Just 40 minutes ago (writing at 8.40 ish), I heard the news that West Ham United's Olympic Stadium bid had fallen through, you may think that being a West Ham fan, I am unhappy about this (moving on and all) but no, I was joyous.
If any of you have been to a match at Upton Park, you will know why, the atmosphere can be fantastic at times - even at the last game of the club's Premier League season, when you know that your next game will be in the division below.
From what I have been told, not many other stadium's atmosphere's compare to Upton Park's, according to my Dad, Anfield is the only other English football stadium that beats it.
To tell you truth, I laughed to myself when I heard the news. The "Sleaze Brothers" and their sidekick were so desperate to get West Ham into the Olympic Stadium and seemed to have left their rose-tinted glasses on throughout the whole process. Didn't they realise that someone was going to mount a legal challenge strong enough for the OPLC to back down and end the deal? In the end, it was our good friends Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient that spoilt the party for Gold and Sullivan.
However, there is a sting in the tail...
The Olympic Stadium will now be in public ownership and anyone can bid to lease it - for an annual fee of £2m. It is most likely that, you guessed it, West Ham will lease it, but will the OPLC really want to leave more egg on it's face by allowing West Ham to lease it?
Leasing it to West Ham may throw up some problems for the club.
Firstly, because it won't be West Ham United's stadium and in public ownership I am assuming that no personalisation of the stadium will take place e.g. seats. This will look rather odd at games because all the seats will be white - not claret and blue and therefore, it will just be a public stadium that no one will be able to call home.
Secondly, the running track will have to stay, West Ham's plan (if they got the stadium outright) was to keep the running track but use temporary seating to cover it so that fans weren't a million miles away from the action. But will the OPLC allow this to happen? Who knows.
Thirdly, what happens if the OPLC decide at the end of a season that West Ham won't be able to be tenants in the next season? Upton Park will have been demolished by then and we'll have no stadium!
Finally, if the venue will be 'multi - purpose' does that mean that it will hold concerts, athletics events etc? Surely, these will get in the way of the football and also ruin the pitch.
However, moving to the Olympic Stadium will help West Ham's financial situation, but I'm not convinced about moving there.
That's why it will be much better if Gold and Sullivan keep the club at Upton Park, they will keep the fans happy and the OPLC happy. They can expand the stadium by demolishing the block of flats in the way and extend it out into Priory Road. This will then improve the capacity to just under 40,000.
But who cares what one person thinks? West Ham will apply to be tenants, they will win and Upton Park will be gone in the next 5 years.
Goodbye Upton Park...
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