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Lights Camera Action

darrenharry's picture
Submitted by darrenharry on Fri, 05/08/2016 - 15:26

So it came, it happened, and it passed.
No, not my morning ritual, but the OS/LS or whatever it will be called this week.
So how was it for you dear? I’m really not too sure to be honest. Maybe erring on the positive side. For now.
“Mutton dressed as lamb” I heard one comment. “Wow, un-be-lievable” was another. I guess I was somewhere in the middle. Depending on the photographic angle and agenda you were coming from, they were varying photos of the stadium that made it look either ridiculously ramshackle or stunning.
I’d been to the Olympic Park a few times this year with the kids. Affording me the opportunity to scope the surroundings in more detail, witness progress.
First things first it’s a good location. Not great, but good. 100% improvement on Green St. Lots to do there, lots of places to eat/drink/walk/mingle/shop. To that end it fits the bill of a 21stC experience perfectly. Whatever you think of modern football, if you want to be at the top end, if you can’t cater for the any of the following, you will struggle. Grounds that have been stuck in industrial sites or the edge of town in no man’s land will gradually die. Unless they are rammed to the rafters week after week is not sustainable. I predict in the next 15 years we’ll see upwards of 10 league clubs go belly up.
So for this reason, the OS/LS is a very good business decision. Its built into the fabric of the surroundings. Its touching distance of everything you want and minutes from other, fashionable London icons. If you’re a footballer coming to London, we’ve now pushed ourselves onto the top table.
Obviously success is a heavy weighing factor, but in fairness the groundwork is done, now the performances on the pitch need to live up to that.
So the outside is very…..OK. Still amazes me how “fascinated” and “easily impressed” some people are. This is the age of selfie though I guess, so people clambering over each other to have that “original” photo of the stadium sign and then twat it or twitter it (whatever the correct term is).
The crowd felt different too, not just because it was bigger. It definitely had the tourist feel. I’m hoping it’s because it was the inaugural game, so lots of interested bystanders got swept up. Hopefully they drift away when it comes to wet Wednesday nights at home to Hull…..
I’m all for encouraging people to come, but if their main concern is free Wi-Fi that should come with a free smack in the mouth. Just because you have the carrier bag and know how to cross your arms for a picture………You’ll impress me more if you can tell me Ian Bishops nickname from FAH……
So to the bricks and mortar…..and plastic, and crash mats, and steel girders. Well, it’s all rather big and fancy. If you like that sort of thing bring your plastic pants as no doubt you’ll be wetting them frequently. Looks quite pretty, acoustics are decent. We won’t really know until we are into the season. These games with no opposition fans, seasoned fans still gawping at triangular lights like demented moths, and others filming bubbles as though there capturing a unicorn fellating itself are no benchmarks of the real atmosphere. There were very quiet periods (said no married man ever) and some more raucous. I think this is very much a TBC. One thing that may help is the huge East Stand. Having 20k in one seamless stand may well become the modern day chicken run. I expect big things of that stand, so if you’re there, take note….
The toilets were…..big, there were lot of concession stands. The seating was comfy and I didn’t feel like I had to propose to the man in front of me (like when I last sat in the East Upper, poor chap in front of me had my sac balanced on his head until Payet’s free kick v Palace). Apparently you can take your own seat cushions in with you if you want……..might as well rig a catheter up and be done with it at the same time.
When the teams did run out, I did gulp a little bit (maybe it was the hot dog). It did look a bit “out of body” experience. My little old team, suddenly the bell of the ball. It was impressive. I’ve a feeling night games will retain a bit of the Upton Park magic. Something about the East End night air. There’s a hint of devilry, mirth, alcohol, passion. Maybe I’m looking through the lens of a rose, but I think the lights may continue to bring the best out of us.
Is the pitch too far away? Well of course. But hey. I’ve been to the Emirates, Wembley, I’ve been in the gods at St James Park. That’s life. No one died, one just adjusts a little. The chicken run ended up being (what felt like) miles from play, this is a bit further still but I think benefits far outweigh everything else now.
As for the game, I’ll let others comment. I had half an eye on it, half on others (and their blasted phones) and the ground and atmosphere.
The whistle came. Many of the tourists had long since wandered away to grab a mocha latte with hint of lemon zest and essence of Cambodian first born. Me and the kids lingered a little, taking things in and waiting for the queues to subside a little. On the whole a much more pleasant walk back to Stratford than UP. Well lit, well marshalled and constantly moving. I’ll have some of that thank you.
So I’ll be back with my ST next for Bournemouth. Apparently Mrs Brady wants my feedback on any ways she can improve my experience…….wow, brave woman. We’ll see how dedicated she is…..

