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Post by rawli on Aug 5, 2016 8:02:12 GMT
I think the major problem is that in a decent society 'playing a blinder' should not involve unfair practices - which is as politely as I can put it. They deserve nothing but misfortune in the future. What's unfair practices then ? Like any tenant they get the best deal they can for themselves . It's got nothing to do with fairness Do you truly believe a deal of that magnitude was all done above board? Look at the people involved - hardly paragons of virtue. Also, do you like having your taxes go towards funding a competitor's move to a super club? Good luck to them.
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Post by gonk on Aug 5, 2016 8:06:10 GMT
Been there tonight - much better than any camera makes it look but it is a big stadium. Distances to pitch in reality similar to other big stadia with the atmosphere surprisingly loud on occasions. Re the gaps - if you look closer at the image above you'll see seats (not in place tonight) waiting to be lifted to fill the void. And there's still plenty of snagging all over. Friendly with Juventus on Sunday is the official opening of The London Stadium as it now called. They'll be plenty of knockers and they'd be right about some of the compromises for football but first impressions superb. Thanks for keeping me informed how my money has been spent.😁🛠
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Post by wuzza on Aug 5, 2016 8:13:16 GMT
Spot on. The biggest question for me is how did they get to the ridiculously low figures. Didn't look like a lot of negotiating went on. It looks like G and S made the very low offer and the OS committee accepted it. Then paid for all the improvents at the cost to the taxpayer. It will never sit well and I'm sure at some point something will come out. However the deal came about you can't blame West Ham for screwing the best deal out of it they possibly could. Be that by connections or a really poor public negotiating team. I'd expect nothing different from Stoke City given the same opportunities, all this carping is simply jealousy. Anyone with the intelligence to realise this is probably some form of back scratching exercise ought to have the intelligence to realise that if and when something does come out it will be some nobody who cops the blame for it whilst the people with any real power are shielded. Its done live with it. To accept these things(even worse admire them) is to condone them.
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Post by lordb on Aug 5, 2016 8:27:48 GMT
West Ham fans are a conservative bunch,if they are taking to their new stadium then it must be pretty decent
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 9:12:03 GMT
Not as bad as Liverpool !
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 9:16:56 GMT
Definitely rather be in the Brit Bet365.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 9:18:32 GMT
That's an odd outlook. I don't disagree that they should be happy, as would any club in that situation. Definitely doesn't make it right. Sent from my SM-G928F using proboards It's a shocking use of taxpayers money , as was the millennium dome / 02 arena . However the West Ham board have played a blinder . It will take West Ham from being club such as Stoke , to be able to compete with the London big boys . Why do people need to pour scorn on them ? One word.... Jealousy.
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Post by Gods on Aug 5, 2016 9:24:03 GMT
Upton Park was my favourite ground. This can go fuck itself into AIDS, as well as the rest of WHU with it. It was definitely in a shoot out with White Hart Lane for my favourite ground.
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Post by rawli on Aug 5, 2016 9:25:33 GMT
It's a shocking use of taxpayers money , as was the millennium dome / 02 arena . However the West Ham board have played a blinder . It will take West Ham from being club such as Stoke , to be able to compete with the London big boys . Why do people need to pour scorn on them ? One word.... Jealousy. Or just indignation that more taxes have been used to benefit private companies
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Post by KevinWhimper on Aug 5, 2016 9:32:25 GMT
Nice ground but the view of the pitch looks wank. It's simply too far away from the pitch.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 9:32:38 GMT
Or just indignation that more taxes have been used to benefit private companies We wouldn't be so concerned if it was us that was benefitting though would we.
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on Aug 5, 2016 9:36:34 GMT
They have some very strong connections with political concerns which may have 'helped' in negotiations. Spot on. The biggest question for me is how did they get to the ridiculously low figures. Didn't look like a lot of negotiating went on. It looks like G and S made the very low offer and the OS committee accepted it. Then paid for all the improvents at the cost to the taxpayer. It will never sit well and I'm sure at some point something will come out. I think the answer to that is that it was a buyers market, in which situation you don't have to do a huge amount of negotiating. Politically they couldn't afford to have the place unoccupied and fail to deliver on the legacy promise, so WHU had all the cards and played them to good effect. The fault lies with those who didn't have a clear and viable plan for the use of the stadium after the games which didn't involve publicly subsidising a rich, privately-owned football club. I don't see any reason to suspect corruption. Incompetence is a different matter entirely. As for the stadium itself, I'll reserve judgement until I've been there.
