And asked them to oppose West Hams move to the Olympic Stadium...... And then it pops up on a CAFC forum looking for support. Has this got anything to do with CAFC? Are trusts manipulating each other by promoting personal political agendas? Why is the CAFC trust running with another clubs agenda?
I've not seen what you're referring to, so I can only go on the 'CAFC trust opposes West Ham move' bit. Given that West Ham struggle to fill their ground as is, I think it could be concerning for Charlton that West Ham are being handed a top class stadium, bigger than what they have, with excellent transport links, for very cheap. Not only that, but the taxpayer is paying for it to be converted to suit West Ham. I wouldn't be surprised if it was easier to get from some parts of Kent to Stratford by public transport than it is to get to Charlton. If so, WHU would be targeting Charlton's current catchment area. Given that costs are low for them, they could afford to offer very cheap Premier League football. Not suggesting that loads of Charlton fans will suddenly become hamsters, but it could hamper potential growth for CAFC. From the last time I looked at Barry Hearn's comments, Orient have problems of their own, and were rumoured to be moving away anyway (at Hearn's decision). I would prefer to see it turned into an enormous wooden cycling roundabout thing than be handed to Leyton Orient. It could all go belly-up with West Ham playing 3rd tier football in front of tiny crowds, while Harlow Orient are battling in the Championship playoffs. I won't be signing the petition, but I think there could be implications for Charlton. Horse has bolted though.
I suppose West Ham poaching fans from Charlton's catchment area would be a bit like Charlton poaching fans from Gillingham's catchment area... It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, but any fan who hops from one club to another for financial gain is a bit of a twat. If Orient move to Harlow, will they be known as Harlow Orient, or HOs for short?
Yes, I guess. Were Charlton handed by the government a top of the range ground at very low cost and transport infrastructure to poach Gills fans with? RE: Harlow, probably. I think the fans want to move to Barking first. BOs before HOs
They'll be able steal any of the fans on the HS1 route. It's direct to the Olympic Stadium. Lets face it though, I went to the Withdean, and any ground with a running track around it makes for a p*** poor atmosphere. Tottenham had the right idea, tearing up the running track, and filling it with the capacity to hold more fans.
I thought there would be seats rolled out over the running track for football matches and then rolled back for athletics events. I don't think the running track will last more than 5 years anyway. The big thing that the Tottenham bid had was that they promised to rebuild Crystal Palace athletics ground to be the right size and facilities for UK Athletics, offering a realistic legacy for athletics and preventing Palace from moving to their proposed-never-will-happen new ground on the same site.
