Okay, so this might be a controversial one, but there’s no denying Highbury used to be a stadium and Arsenal have kept their former home in some sort of condition.
After moving to the Emirates Stadium, it would have been easy to sell off Highbury and turn it into an anonymous housing estate as seems to happen to most grounds now.
To fans it’s devastating; there’s so many memories, so much emotion all within the confines of that stadium. Turning it to rubble might not erase those memories but it’s bloody horrible. You won’t get many Southampton fans wistfully walking through the housing estate where The Dell once stood.
Arsenal seem to be a different kettle of fish though. They’ve converted Highbury into flats. They’ve knocked down the two stands behind each goal and replaced them with fancy apartment blocks, but the two monsters that hugged the touch line have retained their shells. It makes for a fantastically unique building to live in, and also means Highbury still lives on.
It also means you can sort of have a wander on the Highbury pitch. Not completely, as the pitch area has been turned into a private garden for residents, which is totally fair enough, but you can have a stroll where the goals were, close your eyes and semi-imagine what it must have been like to play there.
I can only imagine it’s sheer heaven for Gunners and hats off to Arsenal Football Club for a truly remarkable project.
Football Grounds I Can Be Bothered To Visit 