The 43k Boleyn Ground

11 years ago West Ham United were granted permission to redevelop the Boleyn Ground to a stadium capable of hosting circa 43,000 people.

However the fully-revamped arena - as seen in the image below, which was recently recovered from the KUMB.com archives - was never completed due to a lack of available funds.

Terry Brown, Chairman of West Ham United at the time the plans were presented to and passed by Newham Council was forced to shelve plans to redevelop the East Stand, the only part of the current stadium over 20 years old, following relegation from the Premiership in May 2003.

And that led to the large gap between the Chicken Run and the pitch which remains to this day.

Back in 2001, when the West Stand became the third stand at the BG to be rebuilt within a decade, the pitch was moved closer to the new stand in order to accomodate the new East Stand which would have completed the rebuilding process.

The proposed new stand, which would have extended over and above Priory Road would have increased the Boleyn Ground's capacity by some 7,000 - taking it to just under 43,000, or 11,000 less than the Olympic Stadium will eventually hold.

But that is unlikely to ever happen now with the current board having ditched the plans in favour of moving to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford some four years from now.