Just as everyone involved with West Ham United thought the Olympic stadium saga was over, a fresh report from the House of Commons has suggested that a ground share with Leyton Orient would be a better option.
The report, which is entitled “Keeping the flame alive: the Olympic and Paralympic legacy” has given fresh hope for Orient chairmen Barry Hearn, who has been desperate to be involved with the stadium after a six-year battle. The committee decided that West Ham should be forced into a ground share with the O’s, if a fee can be agreed.
This battle for the Olympic Stadium has been a messy affair, and it looks set to rumble on even further. Court proceeding after court proceeding, even apparent Tottenham Hotspur spies have tainted and tarnished the whole bidding process for one of the country’s prized assets.
When West Ham were awarded sole tenancy earlier in the year, Hearn accused the LLDC of trying to ‘kill’ the club by deciding against the proposed ground share.
Hearn will not let this go and will fight to the bitter end for a cut of the 400 million pound facility. Orient have offered to pay 500,000 a year in rent to play their home games in Stratford.
However, promotion to the Championship would add another twist with Hearn offering to double the rent to a million a year. Which the O’s chairmen claims would be a better deal for the taxpayer and the legacy of the games.
The League One club average attendance this season is just over 5,000, the Olympic Stadium can hold 60,000. Orient would only use the front tier of the stadium on match days. This would be a sorry sight in my opinion.
I believe that West Ham would struggle to fill the stadium playing in the Premier League, and a club in League One would look out of place. I am not sure what the general consensus is among Orient fans, but West Ham want their own home and identity, so a ground share for the Upton Park side would be out of the question!
When will this finally come to an end? What do Leyton Orient fans think of the possibility of playing in a 60,000-seated stadium in league one? Would any West Ham fans be open to the idea of a ground share?
Tweet me @jmrmarsden1
Surely the fact that LO didnt put a bid in for the tenancy of the OS at the last attempt and with the sole tenancy being awarded to WHU why are all these suggestions now coming up. There is no way that I would wish to share with LO or anyone else for that matter. We won the tenancy fair and square for a 2nd time and yet these things keep coming up. The LLDC should put out a statement that WHU will not be sharing with any other football club despite what Hearn wants. If they cant guarantee it then WHU should pull out (dread to put an amount on the money the two bids have cost us so far).
Not a chance. How could it be called our home/stadium? If this went ahead, I would be fully against it.
I am an Orient Supporter have been for 37 Years now
I think this whole OS thing is turning into one big embarrassment for all concerned
My own opinion is this I have watched the O’S at Brisbane Road all my life and long may it continue I have been to grounds like MK Dons 6’000 in a 30’000 Stadium there is no atmosphere so 5000 in a 60’000 Stadium it just wont work
Leyton is in Waltham Forest Stratford is in Newham
Do I think that a move to the OS would effect future O’s Supporters in a nutshell no I don’t West Ham have always had a bigger Fan base than the O’s
I just wish a line could be drawn under the whole debacle and both Clubs can move on
look west ham have to take all the shit that goes with the bid and think is it all worth it I have been pro move for a long time and any one who can see the pros but its getting to the point where I think f**k it we cant share with another team we cant play on the same day we cant call it our home and we cant play there we might as well play in the same ground as the spuds .
It will never be our home when we leave Upton Park, We will not have a home, it is only rented. And also we will be sharing it with many other sports and events, It is not ours and never will be, so i do not see the problem, Just my opinion though
I believe that the whole thing is going on to long.Niether West Ham fans or Orient fans want a ground share and if this continues to rumble on the legacy will be an empty stadium.Whilst I can’t wait to move to the new stadium as a Hammers fan a little part of me wants the two David’s to tell them enough is enough and to do one!
why would we want a shared stadium owned by someone else,
when we have our own ground. please please two davids, give it the elbow, its now become very embarrassing…
I am wondering if the leaked document from one of the OS meetings in 2011 has actually panicked a few in the House of Lords
This document only came to light on Friday November 15
http://www.insideworldfootball.com/premier-league/13626-exclusive-six-years-on-london-s-olympic-stadium-shambles-over-premiership-football-bites-deep-into-taxpayers?
Hearn say´s he will pay 1 mil. per annum if they get promoted , If Hearn get the green light for olympic stadium, he´ll sell Brisbane road in a flash and get out.
