saturday's news 14th april includes west ham

[hammerdivone]

As for the WHU view poll, what is the point until we know exactly what the arrangement of the ground will be after refurb and the proposals for use?

What is the point in a poll after a decision is made?

The decision won't be made before the details of the bid and the plans are released

[Doc H Ball]

The decision won't be made before the details of the bid and the plans are released

Well, a decision has already been made to bid and the LLDC decision on who gets it is due before 21May. Indeed, I hear a decision has already been made.

Do you not think the whole point of consultation is to determine fans' opinions in advance and not afterwards? It's been a fait accomplis.

[orpingtonhammer]

Just say we get the bid, the plans are released, Newham says it will cough up the 40m to do the adaptions, but the fans poll says No....??

[Muddy]

Cheers CH.

[Rasp]

Ta CH..

You know what I think!...It does not matter what the fans think or want, they will do what they want to do, it's all about the money, period..

[the pink palermo]

The decision won't be made before the details of the bid and the plans are released

The club made their decision a long time ago .

Their willingness to agree to a NDA with the OPLC was a sure sign of their intentions .

Pinkys predicitions

WHU will be given the stadium on 21st May

WHU will announce sky high ticket prices for next season on or around 22/23 May " well the club is in debt and the owners have put in 47 pence each so far this season"
.
KB , DG will give extensive press interviews a few days later saying they will of course be much lower priced at the OS, no details of course, no actual numbers for comparison " we can't release those as we don't know the exact configuration yet"

All sorts of sketches / artisits impressions will be in the first matchday programme for next season - nothing too detailed , but offering "hope" to fans that it "won't be too bad"

Massive amounts of money will be spent on extended sections of the roof , building a hotel, and a whole load of Corporate boxes " book early as demand is forecast to be exceptionally high for these facillities"

Much smaller amounts of money will be spent on toilets, food outlets and suitable seating arrangements for the fans "well we are trying to keep costs down"

Any fan that wan s a half decent view will pay more than they are this season "well of course we were in the second division then"

The fans who are currently low down in the BML , will continue to have a crap view for similar money ....."well , we thought they liked it like that"

The fans are going to get shafted , utterly shafted .

Only last week I'm sure I heard gooner Karren say " Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"

[hammerdivone]

I could have predicted Pinkys predictions

Even if we win the bid, we do not have to take it up. There would have to be a bloody good reason not to though!

Pinky you accept that this bid is different to our purchase of the OS previously don't you? As tenants you have rightly pointed out we lose naming rights and various other income streams, so for us to move there the conditions have to be right for everyone.

And are you saying that the toilets and food outlets for 80,000 people watching the Olympics are inadequate? At least if you suggest money needs to be spent on these afterwards then that's what I think you are saying?

Which fans are going to get shafted? The ones who have not been able to afford tickets before but could in the future as the pricing structure will be lower? The ones who spend hours trying to get away from UP station, or stuck in their car on the A13? Those with views a long way from the pitch? What about the away fans at St James Park, or up the back at the Stretford End, or at the back at Wembley? We will always be able to find fault with the refurbished OS, but I'm willing to predict the benefits outweigh the downsides.

I would much prefer us to stay at the Boleyn, develop the East Stand and accept we can only get 40-42k crowds. However as most of the Premier League clubs have realised if you want to compete in the transfer market and as a result in the league you need bigger crowds and bigger revenues. Where do we want our club to be competing? Lower 10 or upper 10 in the Premiership?

[smuts]

Personally I always thought that it was go up this season or face the risk of losing the remaining decent players left after relegation, and I think that G & S always thought that we'd go back up first time as well.

Green will be off without a doubt, possibly Tomkins and Noble and I bet a few will sniff around Vaz Te.

Take those four out.....it would be a huge job to replace them and push again for promotion.

I still think we might catch Soton after last night and hopefully be too strong for the other teams around us in the play offs.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Just say we get the bid, the plans are released, Newham says it will cough up the 40m to do the adaptions, but the fans poll says No....??

They'll move anyway.

Deep down, does anyone really believe otherwise?

[cockney hammer]

Ta CH..

You know what I think!...It does not matter what the fans think or want, they will do what they want to do, it's all about the money, period..

how do we know it will be honest say 80% say we do not want to go to stratford they could turn round and say it was 80% for and not against i would put nothing past them

[orpingtonhammer]

Who will be polled? what is the definition of a fan....season ticket holders only, anyone how is registered on the website, anyone who has ever attended a game ?

[Kent-Hammer15]

Cheers CH

[bubbles1966]

Green will be off without a doubt, possibly Tomkins and Noble and I bet a few will sniff around Vaz Te.

Take those four out.....it would be a huge job to replace them and push again for promotion.

Reading sold their captain, Mills, and their main source of goals last year, Long, in the summer.

They've replaced them with someone QPR dumped on promotion and an old pro like Jason Roberts - and are going to end up deserving winners of this league.

