• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

The London Taxpayers' Stadium Shambles

Different deals at different times.

Emirates Marketing Project probably got a better deal because they were the only dog at the bone, Man United would never have moved so City was their only potential outcome. The City of Manchester couldn't afford to be left with an empty athletics stadium.

With London their are numerous suitors in many sports so rightly so the owners have more to bargain with and rightly so want to recoup some of their investment in the park...
 
From the article above ^

“We’re quite pleased with the events this summer because they really demonstrate it’s not just West Ham’s stadium. We will want to do events not just during the summer but during the season as well,” says Coleman. “We know when the international breaks are, we know when we can do things. West Ham will want a good pitch and professional management. We want that too, we want them to be very successful. But we also want to sweat it as much as possible.”
 
os_prd.jpg
 
Last edited:
Most of the conversion work has been done now. You can see the stadium in 'athletics mode' on BBC3 now in use for the London Anniversary Games.
 
I would expect the company doing the work to pick up the bill
I'd like to hope so, but the huge cost overruns being paid for by taxpayers suggests that there is plenty of scope for contractors to claim that many of the problems aren't their responsibility.
 
From the article above ^

“We’re quite pleased with the events this summer because they really demonstrate it’s not just West Ham’s stadium. We will want to do events not just during the summer but during the season as well,” says Coleman. “We know when the international breaks are, we know when we can do things. West Ham will want a good pitch and professional management. We want that too, we want them to be very successful. But we also want to sweat it as much as possible.”

That'll be a novelty for them.
 
wow it looks so ramshackle and temporary, just as it was intended when it was first built! so happy. West Ham fans must be livid.
 
Having spent the weekend at the Anniversary games with the family I have a couple of observations...
The vast majority of the crowd (if they ever get close to filling it) will be miles from the pitch. I sat in the second tier in block H, which is adjacent to the corner of the grass, and was a good 25 metres from the corner flag, and I was on the front row. There were a good 20 rows behind where I was sitting.

The pitch of the temporary stands when slotted forward will be very shallow, so anyone standing up will seriously impede the view of those behind.

The noise generated in the stands was quite loud (and that was an athletics crowd) buoyed by loud pop music)... I think the acoustics may actually be quite good under the new roof... certainly sounded louder than a full Emirates! At night the lighting and atmosphere was good with 25K inside.. in the day with 50K it didn't seem as good.

Lots of toilets... a plus according to the missus.. but the concessions for food were a shambles... fire alarms going off which automatically dropped the shutters on the booths which caused chaos. Can't see this going down well with football fans at all.

And the biggest issue I think they will have is crowd control at the end of games. There are two routes back to Stratford tube station... and they both go through/next to Westfield Shopping Centre. I think there will be chaos on a Saturday afternoon if Spam have had a bad result, and fans look for short cuts through John Lewis/the malls. It was a bit chaotic with athletics fans, I fear the worst with football fans!
 
Back