Tony Cottee claimed that being at the London Stadium at least gave West Ham a chance of breaking into the top-six before sharing that he’d love for the club to buy the ground.
The Hammers favourite revealed that he has always believed moving to the London Stadium was the right move for the Hammers and claimed the atmosphere was about the fans not the ground.
Cottee shared that he would like to think that ultimately the Hammers would buy their current home and being able to turn it from a athletic stadium more into a football stadium that suited them.
“I mean I’ve spoken to you before Jim, but I’ve always felt it was the right move for the club to try to it take to the next level and I know that’s not easy as we’ve got the big six, so any club trying to break into the top-six it’s not easy for them,” said Cottee on talkSPORT (Wednesday October 17, 12;07).
“But at least it gives you a chance, in terms of the stadium itself, atmosphere is about the fans not the stadium and West Ham have some of the most vocal fans around and they want to be entertained, want to see 100% effort, win a few games, played like they did against Manchester United a couple of weeks ago and everyone is happy.
“I wasn’t at the game but apparently the atmosphere was brilliant.”
“You’d like to think ultimately the club will take control of the stadium, I mean it doesn’t work for the government, there’s a loss being made on the stadium, I like to think one day West Ham will own the stadium so that one day we can turn it from athletic stadium into a football stadium.
“Just like Man City did, but there was always a plan in place for them, West Ham picked up the pieces and one day I’d love the club to own the stadium then you can put all your memorabilia into it and you hope you’d bring the seats nearer to the pitch, but you can’t do that if you don’t own the stadium.”
OPINION
Cottee clearly believes the London Stadium can provide the Hammers with a bright future but that work needs to be done. However he is right to point out that the changes that need to be made, such as the seat situation, cannot be done until the London club stop renting the ground and outright own it instead. While the debate about the stadium isn’t as distracting as it was last season, it’s still a hot-topic for discussion when analysing the Hammers, as there’s always seems to be something going on. Hopefully Cottee gets his wish and the Hammers one day in the somewhat near future own the London Stadium as that’s the only way it isn’t going to be described as an issue by anyone. It’s unclear whether this situation will develop anytime soon but who knows as no one could have predicted how the Hammers’ move to the London Stadium would have went, nor can anyone guarantee the future of the ground.
