The deal is done and the seed sewn. On Monday it was announced by the Club that the Two David’s and Newham Council had submitted their blueprint for ‘Life after the Olympics’, claiming that football and athletics can be “the best of neighbours” at the Olympic Stadium. Also adding, albeit in the final sentence, that the venture will “see this club grow and move on to another level”.
The statement goes on to list the many benefits/beneficiaries of this alliance including:-
“Athletics (of course), Education, Cricket, Other Sports?, The Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre, Culture, Jobs, New Homes Shops and Community facilities, A Healthier and Fitter East London, Public Investment and Prosperity in the local area and a better quality of life for tens of thousands of people”
Wow …. Oh and although omitted from the long and impressive list of beneficiaries lets not forget Newham Council and the Two David’s!!
Perhaps one of their new schemes will be to hand out free promotional binoculars?
Now apologies for appearing a little selfish but as a paying supporter, I’m struggling to see how ‘My Club’ will grow and move to another level from this venture? I can clearly see the winners and for them it’s a no-brainer!
Perhaps it’s time that our new owners explained just how they intend to transform our team within 2-3 seasons into a side that will constantly demand 50-60,000 seats on match days. Or how those that are seated behind the goals and behind the curves of the running track, will be able to see what is happening on the field of play once the ball crosses the half way line?!
I’m all for change and taking West Ham United to another level but this should be for the benefit first and foremost for our Club and its paying supporters. This higher level will only be achieved from successes on the pitch first (failing a filthy rich new owner aka City/Chelski).
There have been fears from day 1 that the assurance to UK Athletics of an ‘athletics legacy’ at the new Stadium beyond the Games would render it a White Elephant.
How do they intend to transform our team within 2-3 seasons into a side that will constantly demand 50-60,000 seats on match days
My fear is that under these proposals West Ham United FC could become the White Elephant within a Multisports, Educational/Entertainment Cultural Centre. When it does, we’ll all be longing for the good old days when we had a tight 35,000 seater atmospheric stadium that was designed and built solely and selfishly for watching the National Sport of Football!!
Yesterday the Two David’s made a 10 point pledge to the supporters including what they describe as the most important (albeit last on the list) that of “listening to what we the supporters (true owners) have to say”. So here goes ….
To the Two David’s, please tell me – how will sitting much further away from a football pitch, (that is shared by ‘other sports’) in a cavernous 2/3rd full stadium, benefit attending supporters of West Ham United and how will this improve our match day experience? Answers on a postcard please.
Two Bob
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FootballUnited.com have today launched the World’s biggest football survey – in preparation for the World Cup. Come and cast your vote here
Cricket?
In the middle of a football pitch… have they ever been on a cricket pitch?!
Now, don’t get me wrong, the further away I can sit from a cricket match, the better.
But I’ve heard that cricketers like to play on a rock solid pitch, with dead grass on it. I’ve not seen a 22 yard strip like that anywhere on a soccer pitch.
have you?
Are artificial wickets allowed in first class cricket?
No.
Oh.
Doesn’t make me feel like this has been thought through from a sports supporter’s point of view.
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So I’ve heard from somewhere that the furthest seats back at the Olympic ground are another 30m AWAY FROM THE PITCH compared to the Emirates.
No No No No No No No
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This is one of the worst plans drawn up in the history of sport. Vague references to grants from the government to pay for the majority of the redevelopment just dont cut it.
These miracle grants would have to cover the vast majority of the cost as the sale of the Boleyn as a brown field site would generate no more than £30M within the time frame outlined. The real money from the sale of the Boleyn would come from the redevelopment of the site and the sale of the finished development.
We would be left with investing whatever money we get from the sale in a ground that we will never own any part of. That makes absolutely no sense what so ever.
Gollivan are trying to blind the fans with talk of cheap tickets, supposedly the cheapest in the league. If that is true than basically they are saying we are giving up our ground for no noticable increase in real revenue. If you drop ticket prices by 20% you have to fill 20% more seats to make the same amount of money. If you sell the same number of seats then your revenues are actually down by 20%. This doesnt not even factor in what percentage of the gate goes to the government as the stadiums owners. We could concievably be in a situtation where we sell more seats than we currently have at Upton Park and actually have less money coming into the club.
There has been no discussion on who benefits from the match day concession sales, will it be us or the stadiums owners. Likewise who pays for the upkeep of the ground and any maintenance costs. If it is the stadium owners then you would have to expect they would want a pretty sizeable slice of the match day revenue.