No orient fans wants to move. Hope the hammers get the stadium and make a real go of it.
An interesting alternative would be for us to merge with Leyton Orient. It would create one team in East London and help to fill the Olympic Stadium more easily. The merged club could sell off Brisbane Road and Upton Park to pay down the debt. We have always got on well with the Os fans – in days gone by west ham fans would often go to Orient.
You’re taking this piss yes? Or you don’t support either team?
Some interesting views on this subject! Good for orient fans to get involved also! Keep them coming…
Save Our Sacred Boleyn Ground!
Look, to all people who care about a football club, which for some people is all they have, being situated in a vicinity whose residents for centuries have lived in one of the most impoverished areas of Europe, then take a listen. If you all want to save the Boleyn ground & our club, then you’d better act fast as the owners want to sell it now & for West Ham football club to move out of the Boleyn ground so that the site can be developed? As you now all know, the condition for being mere tenants (not owners) of the Olympic Stadium, is for West Ham FC to pay off 70 million pounds worth of debt before they move in, leaving West Ham FC with no property. Save West Ham FC and organize a mass demonstration outside of the Boleyn ground’s front entrance gates & stay there until you save the Boleyn ground. This site was bought by West Ham FC from the Catholic Church back in 1912 & is West Ham’s spiritual birth place. It is quite obvious that it appears West Ham FC’s owners have not made funds available to buy new players because of obligations they currently have in place in paying off this debt before a move to the Olympic Stadium is approved, so the effects of the move are already having a detrimental effect on the club with its team being kept below strength because debt repayments appear to be far more important than the team’s squad strength. This below strength team could get relegated, if not this season, then the next due to this disastrous move to a site situated next to a radioactive waste dump while not being able to afford to pay off its debts and the rent. Then West Ham FC could be wound up, as in liquidated. It doesn’t matter whether they are West Ham FC or whoever, but I hate to see anybody get done.
As a lot of you probably already know, it’s also called the Boleyn Ground because Anne Boleyn lived in a house on this original site. This was the same Anne Boleyn who had her head cut off by her rotten husband King Henry Vlll, when he disobeyed the Catholic Church to legalize divorce, became a Protestant & cut Anne’s head off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boleyn_Ground . This site should be retained by West Ham FC and heritage listed. Not sold and developed, resulting in a historical site being lost forever.
West Ham FC supporters, you are being done. It appears that this club may have only been bought so as it could be broken up & sold, i.e. sell the Boleyn ground, get income from gate receipts at the Olympic stadium & then liquidate the club when it can’t pay its debts, its rent & folds. Hey folks, it is time to stage a picket at the Boleyn ground’s entrance gates and stay there 24/7. The fans do not want the Boleyn ground sold, because a move to the Olympic Stadium means West Ham FC own nothing and could be become nothing but a failed business investment, like an old ship being scrapped and broken up. If West Ham FC’s owners can’t afford to retain the Boleyn ground, then they should sell this club to wealthier new owners who can retain and develop the Boleyn ground into a 40,000+ seated stadium.
Even QPR, Fulham & Millwall own their own stadiums. Owning a 35,000 seated stadium at Upton Park is a damned sight better than owning NOTHING!!!
There are many things that make West Ham FC’s current & potential position even more precarious. Not just the fact that they’ll own nothing and have to pay 2 million a year in rent. No, it’s all of the other debt they are paying off like the Sheff Utd debacle & others, like Dean Ashton’s contract was only 16 million. Andy Carroll has been given a 6 year contract at 100,000 pounds per week that is double Ashton’s, so the pressure to perform is really on to maintain an asset base to pay all these debts. The Boleyn Ground is an asset that West Ham FC are being forced to sell, so as to move into the Olympic Stadium. There’s a heck of a lot of pressure here for West Ham FC to perform & pay debt while they own nothing. To the owners of WHUFC, for heaven’s sake develop the asset you already own at Upton park, or sell this club to new owners who can, but whoever the owners are, scrap the move if owning what you are moving into is not on the table!!!
Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boleyn_Ground In 2009 club CEO Scott Duxbury revealed, in an interview with a West Ham fan website, that there was planning permission to expand the East Stand to take capacity to over 40,000, but the club is sold In 2010 to new club owners David Gold and David Sullivan, who have made it public that they intended West Ham United FC to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics, so West Ham Utd FC have permission to improve & increase the Boleyn Ground. In an asset they own. West Ham cannot own the Olympic Stadium! It makes far better sense to scrap the move. Who’s for scrapping the move? Besides, who wants to share a stadium with Leyton Orient? How humiliating. Their fans couldn’t even fill the car park, let alone the Olympic Stadium!
