5 Comments

Lyall Gates sale may honour John’s great love

download (12)At first I thought the decision to sell the Lyall Gates was shameful and said so on the CandH Facebook forum… now I am not so sure.

Since penning the words I have made a few phone calls and discovered that every penny raised from the sale of the Gates along with other items will be put towards the cost of the Academy which, given John’s heart for youth development, seems absolutely spot on.

The club has of course been accused of rampant profiteering but we need to recall that the club has made sure this part of our history has been preserved by installing some of the Lyall Gates at the OS where they look fantastic. Those that remain simply can’t be accommodated.

Instead they are being sold to the highest bidder with the funds ploughed into one of the most important areas of our history – the academy to help produce better players.

So on balance this seems a very decent way of honouring out great manager’s memory and I’m sure he would approve of how the money is to be spent.

These are emotional times – none more so than today – and when we are feeling pain and sadness it’s easy to over-react to most anything. But let’s sit back quietly and consider things before rushing to judgement.

There was a suggestion that Newham Council wanted a permanent reminder of the Hammers legacy – maybe they would like to accommodate the gates somewhere in the borough.

But ClaretandHugh was told on asking the question this morning that there has been no inquiry from the local authority and thus the kids of WHUFC are set to benefit.

I withdraw my earlier word of “shameful” and substitute “considered”. I understand all the other points of view but what else should we do with them?

Your feedback would be appreciated.

 

 

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

5 comments on “Lyall Gates sale may honour John’s great love

  1. Still feel it is a complete disgrace, did you see the money made from The Awards Night for The Academy? These gates were dedicated to John Lyall on behalf of the community, there is no need at all or a defence saying the monies raised will be used for The Academy, it is purely looking for an excuse. The money coming into the sport these days, TV, Tickets, Sponsorship, Merchandise do not need a begging bowl of selling gates to finance our Academy set up.

  2. The club consulted the lyall family before deciding on what would be done with the lyall gates. thats good enough for me.

  3. Yeah,I’m with you Slaven.We can all have our own opinions on the matter but at the end of the day if it is what his family wanted or agreed to then it ain’t our shout.If his family were consulted which I’m sure they were then that’s good enough for me as well, though I’m sure some fans will still have the hump.

  4. Simple for me..If the family were consulted & this what was decided then we should respect it & pull our necks in for a change.Though I know that’s hard for some of our all knowing fans,lol 🙂

  5. Hugh you maintain the sites and your integraty but re-evaluating and redressing any incorrect info so well done and I can’t see any problem with the sale of the gates if the lyall family were consulted and are happy with it. I think John given his love of young talent would be pleased

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