All this talk of hosting others sports along side football are equally worrying. Are we going to end up with a Wembley like surface that is constantly being relaid to compensate for all the different sports played on it?
The biggest point is does anyone expect Goliivan to fork out for the kind of players it will take to fill a 50,000 seater stadium? Bearing in mind their history at Brum of signing over the hill players on free transfers. Do we think Gollivan are going to pay the wages needed to bring in top players given their demand that the existing players take a pay cut or the fact that they have reportedly told some very promising young players that they will not have their contracts renewed in the summer.
European football costs money, even Fulham spent money on the likes of Zamora, Duff and others. Vastly more in fact than Gollivan forked out in January.
The Boleyn can be redeveloped to increase capacity to around 45,000. Thats 5000 less than this sporting utopia in a ground we own generating revenues that we get to keep. Why would we give that up for an extra 5000 seats that these owners are hugely unlikely to help the club fill.
If Gollivan are serious about making European football a reality at this sporting utopia then simply obtain a first option on the stadium to be review at the end of the 2011/2012 season which will be before the games are even held. There will be no redevelopment done up to that point and if we are challenging in the top half of the table at that point then maybe we can believe them about wanting this move for the good of the club.
Right now all of this Olympic Stadium talk is simply to distract fans from the appaling job they have done since taking over the club.
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Sadly i don,t think it is a smoke screen to cover their many ‘bloopers’ to date. I think this is Karren Bradys’ main task at West Ham and was put in place even before Sullivan donned his ‘classy’ velvet jacket!
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Something that does please me, is that it was my suggestion that perhaps owners of football clubs (particularly West Ham) should be contractually obliged to their fans
So, perhaps they do listen to us?!
If they really do, then fans should have more say in the prospect of moving grounds.
Spurs did it brilliantly, down to even voting for different stadium designs that they liked etc…the fans had a big say in it and that’s how it should be. Sorry to say it, cos it’s Spurs – but they did it well
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cant we just put the away supporters in the seats furthest away from the pitch. and have really cheap prices on the seats left after 35’000 have been sold
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Yes they will come in their droves to squint at their team from a hundred yards away just so we can all pay a fiver to sit in the front row!
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everyseat is a long way away from the pitch!
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Spot on.
How will this new stadium actually benefit the people who are already season ticket holders?
We’ve supported the club through some extremely thin times – and our reward is this soulless proposal?
I’m not entirely against moving from our ground at some point in the future – but I believe that our great club, at the very least, deserve a purpose built football stadium. A stadium that has been created specifically for West Ham. A place that makes the best footballing experience possible for the crowd.
This hotchpotch, fit-up job, won’t do.
I need to find an address for the people who will be making the final decision on this. I’ll then write to them to make it clear that not all WHU fans are behind the porn twins. They are the least classy people in football – and that’s saying something.
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lads what you’ve got to realise about this stadium, is that it will not be the same stadium as what it’ll be at the Olympics… it’ll be 20,000 less! the stadium will be chopped and changed to suit ALL formats. look at the city of Manchester stadium, that was modified hugely to support Man City.
the London 2012 stadium will be a first class facility when it’s fully converted and west ham will be at the heart of a big sporting movement of the modern era.
the club deserve better facilities, we deserve to play big games at big stadiums, we deserve to be training to be the best. this is not an overnight miracle like what Chelsea had, we’ll be a growing club, and growing with everything that is needed to progress. you look at other big clubs, compare ARSENAL to Real Madrid, then compare Man Utd with Barcelona…. the Spanish teams have got a Sporting academy, and this is what gold and Sullivan are modelling west ham ON.
I’m defending the move on these points and why….
1. I’m an architect, I believe this is a sustainable move for a well known sports club, the design is far better than upton park, the club should move forward instead of being in the past….
2. I’m a west ham fan, I believe that west ham should be playing in front of more than 35,000 to the biggest teams in the world, and I also want success at the club….
3. i’m an optimist, i believe that west ham WILL get the stadium because we’re the best suited for this legacy…
west ham fans shouldn’t care where they play, if the club have our support it’s all that matters, do you think we’ll be moaning that we got a grilling from wolves 3-1 and relegation scrap this season? or beating Chelsea 4-0 in a title challenge in 2013? i know what i want to see… and i’ll sacrifice anything to get success.
