Jump to content

What Was The Stadium Like?


Noodles34

Recommended Posts

I couldn't make it today, shame considering the result.

im interested to know what people thought of the stadium and the atmosphere etc. What about getting there?

Obviously not a WHU fan but surely give me Upton Park any day? But th n I'd go back o the Dell if we could, , night games under the East Stand eh!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

martin tyler spent all day wan*ing over it, so must be a good stadium.

he also took his time to mention 'the excellent transport system around the ground', as some WHU fans were leaving :lol: :lol:

Presumably at the end of the season when they go down, Davids Gold and Sullivan will use their programme notes to mention that "we have transport links that are the envy of the Premier League :smug: "

Link to comment
Share on other sites

martin tyler spent all day wan*ing over it, so must be a good stadium.

he also took his time to mention 'the excellent transport system around the ground', as some WHU fans were leaving :lol: :lol:

 

Was just going to post the same thing! He reached Motson-like senile levels with some of the **** he was wittering on about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As said above, it was a lovely stadium, but terrible for football.

We can complain all we like about them hardly paying anything for their ground, but I'd take pretty much any stadium over that one.

 

The " new stadium phenomena " happens only once in a lifetime .. but can have an effect of team performances because of "new surroundings ".

The majority of my supporting years were at The Dell where the facilities /comfort factor ranged between prehistoric and nil. However, the close proximity to the playing area was a hugely beneficial factor when the fans started to sing and back the team. Many football biographies include comments about the "fear" of coming to The Dell.

 

The move to St.Mary's gave a real facelift, but it has taken time for the atmosphere to come anywhere near that which Dell fans were capable of producing.

 

NOTE: I had contact with a Liverpool fan some years ago, who was writing about L'Pools .." great years " in the 70's-80's, and he noted that the visits to The Dell ranked with some of their worst away results....even in those years when they won the title so regularly. There are some lovely old clips on You Tube of that period.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reminds me of going to see France v Uruguay at the old White City Athletics stadium during the early rounds of the 1966 World Cup.

 

Not designed for football.

 

QPR had a season or two there back in the dim and distant past and soon went back to Loftus Road.

 

Interesting to read the comments of West Ham fans about the number of empty seats in a supposed 'Full House' and the suggestion that quite a few fans had purchased £99 kids tickets which meant that they only had to go to 3 or 4 games to make this worthwhile versus buying tickets on a game by game basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sat in row 7 lower and a great view, but as others have said it is definitely not a football stadium. Loads of us had trouble with our tickets i.e. block 120 even though I received an email from the club asking me to return my tickets which I did then told they were ok so sent back in the post to me but on entering the stadium yesterday we couldn't get in with these tickets. This resulted in being sent to the TO at West Ham to get them reprinted and therefore missing the kick off. Stewards not helpful but they are not football stewards but Olympic Stadium stewards had no idea whatsoever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With my poor eyes, I find it hard enough to see the other side of the pitch from the back of Kingsland!! God knows what I would be able to see should I be at the back of the stand behind the goal?? I seriously doubt I would be able to see that much action at the goal at the other end of the pitch. It might be a nice shiny stadium that has been got for nothing (and helped out the government by it not being a white elephant) and it might get big crowds, but now that it is up and running, I wonder how many will swap Brisbane Road for the London Stadium?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was on the upper tier and the view was terrible, you could just about make out the other end of the pitch. The only plus is there was a bit of atomsphere generated by the roof, don't know what it was like on the lower but sounded quiet from upstairs (probably because we were in the next postcode).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

West ham fans losing their **** on twitter because they're selling popcorn haha !

 

Can you blame them? From what I read (I wasn't there), it sounded like some horrendous experience with people wandering around most of the match looking for hot dogs and popcorn. I think they've royally f**ked up that move and totally misjudged what most football fans are. In that statement I include 'lads' who go, old men who go AND families that go.

 

Who wants to go along and eat bloody popcorn and have people wandering around all match going back and forth buying the stuff. Just get behind the team, TRY to build an atmosphere and support. Again by the sounds of it, our fans managed to create an atmosphere yesterday? I think they'll struggle with the new fans walking around buying popcorn.

 

So whilst it seems an odd point to raise, I do get it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The lower tier is movable and it slides forwards and backwards to allow it to be used for athletics. The flat areas between the upper and lower areas allow that to happen. It is a terrible stadium for football.

 

We looked down under the shelf part and the seats used in the original lower tier were visible.

 

As for the stadium itself, well it's mightily impressive but as a football ground it isn't great. It would do my head in having to go there every other week if I was a West Ham fan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We looked down under the shelf part and the seats used in the original lower tier were visible.

