So there’s much anticipation around West Ham Football Club as they prepare to move into their new ground for next season. West Ham are one of the most nostalgic institutions in British football. The much talked about West Ham Academy is lauded as producing the most talented footballers in recent years (Julian Dicks??) and their claim to have won the World Cup in ’66 is trotted out every four years.
But generally the clubs has largely gone unnoticed during the last couple of decades, save for the odd cup run and successful promotion to the Premier League. Ironically enough in their final season at Upton Park, Slaven Bilic has overseen their best league campaign for many years. The ground has witnessed some memorable occasions over the years. Most grounds experience a better atmosphere under floodlights, but this seems especially at Upton Park. The noises from the ‘Chicken Run’ intimidated many opposing winger who found taking a corner a fearsome experience . As a youngster, I do recall some tense visits over to East London and there was a rawness about many of the big matches played there.
But now Upton Park will join Highbury, The Dell, Roker Park and the Baseball Ground, transformed from iconic sporting stadia into nondescript luxury housing (though maybe not so much of the luxury in the North East). The fans generally seem in favour of the move, though there’s still a vocal, sizeable minority who are reluctant to move away from their home since 1904. And they have a right to be a little apprehensive. Income generated from the new ground will overnight transform the club from mid table also rans at best, to mixing it with the leading clubs in the country. The corporate facilities alone, will give a huge boost to the match day revenue.
Will they fill 50,000 seats for each home. Undoubtedly they will. Gold and Sullivan have priced the season tickets extremely competitively. The headline figure of £289 for a season ticket meant the less expensive ones were snapped up in no time. Though not boasting the support of Arsenal, Spurs and more recently Chelsea, West Ham were still locking thousands of fans out for the high profile games. Add to that the ‘London factor’. If the match day tickets are priced as competitively as the season tickets, then there will be huge demand from tourists to pick up any tickets left unsold from home fans. The excellent transport links into the centre of London will ensure tourists who have travelled from over the world will flock to see Premiership football less than an hour’s travelling distance from their hotel rooms.
The downside is that the match day atmosphere will be dire when compared to Upton Park. Trust me, it’s going to be a complete contrast to those heady cup nights at Upton Park. From what I saw (and heard) from the rugby world cup games at the Olympic stadium the acoustics at the ground are not great. But in any case, I’m not sure the bus load of tourists from Seoul will know the words to “I’m forever blowing bubbles”. Coming from an Arsenal fan, criticising the atmosphere of any other premier league ground may be a little rich. I readily admit a trip to the Emirates isn’t too far removed from a trip to the theatre. Hearing the cries from players and managers in front of 60,000 spectators is simply embarrassing for our fans. But I fear for West Ham and the sense of community which was a strong feature of their club. The fanbase will slowly expand beyond the confines of the east end and the Essex hinterlands. But who am I to stop progress? The fans can look forward to watching the likes of Payet and Lanzini as opposed to Ian Dowie and Tim Breaker. Just be aware that there’s a price to be paid for such progress.
So ’sold out’ signs will be commonplace. But just be aware that the match day experience will be transformed for many die hard West Ham fans.