So last night on Twitter I had a rather heated debate with fellow fans on the that divisive subject that is the Olympic Stadium…I’ll lay my cards on the table; as much as I love Upton Park and I do have some truly wonderful memories of our famous old ground I want to move.
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Last night whilst in a debate with a fellow fan he said he didn’t want to move because and I quote ‘I know our level.’ I was disgusted and sickened by such an inherent lack of ambition. So our level should be to flounder in mid-table, have the odd decent cup run and occasionally go down? Can’t we dare to dream of bigger and better? Call me an idealist but I believe you should always strive for more and never settle.
Once upon a time Manchester City’s level was mid-table mediocrity with the odd win over Manchester United…they seized their opportunity when The City of Manchester Stadium came along; subsequently got a buyout (which NEVER would’ve occurred had they stayed at Maine Road) and now they are champions of England.
I’m not saying that by moving to the Olympic Stadium some wealthy Arabian oil merchants are going to rock up and transform us into title winners but…the added revenue from larger attendances would enable us to attract bigger and better players which would in turn help us to compete higher up the table and it’s in my humble opinion that this would attract more investment and maybe even a buyout.
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I’m not going to say that we’ll easily fill a 60k stadium every other week but what I will say is that the demand for our Play-Off final was off the scale; we could’ve filled Wembley on our own that day, I have no doubt about this, we have supporters groups all over the world, the pictures sent in to the Whufc.com of people from the four corners of the globe who watched the final on TV or travelled to Wembley helped me to realise the potential of this club.
You know what happens if we stay at Upton Park…nothing; we stay a club that finishes no higher than 9th, has the odd decent cup run and occasionally gets a win over Spurs or Chelsea. If we move to the Olympic Stadium then the sky really is the limit.
Call me idealistic upstart if you wish but if you’re content with the crumbs off the plate; you’ll never get your hands on the big prize.
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I’m backing your idea mate. what (almost) amuses me is that so many fans criticised Sam for being and old yet their sport is of the same attitude
we could fill it if we made it accessible and cheap enough for families, do not overcharge and we will fill. we should move to update the stadia and the fan base and the fruits will bear wait and see…
I could not agree with you more and I am convinced investment will follow, the only problem I can see is nameing rights.
I agree, love Upton Park, but times change & we must move with them
We would struggle to get a chance to have a stadium of this size for a rent payment and more investment will come into the club allowing us to improve the squad.
Its all well and good wanting to move, i am with you on that and your thoughts, however, if, and its a big if, only if the stadium it fit for purpose, I have met three colleagues who went to the athletics meeting there and they have all said it is not fit for football, you are miles from the pitch at the front and because of the camber in the stands, those at the back are miles away. Then go behind the goals and you can see why the board are on about giving tickets away.
For me we should just knock it down and build from new like the spuds were planning. The stadiums at the Euro’s cost no more than £180m, to redevelop the Olympic Stadum will cost £194m and still not be ours …
YOu hit the nail right on the head there mate, fans that say they know our level and we’ll never be top four ain’t real West Ham fans at all. I love our Stadium but 35,00 aint enough and Green Street is a sh*t hole and Stratford is an up and coming area
be realistic ,we have got huge support for a club our size etc etc but we cant fill out upton park week in and week out guaranteed can we? simple logic tells you that it dont make any sense to “upgrade” ,imagine how pony it will be when your a miliion miles from the pitch the ground is called “the macdonalds arena” or some crap the stadium is half empty and your surrounded by poles and luffies “locals”. all those two media junkies want is to sell upton park to get their money back or some of eff the rest of us.
Don’t know if you ver been to Upton Park but the only empty seats are usually the crap ones. Do you honestly think Gold and Sullivan who have made millions in business would rent a bigger stadium if they didn’t think they had any chance of filling it?
Here here (apart from your casual racism which I do not endorse)
Casual Racism? Really? If your referring to the fact that I said Green Street is a sh*t hole please enlighten me as to how that is racist
The play off final was a one off massive end of season game. I cannot see our average attendance being any higher than 40-45,000 when you take into account that the extra supporters will not be the passionate core who attend home and away regularly, hence they will not fill the stadium against the lower ranked prem teams and in games in the league cup and FA Cup. This will just be embarrassing when we have a half full stadium in some games. Then there is the atmosphere, with the massive distance from the pitch, lack of gradient to the stands, and fact that the extra fans will be unpassionatione happy clappers the likes of which are seen at the emirates. Also, West Ham are not in the same boat as teams like man city and arsenal in regards to our ground. Their grounds were old and too small for them. But Upton Park is different. 3 of the 4 stands have been rebuilt since the 1990’s, leaving only the East stand as an unmodernised and small part of the ground. It seems illogical to not complete the renovation of Upton park by rebuilding the East stand when money has already been spent rebuilding the other 3.
