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What does getting the OS mean?

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Last Wednesday the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) announced West Ham as the highest-ranked bidder for the Olympic Stadium. While the club works out the finer details of the deal that would see the Hammers to move to Stratford, we look at what the plans could mean for West Ham.

Not ours yet
First of all, it is worth highlighting that West Ham have not ‘got’ the Olympic Stadium … yet. The club’s own announcement of the LLDC’s decision made it plain that there is still a lot of work to be done, and even then it could turn out that leaving Upton Park is not a viable option for West Ham at this time.

In a statement released on West Ham’s official website after the announcement, Vice-Chairman, Karren Brady said: “It is important for all supporters to note that while today’s decision represents a huge step forward, as we have stated throughout, Highest-Ranked Bidder status does not mean that West Ham United have at this stage agreed to the move and it remains the case that we will only do so if the final proposal is right for the Club and our supporters.

“This includes the necessity of agreeing a Stadium design specification that is acceptable to us in terms of its ability to host world-class football matches.”

At the moment, then, getting the Olympic Stadium means that West Ham are in a state of limbo; with one foot in Upton Park and one foot out the door. This situation if of course worsened by the LLDC’s insistence that the non-disclosure agreement put in place during the bidding process is observed until a deal is confirmed, meaning the vast majority of Hammers fans are unable to learn the details of the club’s plans for the Olympic Stadium.

Letting the fans decide

In the modern age of the business that is football, it has become a well-worn cliche that the fans are the most important part of a club. Although Roman Abramovich’s dictatorship of Chelsea seems to have proven the purporting of that concept to be erroneous, fans do still have a part to play. West Ham appear to be keen on the latter idea. So, if Karen Brady’s press release following the OPLC’s announcement is to be believed, the club plans to make sure its fans are instrumental in how the development of the Olympic Stadium would take shape should the Hammers move in.

West Ham arranged an emergency meeting with the Supporter Advisory Board on Tuesday to begin what they call an “intensive consultation process”.

During this process, fans will be given the opportunity to express their views on moving into the Olympic Stadium. And, when taking the supporters’ opinions into account, getting the move means different things to the Hammers fans, who have been divided by the club’s decision to relocate.

Those against

The fans opposed to moving do put forward some reasonable arguments to support their stance. They include the poor view of the game that fans could be afforded when watching football in West Ham’s new home. This is due to the LLDC are upholding the Olympic Park Legacy Committee’s insistence that the running track remain in the stadium to ensure it remains a home for athletics as well as becoming one for the anchor tenants, which West Ham could be.

For those people, though, there appears to be a fairly sound counter-argument against their opposition of the move. For example, the club has vowed that – according to their plans – fans will experience “sightlines better than Wembley”. So those who fear gaining the Olympic Stadium will only mean losing the intimacy of Upton Park have been promised a future that is better than that of the national team.

Those for

There are also separate arguments put forward by those in favour of West Ham moving, which make perfect sense to every fan with a slight interest in the forever hiding fortunes of West Ham United.

 

Chief among the pros for the move is that thing many believe makes the world go around: money. The Olympic Stadium currently has a capacity of 80,000 seats, which West Ham plan to reduce to 60,000. Even with the reduction, that planned capacity is almost double the 35,000 of Upton Park. David Sullivan has gone on record in the past saying that moving to a stadium with such a huge capacity would mean West Ham would be in a position whereby the club could afford to reduce the cost of the tickets sold to Hammers fans.

With the current state of the economy and the likelihood it will not improve for the foreseeable future, any supporter who is against cheaper tickets for home games is surely no ‘supporter’ at all? Even at the best of times football fans would like it to be cheaper to follow their favourite teams, but that desire has only been intensified by this age of austerity affecting everyone somehow.

With such strong arguments for the move to the Olympic Stadium, the Hammers faithful who remain against the move to the Olympic Stadium appear only to be reactionaries; intent on maintaining the status quo that West Ham will remain in should the club stay at Upton Park.

After all, what getting the Olympic Stadium would really mean to West Ham is a future of incredible possibilities.

Being given the chance to move into a world class stadium is not only a rare opportunity in modern sports that should be seized upon, when it ensures the future of a building as iconic as the Olympic Stadium is in safe hands, it is also a privilege. As such, the Hammers should grab this opportunity that will enable the club to take one huge stride forward, or risk being left behind by the opposition. West Ham must, however, tread with caution.

Let’s not get carried away

While there is plenty of reason to be excited about the possible move, those in charge of West Ham, and fans alike, must temper that delight with enough sense to guarantee that relocating to Stratford is definitely the best thing to do.

The situation with the Olympic Stadium is tricky because it was of course built for the Olympics using taxpayers’ money – £429m of the taxpayers’ money, in fact. Therefore, the LLDC are responsible for safeguarding the significant investment made by the good people of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Add to that the fact that the converting the Olympic Stadium to suit West Ham’s needs by adding in retractable seating and a fully-extended roof could cost an additional £150m, and you will see immediately why the LLDC have taken, and may continue to take, a considerable amount of time to guarantee West Ham do not become wealthier at the cost of the taxpayer.

