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The London Taxpayers' Stadium Shambles

Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

chicken_badge said:
We need Northumberland Park built and pronto.
This may even be another little kick up the backside to the powers that be to get things moving.
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Well said, not one brick has been laid yet for our new stadium. ENIC have been in power some 12 years now and we still have the same capacity we had the day they took over, it's not good, to say the least.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

JPG_357 said:
I think if West Ham get it, at anywhere near favourable rates, it's a fantastic coup for them, and could well see them challenging us about a decade down the line.

I was all for us going to the OS on Levy's terms. It's an absolutely fantastic venue in terms of infrastructure and proximity to the City for sponsorship, corporates etc, and could have propelled us to being consistent trophy winners and actual title challengers at the business end of the season.

If West Ham get away with this robbery of taxpayers money they would have hit the jackpot as surely as Chelsea and City have done in different ways.

Being West Ham they'll probably fudge it up a bit, but I would expect the owners to sell to some mega rich buyers and then the horror of them finishing regularly above us will be a very realistic option.

Great day, potentially, for West Ham, bad day, potentially for us, Arsenal and Chelsea.
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Getting a bit ahead of yourself aren't you? There is no guarantee that they will fill that ground or even get more than 35,000+ once the new stadium factor has worn off. Their fanbase isn't that big, despite having little competition in East London.

They are still the 4th biggest club in London behind Arsenal, Chelsea and ourselves. Those 3 will always be a more attractive draw for players, unless West Ham get a sugar daddy.

A fantastic venue? It has a running track! What makes the Boleyn Ground such a tough place to go is the compact nature of the ground, the fans are right on top of the action, similar to WHL and similar to Highbury. Funnily enough, Arsenal aren't as formiddable at home as they were at Highbury.

I will say though, we've got to get a move on with the new stadium. I remember when the designs of the new WHL were released over 4 years ago!
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

Hard to think of another nation on earth that makes such a regular ****-up of building and administering stadiums as England.

Wembley was a complete fiasco, financially. But at least it was properly built for it's principal purpose - football.

The Olympic stadium is a complete dogs dinner. From the initial design through the corrupt legacy bidding process and now into the near total rebuilding of the place to make it suitable for football. Possibly the worst-ever stadium project in memory. Sure, it worked well for the Olympics. But trying to make it a suitable home for football is laughable.

The reports say retractable seating will be installed over the track. Unless the stands are sloped down from the edge of the upper deck, the slope of those seats will be so shallow that fans in the lower bowl will have terrible views of the pitch through the many heads in front. For the price of those seats and the huge new roof to cover them, you could easily build a proper, quality football ground.

No doubt, the curiosity factor will help fill seats initially and we'll all get to see more pictures of Karren Brady thrusting out her mighty heavers as she poses proudly in her upholstered lunar crater. But the crowds will thin out once fans see what a poor place it is to watch a game from. You could buy season's tickets and a good set of binoculars to help overcome the poor views. Or you could buy a killer HDTV and a couple of comfy recliners and get great views with no lineups for the loo.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

Jurgen the German said:
Getting a bit ahead of yourself aren't you? There is no guarantee that they will fill that ground or even get more than 35,000+ once the new stadium factor has worn off. Their fanbase isn't that big, despite having little competition in East London.

They are still the 4th biggest club in London behind Arsenal, Chelsea and ourselves. Those 3 will always be a more attractive draw for players, unless West Ham get a sugar daddy.

A fantastic venue? It has a running track! What makes the Boleyn Ground such a tough place to go is the compact nature of the ground, the fans are right on top of the action, similar to WHL and similar to Highbury. Funnily enough, Arsenal aren't as formiddable at home as they were at Highbury.

I will say though, we've got to get a move on with the new stadium. I remember when the designs of the new WHL were released over 4 years ago!
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I don't think I'm getting ahead of myself at all.

You asked in another post why West ham want this stadium, the answer's quite simple, they're being given free money.

They're getting something like £500m worth of stadium and infrastructure for £100m or thereabouts, unless the authorities toughen up their stance.

I repeat it will probably transform their fortunes given the type of deal being talked about, and I can easily see them overtaking us just as Chelsea have done on the back of their particular lottery win.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

JPG_357 said:
I don't think I'm getting ahead of myself at all.

You asked in another post why West ham want this stadium, the answer's quite simple, they're being given free money.

They're getting something like £500m worth of stadium and infrastructure for £100m or thereabouts, unless the authorities toughen up their stance.

