
Harry Forrester 1 (Doncaster Rovers)
Liam Wakefield 1 (Doncaster Rovers)
Lucas Atkins 1 (Stevenage FC)
Luke Freeman 1 (Stevenage FC)
Filipe Morais 1 (Stevenage FC)
Phil McLuckie 1 (Workington AFC)
Chris Rowney 1 (Curzon Ashton)
Ryan Brooke 1 (Curzon Ashton)
Will Jones 1 (Marine FC)
Sam Barnes 1 (Marine FC)
Neil Weaver 1 (St Helens Town)
Greg Harrison 1 (St Helens Town)
Nathan Ward 1 (Ashton Athletic)
Mark Jackson 1 (Lancaster City FC)
Evan Key 1 (Biggleswade Town FC)
Neil Marshall 1 OG (Lancaster City FC)

 

The Giant Killing Adventure League table – 17^th April 2014

Team	Won	Drawn	Goals For	Goals Against	GD	Points
Curzon Ashton	3	1	10	6	4	10
Stourbridge FC	3	0	10	6	4	9
Arsenal	2	0	8	3	5	6
Everton FC	2	0	7	5	2	6
Stevenage FC	2	0	7	6	1	6
Ashton Athletic	1	1	3	6	-3	4
St Helens Town	0	1	2	3	-1	1
Lancaster City FC	0	1	1	2	-1	1
Doncaster Rovers	0	0	2	3	-1	0
Marine FC	0	0	2	4	-2	0
Wigan Athletic	0	0	2	4	-2	0
Swansea City	0	0	1	3	-2	0
Workington AFC	0	0	1	3	-2	0
Biggleswade Town FC	0	0	1	4	-3	0

 So far the Giant Killing Adventure has reported on 1,470 minutes of football, £370 on the turnstiles, 190,133 fans, 58 goals, 4 pints of larger (£20) 4 pints of bitter (£9.90), 1 pint of Guinness (£3.10), 1 pint of cider (£3), 3 70p cups of tea, 15 £1 cups of tea, 2 £7 meal deals, 1 £1.10 cup of tea (large), 2 £1.50 mochas, 2 70p cans of coke, 2 £3.50 cheeseburgers, 2 £1.80 chips’n’curry sauce, 2 £1.20 chips, 1 £1 chips, 1 £1.80 chips and gravy, 1 £3 Bacon roll, 2 £1.60 pies, 2£1.50 pies, 3 £1.50 handmade Balti eggs, 1 pork, stilton with apple and ginger chutney pie, 1 ham and pease pudding stottie, 2 £16.50 Lobsters, 4 2-4-1 cocktails, 1 weekend in London, 1 hectic tube journey, 1 Lebanese meal, various Gin and tonics, 2 bottles of red wine,  1 City Break, 1 Sandy picnic battle, 1 Zoe food mountain, 1 Morrison’s sandwich platter, 1 pack of mini Cheddars, 5 website promises (Marine, Curzon, Stourbridge, Workington and Biggleswade), various Twitter retweets (too many to keep track of from clubs, fans and supporters clubs), 3 lower-league-victories, 1 relationship breakdown and the journey has travelled 1577.6 miles from the FA Cup’s current home in Wigan.

 

Join me again to find out about Hull FC. The FA Cup final between Arsenal and Hull is on 17^th May 2013.

 

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