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If you’re an architect I’m a Dutchman. No one can possibly state that their is a benefit to fans having to watch a game across an 8 lane running track.
You should also consider exactly who pays for the proposed redevelopment, how the match day revenues will be review and most importantly what in the 16years of abject mediocrity of Gollivans reign at Brum makes you think they will pay out for the type of players it will take to fill a 50,000 capacity stadium?
This is even more worrying when we hear the transfer budget for the summer is capped at £15M which is not only no where near what we need to bring in players to strengthen the squad but is considerably less than what we are likely to bring in with the players that are reported to be on their way out of Upton Park. Green, Upson, Cole, Behrami alone would command some £35M+ in transfer fees and yet we propose to not only replace them but improve on the existing team with a paltry £15M.
You should also be aware as an “architect” that the main winners in any proposed olympic stadium move are the company who purchase The Boleyn as a brown field site and then avail of urban renewal grants (which do actually exist unlike the mythical ones the Porn Pigmy and Argos Dracula claim will pay for the stratford renovations) and tax breaks for the redevelopment of the Upton Park complex.
I’d love to know what cereal box you found your degree in!
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Sorry to say it Adam, but I completely disagree with you.
The proposal suggests that in some capacity we’ll keep the running track. Man City got rid of theirs outright.
Have a look at my latest post and see some of the stats as to how far away we’ll be seated. Think the back seats at the Emirates are a long way back? Add another 30m onto that and your seating in the same seat at the olympic stadium
With a running track to peer over. And it will only be 2/3rds full. And *if* it is full, it will be with thousands of tourists who got their tickets on the cheap yielding clappers and free binoculars. I couldn’t describe a worse situation if I was making it up. But I’m not.
Sorry, it’s the worst move we could make.
And as CelticHammer rightly points out our team will not be strengthened on the transfer budget that SuGo have allocated – assuming that our bigger name players all leave.
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I have no positive feelings about this whole situation, the Olympic Stadium will not be good for West Ham United and one very big clue as to why is hidden in it’s name, that little word that goes before stadium.
Seems to me that our club stumbles from one disaster or laughing stock straight in to another and I see this being no different.
Every owner we’ve had in the past 15 years has been in it for themselves no matter what the PR would have you believe.
Brown/Cearns and the Hammers Bond, plus the fact they authorised the MDF castle at the front of the ground.
Gudmundsson/Magnusson promising the world with there big plans of league success leading to european campaigns, but all they did was ruin the clubs finances and tie the club into a dodgy deal that, admittedly gave us one of the best player we’ve ever had, cost us 30 odd million pounds with the initial fine and compensation to the northerners.
Now we have SuBo who wants to pocket a fortune from the sale of Upton Park to developers and have a ready made stadium that will incur minimal costs when compared to having to fund the building of a brand new stadium from scratch.
Each of these owners and situations have been a joke and I’m slightly fed up with being taken for a mug and with that in mind the only set of owners I will ever trust is if the real supporters ever managed to get together and buy the club.
As this is incredibly unlikely I will have to go along with the current owners but as more time passes by I am starting to distrust these two even more, but no matter what they do or say I’ll never believe the Olympic Stadium idea to be a good one.
Rant over!
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i cant believe wat a bunch of moaners whu fans are , state of the art stadium that ‘l keep us in business, and yet moan moan moan, the ones who wanted redknapp sacked, booed curbs even wen we were 4th, etc etc stop cryin on urkeyboards and start sayin ur goodbyes to upton park
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Booed Curbs when we were 4th? You’ll have to remind me for what period of one-game did this occur?
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A football ground is a massive part of a clubs identity. It is a fans home from home. It belongs to them alone, and they are proud to call it their home.
The Olympic stadium will be an athletics stadium that West Ham rent out in the winter. We’ll be lucky if they let us put our name above the door.
If the dildo brothers are allowed to destroy Upton park, they will destroy West Ham as we know and love it, the club will never be the same.
However, there is another option which is much better. The proposal for a purpose built ground in Canning town not far from the memorial grounds where we started out. We could easily transfer to such a ground and make it our Home. Something we could never say about the Olympic stadium.
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Fantastic comment Ironworks
You’ve summed up my feelings exactly…it’s not necessarily the move away from Upton Park that concerns me, it’s moving to the Olympic Stadium that does.
(although if possible, i think i’ll be in favour of rebuilding the East Stand)
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