West Ham are as angry with the way the London Stadium is being run as the fans and will today ramp up the pressure for big and radical changes.
The Hammers want a police presence at the stadium but it’s up to the operator to take that option.
As tenants, the Irons can only suggest and ‘cajole’ which ClaretandHugh understands is underway as the row goes on over the weekend events.
We have learned that the Irons are pushing hard for the police presence and one of our top sources hit out at the management structure of the stadium under chief executive officer Linda Lennon (above).
She had previously been in charge of the management of the London Civil and Family Courts, before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer of The Parole Board in 2009.
In March 2012 Linda Lennon CBE was appointed Chief Executive Officer of The Royal Parks Agency.
In order to run a football stadium,you need to take guidance from the people who know how to do it.To employ someone who ran the Royal Parks really doesn’t bear comparison.The problem here is that WHU will be held accountable by the FA for the ineptitude of the stadium employers.It is WHU that will have to pay the fines and maybe play behind closed doors.My worry is that there has been trouble when playing Bournemouth and Watford,what is going to happen when Spurs,Arsenal,Chelsea and Man U turn up to play.Surely on the present basis the stadium security will not be able to handle it.West Ham,you need to intervene now before its too late.
You’re being unfair to Ms Lennon – she didn’t just formerly run the Royal Parks – she formerly ran the Parole Board and was in charge of the London Civil and Family Courts – lots of relevant experience – her face definitely fits!
Football related violence was only reduced by strategic policing,firm but fair.The sooner these big wigs regain memory the better,or we’ll be back to the eighties scene, of street free for alls,with under trained stewards in the firing line.Why didn’t they bring the old stewards in from the Boleyn to give the new stewards on what’s accepted and what’s not.Every club has its own identity, could you imagine stewards walking onto the Kop and telling them to sit down after a few lines of Walk on? No nor can I . COYI
As a West Ham fan I have several concerns around this stadium is being run but I would like to clarify the issue around policing football.
As a fan and someone working within the Met and having over 12 years public order experience, I would like to express serious concerns over what I have witnessed at the London Stadium.
1. The stewarding is absolutely disgraceful. My experiences are that of rudeness, overbearing in helpfulness.
2. To evict fans standing up is ludicrous. I do not see the benefit of ejecting a dozen people out of 3000. This only causes fans to get angry and does not solve the problem long term. I also know that if you treat people like animals, they behave like one. A higher tolerance level is needed by the stewards and whoever is briefing them needs to be replaced.
3. From a policing perspective, the Met no longer has the funds or resources to police football matches in the capacity in which they used to. The senior management at the Met have placed the emphasis back onto the clubs to manage it themselves through the use of stewards and police will only enter the stadium if called upon by the stadium security. The reason? The club have to pay for EVERY officer that enters that stadium and this is applicable to all London clubs. The last time I went into a football stadium on duty was with Millwall at Wembley several years ago.
I think that the fans aren’t being made to feel at home and this includes the way we are treated by Westfield. A proper designated route has to be decided and changing the route for no apparent reason like on Saturday is only going to anger fans before they are in the ground. The bottom line is that the stadium owners need to realise that this is our home, we are the anchor tenants and they need to adapt their working practices to make sure that the London Stadium is a safe, secure environment for all that attend there. At the moment, they are failing in that duty.
Spot on about Westfield. They really are heading for trouble if they keep going out of their way to make our lives as awkward as they can..
I’ve already got a dislike for west fields and their attitude towards us. Its a shame every one doesn’t just boycott it, if we’re not worthy of walking trough their shopping centre then they can miss out on our money too, that would change a few minds