France v Romania, Wednesday

An archive of news, events and discussion leading up to and post West Ham United's historic move from Upton Park to Stratford in 2016.

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Barking Boy
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by Barking Boy »

Went last night, so.......

Stadium is awesome and the noise that could be generated would be massive, could be in for some great atmospheres. View from upper tier, Block C was good. Not padded seats like the Emirates though! The 'Kop' looks impressive as there is a break in the stands on the West Side between the lower and upper tiers. Didn't have time to actually get to my ST seat for a proper view.

However, the walk from the Stratford Underground was a nightmare, going through the shopping centre, half hour before kick off and the walk back was just as bad. Do we get diverted on a Saturday afternoon or do we walk through the shoppers? Took for ever to get onto the platforms, 3/4 hour after final whistle.
Refreshments were on the tier below us and AT THE MOMENT, took ages to get served, this will need to be re-addressed
Toilets, insufficient and had to queue.

£15 for 2 330ml bottles of lager and a pie - Rugby prices I assume?

My opinion, unless the walk to the standard improves and the Refreshments and toilets are upgraded, bad move!
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War Pony
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by War Pony »

Bad move because you had to queue for a piss & a beer? I assume you don't frequent boozers very often!
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Barking Boy
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by Barking Boy »

Bad move as why should we be expected to do this in a state of the art new stadium where mistakes are learnt from previous builds and should be addressed as we should be encouraged to spend money qucikly? Hopefully these will get sorted by the time we move in?
Chris BMU
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by Chris BMU »

Barking Boy wrote:Went last night, so.......

Stadium is awesome and the noise that could be generated would be massive, could be in for some great atmospheres. View from upper tier, Block C was good. Not padded seats like the Emirates though! The 'Kop' looks impressive as there is a break in the stands on the West Side between the lower and upper tiers. Didn't have time to actually get to my ST seat for a proper view.

However, the walk from the Stratford Underground was a nightmare, going through the shopping centre, half hour before kick off and the walk back was just as bad. Do we get diverted on a Saturday afternoon or do we walk through the shoppers? Took for ever to get onto the platforms, 3/4 hour after final whistle.
Refreshments were on the tier below us and AT THE MOMENT, took ages to get served, this will need to be re-addressed
Toilets, insufficient and had to queue.

£15 for 2 330ml bottles of lager and a pie - Rugby prices I assume?

My opinion, unless the walk to the standard improves and the Refreshments and toilets are upgraded, bad move!
I agree that these are issues which need to be addressed, and you would think there is scope and time to do it so hopefully they will be.

But to call it a bad move for the reasons you give? Have you tried doing those things at the Boleyn?
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Re: France v Romania tonight @ OS

Post by Chris BMU »

In defence of "queue skippers". I am one of them and in my opinion it's only wrong if you think it is right and just that those who can afford to pay more (band 1 etc) get to choose first, which is how the club have chosen to do it. As opposed to, say, in order of those who have been going longest. I have been going for almost 50 years and my son and I have had our season tickets for almost 20. I feel no guilt.

Just to be clear, I am most definitely talking here about those who are upgrading early by grouping with others who are in a higher band. And most definitely not talking about the plus twos.
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wizzo_66
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Re: France v Romania tonight @ OS

Post by wizzo_66 »

Chris BMU wrote: Just to be clear, I am most definitely talking here about those who are upgrading early by grouping with others who are in a higher band. And most definitely not talking about the plus twos.
The plus twos are the issue really. I understand grouping, it's just been compounded by waves of people joining as plus twos.

Season ticket holders of 20+ years that haven't been able to group have been shafted in place of thousands of plus twos who may never have attended a game.

That's a cold hard fact unfortunately.
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taffhammer
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Re: France v Romania tonight @ OS

Post by taffhammer »

Chris BMU wrote: Just to be clear, I am most definitely talking here about those who are upgrading early by grouping with others who are in a higher band. And most definitely not talking about the plus twos.
The plus 2's are the issue not people like you upgrading, simple mathmatics means there should have been enough seats in your band and your row number to migrate with no problems.Then you could have bought a season ticket in your band and then upgraded when all season ticket holders were done.
It could have been done at home online to choose your seats with CGI all at the same time (like they do for a cup final) with a 2 month deadline. If you haven't got a computer you could call in.They came up with a plan ( No band borders and all newcomers invited ) as they were worried about selling enough season tickets, not a very good plan.
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Big George
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OS - arrive three hours before kick off please!

Post by Big George »

Now a few of you have experience the transport disaster at the OS. You are now advised to arrive three hours before kick off.

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This is getting better and better
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WestHamIFC
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by WestHamIFC »

Barking Boy wrote:the walk from the Stratford Underground was a nightmare, going through the shopping centre, half hour before kick off and the walk back was just as bad.

Did you really walk through Westfield?? :shock:

BIGGGGGG mistake. Would almost double the journey time based on how rammed that place is whenever I've been!

TIP: embrace the outdoor walking route!
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Re: OS - arrive three hours before kick off please!

Post by clawhammer »

Big George wrote:Now a few of you have experience the transport disaster at the OS. You are now advised to arrive three hours before kick off.

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This is getting better and better
Now I have seen it all!!! Having a pop at the OS because of the terrible transport links. You must be desperate!!!
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Re: OS - arrive three hours before kick off please!

Post by MD_HM »

Big George wrote:Now a few of you have experience the transport disaster at the OS. You are now advised to arrive three hours before kick off.

