A usefularticle from the Guardian here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/25/west-ham-united-olympic-stadium There are encouraging signs Levy, Hearn & Co have ****ed West Ham over a treat, as it doesn't seem like the Hammers will be getting a good as deal as they would have have got, had not the original process collapsed. The new process seems to be running in ways the Hammers don't like. Of course, it's too early to claim victory, as West Ham may yet get an iconic stadium at a knock down rent, refurbished at public expense, which would make me absolutely incandesent with rage. I just hope the OPLC stay strong against West Ham's tactics, and make them pay a reasonable rent and cover expenses like retractable seating themselves. Better still get a rugby club, cricket club and regular all year concerts in there, and ensure the Hammers don't bother with it all
That's great news! What's the betting that the Spanners give up on it? Let's face it, they're only going for the stadium because they believe they are going to get a cheap deal. They couldn't give a toss that the atmosphere will be like a morgue and that their fans will grow to loathe it. Their pornographer owner simply sees a way of subsidizing his bargain-basement club at the expense of the London tax-payer.
"The East End club still intend to submit a bid for the stadium but will do so on their own terms rather than those offered by the OPLC." Hmm, yeah, we tried that.
Anyone notice West Ham have stopped spinning that garbage about "better transport links" for the OS? That's mainly as Upton Park is served by both the District Line and Hammersmith & City, whilst Stratford is only served by the Central Line - or has half the Underground links that Upton Park does...
Yep, I thought that too Inda. Though of course at the time, that simply made it easy for the OPLC to select West Ham. However, West Ham are doubtless counting on the fact that they will have no serious rivals as justification for their 'take it or leave it' stance.
UK Athletics are quite happy with the "leave it" stance, as they get a brand new stadium out of it that they didn't have to pay for - that will never be half full, as nobody gives a Mile High Club about athletics.
This was covered in the Times Olympic supplement yesterday in some depth. Bearing in mind the health warning that I posted a few days ago about potentially biased reporting of Harry's trial by the BBC sports correspondent (the guy appears to be in the pocket of Olympic Committee and The Spammers) it is interesting that this new information has not been picked up by the Beeb at all! Maybe the correspondent has just been too busy posting anti-Harry tweets from the court to have picked this up. Surely couldnt be that he daren't upset his 'friends'??
Hi Relayer, the Guardian article adds some bits I didn't pick up from the Times article I saw. I didn't buy the paper so may have missed some of the extra info. Anyway, it seems things aren't going too great for the Hammers on this one, but I'm not proclaiming a victory yet, as there's plenty more negotiating to be done, before the relevant contracts are finally signed and sealed.
Hi G10 - yes the Grauniad does cover some extra points, but unless it is all part of their negotiation strategy, you would have to say that all is not well in the Spammers camp!! Tragic - NOT!! But 3 days down the line, the BBC wires are still not covering anything off this fall out. Funny that!
Relayer. Hopefully the Hammers are ****ed - but I'm not crowing yet, though the temptation is immense.
If the stadium doesn't go to a football club, I would like to see how the OPLC plans to use it. Still; it's only half a billion quid isn't it? What do they care? It's not their money. The Olympic legacy consists of: World class sporting facilities the locals can't afford to use, lots of new apartments for people who work in the city and canary Wharf, a shopping centre and finally a white elephant of a stadium that will probably remain empty for years until somebody with vision does an O2 on it. The plain facts are it is too big for anything but a premiership football team. Any other sport just cannot draw the crowds. Nice to see the Spammers hamstrung after their cosy little arrangement blew up in their faces though.
I'd far rather the country lost half a billion quid, than see the Hammers getting a good deal on a stadium that could revive their fortunes. At worst I'd probably see about £10 on my tax bill if the money is 'wasted'. I'd give £50 to the government now, if that guaranteed West Ham were ****ed for the next fifty years.
Will they run new bus services to this out of the way place.Or a new railway station or something????? Stratford to the OS is a heck of a walk....in sun,rain or snow!
Stratford station now has loadsa lovely platform space. Will be nice for parking all those extra trains to do the Stratford + Tottenham Hale + Northumberland Park runs to the new WHL during match days.