Save West Ham Fc & Our Sacred Boleyn Ground!
Look, to all people who care about a football club, which for some people is all they have, being situated in a vicinity whose residents for centuries have lived in one of the most impoverished areas of Europe, then take a listen. If you all want to save the Boleyn ground & our club, then you’d better act fast as the owners want to sell it now & for West Ham football club to move out of the Boleyn ground so that the site can be developed? As you now all know, the condition for being mere tenants (not owners) of the Olympic Stadium, is for West Ham FC to pay off 70 million pounds worth of debt before they move in, leaving West Ham FC with no property. Save West Ham FC and organize a mass demonstration outside of the Boleyn ground’s front entrance gates & stay there until you save the Boleyn ground. This site was bought by West Ham FC from the Catholic Church back in 1912 & is West Ham’s spiritual birth place. It is quite obvious that it appears West Ham FC’s owners have not made funds available to buy new players because of obligations they currently have in place in paying off this debt before a move to the Olympic Stadium is approved, so the effects of the move are already having a detrimental effect on the club with its team being kept below strength because debt repayments appear to be far more important than the team’s squad strength. This below strength team could get relegated, if not this season, then the next due to this disastrous move to a site situated next to a radioactive waste dump while not being able to afford to pay off its debts and the rent. Then West Ham FC could be wound up, as in liquidated. It doesn’t matter whether they are West Ham FC or whoever, but I hate to see anybody get done.
As a lot of you probably already know, it’s also called the Boleyn Ground because Anne Boleyn lived in a house on this original site. This was the same Anne Boleyn who had her head cut off by her rotten husband King Henry Vlll, when he disobeyed the Catholic Church to legalize divorce, became a Protestant & cut Anne’s head off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boleyn_Ground . This site should be retained by West Ham FC and heritage listed. Not sold and developed, resulting in a historical site being lost forever.
West Ham FC supporters, you are being done. It appears that this club may have only been bought so as it could be broken up & sold, i.e. sell the Boleyn ground, get income from gate receipts at the Olympic stadium & then liquidate the club when it can’t pay its debts, its rent & folds. Hey folks, it is time to stage a picket at the Boleyn ground’s entrance gates and stay there 24/7. The fans do not want the Boleyn ground sold, because a move to the Olympic Stadium means West Ham FC own nothing and could be become nothing but a failed business investment, like an old ship being scrapped and broken up. If West Ham FC’s owners can’t afford to retain the Boleyn ground, then they should sell this club to wealthier new owners who can retain and develop the Boleyn ground into a 40,000+ seated stadium.
Even QPR, Fulham & Millwall own their own stadiums. Owning a 35,000 seated stadium at Upton Park is a damned sight better than owning NOTHING!!!
There are many things that make West Ham FC’s current & potential position even more precarious. Not just the fact that they’ll own nothing and have to pay 2 million a year in rent. No, it’s all of the other debt they are paying off like the Sheff Utd debacle & others, like Dean Ashton’s contract was only 16 million. Andy Carroll has been given a 6 year contract at 100,000 pounds per week that is double Ashton’s, so the pressure to perform is really on to maintain an asset base to pay all these debts. The Boleyn Ground is an asset that West Ham FC are being forced to sell, so as to move into the Olympic Stadium. There’s a heck of a lot of pressure here for West Ham FC to perform & pay debt while they own nothing. To the owners of WHUFC, for heaven’s sake develop the asset you already own at Upton park, or sell this club to new owners who can, but whoever the owners are, scrap the move if owning what you are moving into is not on the table!!!
Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boleyn_Ground In 2009 club CEO Scott Duxbury revealed, in an interview with a West Ham fan website, that there was planning permission to expand the East Stand to take capacity to over 40,000, but the club is sold In 2010 to new club owners David Gold and David Sullivan, who have made it public that they intended West Ham United FC to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics, so West Ham Utd FC have permission to improve & increase the Boleyn Ground. In an asset they own. West Ham cannot own the Olympic Stadium! It makes far better sense to scrap the move. Who’s for scrapping the move? Besides, who wants to share a stadium with Leyton Orient? How humiliating. Their fans couldn’t even fill the car park, let alone the Olympic Stadium!