All reasonable West Ham fans can understand that. What should worry them though, is that the LLDC are going to great lengths to tie West Ham into the Olympic Stadium with a deal that would see the club return a large sum of the money generated by their tenancy back into the public purse. This could cap West Ham’s earnings and see to it that the club is bonded to a deal that restricts its potential to compete with the highest earning outfits in football.

To add to those worries, West Ham would have to sell Upton Park to pay off the debt the club is still hindered by as a result of the poor business management of the previous regimes in charge. This would have to be done because West Ham would no longer have any assets to fix the debt to as a result of ‘renting’ their new home.

The future’s bright

On the plus side, though, the claret and blue army may be comforted by the stark realisation that West Ham will never compete with the biggest clubs in the game unless the move to the Olympic Stadium goes ahead.

West Ham fans should also be reminded of Birmingham City – the club that David Gold and David Sullivan lifted from the doldrums of English third division into the Premier League. Only since West Ham’s co-chairmen sold Birmingham have the West Midlands club slipped down to the bottom half of the Championship. The owners of West Ham know a hell of a lot about how to run a successful business, so the Hammers are in good hands.

West Ham have been a selling club for far too long; Gold and Sullivan want to put an abrupt end to that. They believe moving to the Olympic Stadium is the answer. It could be believed, then, that getting the Olympic Stadium will mean West Ham will finally be in an environment where the club can fulfil its huge potential, just as Hammers fans wished players like Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Glen Johnson would have stayed to fulfil their potential at West Ham.

Getting the Olympic Stadium means West Ham may finally have a sustainable future among England’s elite.

Find me on Twitter: @JoellBlogs

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9 comments

  • spyinthesky says:

    Just to say, fully retractable seating and a full roof will help make the stadium much more attractive and flexible for other uses too that will bring in profits that otherwise would not happen, so that £150 mil isn’t exclusively beneficial to WHU as Boris for one understands which is why he proposed it.

  • Arnold Hills says:

    What a poor piece. You try to summarize arguments for and against and don’t really deal with many of the anti arguments like selling freehold to rent, empty seats, the closed off areas at the back, the inevitable lack of atmosphere etc. In fact you dismiss those against as ‘reactionaries’ which shows where you’re coming from.

    Nice to know that fans ‘have some part to play’ – I thought we were the Club. When we next go down I guess they may need us again eh?

    I go with 3 other blokes. Between us we’ve been to a few thousand games. When this move happens we’ll just go away and you can join the daytrippers.

  • Carl Bateson says:

    Arnold u say it’s inevitable that it’s going to be a poor atmosphere how have u got to this?? If so u most be a poor fan because the atmosphere alone is surely down to the fans and it’s us that makes a great atmosphere? Maybe concentrate on making a good atmosphere instead of complaining about a bad one that we have no idea about because a football game has not been played there!!

    • Arnold Hills says:

      Poor fan? I’ve been to hundreds of away games making a racket for 40 years mate. You?

      It won’t be the same with thousands of daytrippers at the OS.

      You’re right of course nobody has got an idea because there’s never been a football game there. So what happens if we sell our home, rent it and it doesn’t work out? What happens when we next go down?

      • Carl Bateson says:

        Season ticket holder from 6 years old my friend so ave been to my share of games.. yeah right there is always a chance that it won’t work but why focus in that and focus and making it great?? I am for the move but I also understand why ppl don’t want to.. but the problem is the fans that don’t wanna move are trying to force the opinions down others throats!! If u wanna the team to carry on the way it is debt ridden no drawing power to bring players in and tho yo yo club we are known as great buy some of us west ham fans want more what’s wrong with that?? Everyone is entitled to there opinion just don’t force it on others

        • Arnold Hills says:

          It was the original piece that said people against the move were ‘reactionaries’ which is why I bothered posting. I then replied to you calling me a ‘poor fan’ so you’re horse ain’t so high fella.

          I find it funny when pro movers complain that the antis are forcing their opinion. The move to the OS was a fait accomplis as soon as this board arrived and there has been no room for dissent.

          Only one thing’s for sure, this move has split the fans like nothing else.

  • Rich says:

    I held a season ticket at U.P for a while and had to give it up due to cost. I would love to return and take my boys to games but cannot afford it. The move to the O.S offers an opportunity form me to start going again regularly. I fully understand the concerns of those against the move and the risks involved. However any change is not without risk. If we get this right it could give us the chance to get our club back in the black financially and hopefully challenge for trophies. More importantly it may bring younger fans to club who will be supporting the team long after I have gone.

  • Carl Bateson says:

    The fact ur saying it’s going to be a poor atmosphere tells me that u are going to be a fan to let the club Down my opinion pal not on my high horse either I have wrote both for bad against the move cos I can see both sides just find it hard to fool when so called west ham fans are slamming it all before it’s happened and a ball has been kicked there reserve urself judgement like many others

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