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The London Taxpayers' Stadium Shambles

their only hope, in my opinion, is that further down the line someone takes charge and has the influence/money to be able to break the deal with the LLDC(?) and buys the ground outright - i don't know how realistic a scenario that is but its the only way i can see them benefiting from the move
 
galeforce said:
i'm not sure the target demographic would know quality football if it slapped them in the face with a rampant rabbit
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No but they will weigh it up against other entertainment options. If West Ham are challenging then I think that they'll be fine, if West Ham are struggling then I do not think that casual fans will be interested.
 
My last ever game at West Ham yesterday,

Season ticket is gone, my Dad has just about stopped sulking because he can't go either now (my only regret) and enough in the bank to take the better half away for a decent long weekend.

After yesterday i really aint fussed either, not because of the game just because of what we (You) have become as a club, 10 minutes into the second half there were still streams of people wandering back to their seats laden with hot dogs, pop corn and other goodies, just to sit down and moan at Mark Noble for 20 minutes before leaving with 10 minutes to go. Its like being at an NFL game. As for the team they are now a reflection of the club, two bob wannabes and i include all the players in that, they have no passion, they have no structure and they certainly have no soul.

Yesterday we all trudged like ****ing lemmings back to the train, not a single pub to drown our sorrows en route, just a few thousand souless face painted joker hat wearing adults, crying because spending 40 million really should make us a good team. We are "top 4" don't you know.

Lads and lasses i hope you enjoy what you have left, i give it 5 years before you have a new name...
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http://kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=165722
 
milo said:
No but they will weigh it up against other entertainment options. If West Ham are challenging then I think that they'll be fine, if West Ham are struggling then I do not think that casual fans will be interested.
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all things considered the location alone makes it a strong entertainment option, they certainly have a major advantage over us with that
 
galeforce said:
all things considered the location alone makes it a strong entertainment option, they certainly have a major advantage over us with that
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It won't be helped though that they are not being allowed into the shopping centre and the nicer local bars/pubs don't want the fans either.
 
long term it could potentially help grow their fan base as cheap tickets will encourage the younger generation to go to games regularly but the effects of that wont be for a generation or two (or more)

the only way they'll keep their attendances north of 40k in the medium term will be to become a genuinely consistent top 6 challenger, cant see how they will maintain interest if they're bumbling around the bottom half of the table and flirting with relegation as they usually do once the novelty has worn off for the fairweather fans, that would drive down attendances and then you're watching games in a half empty/two thirds full cavernous stadium which will not be a great place to be.
 
galeforce said:
all things considered the location alone makes it a strong entertainment option, they certainly have a major advantage over us with that
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Location is good but a lot of the local establishments have already shut their doors to the WH fans. Maybe the fans base will change over time but we're talking years and years. It might be too late by then.
 
milo said:
It won't be helped though that they are not being allowed into the shopping centre and the nicer local bars/pubs don't want the fans either.
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they will when west ham get rid of the chaff, seems like they have made a good start, getting a third party to insist on fans not standing is an act of genius, I take my hat off to them

edit: @Rorschach too

it took arsenal decades to achieve that level of fan base gentrification, west ham might pull it off in 12 months
 
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billyiddo said:
long term it could potentially help grow their fan base as cheap tickets will encourage the younger generation to go to games regularly but the effects of that wont be for a generation or two (or more)

the only way they'll keep their attendances north of 40k in the medium term will be to become a genuinely consistent top 6 challenger, cant see how they will maintain interest if they're bumbling around the bottom half of the table and flirting with relegation as they usually do once the novelty has worn off for the fairweather fans, that would drive down attendances and then you're watching games in a half empty/two thirds full cavernous stadium which will not be a great place to be.
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I doubt it, go watch West Ham lose for a tenner or watch City/Utd/Chelsea win via Sky, I know which option most kids will choose.
 
Whiffler said:
Still 53,000-odd at the weekend.

Odd. Now there's a word.
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That's how many tickets were sold but not the actual amount who attended the game.

Over on KUMB they were trying to work out what the real attendance was, hundreds of empty seats.
 
camspur said:
I doubt it, go watch West Ham lose for a tenner or watch City/Utd/Chelsea win via Sky, I know which option most kids will choose.
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what if you are a city or united fan living in london though, walk up and get in for a tenner

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indianspur said:
good logical response, but sometimes logic goes out of the window with some things. We played ok against Monaco but we still lost. We have even lost an FA cup semi final to Portsmouth at the new Wembley, again who would have thought that could've happened.

Also we will have to factor in how many teams and players will raise their game simply because of having a chance of playing at the new Wembley, players who under normal circumstances wouldnt get a chance to play at that stadium.
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I don't subscribe that this 'raising their game' business.... You don't tend to see the underdog (if you could call Monaco an underdog?) going to equally famous stadiums such as the Nou Camp or Bernabau and raising their game and getting a result do you?

I really don't think that players care what stadium they are playing in. They care about the occasion I agree, but if you played the FA Cup final at Old Trafford instead of Wembley I think both teams would be trying just as hard.

The truth of the matter is that most of our losses at Wembley have been against teams who were better than us that year and favourites to win before the start of the game (Man Utd once - who we actually drew with and lost on penalties and Chelsea twice). Other than that we have beaten Chelsea (who were considered a better team than us at the time) and lost two games against teams we were favourites against in Portsmouth and Monaco. The fact that we were the better team in both suggests to me that it is simply that we have been a little unlucky as opposed to the opposition raising their game.

Also surely the fact that "teams raise their game when playing at Wembley" should also apply to us? Why is it just the opposition who's game is raised? That makes no sense at all.
 
billyiddo said:
their only hope, in my opinion, is that further down the line someone takes charge and has the influence/money to be able to break the deal with the LLDC(?) and buys the ground outright - i don't know how realistic a scenario that is but its the only way i can see them benefiting from the move
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Levy made sure that couldn't happen by insisting upon a clause being inserted whereby the stadium had to keep athletics for the full 99 year term of the lease. It is possible that West Ham could buy the lease outright, but they would have to retain the athletics track for the full term.

The only solution to make that stadium suitable for football is to knock it down and start again but that would be prohibitively expensive and simply not worth it for any investor.

Also if the public sector was to decide to sell the stadium then (I would assume?) the sale would have to be a sale open to any bidder? I could see a few wealth funds being quite interested in owning the stadium, but not necessarily wanting to own West Ham United. Obviously the terms of the lease are currently pretty poor for the LLDC and advantageous for West Ham, but in the future (long in the future admittedly) the terms could instead become advantageous for the stadium owner. Let's assume that overall (with potential naming rights + lease cost + food and drink concessions) the public purse is better off to the tune of £10 million a year. A wealth fund would probably be prepared to pay £200 million to keep that same arrangement and have that 5% return (especially knowing that the return could easily be increased later).

Therefore WHUFC would probably be looking at having to pay at least that amount just to acquire the stadium freehold - and at that stage they are still stuck with having to maintain an athletics legacy.
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
But don't the plastics want to bathe in the reflected glory of successful teams, demonstrating how smart they are. Hardly fits the profile West Ham can provide without a massive influx of cash. I said when the rumour of us being sold that West Ham would be a far better investment for foreign buyer and I'm sure that's the plan of their board.
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Nah, that's so passé - you can move to "east end" and be part of the "real east end experience" (TM monkeybarry) by supporting the local soccerball team.
You can even have traditional popcorn to watch it all.
 
Do we think we will have the same popcorn and hotdog experience at our new stadium?

Especially with NFL involvement.
 
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