Lyall Gates sale may honour John’s great love
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?
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