ARSENAL is facing fan backlash for charging fans nearly £400 for a VIP stadium tour with a soccer “legend” – £335 more than rivals including Spurs and Manchester United.
Gunners fans are being offered £395-a-head packages for a four-hour “VIP Legend Experience” and lunch with stars Ray Parlour, David Seaman or Lee Dixon.
The Gooners package includes a behind the scenes visit to all corners of the Emirates Stadium base plus buffet lunch served with unlimited wine, beer and soft drinks in the club’s exclusive Diamond Club.
But a similar VIP deal with North London rivals Spurs – with Ossie Ardiles, Gary Mabbutt, Clive Allen or Micky Hazard – costs just £60.
And rivals Tottenham are not the only Premier League club to be charging far less for a tour than table-topping Arsenal.
Manchester United also charges £60 for VIP tours with legends including former striker Norman Whiteside.
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Manchester City charges just £50 for their “Walk with a Legend” Stadium Tour led by former idol Peter Barnes.
Liverpool charges £55 for their LFC Stadium tour of Anfield plus a Q&A with a choice of ex-players including John Aldridge, Steve McMahon or Mark Lawrenson.
Mark Mills, who runs the Arsenal East Sussex Supporters Club, said: “I’ve been going up to Arsenal for about 50 years but this is definitely not for the normal working class football fan.”
Tottenham on Sunday afternoon, Harry Kane on Wednesday night.
What a week it’s been for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal – dishing out good hidings to those they love to hate the most.
After substitutes Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli had sent Arsenal clear at the summit of the Champions League table, with its only 100 per cent record, Bayern Munich suffered scornful cries of “are you Tottenham in disguise?”
Former Spurs goal-machine Kane, never a popular visitor here, had riled the locals by claiming that the trend towards set-piece dominance had made Premier League football less entertaining to watch this season.
So dead-ball specialists Arsenal, naturally, grabbed the lead from a corner – Jurrien Timber’s header being cancelled out by Bayern’s teenage starlet Lennart Karl before half-time.
Yet with Declan Rice outstanding and Arteta’s strength in depth again apparent from the impact of his subs, the Gunners earned a thoroughly-deserved victory which made their passage into the last 16 as good as certain.
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