Inside the Olympic Stadium

Interesting piece in Sunday's Observer on the Olympic Stadium. Owen Gibson gets to see inside the OS and is clear it will feel very different to other stadiums. He writes:  

"Taking in the view from the exact spot where the front row of fans will sit it is clear that this will still feel like a big, expansive European-style stadium rather than the tight grounds British fans are used to. Stadium designers elsewhere… are in contrast trying to mimic the imposing kops and tightly packed atmosphere of days gone by. On one side of West Ham’s new home there will be large flat platforms behind the seats once they are rolled over the track. Behind the goals, there are solutions to fill in the gaps, but it will still look unlike any other football ground in the country. To state the obvious, much will depend on results – if West Ham are winning and the place is buzzing, fans will take to it." 

I'd back West ham fans to create a good atmosphere just about anywhere, but as Gibson implies, it's going to feel very different to the Boleyn. Click on the link to read the whole piece.

Road-testing the Olympic Stadium

Went to two Paralympics events at the Olympic Stadium last week, one morning session and one evening. It's certainly nice to walk to the stadium over the River Lea, which gives a sense of continuity with the original Thames Ironworks at Leamouth. The first thing you notice is that from the outside the stadium doesn't appear to be finished. It has no back to the stands, just strange white sashes, while the stairs to the upper tiers are open to the elements. Presumably work will have to be done to rectify this if it becomes a football stadium as it will be pretty cold in winter. The concourse has no retail outlets only some loos, with all the food on sale in the park outside. Hopefully Ken's Cafe will be moved into the giant McDonald's.
Inside the stadium it's really impressive, however. The Olympics crowds proved that it's easy to create a great atmosphere and when Team GB made Gold it was unforgettable. The view is good even from halfway back in the stands and it seemed surprisingly intimate for an 80,000-seater stadium. It's got two big screens and I was excited by the thought of 60,000 fans singing Bubbles in this huge bowl. At night the lighting certainly suggests it will have a special atmosphere. Maybe we could use the Games Makers to high-five fans as they leave too, though maybe not Millwall.
But there's still the problem of the athletics track. At present there's a large gap between the stands and the track. If that could be narrowed and the seating taken right up to the track it could work. Or as the Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies proved, it seems fairly easy to cover over the track. Could the track and pitch levels be lowered to allow retractable seating? Or at least some deck chairs... The other big plus is that the transport links are superb compared to Upton Park, which would surely help us get 60,000. A further bonus is that the Stadium is now associated with something universally positive. It's a shame the confidentiality clauses don't allow West Ham to reveal what their plans are for conversion, but with such potential I think we have to go for it.

Olympic stadium

Just done a tour of the Olympic Stadium. It’s designed by the same team that built the Emirates and the feel around the circular concourse outside is similar.

Inside it’s surprisingly intimate. It doesn’t feel like an 80,000 seater stadium at all and every seat has a good view (West Ham will apparently change the roof and make it a 55,000 seater). So it does feel like the Hammers fans could get a good atmosphere going.

But the problem is that running track. It looks very big from the seats and the central area is small at present – hopefully it will be expanded when a football pitch is laid. Spurs claim fans will be 40 metres from the goalline.

Much rests on Karren Brady’s statement that the club is spending £90 million on “reconfiguration of seats”. I’m still not sure exactly what this means. A steeper angle? Some seats closer to the track at the sides?

We have to hope that the WHUFC team has explored other stadiums with athletics/football stadiums and really considered what’s best for the club and fans rather than their bank balance — although as we’re £80 million in debt you could argue we have to move to survive. And 55,000 fans would take us above Spurs in match revenue terms.

An interesting point is that the Olympic delivery people say West Ham were consulted in 2006, but under Terry Brown the club said we didn’t want to move. Had we said yes then it could have been designed to have retractable seats over the running track.

But on the plus side the Olympic Park’s an exciting area and the Velodrome with its wooden exterior looks fantastic. There’s a huge basketball area made of PVC that looks like a giant sugar lump and would surely be the ideal location for a reconfigured Ken’s Café and Newham Bookshop. And it’s nice to be close to the River Lea two miles downriver from where we started put at Thames Ironworks.

Really, we won’t know what the stadium’s like until we’re in it. Maybe we’ll get used to it. The atmosphere at the 1980 FA Cup Final was pretty good despite Wembley’s running track.

But to be honest it’s a dilemma. Great stadium, problematic running track. Although if we get it, at least our subs should be fit from all those track circuits.

Should we stay or should we go?

Well, at last West Ham and Spurs' bids are in. The recently pickpocketed Harry Redknapp hasn't been slow to stick his oar into the Olympic Stadium debate saying West Ham 's athletic track won't work. We seem to have abandoned any plan for retractable seats over the track which is a worry, although you'd trust West Ham fans to create atmosphere anywhere — even the Arsenal Library.

You do wonder if Brady, Gold and Sullivan are playing a clever long-game. If athletics fails and the government has changed in five years' time will they just decide to fit seats over the track anyway?

Thankfully that IOC geezer has laid into Spurs' proposal to knock down the stadium and build their own ground saying that would be "a big lie" on the UK's part.

Interestingly the Standard points out that the environmental cost of this would be huge, "the equivalent of 100 years' lost energy will go to waste if the new stadium is knocked down. This takes into account the energy used building the existing stadium, on its demolition and the creation of an alternative athletics facility."

Now Spurs are involved we can't afford not to go for it. I dont like the idea of deserting Ken's Cafe and the Newham Bookshop. But we'd be stuck in a 34,000 stadium at Upton Park with Sratford Spurs (aka Cuckoo FC) pulling 60,000 down the road.

Hammer blow

Good to see that UK Athletics is backing WHU's bid for the Olympic Stadium. The fact that we're committed to keeping the running track and are supported by Newham all adds to the the overwhelming East London legacy arguments.

Maybe we should thank Spurs for giving us a nightmare vision of the Totts getting 60,000 in Stratford. It will be sad to leave Upton Park, but if we don't some other chancers like Spurs will get it...

Political football

Carlton Cole, Mark Noble and Scott Parker, sporting a natty Don Draper-style side parting, were at Downing Street on Thursday to present the club's joint bid to run the 2012 Olympic Stadium. Sure they had a lot to say about Keynesian economics and fiscal stimulus versus deficit-cutting... Carlton confessed to feeling a little out of his depth — don't worry CC that never stopped Nick Clegg becoming deputy PM.

And Spurs have responded to their defeat on Saturday by sneakingly putting in their own bid for the Olympic Stadium. Bunch of chancers...

Meanwhile we seem to be taking the bid seriously by ingratiating ourselves with top athletes. Robert Green is using Olympic coach Ayo Falola to improve his performances according to the Sun, while Matthew Upson is dating 800-metre hopeful Ellie Darby.