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Post by harryburrows on Aug 5, 2016 9:50:51 GMT
What's unfair practices then ? Like any tenant they get the best deal they can for themselves . It's got nothing to do with fairness Do you truly believe a deal of that magnitude was all done above board? Look at the people involved - hardly paragons of virtue. Also, do you like having your taxes go towards funding a competitor's move to a super club? Good luck to them. As I said earlier an appalling use of taxpayers money , but all your other points are guesswork .
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Post by harryburrows on Aug 5, 2016 9:52:18 GMT
Upton Park was my favourite ground. This can go fuck itself into AIDS, as well as the rest of WHU with it. It was definitely in a shoot out with White Hart Lane for my favourite ground. My favourite ground as well , night games in particular were great . Pie and mash as well
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Post by harryburrows on Aug 5, 2016 9:55:45 GMT
Or just indignation that more taxes have been used to benefit private companies We wouldn't be so concerned if it was us that was benefitting though would we. Nobody seems to worry to much about Rupert Murdoch bankrolling our club . There's lots of unscrupulous owners and dirty money in our game
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Post by Lakeland Potter on Aug 5, 2016 9:56:54 GMT
The original villains of the piece here are Lord Coe and those reponsible for the original design of the Olympic Stadium - and the politicians who were in power at the time that original stadium was given the go ahead. Lord Coe and others seemed determined NOT to construct a stadium designed from the outset to have a football team as the main occupier AFTER the games were over. Had they accepted from the start that only a football club would be able to generate the crowds needed then the stadium could have been designed (like the Etihad was for the Commonwealth games) to accomodate athletics for the games with a straightforward conversion to football after the games were over. Or, they could have gone down the Stade de France route with the design and sight lines worked out from the outset to allow for quick and simple retractable seating over the track to allow for football fans to be relatively close to the pitch when the stadium was not being used for athletics. Sadly, they pretended that football would not be part of the eventual use and that the stadium could simply become a reduced capacity athletics stadium after the games. Once it was clear that this was a nonsense they should probably have gone with the Spurs proposal to demolish and build a football stadium. Instead they were determined to try to prove that a multi use stadium for football and athletics was feasible and ended up having to offer West Ham a ridiculously good deal because the conversion costs (and the costs of reconverting the stadium to athletics each summer) were so high that no football club would get involved with those costs. The only thing left to the authorities was to bribe West Ham with a rental deal which was and is ridiculously cheap. The only consolation that I as a taxpayer can take from it is that London does now have a decent athletics stadium each summer and that for the rest of the year some of the fans will be so far away from the pitch that I am not in the least jealous of West Ham's stadium even though they get a ridiculously good financial deal out of it. For those who think that the spectators are not too far away from the pitch. The dugouts are 30 yards from the pitch so the spectators on the half way line at that side of the pitch vary between 30 yards and (probably) 80 yards from the pitch. Imagine being at the back on the half way line and being 80 yards from the near touchline - no wonder the seats will be cheap! Not for me I'm afraid.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Aug 5, 2016 10:05:32 GMT
Been there tonight - much better than any camera makes it look but it is a big stadium. Distances to pitch in reality similar to other big stadia with the atmosphere surprisingly loud on occasions. Re the gaps - if you look closer at the image above you'll see seats (not in place tonight) waiting to be lifted to fill the void. And there's still plenty of snagging all over. Friendly with Juventus on Sunday is the official opening of The London Stadium as it now called. They'll be plenty of knockers and they'd be right about some of the compromises for football but first impressions superb. Are they taking all the West Ham stuff down every week considering you're only paying for weekend use.
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Post by walrus on Aug 5, 2016 10:23:26 GMT
I for one can't wait until a few months have passed and they're settled into the stadium and no-one gives a shit any more.
I thought the fireworks display and Sky coverage when they left Upton Park was nauseating overkill, and I'm sick to death of the same old debates about the finances behind the new stadium.
Stoke and West Ham are for me two of the Premier League clubs with the most passionate support, and we should have a healthy rivalry with them based on football, not the building where the football's played.
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Post by ohbottom on Aug 5, 2016 10:43:29 GMT
Can't blame that Philip Green for getting the best deal for himself and his family out of BHS. Anyone carping about it is just jealous.
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Post by rawli on Aug 5, 2016 10:46:54 GMT
We wouldn't be so concerned if it was us that was benefitting though would we. Nobody seems to worry to much about Rupert Murdoch bankrolling our club . There's lots of unscrupulous owners and dirty money in our game OK. In future if another club cheats or gets an unfair advantage I'll just think 'if it was us I would be happy' and think no more about it. You've convinced me. You must love benefits cheats
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Post by stokiejohnss on Aug 5, 2016 11:04:53 GMT
West Ham was always one of my favourite grounds to visit. I for one will not be going to their new converted Athletics ground as binoculars would not be allowed through security ! From the great atmosphere of Upton Park to a soulless place not intended for football. On my many visits to West Ham i have had the pleasure to meet and discuss our teams fortunes with many a Hammer in the pubs around the ground. They still talk of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and of course Sir. Geoff Hurst who also played in the Red and White stripes for a few years. A club whose fans i like to think are similar to our own. I suspect many will not be too happy with the move.
