They are plans to relocate the sculpture of 1966 World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson before the start of next season but local residents are still campaigning to keep it. 424 Newham residents signed an online petition to keep the statue with a further 800 claimed to have sign a paper version of the petition handed to Newham mayor Sir Robin Wales last year.
It’s future will now come down to a Newham Council vote expected within two months.
A Newham council spokesperson told ClaretandHugh: “No decision has been made on whether or not to relocate the statue. Any such decision would have to be made at a future Cabinet meeting. Stringent conditions have been placed on the relocation of the Champions Sculpture to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park that must be met before any move is agreed. Councillors agreed that it could only be moved once a fully funded plan was in place to improve the junction in Barking Road, where the sculpture currently stands, after it has been relocated. The conditions also included the installation of a piece of public art linking the area to West Ham United and that the road improvements and the costs of moving the sculpture should be funded by partners.”
West Ham told the Daily Mail their commissioned poll shows 87 per cent of fans want the Champions statue transferred, but that survey was conducted more than three years ago so today we run a Claret and Hugh to understand fans feelings on the subject.
Do you want to move the World cup champions statue to the London Stadium?