London Stadium move takes another slamming

West Ham’s switch to the London Stadium is featured in the Guardian highlighting unsuccessful football stadium moves.

The article by Niall McVeigh also discusses the Stadium of Light (Sunderland) in 1997, Pride Park (Derby County) in 1997, Kassam Stadium (Oxford United) in 2001, Reynolds Arena (Darlington) in 2003, Ricoh Arena (Coventry City) in 2005, Emirates Stadium (Arsenal) in 2006, Cardiff City Stadium in 2009.

On the London Stadium, the Guardian wrote:

“In February 2011, the Olympic Park Legacy Company made a decision with seismic ramifications. Eighteen months before the 2012 Games began, it was decided that West Ham, rather than Tottenham, would benefit from an Olympic Stadium tenancy, secured in a cut-price deal. Almost a decade on, it is clear who really won that day.

West Ham’s struggles at the rebranded London Stadium have raised the bar for difficult relocations. The club’s decision to work around the running track, rather than rebuild the stadium as Spurs had planned, has not paid off. Sight lines still focus on the track, or at least the giant claret carpet that covers it up, with managers traipsing several yards across it from dugout to touchline.

Sections of retractable seating, connected to the main stands by awkward gangways, do nothing to help an atmosphere that switches between forlorn and febrile. The stadium has seen fighting between rival fans and protest pitch invasions, enabled by inadequate matchday security. The idea of relegation and playing Championship football in this vast white elephant is unthinkable.

The stadium saw so many joyful moments in 2012 and has gone on to host elite athletics, both rugby codes and Major League Baseball. There has been precious little for West Ham fans to cheer, however – leaving their beloved Upton Park behind has been a painful experience.”

ClaretandHugh says: We get it. This has been highlighted so many times and we aren’t expecting it to go away any time soon. What of course exacerbated the feelings of those who are opposed totally to the stadium is that it could hardly have been a more different type of place to Upton Park. Chalk and cheese don’t come close. The family feel has gone and obviously we hang on to our memories with a vengeance. As Mooro once remarked when asked if he wanted a statue of himself built: “No thanks – I don’t want to be remembered in bronze. The best camera is in the head – that’s where the best memories and best pictures are stored.” Nailed it and it’s the same with stadiums. Some of us will never get used it – only the passage of time and a new generation will sort that out.