Save West Ham Fc & Our Sacred Boleyn Ground!
Look, to all people who care about a football club, which for some people is all they have, being situated in a vicinity whose residents for centuries have lived in one of the most impoverished areas of Europe, then take a listen. If you all want to save the Boleyn ground & our club, then you’d better act fast as the owners want to sell it now & for West Ham football club to move out of the Boleyn ground so that the site can be developed? As you now all know, the condition for being mere tenants (not owners) of the Olympic Stadium, is for West Ham FC to pay off 70 million pounds worth of debt before they move in, leaving West Ham FC with no property. Save West Ham FC and organize a mass demonstration outside of the Boleyn ground’s front entrance gates & stay there until you save the Boleyn ground. This site was bought by West Ham FC from the Catholic Church back in 1912 & is West Ham’s spiritual birth place. It is quite obvious that it appears West Ham FC’s owners have not made funds available to buy new players because of obligations they currently have in place in paying off this debt before a move to the Olympic Stadium is approved, so the effects of the move are already having a detrimental effect on the club with its team being kept below strength because debt repayments appear to be far more important than the team’s squad strength. This below strength team could get relegated, if not this season, then the next due to this disastrous move to a site situated next to a radioactive waste dump while not being able to afford to pay off its debts and the rent. Then West Ham FC could be wound up, as in liquidated. It doesn’t matter whether they are West Ham FC or whoever, but I hate to see anybody get done.
As a lot of you probably already know, it’s also called the Boleyn Ground because Anne Boleyn lived in a house on this original site. This was the same Anne Boleyn who had her head cut off by her rotten husband King Henry Vlll, when he disobeyed the Catholic Church to legalize divorce, became a Protestant & cut Anne’s head off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boleyn_Ground . This site should be retained by West Ham FC and heritage listed. Not sold and developed, resulting in a historical site being lost forever.
West Ham FC supporters, you are being done. It appears that this club may have only been bought so as it could be broken up & sold, i.e. sell the Boleyn ground, get income from gate receipts at the Olympic stadium & then liquidate the club when it can’t pay its debts, its rent & folds. Hey folks, it is time to stage a picket at the Boleyn ground’s entrance gates and stay there 24/7. The fans do not want the Boleyn ground sold, because a move to the Olympic Stadium means West Ham FC own nothing and could be become nothing but a failed business investment, like an old ship being scrapped and broken up. If West Ham FC’s owners can’t afford to retain the Boleyn ground, then they should sell this club to wealthier new owners who can retain and develop the Boleyn ground into a 40,000+ seated stadium.
Even QPR, Fulham & Millwall own their own stadiums. Owning a 35,000 seated stadium at Upton Park is a damned sight better than owning NOTHING!!!
There are many things that make West Ham FC’s current & potential position even more precarious. Not just the fact that they’ll own nothing and have to pay 2 million a year in rent. No, it’s all of the other debt they are paying off like the Sheff Utd debacle & others, like Dean Ashton’s contract was only 16 million. Andy Carroll has been given a 6 year contract at 100,000 pounds per week that is double Ashton’s, so the pressure to perform is really on to maintain an asset base to pay all these debts. The Boleyn Ground is an asset that West Ham FC are being forced to sell, so as to move into the Olympic Stadium. There’s a heck of a lot of pressure here for West Ham FC to perform & pay debt while they own nothing. To the owners of WHUFC, for heaven’s sake develop the asset you already own at Upton park, or sell this club to new owners who can, but whoever the owners are, scrap the move if owning what you are moving into is not on the table!!!
Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boleyn_Ground In 2009 club CEO Scott Duxbury revealed, in an interview with a West Ham fan website, that there was planning permission to expand the East Stand to take capacity to over 40,000, but the club is sold In 2010 to new club owners David Gold and David Sullivan, who have made it public that they intended West Ham United FC to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics, so West Ham Utd FC have permission to improve & increase the Boleyn Ground. In an asset they own. West Ham cannot own the Olympic Stadium! It makes far better sense to scrap the move. Who’s for scrapping the move? Besides, who wants to share a stadium with Leyton Orient? How humiliating. Their fans couldn’t even fill the car park, let alone the Olympic Stadium!