West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady says the Championship club will slash ticket prices if their bid to become Olympic Stadium tenants is successful. She told BBC Radio 5 live: "The issue is about making football affordable so people all over the country can come and enjoy the facilities. "It's a great opportunity to bring prices down so people can enjoy the whole atmosphere. We want to use the stadium, we want to create jobs and create a legacy. That stadium cost £500m and it needs to be used. It should create opportunity and inspire people, which can only happen if someone can fill it and drive it. West Ham can do that." (Source: BBC Football website) Doesn't the stupid mare understand that no fan of football will want to go to a stadium that makes it impossible for them to enjoy the match? Also, how many Hammers' fans does she think the club has, that are prepared to watch every live game? They'll halve the price of tickets, but still won't get any more fans to come and watch the game; and will end up taking half their usual annual revenue. Kazza Brady's comments read like nothing more than an admission that the Spanners are going to struggle to attract fans to their bargain-basement stadium, and are going to have to resort to desperate measures, such as charging a quid per match!
They're already taking out full-page ads in Metro and the Standard to try and get attendances up this season, so she'd probably have to pay people £20 of her own money to entice them into the White Elephant.
They can't fill the khazi they're in at the moment. How will you get 60,000+ when you cannot attract top players because you can't afford to pay them, due to the discounts offered for tickets? It is a recipe for administration...
If its the same article that I read, she was also making extravagant claims about the crowds that the Spammers can attract - stating that recently they had the biggest crowd across all the divisions!! Well, their attendances are certainly high for the Championship - between 25k and 34k - but as they are unable to sell out against teams like Palace and Leeds, then trying to find another 25 or 30 thousand every week is not practical or likely. Brady and her conniving - with the help of her BBC lapdogs - will hopefully come back to bite her on her well-rounded ass!!
I have no issue with women getting involved in football, but with Karren Brady, I really do draw the line. Every time she opens her mouth, she embarrasses her sex. I hope Barry Hearn at Leyton Orient, sues the ass of Madame Brady and her porno bothers for infiltrating on Orient's 'patch' and knowingly putting Orient's existance at risk.
Why oh why aren't there chants of her being a **** Margaret Mountford being heard up and down the country? It's also worth noting that, when he was a guest on HIGNFY a couple of months back, Nick Hewer essentially called her an idiot...
I understand that everyone is enjoying some West Ham-bashing here but surely every slight hint or attempt towards cheaper tickets for football matches is a good thing, isn't it? At the moment going to football is crazily expensive and it's impossible for millions of people to even consider it, especially if they have kids. And why? Because footballers want to own five Bentleys. Great.
all premier league players are overpaid,and are one of the main reason's why fan's have to pay so much,i would like to see them being paid less.
Hi Lenny, cheaper tickets are good but Brady is simply spinning the fact that West Ham can't fill the OS at normal prices. If they could they would.
And there is exactly the reason Orient are so worried, she is trying to steal their supporters. Could be the end of Orient which will be a shame.
But they haven't had to build the thing, so nothing to recoup. The plan will be to drop prices, get people in and then increase slightly above the norm till they are not cheap at all.
If the OS (as a footy stadium) is as bad as everyone is saying it will be, there is every chance that fans will avoid it, whatever the price of tickets, and that WHFC will suffer severe financial difficulties as a result of trying to be a bunch of cheap-skates. It's all well and good saying to your fans, "hey! come and watch cheap football!" but if the experience is an unpleasant one (and, here, I am talking about the viewing experience, rather than the crappy playing on the field) then fans won't come - they'll stay at home and watch it on TV. Sunny Delight is cheap, but it is also toxic, so I don't buying, choosing instead to spend more on drinks that won't give me cancer. The same will apply, I believe, to the OS. If the stadium is dreadful, fans won't go. As stupid as we might believe WHFC fans to be, I don't believe they are so stupid as to want to piss their hard-earned cash down the drain. And as for Orient being worried about losing fans, again, if the experience of watching WHFC at a dreadful stadium is too painful, Orient may well find that it gains fans from among the WHFC supporter, who would rather watch their footy at a traditional stadium that has some atmosphere, and where they can actually see what's going on, on the park.
Build no, make fit for the purposes of watching the "football" they play, yes; and it will not be cheap. The issue is, if they are to attract a crowd to fill it, the players will have to appreciably better than they have had up to now. If the revenue from gates twice as big (but essentially earning the same profit) had to pay for the dross they put out now there would be no problem, but to attract crowds of 60,000, you would have to put out sides at least as good as say, Chelsea or Arsenal. West Ham are surrounded by teams who have taken years and spent millions to get to where they are. There is no short cut other than huge investment. "Poundland FC" will just not cut it.
Anyone know what happens to Upton Park? Should be worth a few quid if they are prepared to abandon their backup ground?
The only realistic way the Hammers will challenge the current 'big six' is by moving to the OS, then getting bought up by a billionaire benefactor a la City. Should they do that, it's feasible they'll be CL contenders within a decade, that's how fast mega money can move you in English football.
