I think each of your points is fairly made, but still note that:Yea Why Not wrote:PM
The transport links into Stratford are miles better than Upton Park
My point on the pubs/ bars was there are a lot more of them. The Duke in my opinion is the only respectable pub in the Upton Park area. On match days you can barely move in there
I take your point on fans. But then that would be the same regardless of the stadium we were moving in to. There will however undoubtably be more West Ham fans attend our games over the course of a season
The area surrounding the OS is much nicer than Upton Park. Let's face it, Upton Park is a complete dive that seems to get worse and worse as the seasons pass
I am not pro move and have never said I was. Someone just asked me to name the things that in my opinion would improve. So I did
1. The transport links have been, imo, turned into more of an issue than perhaps it was, say a decade ago, before the chance of having the OS was ever even on the agenda. Indeed, even when it has been, the club have been proud to post 'sold out' notices for most home games. So, objectively speaking, its easier to get to Stratford, especially if you're starting off from further afield. For me, not living in Newham (and never personally having done so), I just accept the journey....
2. ...to Upton Park, the home of the club. Yes, again, no disrespect to the people who do live there, but I wouldn't choose to live on Green Street, Priory Road or perhaps in the streets running off from there. But that makes me feel a bit of a snob to even type that. My (late) father's a Forest Gate boy. I've lived in the shadow of Charlton's ground, when I was in training in my first years in London, and happily accept that, Highbury and certain west London clubs to one side, football grounds here or further afield are generally in less well off areas. I love to visit WHL, but wouldn't dream of looking to live in Tottenham!
3. As for pubs/bars, again, I am not so sure. There's that one at the very end of the shopping parade in Westfield that is ok-ish, hardly enormous and realistically not very well set up for the football trade. There are the pubs on the other side of the old Stratford shopping centre, which again, I don't rate enormously highly...certainly nothing like as nice as the Black Lion. I am not however experienced in terms of even a single visit to other pubs in, for instance Maryland, or the outer limits of the Stratford town centre. I would however note this...on certain occasions, I used to walk along Green Street to Forest Gate to catch a train back into town. Without fail, all the old and trusted boozers up that way are now closed. Large parts of the Newham borough are now 'dry' in terms of populace.
4. Fans why 'undoubtedly' more of us?
