Anfield, Highbury echo game's past
Anfield and Highbury are both old-school stadiums penned in by residential neighbourhoods so that you wouldn't know you were near them until you turn the last corner of the nearest block.
Arsenal's ground has the famed Marble Halls but they turn out to be amazingly small. Basically a front hallway with sweeping staircases on either side, the focal point of the halls is the black, sculpted bust of legendary manager Herbert Chapman.
The marble halls will be preserved as a protected structure in the housing development that goes up when Arsenal move a few hundred yards away to their Ashburton Grove ground. Emirates Stadium is still under construction but most of the exterior is visible from outside the construction site and a majestic spaceship of a structure it is.
When complete it could rival Old Trafford for spectacular first impressions from afar if not in capacity (60,000, a significant upgrade on Highbury's 38,500).
Anfield is a repository of great history with its Bill Shankly statue, the 'This Is Anfield' sign in the players' tunnel, the trophy cabinet full of European Cups, a mosaic tribute to the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy and the all-seated space where the Kop used to be.
The club museum rivals United's for spine-tingling moments, especially in a recreation of the old Kop using a wall-size video screen to show a black and white BBC film of the famous terrace in its heyday replete with full volume sound.
But the pride of Merseyside (capacity 45,362) is in serious need of modernising and all improvements are in abeyance, says stadium guide Ian Balshaw, pending a move to a new stadium in nearby Stanley Park.
Stamford Bridge is the nearest rival to Old Trafford in terms of its modern look, with its adjacent Chelsea Village complex of hotels, apartments and restaurants. It's a bright, shiny place, redolent of the new money that has made the team so formidable. Chelsea have preserved the back wall of the former Shed end, marked by a blue plaque and hanging ivy. And the Club Museum is excellent, despite the relative paucity of trophies ('We win the league once every 50 years,' jokes stadium guide Wes Barton).
