With the May 21st deadline rapidly approaching for the announcement of the successful bidder for tenancy of the Olympic Stadium there is one very important question to which all Hammers fans need to know the answer so WE can decide what’s right for the future of OUR CLUB.
On the one hand we have the club hierarchy telling us they cannot reveal their plans for the stadium until the end of the bid process due to “confidentiality agreements”.
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On the other hand we have various “unofficial” polls on the matter being conducted thanks to the hard work of fan groups and websites but the results of these will not be accurate due to the information blackout.
As we all know, the club promised the fans would be consulted and our opinions would be reflected in the ultimate decision of the club regarding the move but this simply will not happen on the scale that it should do for this massive crossroads in our great club’s history.
Now, here’s the question;
When we get to May 21st and, as we all suspect, we get announced again as the successful bidder, are West Ham United legally bound to go through with the move?
If the the answer is “Yes, it’s too late to back out,” you can call me sceptical, but I think most of you will agree with me when I ask if the Brady Bunch are railroading the move through under our very noses without us realising.
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If so, it will be too late for us fans to have any say on the matter if we disapprove of the bid details when we finally see them.
Personally, when we were competing with Spurs for the stadium I really wanted the move but I later realised that whilst I liked the stadium from the outside and the prestige it would bring to the club, the thought of watching my football there was abhorrent and that I’d only wanted to win it to stop the East London wannabes from N17 having it.
The majority of you reading this will remember the drastic reduction in atmosphere at the Boleyn Ground that came with the building of each new stand over the last 20 years. A massive part of my enjoyment of watching my team has been lost since the stadium became all-seater and to me football has not been the same since.
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Now, since the atmosphere at the Boleyn is still right up there with any other club ground in England, just think how we all might feel when the stark realisation dawns on us next month and we realise that there is no going-back, EVER!
Worryingly, www.londonlegacy.co.uk states “OPLC intends to appoint the successful bidder in May 2012
West Ham, we need clarification, and we need it NOW!!
Written by Jeff Cairns
‘since the atmosphere at the Boleyn is still right up there with any other club ground in England’
It doesn’t matter how often people want to claim this, it’s not going to make it true. The atmosphere at West Ham isn’t very good anymore. I’ve been a season ticket holder for 10 years now and I can count on one hand the occasions I’ve truly been impressed and enjoyed an atmosphere at the Bolyen.
Unfortunatley this is symptomatic of modern day football, you just can’t generate the same atmosphere as you did in years gone by, at least not at home, it’s easier at away games as the support is far more concentrated.
People need to stop citing a potential lose of atmosphere as an excuse not to move to the OS, because in truth the atmosphere was lost a long time ago.
…’WE can decide what’s right for the future of OUR CLUB.’
Sorry but that is absolute rubbish. take a look around the various forums and listen to fans in and around the ground. Half of them are morons who haven’t got a clue what day it is. I don’t want these fans deciding if we should move. It should be the owners choice as THEY OWN West Ham so stop kidding yourself that its OUR club. That is pure emotional tripe.
The fans always hold West ham back – go for it West Ham.
It’s a fallacy that the atmosphere is not as good at the Boleyn since it become an all seater stadium. The first play off semi final v Ipswich was the best atmosphere I’d experienced at Upton Park since the first game I went to in the early 80’s.
Also I remember the atmosphere being dead flat when we were relegated in the late 80’s/early 90’s compared to this season.
So it’s a complete myth the atmosphere isn’t as good as it used to be, if anything it’s better and with much bigger crowds as well.
Anyone who says different either wasn’t there or needs to take off their rose tinted spectacles.
As for the olympic stadium, the OPLC will announce the preferred bidder on May 21st. WHU will not be legally bound until final contracts are signed which may be a number of weeks after May 21st therefore allowing enough time for consultation with fans.
How can you claim that the atmosphere is better now? For the past 3 seasons our fans have spent most of the time booing the team. How does that equal a good atmosphere?
I don’t know how old you are i i don’t want to be condecending, but I went to my first game in 1968 and continued along with all male members of my family as season ticket holders travelling to most away matches as well up until the late 90s. and if you genuinly think the atmosphere in upton park or for that matter any stadium is better now, then to coin a phrase you are deluded. All seater stadiums killed the game atmosphere wise in this country plain and simple
Yes, you must be older than me. Doesn’t make you right though. It’s absolute rubbish that all seater stadiums killed the atmosphere in this country. Like I said, the Ipswich play off semi final in 2005 was the best atmosphere I have experienced at UP and I’ve been going for 30 years. The stadium was all seater then.
are you having a laugh,the atmosphere is better now you say,you obviously never went to watch us in eighties,nothing can beat the atmosphere in 85,espeacially newcastle game i can remember
If you read my earlier posts then you’d know that yes I obviously did go in the 80’s. Did you? Because the Newcastle game was actually in 1986. I know because I was at that game. It was towards the end of the season. I didn’t miss a home game that season and most of the away games too. And the only games I would say that came close to the 2005 Ipswich semi final in terms of atmosphere were Man Utd in the cup and the final home game against Ipswich.
If you’re going to be pedantic about dates then it’s worth pointing out that the Ipswich game you refer to was in 2004 not 2005. We did play them in the semi final in 05 as well but the home leg was played first and drawn 2-2, with an atmosphere not worth shouting about.
I would agree though that the ’04 Ipswich match was a fantastic atmosphere and easily the best I have witnessed in my time attending the Bolyen, but, that was 1 match, 1 good atmosphere, it wasnt the norm to have atmospheres like that at that time. Plus that was 8 years ago now, so not really current, we have not had an atmosphere come close to it since….hence my original comment that good atmospheres are a long time gone at West Ham.
That’s my point though Simon.
No one can claim that all seater stadiums have killed the atmosphere when you witness a game with atmosphere like that Ipswich semi. It’s probably more to do with a change in supporter democratics.
However, I maintain that the atmosphere these days is not as bad as people make out. We are in the second tier remember and like I said in the late 80’s early 90’s the atmosphere was dead in most second division games I attended. The Cambridge United game where we won promotion being an exception.
*demographics
booing the team is nothing new. At least individual players don’t get loudly booed anymore when the teams are read out over the tannoy before the match starts and booed when they touch the ball. Because that used to happen a lot. Even during the most successful ever league season.
Individual players don’t get booed?? Boa Morte? Faubert? Piquionne? Even Cole in his first few seasons. The reaction to those players at times by our own fans was disgraceful.
They don’t get booed as loudly as they used to when the teams were announced. Steve Walford used to get it really bad & that was when we came 3rd in the league!
Like I said, booing is nothing new.
Why do we need an answer and why do we need it ‘NOW!!!’ The Gollivans have lived up to their promise of consulting a cross-section of fans – the fact that didn’t include you or me isn’t an issue. Dave (16 April at 1000) is right on every point and having debates on social media/fan sites is fine but it doesn’t equate to needing an answer. For better or worse, the Gollivans are the owners and will have the final say presuming out bid wins. Wanting it to stop Spurs having it but not wanting it now – what’s all that about?!
I totally agree that it’s the owners who should decide. They put their own money up to buy a club that was on the verge of bankruptcy – thay have every right to take it forward as they see fit. There is NO WAY the atmosphere at U P is anything like as good as it used to be – and booing the team is NOT support !!
The Olympic stadium is absolutely fantastic, with hydraulic seating to cover the track, it will be great. I am sick of so-called West ham ‘fans’ continually moaning about everything to do with the club – take off those 1960’s rose-coloured glasses – we haven’t been a great club for decades – and I have been going since 1968. We can’t rebuild the old North Bank or the West Side, so bloody move on…..