Sorry Zola mate but you are wrong, we have no future at UP . As much as it will always be where we came from we need to move on and aim for a future challenging for European football on a regular basis. From what I have heard of G&S’s plans the distance to the pitch will be vastly reduced by retractable seating. I would love to have the new stadium named The Bobby Moore Stadium but doubt if any major invested would be that that generous.
Danny Lawless is a shithole. I dare him to walk into the Zboleyn pub and say that!
as much as i want to see the club i have followed all my life have a little success, i would hate to see us turn into just another chelsea/man city, with prawn sandwich eating twats walking around wearing hammers shirts claiming they have supported them all their life, and i’m not sure how any so called west ham fan unless part of the prawn sandwich brigade would want to leave the atmosphere of UP for a soulless stadium where it is a short bus ride from the stands to the pitch, there is nowhere to go before the game for a drink and the buses and trains are bloody miles away
If seats are put on the running track and we start to play decent football West Ham can and will fill 60,000 seats every game. Lots of fans I know who had season tickets for years are currently staying away from Upton Park due to the football of Sam. They watched his teams come to Upton Park for years and basically kick us off the park playing sxxt football. Hopefully that will change. In relation to revenue we are just outside the top ten sides in Europe. The season we got to the FA Cup final we were in the top ten in Europe. I love Upton Park but we could be a real force with a bigger staduim. I have been to West Ham games where thousands and thousands have been locked out. The support is there. Get prices right and THEY WILL COME.
Not being funny mate but what kind of fan don’t go to a match because their team ain’t playing sexy football all I care about is are we playing winning football Our record under Sam in the championship was great. I could care less how we play as long as we get results
Oh Danny, music to my ears. I am sick of hearing about a West Ham way that I have never seen and I am 46. If they are talking about how Shankley used to love playing West Ham because “they play lovely football but have no steel about them” then not something I am going to miss. Sam plays practical football, setting up dependent on the opposition and I am tired of the rubbish that he only plays long ball football, our away record saw some of the best football I have seen us play in years. No one remembers how you play but they sure remember where you finish in the league and what you did in the cups. I want winning football, that is ALL that is important.
I think a lot of us hammers fans have a short memory… The last time we played the West ham way was not so long ago under Harry Redknapp… have you forgotten DiCanio, Berkovic, Sinclair, Lampard, Cole, Carrick, Ferdinand, Johnson, Defoe, Foe, Wanchope, Kanoute etc… I could go on but that should say enough… Don’t get me wrong as i like that we are winning under Big Sam but do not give me you haven’t seen the West ham way in your lifetime rubbish. Now let’s move to a bigger stadium, get bigger investment, get better players and win some stuff. COYI WHTID
I must disagree with you we played some good football under Harry with the players you mentioned however we also played some utter dross as him as well. There is no west ham way.
I must also say I hate the term ‘the west ham way’ – utterly moronic.
Big clubs play in big stadiums. It’s that simple. Why did Arsenal move out of Highbury afterall? The challenge is filling the stadium with a team that plays winning football in an attractive fashion and ticket prices that get the fan base excited. It is time West Ham steps up to the “big time” not only the Premiership.
I am all for the move to the OS, but it will need knocking down completely. I was there recently to watch athletics and even with retractable seating, the view will be awful. The seats aren’t steep enough (like Wembley / Cardiff) It really just can’t work as a football stadium the way it is now.
60% of West Ham fans are negative and I can’t stand reading there negative dumb comments! I read blogs every day and I am dumbfounded with what I read sometimes, when big Sam called West Ham fans deluded, he wasn’t talking about all West Ham fans just the ones that chat nonsense everyday about what they think they know, which I think could fit on the head of a pin. I love West Ham, I want the best for them. Ok they have infuriated me on a regular basis but as we’ve just seen they can make you happy too. Once we get it right where ever we are then let the good times be had. To all the 40% of fans that think like me COYI’s
I still await the publication of the big plans for the OS but at the moment it is totally wrong for footie and I struggle to see how it can be made fit-for-purpose without a complete re-working that would not make economic senses. That is the real issue. On filling the stadium, it won’t happen straight away but it can be done with the right results on the pitch and sensible ticket pricing. However, who will we attract and what will that do for the atmosphere?So the Golds may have to sell tickets for a tenner to fill it. Great? Well yes and no. Great for regulars but who will start coming along. Any tourist in town for the weekend wanting to see the ‘EPL’ can will go there. Neutrals will dilute the home support. Cr@p seating, cr@p acoustics, dreadful atmosphere. Still ticket prices will be cheap and it’s easy to get to. And we might start doing well. We might even become like Chelsea!!!
Who cares who comes to watch us Grayster?? We are an entertainment business as well as a football club, as long as the stadium is full of West Ham fans and tourist who want to part with their money WHO CARES!!
Agree 100%. West Ham ARE still a big club and deserve to be challenging along with all the other BIG clubs in the PL – not looking to struggle year in year out wrapped up in nostlagia along with smaller clubs who’s fan base is half ours! Lets show some ambition like the owners, well done to GS and KB for all their efforts so far !!!