Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

[AlfieG]

Old Mile End

Post of the year. Nailed it.

Hammers Utd should have that up on their website.

Ditto...... Superb posts.

Im sure many of us feel your sentiments exactly....

[BOSUN]

old mile end

Couldn't have put it better myself, great post, feel your pain, sums up how a lot of us are feeling

[GaryP]

Old Mile End

Post of the year. Nailed it.

Hammers Utd should have that up on their website.

It is now. An excellent, poignant post

[irongav]

Mile end and e17. Great posts. I feel very much like this.
9 of us moved together..... Currently 4 of us attend. All were standing singing fans of several years.
Games at the soulless bowl are nothing but a chore. I dont feel at home at all. Each time i attend i just realise i hate west ham london.
Every game there are loads of empty seats around me. Im guessing a lot of these season ticket holders are feeling the same.
The away days are when i feel west ham united again, without those, well who knows.

All this just so some already rich people can make a fair few more pound notes.
We used to be feared and loved in equal amounts, now were just a laughing stock.
" Your not west ham any more"

[Beavis Danzig]

G needs to promote mile end's post pronto so i can link it to friends/family.

[GaryP]

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/new ... 60.article

Its 4 years old but could be yesterday.

[e17]

It’s got much much worse since then

[delbert]

Old Mile End & E17. Poignant and depressing posts.

Saying that I've seen the exact opposite from people who have recently taken their kids to their first game...........

[richneal]

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/new ... 60.article

Its 4 years old but could be yesterday.

Excellent point Gary - have reposted your link to a couple of sites - thanks for the heads-up mate

[Pop Robson]

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/new ... 60.article

Its 4 years old but could be yesterday.

West Ham did enquire about it, could have done it like Manchester, from the times can't get the full link as not subscribed

West Ham consider Olympic Stadium move
by times online and agencies
October 20 2006, 1:00am,
The Times
West Ham are in advanced negotiations to take over the 2012 Olympic Stadium once the Games have finished.

The possible move was revealed today by Richard Caborn, the Sports Minister, and is dependent on the success of one of two potential buyout bids for the London club.

Terry Brown, the West Ham chairman, has held talks with senior Olympic figures this week to discuss the deal, but it it is understood that the club could afford the move only if they find new owners.

Caborn supports the move, though he has furiously rejected a report that he favours one of the two bids.

[sicknote]

Old Mile End and E17

Very poignant posts and sadly excellent to read

In 2011 I was asked by this forum and a Sunday paper to write 200 words about the move to the OS, I wrote a lot more and it was edited and used

Some of it refers to plans and financial stuff in place and changed since 2011 , especially the giving Newham the ground, as there was a vote later at newham council regarding the funding of the changes to the IS and newham voted to put 40 million in , after then the deal of the Boleyn ground going to newham for free was changed and other aspects arose


However my article before editing in 2011 read like this





i'm totally opposed to moving to Stratford, on every level, first and foremost is the damage i feel moving will do for the club financially, currently the clubs reducing the debt, on lower gates and less revenue than previous years which is commendable, as they are having to offer incentives to fill the seats, even the semi final home leg wasn't a sell out, yet the club are selling the move on cheaper tickets for all, to do this the gates would need to be higher, just to match current income,  no guarantee as a lot of regulars just won't go to a running track surrounded pitch, then theres a rent to be paid, a debt to newham council and rebuild costs, as all except the lower tier solid structure would have to be redeveloped, the ground has no corporate facilities, which to construct to a high level to entice the top clients will cost huge sums, these costs are added to a debt, the boleyn ground will be given to newham council , the maths just don't add up, people go on about naming rights, fine for champions league clubs, but who's going to pay top dollar for bumping around the basement of the premier league or championship exposure

