miles wrote:Not quite sure what strings were attached with the original bid, if that's what you're talking about.
It was a very good opportunity for West Ham, for sure. Gone now.
Er, yes, thanks to the vigorous efforts of Levy and Hearn. Like I said, mission accomplished for them two.
The £180m conversion budget had been halved before Spurs went anywhere near the OS .It was always pie in the sky .Nothing but a great shining lie designed to assuage the fans before any objections could surface and kill our bid stone dead .
As you well know, our owners then used the Spurs interest - which had been actively solicited by the OPLC- to galvanise support for the move on a tribal basis - but now it's all Spurs fault it's gone wrong is it ?
And the strings
were there for the original bid : there has
always been a requirement for the stadium to house athletics - Brady has reinforced that message in virtually every public statement .It's why the OPLC voted 14-0 for us not Spurs .
Our bid was weak for one crucial reason , right from the outset : The fans were not consulted - the apathy when the bid fell apart told it's own story .Where was the public outcry , the outrage, the thronged masses descending on city hall ?Where was the queue down Green St, fans demanding to see the Vice Chair wanting to know where our dream move had gone wrong ?
Had they consulted the fans, and made an honest bid, pointing out football and athletics do not mix, we may have seen off the whole legacy argument , instead having endorsed a mixed use facillity we have now boxed ourselves into a corner .Our owners have sold us down the river to save themselves a few quid, possibly in the belief they could do some sort of renegotiation once the keys were in their mitts , but with each public statement, each desperate announcement , our committment to retaining a track grew and grew .
FWIW, I hope we do pull out altogether .I'd gladly see an athletics stadium in Stratford - I'm happy for the taxpayer to fund it to the tune of £30m just to keep it servicable for the years 2012-2017 .
Only when it is screamingly obvious it is not possible for British Athletics to pay for it's upkeep, and they themseves abandon it in a decade or so's time should our club go anywhere near it : buy the site, knock down half the stadium and make it suitable for football .
I reckon £180m would be enough - and we know our owners can afford that , it was, afterall, the original budget .