Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

[NorthBankAlliance]

You are welcome to this West Ham and they are welcome to you.

[Dwight1970]

For me the major positive is 15,000 plus extra fans watching the team week in week out. Maybe a number are tourists or only go to a few games per year etc (equally I do not see being either as the crime some seem to) but the chance for people to get season tickets outweighs many of the negatives which for me personally are more about the move and it’s handling than the stadium itself.

Near me are three generations from one family who have got seasons and started going, yes the grandfather went to the occasional game at UP has fond memories of his time there, the young grandkids aged about 7/8 never did and these are the fans of the future whose memories are being made at the new place, loving beating Man Utd and Arsenal for example.

As others have noted there seems to be a majority of fans who are quite happy to follow the team at the new ground, I expect however the improvement on the pitch has influenced the reaction off it.

Increasing the capacity at Upton Park or building a new stadium could have achieved any of that but my point is really what is it that being at the London Stadium specifically provides that is better than elsewhere or could not have been achieved through other realistic options when the move was made.

[NorthBankAlliance]

Out of interest does anyone think any other club was still debating their own respective “migration” in as much depth as we do, 3 full seasons after moving?

[LOS]

I just can't buy into all this "the OS allows 20k extra fans to see West Ham play, so the move was justified".

The true demand is skewed by either ridiculously cheap pricing or fear of the waiting list (bucketloads of £289 Season Ticket for a Top Flight London based club is brilliant for those that would be otherwise prevented attending, but lets be real, this is not GSB willingly giving the football fan something; its priced that way cause thats what its worth.) The downside of cheap tickets of course is its no big financial loss if you don't attend - hence the 1000's who dress up as white seats each week.

Renewals - the huge waiting list for ST's they proudly boast about results in one arm twisted up the back for anyone wobbling about renewing. This impacts true demand.

The reality is you could buy a first time ST for every season at Upton Park, including the infamous last !!

Best wishes to those who continue to attend our home venue, I genuinely hope things improve. Sadly, saturday was my last game over there. I was feeling quite emotional about it in the week prior, but come the day itself, my self prescribed last day as a WHU ST holder............ it was nothing but a chore.

.......never ever thought I'd willingly walk away, yet thats just what I've done. Feel sad, yet liberated.

[Albie Beck]

Out of interest does anyone think any other club was still debating their own respective “migration” in as much depth as we do, 3 full seasons after moving?

A mate who lives in Derby tells me that it took the best part of 10 years for the dust to settle on their move, and that wasn't anywhere near as controversial. So yes.

[w4hammer]

Out of interest does anyone think any other club was still debating their own respective “migration” in as much depth as we do, 3 full seasons after moving?

head over to Arsenal Fan Tv.. Isnt an interview where someone doesnt lament leaving highbury, in pursuit of the "riches' of the Champions League and now moaning about the **** fans/ atmosphere and the fact the board rob them , every year, of the top players they were promised...

[aaronhammer]

People often say the cheap seats are the reason there are so many people who have not attended. Yet when I look round the stadium, the seats which are often empty are the ones on the side - which are the more expensive ones - rather than the upper tiers in the corners and behind the goal which are the cheaper ones.

It would be good to have the FOI for all the games to know the actual average attendance but it would also be good to have that for the Boleyn in the final 3 seasons as a comparison. Whilst the volume clearly is going to be higher I wonder as a % how much higher it would be? There were always empty seats in the STB upper, the east stand, and the west stand at the old place, unless it was a big game.

[Dwight1970]

Something is clearly wrong if the reason fans who have faced numerous reasons over the years to stop going are citing the move as the one that has made them do it, let see how many of the new 25,000 or whatever are sticking around when we face the likes of a Crewe in the Championship again.

It is maybe a positive that some fans are so easily pleased by what is been provided to them over last 3 years from what we had to what was sold beforehand as a world class football venue and with a team to match whereas I am sure others look at other clubs stadiums and teams many who have never made such outlandish claims or sold their clubs heritage in building theirs and are somewhat bewildered why some of ours fans cannot understand why others feel disappointed with what has happened to our club.

As I said I don't hate the place but it is undeniably a poor football stadium and I cannot understand how anyone can be happy with that unless it was compensated with success on the pitch which looks no more likely at the London Stadium than the Boleyn.

At the end if the day all we can do now is get on with it and make the most of it but all that seems a long way from the future the club sold us in order to get us to leave Upton Park.

[NorthBankAlliance]

head over to Arsenal Fan Tv.. Isnt an interview where someone doesnt lament leaving highbury, in pursuit of the "riches' of the Champions League and now moaning about the **** fans/ atmosphere and the fact the board rob them , every year, of the top players they were promised...