the boleyn grounds our home, its unique and has an aura about it, thats steeped in history, the ground may have changed with the newer stands, but it still is a special place and leaving there for me will be the end of west ham united football club, any soul left in the club, any link with the fans and the heritage the ground has. will dissapear , you cannot reproduce that, our support and atmosphere was hugely affected by the redevelopment of the west side, but the fact it was our home helped keep it a cauldron when needed, upping sticks to a soulless bowl will be very difficult to create any kind of atmosphere, the players will not feel the crowd around them, our clubs always had the intimate feel to it, and the players have always reacted positively to it, as the visiting players have found it constricting, you lose that, and the visiting fans will be the ones making the atmosphere, as happens at most new style grounds anyway

unfortunately, the debate amongst west ham fans, has been scuppered by the inclusion of spurs into the mix, and instead of debating the merits of the poor facilities and surroundings, the running track, low rake of lower tier seats, huge cost of corporate areas and any upper tier and roof that doesn't cover the lower tier seats the only ones left after the games,instead, there is a groundswell of opinion saying , we can't let spurs get it move into our manor and take our future players and supporters, rather than the detrimental affect the move will have on us, i'd be happiest to see the legacy committee say none of the above, revert to the original plan of spending the 35 million quid set aside for making the ground a 25000 seater bowl for athletics and letting newham and other london boroughs use the facilities for the youth of london to benefit from

the motives for the move however at boardroom level, at the boleyn ground are questionable for me, not being a fan of these people is probably an understatement on my behalf, and theres been numerous notions put out there, on a purely football based matter for the future benefit of the football team and the supporters, moving to the OS is all wrong, maybe for the money men and woman its more important, if you play that game and don't get it right you'll lose both the money and the team and then we are a club with no money and no home, very worrying days ahead



cheers

Sicknote

[S-H]

Old Mile End..

One of the best posts I've ever read on here.

[Believer]

we can't let spurs get it move into our manor and take our future players

Great insight sicknote. I did have a chuckle at the above part though. There’s no chance that would ever happen as our one scout covers every single match played in London... :lol:

[Longaz]

Old Mile End... Brilliant, even if equally heart-breaking.

Credit where it's due Sicknote, incredible insight. Probably never felt worse to be proven right

[Pob!]

Old Mile End, never a truer word spoken.

:cry:

[ornchurch ammer]

You know we didn’t win much. But that didn’t stop you going. You knew it was something deeper – much, much deeper. You knew in your heart it wasn’t about winning. At the end of the day, it was you, your family, your mates, your life, your story, the feeling of belonging -the simply being there.

This is the point that I identify with and that should be highlighted to those who continue to insist that all would be fine if our results were better.

I have had a ST for 5 of our relegations and renewed each time without a second thought.

The prospect of traipsing through the wastelands to watch championship football in the pit of despair is beyond thought.

[DaveWHU1964]

OME and E17 - every word chaps, every word.

[Samba]

The 'gamble' that Gold & Sullivan took, has failed. Well, for the fans it has.
The trouble was, it wasn't a gamble for them because it didn't have to work, in any way, for them to 'win'.
Those two are the only people who will not lose, when they eventually leave.
They kidded themselves that magically, success would happen on the pitch, blinding us all to the travesty, of the move.
Unfortunately, magic doesn't exist. It takes hard work, people knowing what the f*ck they are doing & these days, big money being pumped in & not being taken out.

[Georgee Paris]

The Old Mile End.
That was a wonderful post.


Feels like we’ve been fighting and losing battles for quite a while now and many, myself included, hadn’t even realised we were in a war. I suppose selling off and destroying the Boleyn was like nuking our homeland and support dividing, scattering our following and displacing our people to the Olympic stadium but now pockets of resistance are forming. Old soldiers are writing poems from the trenches. The fight back is gathering momentum daily. The voices are getting louder and getting heard. They didn’t totally kill West Ham United. There’s Irons in the fire.

[Samba]

You know we didn’t win much. But that didn’t stop you going. You knew it was something deeper – much, much deeper. You knew in your heart it wasn’t about winning. At the end of the day, it was you, your family, your mates, your life, your story, the feeling of belonging -the simply being there.

And that's what Gold & Sullivan pissed & sh*t on & callously threw away, without even a second thought.
It meant NOTHING to them but the whole world to us.

Superb piece, TOME