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This is getting better and better
And the next straw to clutch..... :o

Amazing how everyone else without an agenda found the views from the upper tier fine
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sicknote
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by sicknote »

Im getting pretty fed up with the posts on here towards others

Clawhammer and MDHM....that kind of stuff is for kindergarten playgrounds, give it a rest please, its akin to trying to bully or moderate this forum, and sadly im having to moderate rather than enjoy my night out
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MD_HM
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by MD_HM »

Fair enough I'll stop, only doing it out of frustration reading posts driven by an agenda which I find to be antagonising

I hope this rule applies to all on both sides of the arguement and no matter who you are.
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Big George
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Re: OS - arrive three hours before kick off please!

Post by Big George »

clawhammer wrote: Now I have seen it all!!! Having a pop at the OS because of the terrible transport links. You must be desperate!!!
Hang about Budge, one of the MAIN selling points was supposed to be the brilliant transport links. Sullivan couldn't stop going in about it on the podcast. Turns out it was bull****, like the comparable views, like the viewing distances, the jmproved facilities and everything else.
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by bubbles1966 »

The transport is better than UP though, isn't it?

And I've worked Stratford - plenty of boozers - some proper nice ones too - once you know you're way around. Far better than Green St and surrounding areas. Likewise, places to eat.
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Big George
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by Big George »

bubbles1966 wrote:The transport is better than UP though, isn't it?

And I've worked Stratford - plenty of boozers - some proper nice ones too - once you know you're way around. Far better than Green St and surrounding areas. Likewise, places to eat.
Of course it is. 15 minute walk to Plaistow or East Ham. The boozers in Stratford may be fine but you'll be on your toes at half one to make sure you can make it to kick off, especially if you're in the South or West stands.

Look, I am aware it's happening, I just think we all have a duty to make a noise about the problems so they are sorted by next August. All this closing our eyes and trusting the board is daft, but by the time we're drinking £6 bottles of warm lager and eating £10 burgers because there's no alternative, it will be too late.

Everything we know about this mob is that they will extract maximum dish and give the minimum back in return. Let's try and make it the best experience we can.
stevejos13
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by stevejos13 »

having been to france/romania last nite and reporting 10/10 i was the first person in stadium last night---meant to be gates open at 6pm but was 6.15pm.(as a regular at football world cups i said to daughter has match been cancelled as only about 50 outside-mainly fat french people looking very cross) at football world cups by then it is manic.the turntlies are all linked digitally so they are either all open or none -stewadrs on gates were clueless and kept asking us people to have bags open ready for inspection at 5.45 but then waking off
my whu seats are in east stand upper and are r brill-well happy with view. the only bad seats are row 31 es upper. i.e. front row of upper as the row in front are due to removable seating/recent concreting raised abit-enoogh to be annoying i.e. u can see the touchline of pitch but nothing closer. These are 1966 seats and people are going to complain as it is terrible view-relieved i did nt pay xtrea for front row
fantastic stadium -great trains -any idea of best value bar/restaurant for after matches
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by wizzo_66 »

MD_HM wrote:Fair enough I'll stop, only doing it out of frustration reading posts driven by an agenda which I find to be antagonising

I hope this rule applies to all on both sides of the arguement and no matter who you are.
To be fair mate, you've more of an agenda with your 'I'm all right, Jack' attitude towards fellow supporters that are pointing out valid flaws in the process.

I agree with you that transport links are excellent...but we can disagree with some clear evidence rather than all this agenda, desperation etc comments.

I'm yet to see anyone politely respond with any evidence to the issues around migration which show the whole process to be flawed for our most loyal of supporters.
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OllyWHU6
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by OllyWHU6 »

In response to the discussion over the food, transport and toilets from my perspective yesterday.

1) There were so many beer stall that a comparison against the BG isn't even remotely possible, plus people walking around selling 400ml Heinekens in the crowd so you didn't have to queue up. Aside from those bars, there were the even better Stout and Ale bars that sold 440ml Cans of Murphys (better than Guiness IMO) and John Smiths for either 4.49/4.99 i can't recall. Not amazing prices, but for a venue that size it's not surprising. I assume for football the pricing will change as you can't take it to the stand etc.

2) Getting to the stadium was ridiculously easy i thought. Get of at Stratford, walk down the high street area stop off in the football pub have a beer, carry on walking 5 mins to the pub, 5 mins onwards. It was crowded, and there was a slow pace as it was wembley way-esque walking down it, but i can only imagine that being a good laugh when it's 45'000 Hammers doing the walk. Once you get to the outside of the stadium it was very efficient.

2.5) A combination of the getting and food/beer, the location and the way the queues formed create a horrid bottleneck on entry that mean you have to force your way through the queues to get to the other side. I think they'll need to look at how to manage that a bit better for when we move in i imagine it's incredibly easy to fix with a few guidelines.

3). Number of toilets was great, but it will be odd when it's a football ground as it's a very even 50/50 split between men and women which obviously a football audience doesn't represent. Went for a p1ss at half time, got a beer, had some food and was back in time for the second half- that's all i really ask. Even after the game it wasn't an issue.

4). Getting out of the game, going from Stratford Int'l on the fast train to St Pancras, then victoria line down saved me a lot of time, and i think will be a better route around than relying on the central which will be abused i think.

Not digging out any views, just giving my perspectives on the complaints. Obviously very different experiences. I'm not looking forward to leaving the BG as the OS doesn't feel remotely like home but as a stadium on it's own its' far better than i expected.
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Re: France v Romania, Wednesday

Post by clawhammer »

We were told the views would be ****. No they aren't.
Transport links are ****. No they aren't
toilet facilties are poor . Have you been in the BMU lately?
Big queues for food ditto.
It really seems that in this forum there is endless tolerance for the knockers however ludicrous their claims and for those who have actually been there and seen it no leeway at all. Perhaps for the future we can do what we do when discussing rumours in the GD...."source?". Made up will not do as an answer.
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