I repeat it will probably transform their fortunes given the type of deal being talked about, and I can easily see them overtaking us just as Chelsea have done on the back of their particular lottery win.
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I dont think 20k kids for a quid will suddenly have them in the top 4
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

Getting the OS means they can make money off the land that Upton Park stands on. I highly doubt they'll be able to make much money from a higher capacity. The match going experience at the OS is going to be pretty brick and that's before taking the quality of football into consideration.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

markysimmo said:
I dont think 20k kids for a quid will suddenly have them in the top 4
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Nor do I, but I think selling out to mega rich buyers, and tapping into the corporate market may very well do so. They've been in our shadow for well over 100 years and would remain so if they stay at Upton Park. This is their 'get out of obscurity' card, unless the authorities toughen up on the deal or someone can launch a successful legal challenge against them.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

JPG_357 said:
Nor do I, but I think selling out to mega rich buyers, and tapping into the corporate market may very well do so. They've been in our shadow for well over 100 years and would remain so if they stay at Upton Park. This is their 'get out of obscurity' card, unless the authorities toughen up on the deal or someone can launch a successful legal challenge against them.
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Bazza Hearn is definately on the case...
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

markysimmo said:
Bazza Hearn is definately on the case...
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Yep, and rightly so, I don't know if we can get involved, but if it's a goer, we should do it.

It's an absolute scandal, a club are being given something like £100m -£300m to fudge over their competitors, makes me mad and then some :)
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

The guy they interviewed on SSN was an ignorant piece of brick.
Said something along the lines about O.S. being their rightful place.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

Jordinho said:
Getting the OS means they can make money off the land that Upton Park stands on. I highly doubt they'll be able to make much money from a higher capacity. The match going experience at the OS is going to be pretty brick and that's before taking the quality of football into consideration.
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Watching West Ham play from a seat that's 100 yards away from the pitch is actually an advantage.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

There's still a funding gap to be filled regarding the overall refurbishing costs - something like £30-40 mil. West Ham should be made to pay for it out of the funds they'll earn from selling Upton Park. Of course, you'll never see or hear a call for that from the gutless UK media. Their overall work in covering this stadium fiasco has been atrocious.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

JPG_357 said:
I don't think I'm getting ahead of myself at all.

You asked in another post why West ham want this stadium, the answer's quite simple, they're being given free money.

They're getting something like £500m worth of stadium and infrastructure for £100m or thereabouts, unless the authorities toughen up their stance.

I repeat it will probably transform their fortunes given the type of deal being talked about, and I can easily see them overtaking us just as Chelsea have done on the back of their particular lottery win.
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You don't Spurs will become an attractive proposition for sugar daddies once we eventually move stadium? Simply no way of knowing what the football landscape will look like in 5-10 years.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

Hahahaha. Some amusing posts in here

I bet Roman is really bricking his pants
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

JPG_357 said:
I don't think I'm getting ahead of myself at all.

You asked in another post why West ham want this stadium, the answer's quite simple, they're being given free money.

They're getting something like £500m worth of stadium and infrastructure for £100m or thereabouts, unless the authorities toughen up their stance.

I repeat it will probably transform their fortunes given the type of deal being talked about, and I can easily see them overtaking us just as Chelsea have done on the back of their particular lottery win.
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They're not though. The deal on offer this time is different to first time around. They will be leasing the stadium, can't benefit from naming rights or non-footballing revenue from the stadium and it is unclear whether they will have to pay to convert the stadium. What is on the table this time is worth a lot less than last.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

milo said:
They're not though. The deal on offer this time is different to first time around. They will be leasing the stadium, can't benefit from naming rights or non-footballing revenue from the stadium and it is unclear whether they will have to pay to convert the stadium. What is on the table this time is worth a lot less than last.
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I presume the money earned from selling Upton park will go straight into the porn barons pockets, right?
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

Rorschach said:
I presume the money earned from selling Upton park will go straight into the porn barons pockets, right?
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The money would go to the limited company which owns the club.
 
Re: O/T West Ham Named Olympic Stadium Preferred Bidders

Massive gamble for them to move to a stadium with a running track and quite likely a very poor atmosphere in my opinion. They aren't always selling out their current ground and some seasons in mid table (or Championship) at the new place and the charm of a new shiny stadium will have gone along with quite a few of their fans I would guess.

Juve just moved this summer, away from the big stadium with a running track into a smaller stadium, closer to the city, with real atmosphere and no running track. The reasons why are obvious. I think more clubs in Europe are seeing the same thing, running tracks aren't for football clubs and they not only hurt the atmosphere of the games and the "feel of the club", but also finances.

A lot of people think Levy was being a cynical business man when he wanted to move us to Stratford, and I pretty much agree. But as the cynical business man that he is he could see that the running track was just a game stopper. Even with the original plans for funding and the amounts of "free money" that would mean for the club it just wasn't worth it if we didn't end up with an actual football ground.

They would have to get results on the pitch pretty much straight away and push towards the Champions League in the first couple of seasons to keep the buzz going, if they can then maybe this could be a stepping stone for West Ham as a club, that's a big if and a big maybe though.
 
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