The press statement by published by West Ham this evening confirms our worst fears. The Safety Advisory Group (SAG) have refused to re-issue a safety certificate for a 60,000 capacity for the London Stadium.
This means Sunday’s game against Bournemouth, the Europa League game next week against Astra and most likely the Premier League game against Watford will be limited to 57,000 tickets.
With 52,000 season ticket holders and away supporters entitled to up to 3,000 tickets means just 2,000 per match will be available for Claret Members in the ballot.
In truth, if we see persistent standing or protests on Sunday during the match we may never get to a 60,000 capacity and will have almost zero chance of getting of ever getting to 66,000 next season.
That will be a bitter pill to swallow for some – like me – who have stood in front of their seats for decades but if we truly want to have one of the biggest stadiums in England and our club to move onwards and upwards we will need to play ball and reluctantly follow the regulations set down by the Premier League.
I have been openly pro-standing and was spitting feathers when I got the email from Karren Brady last week threatening to revoke my season ticket. In light of the latest turn of events my stance has softened and I will take to my seat as long as the eighteen rows do like wise to support my club I love. I want to support the club’s ambition to play in front of a 60,000 or 66,000 seater stadium so I am prepared to sacrifice my preference to stand-up to watch football.
If we remain a 57,000 capacity stadium Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Spurs will soon over take us and we will be below Arsenal in terms of capacity.
If we do reach finally reach 66,000 capacity next season we will second only to Old Trafford with 75,000. The future is in all our hands I guess.
Think positive people and you can have it both ways !! Wink wink !! Nudge nudge , say no more squire ,
where you seat is Sean you’ll be lucky to see over everyone standing in front of you, cant say I’m bothered if we get another 3,000 in the ground or not,
the club say one thing, the sullivan kids say another and in-between are the fans threatened with expulsion for doing what possibly they were told they could do, (with a nudge and a wink) in the sales centre.
i thought it was time for fans to make a stand
Rather selfish of you I’d say especially for those who ain’t season ticket holders?
Nigel is still sulking we left Upton Park.He lives in a camper van in Green St still protesting lol
Those who will accept nothing but standing will not worry about Any Reduction, as long as their OK
What a load of Shlte. How do people standing at the front affect people sitting a hundred rows back? And what’s been done at other grounds? If we stand up away from home, will other grounds get reductions?
I stand when I can but I have to admit that I could see that some standing was causing a problem for some fans who remained seated behind and/or to the side of the standing sections. I don’t know why West Ham always get picked on about this as most grounds have unofficial standing sections
The club should work to find a solution with LLDC maybe safe standing next season behind the goals… You know that won’t happen but it would add a lot and solve the problems of those that are an inconvenience to the shorter and less able supporters. If it seems like common sense it will never happen in football will it ?
People who stand are the ones who create the atmosphere. There should be an official standing section where fans are not penalised for standing and, where club offer a ticket exchange in (& out). If there are no official area(s), then presumably the ‘standers’ will be dotted about standing up in front of people and p1ssing them off.
I hope the club will renegotiate with owners/ authorities OR sacrifice the extra seats for having standing areas. If not, i suspect much of the atmosphere will be lost.
How could it be otherwise?
I totally agree with you fnc.You make so much more sense when you ain’t ranting & rampaging 😉
There should be standing sections in one or two stands,it does bring atmosphere, camaraderie and its never been quite the same since all seaters,especially at some away games. But if I were behind someone standing I wouldn’t be happy,older people love,and want to watch their beloved Irons too.A bit of reorganization of the ground layout needed.COYI
Having standing sections is the only answer as anything else is just a pain for others wanting to sit and not all supporters want to see the back of some dick standing after paying out for a ticket. Also any dick that doesn’t care that we won’t get capacity crowds and become the second biggest support in the premier can jog on to another club as we can become a top top team with this ground and manager and great supporters that see this. Wait and push for standing by doing all the right things but stand up and even I will love to see you banned this season and I have been a supporter a lot longer and spent more money on our club than most who stand up and only was a thought in thier dads brain.
Whether you prefer to stand is irrelevant. Standing up knowing the person behind can’t see causing a chain reaction of people behind them standing up until it reaches someone who can’t is just pig headed selfishness. I prefer to smoke in pubs but am happy to wander outside as its not everyone’s cup of tea.