 

As for the stadium itself, well it's mightily impressive but as a football ground it isn't great. It would do my head in having to go there every other week if I was a West Ham fan.

As we were walking up from Stratford, Dad and his teenage daughter were marching along, and he was chuntering on about it being a blooming stupid walk, she replied it's not that bad, to which he responded, "well you won't be saying that when its ****ing down with rain and we've bloody lost again". Even West Ham fans in earshot couldn't help but laugh at his grim outlook.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was just going to post the same thing! He reached Motson-like senile levels with some of the **** he was wittering on about.

 

Haha martin even did the same at whu final game at upton park :lol:

Won't forget the cra* he came out with like 'the football gods shine down towards the boleyn'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMAG0958.jpg

 

View from back row of the upper tier. Awful place to watch football in.

 

Met a few west ham fans at Euston on way home one of whom got rather irate when we suggested the ground didn't cost them anything. Prompted a 15 min rant on how the move has cost him his football club, its soul, identity and how it is full of tourists who haven't got a clue. He was not a happy man

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2180[/ATTACH]

 

View from back row of the upper tier. Awful place to watch football in.

 

Met a few west ham fans at Euston on way home one of whom got rather irate when we suggested the ground didn't cost them anything. Prompted a 15 min rant on how the move has cost him his football club, its soul, identity and how it is full of tourists who haven't got a clue. He was not a happy man

 

I would suggest that that man made some excellent points.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2180[/ATTACH]

 

View from back row of the upper tier. Awful place to watch football in.

 

Met a few west ham fans at Euston on way home one of whom got rather irate when we suggested the ground didn't cost them anything. Prompted a 15 min rant on how the move has cost him his football club, its soul, identity and how it is full of tourists who haven't got a clue. He was not a happy man

 

As well you didn't mention the popcorn then. I met West Ham friends before the match. Exact same points made. Also the London branding isn't going down well. They don't care about the extra revenue.

 

Being in the upper tier reminded me of the top tier at Wembley, which in one way is worse because Wembley is supposedly a purpose built football stadium.

 

Sadly, it's all about the money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strange from the station . It looks like you're nearly there but it's still ages away . I was in upper tier, but front row so views weren't too bad . Not half as bad getting out as I thought it would be .

The designated route from Stratford station is ridiculously long. There are much shorter approaches from Stratford High Street or Fish Island, which I would definitely use if I went again.

 

But I won't. Wild horses wouldnt drag me back there, well, not for a football match.

 

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The stadium itself is fabulous and those TV screens are massive. However as others have said it wasn't built for football and it is a terrible venue for a Premier League team. It is a massive stadium but it isn't high and completely different to Twickenham or Wembley and the fans are a long long way from the pitch. Outside there were loads of decent catering outlets and easy access beer tents. They had drink only queues which I wish Saints would do. The DLR offered an easy route back to Waterloo so for everything other than the footie it was a good experience.

 

West ham have made a huge mistake here and are going to have a serious problem. We were halfway up the upper tier and the view was worse than Newcastle. There wasn't a chance of making out anything from the other end. For a different sport it would be perfect. Their PA is worse than ours which I didn't think was possible.

 

I just can't see how West ham supporters are going to create any sort of atmosphere. A previous poster was right even the Saints fans who were winning away in style were struggling. A few big OWTS but the chants died pretty quickly and in the end we had to leave it to the lower tier to dance around a little. Upton Park was a gruesome experience and a horrible place to go. Never an easy game and to have let that go is criminal in my opinion. I'm a child of the 60s and have fond memories of the hammers, they have always struck me as a decent club, fragile and unstable they may be but I've always loved games against them. Yesterday was sterile it was like playing a poor man's Arsenal. I wouldn't wish their current predicament on any football supporter not even Pompey.

 

They'll be 'focus group' reporting right now followed by an army of experts who will start messing with the 'experience' to artificially create an atmosphere. Watch out for flags cheerleaders, piped music, crowd 'generators', and probably a lot more pop corn.

 

It is an extremely rare event for one set of supporters to feel any sympathy for another set of fans but it might just be justified on this occasion.

 

Macca

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do like the moaning about the popcorn and the fighting with other people coming to watch as if you have to be a certain 'type' of fan. Confirmation IMO that a lot of football fans are complete morons.

 

Feel better though about the whole shady deal that got them it though, seems like it's back firing and have zero sympathy for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The designated route from Stratford station is ridiculously long. There are much shorter approaches from Stratford High Street or Fish Island, which I would definitely use if I went again.

 

But I won't. Wild horses wouldnt drag me back there, well, not for a football match.

 

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

 

dw, we won't have to go there when they are in the championship next season ;) lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...