I really don't think we should be too fearful of the consequences of losing some of our bigger names. After a season in this league, BFS should be more aware of which players are up to it and suited to this level.

[rigoberts song]

Many thanks CH.
I see shes selling her own autobiography in OUR club shop wonder how we as a club benefit financially from this arrangement ?

[the pink palermo]

Even if we win the bid, we do not have to take it up. There would have to be a bloody good reason not to though!?

Ah, the old we have said we want it but , well, what can we do, our fans don't want it so we'll give up now, thanks for the opportunity dream .HD1, we all know everything is a negotiating stance by the club .The secrecy , the mixed messages , the lack of definitive staterments .What will not change from the owners persepctive is the club has £91m of debt , to rebuild the East stand would be over £20m and their choice is for them to foot the bill , recovering the money from us over the next 50 years , or sell the lot and move , taking the cash now .

Let me see , which do I think the more likely ?

Pinky you accept that this bid is different to our purchase of the OS previously don't you? As tenants you have rightly pointed out we lose naming rights and various other income streams, so for us to move there the conditions have to be right for everyone.?

The naming rights will be determined by how much the various bidders actually bid......if you want the stadium for gratis, you don't get the NR , if you are willing to pay £xm you get X% of the NR etc . Again, all a negotiation .

And are you saying that the toilets and food outlets for 80,000 people watching the Olympics are inadequate? At least if you suggest money needs to be spent on these afterwards then that's what I think you are saying??

No running hot water in the bogs at the Boleyn..........none at Stratford .So, yep money needs to be spent .No food outlets are permanent , so either they need building or it's hot dog vans surrounding the stadium .Not neccesarily a bad thing that , but not a huge improvement on current arrangements .

Which fans are going to get shafted? The ones who have not been able to afford tickets before but could in the future as the pricing structure will be lower? The ones who spend hours trying to get away from UP station, or stuck in their car on the A13? Those with views a long way from the pitch? What about the away fans at St James Park, or up the back at the Stretford End, or at the back at Wembley? We will always be able to find fault with the refurbished OS, but I'm willing to predict the benefits outweigh the downsides.?

You are now comparing the view for the away fans at Sid James park with what our home fans should get ? A once every couple of seasons view for a few thousand of us with the view most fans should get once a fortnight , for ever ?I don't go to Newcastle to watch the game , I go to support the club .Thick and thin .Asking me to endure the same for every single home match is beyond the pale though .
Ticket prices ? The club could cut ticket prices for certain groups of fans right now but chooses not to .Instead they give them away to children for £1 .
Current average ST prices, net of VAT, are around £17 per game .Where are the people without £17 to watch the club , and what price would it have to be to attract them ? Are we targeting the £5 a head sector - go to football instead of an M&S ready meal ?

Stuck on the A13 ? If you drive to the Boleyn on the A13 now, why won't you use the A13 for Stratford ? The fact that the OS has a big railway station next to it, doesn't mean that every fan has a local railway station next to them does it ?

I would much prefer us to stay at the Boleyn, develop the East Stand and accept we can only get 40-42k crowds. However as most of the Premier League clubs have realised if you want to compete in the transfer market and as a result in the league you need bigger crowds and bigger revenues. Where do we want our club to be competing? Lower 10 or upper 10 in the Premiership?

Hang on , weren't you justifying the OS on cheaper tickets, now it's bigger revenues ?

That's the point HD1 .The club needs to maximise revenue to compete .The dream of cheaper tickets for the average fan at Stratford is just that .

A dream .That's why we are going to get shafted .

Off to the game now, may as well enjoy the view while I can .

[Rasp]

Many thanks CH.
I see shes selling her own autobiography in OUR club shop wonder how we as a club benefit financially from this arrangement ?

Yeh! see that, £18.99 for the Brady book and our 2012 annual comes in at 4 quid...

[MB]

I really don't think we should be too fearful of the consequences of losing some of our bigger names. After a season in this league, BFS should be more aware of which players are up to it and suited to this level.

Just like the last time we were down. Do we honestly have any player that cannot be replaced anymore?

Arguably staying down an extra year last time gave us the room to build a better squad.

[Bishops Finger]

What is the point of Karren Brady?

Apart from the pictures of her droopy three-penny bits I can't see any point in her 'column' - inane, childish twaddle!!

[miles]

Arguably staying down an extra year last time gave us the room to build a better squad.

The squad was far worse, padded up with free transfers and scraped 6th after finishing 4th the year before. The football was utter ****, and it was only the rather fortunate introduction of Elliot Ward after injuries forced Pardew's hand that we went on a late run and built the momentum that carried us through the play-offs.

Staying down the extra year did absolutely nothing for us, except that we ended up selling Michael Carrick to Spurs for a packet of smarties.

[dapablo]

morning and thank you CH, wish Karen would put her tits away!

You do realise of course that the repeated publication of these photo's have nothing to do with her, nor the sun, but are in fact posted purely at the discretion of the thread creator.