The response to the Olympic Stadium survey, for the fans, has been fantastic so far – thank you.

The survey is still open for another week so if you’ve not done so yet, then add your opinion here The Survey is now CLOSED. Thank you for your responses

I’ll be publishing the full results in a week’s time, but over half of you added your opinion in the free-text box at the end of the survey. The responses, I found, were particularly interesting so I thought I’d share some with you now.

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If you can secure the Olympic Stadium without a running track and insert seating closer to the pitch, I would support the move. If not, please, listen to the fans a re=develop the East stand. Thank you

Use the money to build a stadium which the fans want, as “genuine supporters” Sullivan and Gold aren’t taking into consideration the fans match day experience. The atmosphere will be at an all time low if we move to the Olympic Stadium. Please try and redevelop Upton Park (Boleyn Ground)or build a new purpose stadium.

The Olympic Stadium move is, nothwithstanding the problems, a key part of making West Hame a top Premuier league club. But a ground where the pitch is seperated from the fans by a running track is not, in my opinion, a football ground fit for purpose. It makes me sad to think how the experience of watching matches and the atmosphere will be negatively affected. But, as a lifelong West Ham fan and a season ticket holder, I will always support my team.

engage with the fans Or lose them

expand the east stand and keep west ham the club we all love. i absolutely hate the large souless stadiums with all that corporate hospitality taking over.

I think they have to do what’s best for everyone involved. Personally I don’t think The Boleyn is the same since they built the 3 new stands anyway, so it doesn’t bother me in the slightest moving away from there

If there is a running track I will only attend away games from now on. If other sports taker place on the pitch, it would be a joke (look at Wigan’s pitch surface because of rugby – a joke). We are a premier league club, who deserve a committed, 100% football, stadium. I’m disgusted the owners would consider a running track.

We dont want a stadium with a running track around it, theres no mitigation for the negative efffect this will have on the spectator experience, if i have to watch the game on a big screen then i’ll just watch on a tv elsewhere.

engage with the fans Or lose them

I believe that a first choice would always be to re-develop the boleyn ground thus keeping the history that West Ham have strived so hard to gain. I am fearful that we wouldn’t be able to sell out a 60k seater stadium even on category A matches despite reduced ticket prices. However, I know this is possibly a once in a liftime opporunity and if the finances are as bad as reported maybe an option that we need to seriously consider. I’m sure that the two of you as West Ham fans share these views and also appreciate the concerns that many fans are currently having. This is something that could make or break your era at West Ham and I do believe you have the clubs best interests at heart but we as fans so desperatley need something to cheer about so we can’t afford to get this wrong. Stuart Heard – season ticket holder Bobby Moore Lower

I think that moving to a ground that can seat 60K can only be good for us fans no matter how many at the moment we can fill it with, and I don’t think that the distance between the pitch and the terraces will make that much difference…surely it is up to the supporters be it a 20K 0r 60K seater to be heard

I say go for it. Its time West Ham to make themselves a bigger club and compete the fan base is there but the club needs finances and the way would be to move to a larger andmore high profile location

I understand absolutely the significant benefits for the club in moving to the Olympic Stadium – and I give it my qualified support as a fan and a boxholder. However, the fans’ concerns must be heard, acted upon and allayed, there needs to be a concerted effort to win hearts and minds. The jury is still our on the new owners for many, and forcing this move through without widespread support could make the short and medium term difficult if not impossible. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should… I’m pro, but I don’t want to be there on my own…

they are asset stripping our club

I’d happily move to the Olympic stadium if it wasn’t to have a running track (a redevelopment in the style of Man City would be perfect). As it stands I’m concerned about poor views, a lack of atmosphere and a half empty stadium. Personally I would love to see the Boleyn redeveloped with a new chicken run and increased capacity, however I understand that this might not be in the interests of the club in the long run. That said, if we end up playing at a ground with an athletics track, we’ll be a laughing stock (I can already imagine sarcastic away fans turning up to the game with binoculars. To be fair, who could blame them, they’d be in the region of 100m away from the centre circle).

I think its a terrible idea, we dont want a running track around the pitch, the stands are going to be too far away from the pitch and it will be an emotionless bowl, i hate the idea and will NOT be renewing my season ticket if we move to the olympic stadium

If there is no running track and therefore the stadium is to be a FOOTBALL stadium then its a no brainer. But for the cost of the alterations we could develop Upton Park (which is getting improved rail network) into a 45,000 stadium and still have a FOOTBALL stadium. A move to a running stadium is NOT in our best interests, even with the travel plusses of Stratford. And the “cheapest seats in the prem” statement must be explained NOW. I fear a revised “THAT section only is the cheapest in the prem” whereas the average seat will still be extortionate. Am far from convinced that this move is being sought for the club’s best interests rather than the owners’.

Nothing seems to change new owners same promises and no action, say fans matter but I doubt if this is true. Should involve us fans as were the ones who suffer the most at the hands of owners who promise much and deliver little

Unless my S/T puts me in the dug-out I will stop going.

The reality is that they own the club and I trust thenm to make the best decisions in the interest of the club. I am glad they havent opened this up to the fans too much – “if a committee had designed the horse it would have become a camel” – the great ideas of a few are worth more than the vague ideas of the many on a project like this.

Consult, listen and heed. Stand by your pledge.

