West Ham supporters have constantly had mixed views on moving away from their long term and historic home in East Ham to a modern, athletics based stadium in Stratford.
It was a disappointing week for the clubs owners David Gold and David Sullivan resulting in the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) ending negotiations with the club over the takeover of the Olympic Stadium due to the ongoing court process with rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
A huge sigh of relief was heard from the Barking Road as supporters and businesses alike thought they could stay put where they belong.
There are a set of West Ham supporters that feel the Stratford move would be beneficial to the club in the long run; whether it be financially or building a larger fan base; but with the club in the Championship, no assumptions should be made at this stage.
The fans have been patient up until now but the new decision may start to strain on the faithful nerves as things go from bad to worse.
Gold and Sullivan have now applied to become tenants of the stadium and so the move is still on the cards for the Hammers, but this time it could be even worse for the fans.
With the running track staying put circling the pitch and the attendance thought to remain at the ambitious 80,000 is it any wonder why the fans are not interested in the move?
Now that the club will only be tenants of the site and not the owners, their hands are tied with any changes they want to make stadium and surrounding area.
Yes, there will more than likely be a pie and mash shop just down the road and a pub painted claret and blue but the owners must have been thinking bigger than this.
The seats will have to remain as they are and not be changed to a wonderful pattern of claret and blue, spelling out the clubs name on the stands.
The exterior of the stadium will also remain as it is, with no over the top inflatable hammers circling the turnstiles and no impressive laser beams hitting the sky for night matches as was once predicted in images on the clubs website.
At no stage of this comical debacle have the club enquired as to how the real supporters feel about the swap and it is looking more and more like a money making scheme.
The supporters that I have spoken to and I would of thought share a large percentage of the fans views are not looking forward to the move, especially now that the club will not even own the site and so have no say on appearance.
Built for athletics it will be a part time football venue rather than full time that we were promised with the occasional athletics event and sell out gig, which again will not please the fans nor the owners as surely they can’t make Stratford feel like home anymore.
Written by Brad Pinard for footballfancast.com
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