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Post by harryburrows on Aug 5, 2016 11:20:11 GMT
Nobody seems to worry to much about Rupert Murdoch bankrolling our club . There's lots of unscrupulous owners and dirty money in our game OK. In future if another club cheats or gets an unfair advantage I'll just think 'if it was us I would be happy' and think no more about it. You've convinced me. You must love benefits cheats Are you' deliberately missing the point?
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Post by rawli on Aug 5, 2016 11:20:14 GMT
West Ham was always one of my favourite grounds to visit. I for one will not be going to their new converted Athletics ground as binoculars would not be allowed through security ! From the great atmosphere of Upton Park to a soulless place not intended for football. On my many visits to West Ham i have had the pleasure to meet and discuss our teams fortunes with many a Hammer in the pubs around the ground. They still talk of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and of course Sir. Geoff Hurst who also played in the Red and White stripes for a few years. A club whose fans i like to think are similar to our own. I suspect many will not be too happy with the move. You're almost describing our ground
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Post by stokiejohnss on Aug 5, 2016 12:04:24 GMT
Id say the Bet 365 has a decent atmosphere on the occasion we turn it on ! Never the Victoria Ground , though if we can bring back standing it would be a lot better. It'll be interesting to see if the bubbles song just fades and dies ! Can you imagine what Vale fans would be saying if we got a deal like that !!
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Post by mrred on Aug 5, 2016 12:13:16 GMT
They've been on about it having a great atmosphere on Talksport. Of course there's going to be a decent fucking atmosphere, they've just moved to a new ground! Give it a few months when they realise it's just another souless stadium and they're playing Burlney at 4 o clock on a Sunday.
It's a fucking mile from the pitch 'n all!
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Post by hammered on Aug 5, 2016 12:23:10 GMT
Malcolm and Lakeland have depicted why WHU have the stadium and on good terms. It's not WHU's fault Gov't tax built the thing on their doorstep with a shelf life of a month!! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Stadium_(London)For all of those thinking the distance from the pitch is an issue - wait till you've been. It's a different experience rather than better or worse and from where I used to sit in the West stand at the Boleyn - better. Being oval is a strange feel initially without the four distinct sides and character of the old stands but the East side (home) is closer to the pitch and holds 30,000 apparently. It is a big stadium and needs filling to justify and maximise which WHU hopefully can do. Yr 1/2 season tickets sold out so Bilic's now got to keep us in the mix on the pitch and we'll see where it takes us. Last night was the realisation of 10 years work to get there and hats off to our owners for delivering. Also the transition IMO has been managed brilliantly by WHU. Boskamps - a team of decorators moves in every other Sunday morning to de-WHU the place and returns on the Friday before the next home game!! Walrus - Completely agree - eventually everyone will get over it - like they did with Man City!!
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Post by bubbleblower on Aug 5, 2016 12:39:48 GMT
I was there watching ACDC I thought it was an amazing venue, didn't look or feel like a football ground though
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Post by cousindupree on Aug 5, 2016 12:57:25 GMT
Its virtually impossible to get anywhere near the ground unless you use public transport and then its a 20 minute walk from stratford station. Its busy at any time of day and on matchday its likely to be chaotic. Westfield shopping centre will also be lively at 5pm on a Saturday matchday. Having said all that I have hammers friends in Chigwell so I will be going when the Potters are in town
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Post by drjeffsdiscobarge on Aug 5, 2016 13:02:28 GMT
It looks shit. Can I have my money back? Yeah i could do with a few quid refund as well.
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Post by foster on Aug 5, 2016 13:16:45 GMT
How much more fucking luck do they need? They've been given a stadium for less than a players wages. Good for them isn't it? I would be very chuffed if it was my club West Ham: Increasing to 54k, modern stadium, nice facilities, good public transport infrastructure, etc Stoke: We show a video of some grass growing and decide to increase capacity by 3k, 3 years too late. At which time we'll likely need to plan for another increase. Obviously a new stadiums not a consideration for us and WHU struck a fantastic deal, but still, the lack of development at the Brit/bet365 or surrounding site is irritating. As another poster once said,...We're a Premier League club with a Championship stadium.
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