See from a neutral view you're left in doubt that The Emirates is Arsenal, such as The Arsenal Clock at The Clock End and the entire outside and concourses being covered in Arsenal history. I think they done that bit right at least...

It's also bang in the middle of their manor still, they can drink in the same boozers as they did at Highbury, use the same stations...

Finally the East & West Stands from Highbury are still standing, Arsenal is still the heart of that area compared to what they done with Upton Park...

[NorthBankAlliance]

A mate who lives in Derby tells me that it took the best part of 10 years for the dust to settle on their move, and that wasn't anywhere near as controversial. So yes.

Interesting, if not surprising.

A prime example of a dull as ditchwater 1990's stadium, stuck in the middle of industrial estates and retail parks...

[IronworksDave]

I just can't buy into all this "the OS allows 20k extra fans to see West Ham play, so the move was justified".

The true demand is skewed by either ridiculously cheap pricing or fear of the waiting list (bucketloads of £289 Season Ticket for a Top Flight London based club is brilliant for those that would be otherwise prevented attending, but lets be real, this is not GSB willingly giving the football fan something; its priced that way cause thats what its worth.) The downside of cheap tickets of course is its no big financial loss if you don't attend - hence the 1000's who dress up as white seats each week.

Renewals - the huge waiting list for ST's they proudly boast about results in one arm twisted up the back for anyone wobbling about renewing. This impacts true demand.

The reality is you could buy a first time ST for every season at Upton Park, including the infamous last !!

Best wishes to those who continue to attend our home venue, I genuinely hope things improve. Sadly, saturday was my last game over there. I was feeling quite emotional about it in the week prior, but come the day itself, my self prescribed last day as a WHU ST holder............ it was nothing but a chore.

.......never ever thought I'd willingly walk away, yet thats just what I've done. Feel sad, yet liberated.

Sad post ...

Just for information, it's not the 'cheap' seats that left empty. Those tickets tend to get handed around as they are easy to sell for a tenner a game .... it is in fact the more expensive seats that are far more often left empty, that's reflected in renewals, more churn on the top end than the bottom ... last year the number of twenty year plus season tickets holders declined for the first time in decades. That should scare the hell out of the club but they just don't seem to care.

[brooking10]

That’s interesting Ironworks Dave, considering the Club said they only had records on season ticket holders going back 8 years, and that was the reason they didn’t do the migration by the amount of time you had a season ticket. They did it by ‘band price’ instead.

I always thought that was a bit strange, and didn’t believe it. Coincidentally, do you have the numbers for 20 year plus season ticket holders and how it’s declined. I understand if you can’t give this though.

[Colours never run]

I just can't buy into all this "the OS allows 20k extra fans to see West Ham play, so the move was justified".

t:

Whoever said it was justified? Don't remember ever hearing a genuine West ham supporter say that. Could have missed it though.

[Estuary]

See from a neutral view you're left in doubt that The Emirates is Arsenal, such as The Arsenal Clock at The Clock End and the entire outside and concourses being covered in Arsenal history. I think they done that bit right at least...

Funny how people see different things, I thought Emirates was the worst ground I had ever visited, including the OS, it felt like watching a game from the edge of a convention centre.

[NorthBankAlliance]

Funny how people see different things, I thought Emirates was the worst ground I had ever visited, including the OS, it felt like watching a game from the edge of a convention centre.

Indeed, The Emirates is soulless don't get me wrong, but far superior IMO to The LS in every single regard...

[hammerman11]

AT LEAST THEY OWN IT AND THEIR SEATS ARE CLOSER TO THE PITCH THAN AT THE BOWL. NO BREEZE BLOCK OR SCAFFOLDING EITHER

[w4hammer]

Funny how people see different things, I thought Emirates was the worst ground I had ever visited, including the OS, it felt like watching a game from the edge of a convention centre.

Indeed, The Emirates is soulless don't get me wrong, but far superior IMO to The LS in every single regard...[/quote]

maybe as a piece of architecture however apart from the ongoing early one-in about the **ds new stadium, that doesnt mean a thing to the average fan, does it?

the fact is as soon as you move and allow 5-20,000 tourists in, regardless of the stadium, the atmosphere and charm will typically go..

[Coops]

It's also bang in the middle of their manor still, they can drink in the same boozers as they did at Highbury, use the same stations...

To be fair the OS is bang in the middle of our manor. We are called West Ham United not Upton Park Rovers.

[NorthBankAlliance]

To be fair the OS is bang in the middle of our manor. We are called West Ham United not Upton Park Rovers.

The Olympic Park and it's environs is about as far from being West Ham's manor as possible...

[Coops]

The Olympic Park and it's environs is about as far from being West Ham's manor as possible...

I was purely talking about geographically. But what is West Ham's manor these days? The area has changed so much, fried chicken is the local delicacy these days rather than pie mash and eels.