As some of you know, I was kindly invited by MyWHUFC.com to attend a meeting with Ian Tomkins, our Olympic Stadium bid director.

MyWHUFC are running petitions against the move to the Olympic Stadium and you can find the guys with a large banner and clip boards by the John Lyall gates before and after home games. If you’re against the move, or feel fans should have so far been consulted more, then please visit MyWHUFC.com and do what you can to help the guys out.

It was an interesting meeting and we’re hugely grateful to Ian for giving us the time to speak with him. The notes below were written up by Nigel of MyWHUFC:

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Ian Tompkins is a PR man who previous to working for West Ham was with Newham Council and before that British Rail. He seems to be a nice bloke (I’d say that even if I didn’t know he’d read this!) and is a West Ham fan.

I’ll cover what I think are the most important discussed:

Finance

Ian said that our debt is reducing and the plan regardless of whether we move to Stratford is that it will be to normal overdraft level by 2013.
He confirmed that the move is not to pay off debt.
He said that the move is to enable to club to grow.
He said that they don’t expect to fill the OS for every game.
He said that both Spurs & West Ham have had to submit bids based on Premier League, Championship & ‘yoyo’ status.
He said that the owners believe this is the best way forward to the club, although accepts that there is some risk.

Timescale

The preferred bidder will be announced by the end of January.
Contracts should be signed March / April, although Ian thought it may go beyond this.
If the move goes ahead we will play at the OS from 2014.

Running Track

Retention of the track is part of our bid so it will stay.
Ian agrees that it is not ideal, but says that the club are exploring a number of options, especially behind the goals, but cannot say more at present.
He also said that they are not spending a lot of money exploring it at the moment.
Ian is arranging to show some of us the stadium so we can see for ourselves that it is ‘not what you think’.
Questioned as to how the ground could be modified he said that digging down is not impossible – nothing can be ruled out – but later said ‘you can’t dig down’.

Consultation

The club intend to start some sort of fans forum soon.
Ian said that the owners had been busy sorting out problems on the pitch and with running of the club, so this hadn’t happened sooner.
Ian is aware that many fans oppose the move, especially with the running track and that surveys show this is a majority.
He has received many emails for & against.
He says that the club do intend to consult with fans, but not until they have firm information as they want people to be able to make informed decisions.
When I pointed out that the time from preferred bidder announcement to contract signing was 2 – 3 months, so didn’t allow much time for consultation, he said that consultation will start sooner than January.
He said that the Board will make the final decision but will listen to fans.

Boleyn Ground

Ian said that redeveloping the East Stand would take capacity to 42,000, but planning commission has run out and may not be gained if we applied again.
The club are not looking at this as an option at present.
Nor are they looking at a new purpose built ground as we don’t have the money for this.
He did not accept that any existing businesses (pubs, cafes & shops) would close if we moved.
He said that some may be able to move with us.

In summary & of most interest

The move to the OS is not needed to pay off our debt.
The club say they will consult but seem to have left little time for this. Whether any consultation will be meaningful & objective and whether they will take notice of it remains to be seen.
The track will stay and the club were unable to give any information on stadium modification to minimise its effect (strangely first he said it was confidential, then that they weren’t spending much money on exploring options – but that doesn’t leave much time to do so if contracts are to be signed by April).

Oh yes, Ian said that David Gold would join the meeting, or if he didn’t he’d go & find him – however Mr Gold did not grace us with his presence.

The meeting has not given me any confidence that this is the right move for the club & the majority of its fans. Some of the things he said did not seem to add up. We will look at the OS hopefully next week, and I hope will have the opportunity to further question the club.

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Thank you to Nigel for providing those notes.

My worries

Personally two comments particularly worried me.

1) Ian mentioned that “season tickets are going out of fashion“. My particular concern with this comment is that it does compound my fears that the move is not being made with loyal supporters and season ticket holders in mind. It’s a move that will most certainly favour one-time visitors and tourists. If this is to be the case then do what they do at Camp Nou and stick the tourists at the back, in the heavens.

2) Ian also mentioned that the club want to hold a fan consultation. Which of course is brilliant and what we want. Worryingly however the preferred bidder will be known in January and the final proposal and deal signed in March/April. This essentially gives the club February and if we’re lucky, March, to put together a proposal that deals with the running track issue and also to consult the fans. Somehow, I don’t see it happening.

And if season ticket holders really are going out of fashion then fully expect the club to invite people who’ve never been to Upton Park, never seen West Ham play and are in favour of watching West Ham in an empty & soulless stadium, to the meeting.

To be fair to Ian

To be fair to Ian he did explain that the whole process is essentially an exploratory negotiation and that nothing, as of yet, is set in stone. Once the preferred bidder is known then, assuming it’s us, the club will invest even more time and money on putting together thorough proposals that deal with issues such as how to deal with the running track. However as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t believe the timeframe can possibly allow for a thorough fan consultation.

I’ll keep you all posted

COYI