ClaretandHugh understands that West Ham have an emergency contingency plan to play the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round in Athletics mode at the former Olympic Stadium if they are forced to do so.
The first leg of the Europa League is due to be played on Thursday 28th July but UK Athletics only finish their Olympic Stadium weekend event on Sunday 24th July. It takes seven days to convert the stadium from Athletics mode to football mode by bringing the retractable seats forward. Although many of the seats are on wheels othes need to be craned in and built manually each time the stadium switches from athletics to football use.
Should West Ham be unlucky in not drawing the first leg away they will ask UEFA and their opponents to switch the legs around. In the unlikely event UEFA or their opponents refuse that request they will play the 28th July first leg tie in Athletics mode with the running track between the pitch and the crowd.
The proper conversion could then take place between Friday 29th July and Thursday 4th August which would allow the Hammers to play the 7th August Juventus friendly in football mode at the Olympic Stadium.
I wonder if the Boleyn would still be available?
Imagine how many tears there would be if that haappened… there was enough we our own ladies team wanted to play there..
It wouldn’t get a safety certificate. When I was there last week they were dismantling the turnstiles from the East stand which is now off limits. They are also removing seats for those who have bought them from everywhere except the West stand
They could move 2 of the sides forward in time.. might look a bit ODD but id rather do that
Not sure that would work, It wouldn’t be a 54,000 crowd for first leg of the Europa league anyway
I’m guessing the temporary seats right next to the pitch are season ticket holders, in the event the match was sold out (doubtful) would this mean that they would miss out. Effectively being punished for getting the best seats.
temporary seats are at the back of each lower stand at each end plus in the new East stand to bridge the gap
as it’s a cup game everyone will probably have to apply anyway, I would imagine the people that bought these seats and paid top whack would be given a decent choice off they choose to take up the option
It really does show how much of a conversion this was in order to get the retractable seating to work if they have to crane some of the seats in and would explain why the lead times to change from one mode to another are quite long. Over here a stadium that was purpose built to change its configuration with retractable seating can be done pretty much overnight
Lord (lol) Co€ & his cronies have cost this country so much money by insisting on building the OS like it was. (Someone’s consultation firms won a nice few £m contracts during the same period, not sure who is was though) just imagine if the bloody thing was built like other such stadiums with multi-use. The changes could have been carried out overnight.
They hope they might get it down to five days but it takes seven days at the moment.