The Olympic park is a fantastic venue but a running track will spoil the atmosphere (which is already getting worse every season) I would however support a standing area on the running track on matchdays I’m still not convinced that West Ham was not bought solely to move to the Olympic stadium and cash in on the Boleyn’s real estate value

If there is no running track and therefore the stadium is to be a FOOTBALL stadium then its a no brainer

If the players can’t be motivated to produce 3 points when the fans are 9 meters away what hope do they have when they’re 31 meters away?.

They are facing up to the commercial realities of 21st century football. I think if West Ham remain as they are, they will keep losing ground on their competitors and upgrading the Boleyn will on;y mitigate that slightly. Whilst I am not against a move to the OS per se, I would want to see much more detailed, concrete proposals in cluding simulations and models, before giving it 200% support. I DO like the idea of West Ham become a community hub, in the way that Barcelona are, and seeing the amount of Arsenal and Chelsea shirts there are in Newham, I think it’s necessary to ensure continued support.

People love West Ham United because they’ve roots… We’re not like any other club!

If the running track has to remain in the stadium I am opposed to the move to the Olympic stadium. In that case I would prefer to develop the Boleyn Ground or build a new football ground. If the Olympic Stadium can only be afforded by the club in case of a multi purpose use I fear that the pitch could be very bad as it is e.g. at Wigan. As a fan I would love to have the opportunity to get a larger crowd into the ground and to lower the ticket prices, but if that’s only possible WITH a running track and a bad pitch I would prefer staying at the Boleyn.

Admire their want for lower ticket prices. However Not 100% on the idea of a running track. Atmosphere however could remain unaffected (going by Lazio/Roma’s stadium) and would put up with it for a few years so we can sort out the finances and develop our own stadium.

Do it. The club has been small-time for too long, and how well has this worked out for us for the last 30-years or so?

As I have been living in Newport, South Wales since 1996, I have been a member of West Ham United since 2006. I have supported the club since 1975, going to games every season until my move to Wales. I now go with my teenage son and my father (who lives in London) at least twice a year every season. With this background, I support the move to the Olympic stadium if the stadium could be rebuilt as a proper football ground, even with a running track but with close, steep stands, similar to German stadia. I think this move is very important for the clubs long term future and would attract many new supporters to the club. It would leave a legacy with the east end of London regenerated fully.

Take a look at the Stade de France, they have proved its possible to host athletics and give football spectators a good view/decent atmosphere by using retractable seating. If we end up with a soulless bowl like the Reebok it’ll be the end of my days going down to West Ham.

I go to every home game and many away games and sit in the trevor brooking lower. On our day we are one of the loudest sets fans in the country. I love Upton Park, and last season the atmosphere was the best it has been in my life. If possible, it’d be nice to redevelop the chicken run, but that’s not a big concern for me, I am 100% happy the way things are. There aren’t many things that I care more about than West Ham, like everybody who’s there week in week out, and like them, I think that a move to the olympic stadium would be a terrible one. The atmosphere would almost definitely be badly affected because of the distance from the pitcht. As good as you have been so far with being open and honest and keeping Scott Parker (fingers crossed), a move to the olympic stadium would damage you in the fans’ eyes greatly. You are the exact type of owners we want, and if you can keep us at Upton Park, please do. If not, please build another stadium specifically designed for football, just please do anything to keep us out of the olympic stadium. And getting Tevez back wouldn’t be too bad either

Saved us from financial ruin but I wonder if they would have bought us, if there wasn’t an Olympic Stadium involved.

Last two, promise:

West Ham United is a football club, the Olympic stadium is not and never will be a football stadium. We don’t need a stadium that holds more than 42000 people and what would we do with one that did seeing as we now have one that holds 35333 and yet we hardly ever get more than 32500 turn up. The future of West Ham United is not dependant on a move to the Olympic stadium, only a decent return on Gold and Sullivan’s investment would come of it. The future of West Ham United is solely dependant on the team, its performance and the investment in it. Premier League survival is key to our survival (I seem to remember someone saying something like “relegation would catastrophic for the club”) and any future success, not the stadium. There are teams out there who have had no stadium yet survived (Brighton, Charlton, to name but two) and there are teams out there with modest stadiums yet have had great success (Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Arsenal whilst at Highbury, mainly through careful, prudent investment, although that can’t be said in Chelsea and Blackburn’s case who just went overboard on recruiting players and I doubt very much whether we’ll see that kind of thing from Gold and Sullivan, not that I’d want success via that route anyway. We are a club who are privileged to have stadium that still has a soul, a heartbeat and an atmosphere that can put the fear of god in to the opposition. All that would be instantly lost the second we depart Upton Park and will sadly never return. That would be an absolute disaster and I would want no part in it. Half the reason we go to West Ham is the football, the other half in the experience. I get a buzz every time I see the stadium as I approach it on a match day, very much like the 1st time I ever saw it for real, yet I have passed the Olympic stadium a few times and I fail to see that I would ever get that feeling about it. Many bad things have happened to our club over the past few years and yet I fear the worst is still to come with a move to the Olympic stadium. On your heads be it!

&….

My family are solid West Ham and have worked in and around the club since the 60s. I think the move to Stratford to an Olympic Stadium is a must. For me, lower prices and family tickets might actually mean I can take my children and see more than the usual handful of games. However, it must also be done hand in hand with a return to core values – the Academy (must be revived and not rely on Tony Carr), promoting from within, a visionary manager, and local British players. The ‘family’ part of the club must return. In their attempts to run the club as a PL ‘business’ they seem to be cutting some of the ties, and Grant is a stop gap – he ain’t gonna be leaving behind a dynasty. It seems too short sighted to me – football in this country is heading for a watershed. The PL and the money chasers will soon be gone.