Sorry state of affairs

The less-than state of the art dressing rooms at Olympic Stadium

Looking at the sorry state of the dressing rooms at the Olympic Stadium, I was reminded of an article I read about the Arsenal dressing room, which was designed with the help of their manager Arsene Wenger. It said...The room is light and airy, the players sit next to each in a long line so that he can address them as a team, without ever having to turn his back on any of his players. The players shirts are hung up on pegs in an individual compartment, which has been finished in a light, brown pine wood and a businesslike, yet relaxed, air abounds. The players get prepared in a neutral environment, with the walls painted in white, a harmless colour, and the seats are heated to help keep their muscles warm during the 15 minute interval. Underneath their seat, there is space for their boots, there is a separate room for the physio to work on injured players and there is a table packed with fruit, water and high energy drinks.
Fat chance of any of that at the Olympic Stadium. You're lucky if the lights and ceiling fans work, as often they don't. For the first league game of the season, the Crown players had to change in semi-darkness and were sweating buckets, yet their opponents had no such problem. Blue plastic chairs make do rather than the heated seating at Arsenal, there are no hot water showers and the toilets often don't flush. There's a tatty table in the corner for the physio to work his magic on player's muscles before the game starts. Faces often appear at the windows at the back of the room and holes in the wall mean anyone can listen to the team talk and tactics. All in all it's a sorry state of affairs that the best, and only stadium in the country, has such stone-age changing facilities.