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Comments

nevillenixon's picture

Blimey Dazza, you saved me doing a write up! Agree with everything you say, there were a lot of local 'people' who had been given tickets who will not be there when the Prem kicks off. I was listening to Talk Shite on the way home after the match in the car and got very pissed off with Jason 'first four letters of my name is the clue' Cundy for saying we as a club are pernicious because of acquiring the stadium "on the cheap at the expense of the taxpayer! So i thought I will give them a bell when I got home. When I did I discovered I had ruined the site trying to upload the team sheet from my phone so had to spend a while fixing it and had to go to sleep. So today they were spouting on about the stadium so i thought I would give them a call, which i did. They called back, I had a moan about the signage but said apart from that it was really great, and that it would improve in time. That was it, and then ten minutes later 'andy' their link person rang me to say I had won the £100 Wickes vouchers from the Wickes phone in. I had no idea it was that show that I was ringing in to! ( I thought the voucher give away was just a scam for them and their pals at talkshite) Suggest you ask Ms Brady if she will give you £100 worth of Ann Summers vouchers for your honest opinion.

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368 users have voted.

The atmosphere in the East Stand Lower Section was really good and so was the view, the gradient was my biggest worry for Oliver but I was very impressed and pleased. You are right in saying that we are going to find a lot of tourists/one off's at games, and I also noticed quite a few last night. One of my biggest worries was a lack of atmosphere like the Emirates, but apart from size/shape there was no comparison as the OS was far superior.

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226 users have voted.
cast iron's picture

Travelling to the game from Ebbsfleet really excited and going to the new Stadium only took me 50 mins to get there taking in all the sites walking through Westfield looking in a couple of shops see the bars and thought oh I will wait till I get in the ground only Karen Brady told us it was happy hour when they first open the turnstiles. So there we are walking along Stratford Way had a bit of a wait talked about the good old days at the Boleyn, how England will fair under Allerdyce. Big rush to see the spectacular new ground with Europes biggest Video screens(Karen Brady Told Me) not exactly blown away but the next obstacle nearly slayed me NO ALCOHOL so there I am got there early to a custom myself with our new surroundings (like Karen Brady told us to do) Hot evening cant even have a beer what shall I do in the happy hour Oh I know 2 chicken pies and 4 hot dogs Wot a Happy Hour that was Karen. What can I do now Oh i know lets have a look in the Merchandise shop sorry you cant go in there as there is no entrance in the ground and once go out you cant get back in. Mind u that took me 25 mins to find that out as most of the staff didnt know where the West ham store was. So I wander round looking for the entrance to the shop and low and behold I see big Doors with people drinking Alcohol I ask how they get to have a beer and the majorIty of supporters cant when i asked the guy on the door he told me that these were for co-opertive And special ticket holders and members only. He might Just have said Some Pigs Are Equal but some are more Equal than others(Animal Farm) Now let me tell you Karen Brady If your Gonna have a policy of no Booze it ought to be for Everybody otherwise why bother having a no alcohol policy for the Europa Cup for us poor supporters.You wanted feed back well heres some More coming out of the ground we could not walk through the shopping centre so us sheep (not pigs any more) were all herded down to Strattford Underground Station I asked where I could get a train to Ebbsfleet. He said wheres that? Kent I said, Oh I dont know I think he thought Kent was on milky way.He got out his phone AH! Ebbsfleet you can go on the LDR to Lewisham Bit difficult when my cars parked in Ebbsfleet car park and this was the senior guy telling me this dont know how how he got the Job Must have done a masters degree in moron. Food for thought Karen I Hope So

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316 users have voted.

Its matchday & still not got mine. All I`ve got is a screenshot of a computer screen emailed to me from the disabled helpline after I phoned them yesterday, was told that it will suffice...I hope so !!.

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339 users have voted.

Went to the game today & darrens opinion is spot on imo!
Nice stadium,facilities,transport links etc...But will we truly be able to call it home?could take years,who knows!!
My one concern is during the game (quite a lot in fact) the atmosphere was so flat the silence was deafening...now i know it was a friendly & its to be expected but what will it be like when we are playing poorly??Hope im wrong & the hammers faithfull will make it a fortress...
Though in general its a thumbs up from me....
one gripe though- the constant rendition of "stand up if you love westham" is effing embaressing!!;)

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207 users have voted.

Went straight to the on site ticket office & without question they printed out a couple for me. Agreed it`s a great stadium, facilities, access etc but it`s gonna take a while to settle in & call it `home` .
We were in the Blackwall tunnel in less time than it used to take to get off Green Street & back home in Medway in 45 mins.

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224 users have voted.

What happened to everyone popping in to the org...there would be 60 comments in 2 hours 2 years ago...how times change and goes back to the old saying that nothing stays the same forever...Just look at our West Ham today compared to 10 years ago ! COYI, this is our year

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322 users have voted.
nevillenixon's picture

Times change, there are some other more scurrilous reasons though, after we lost the domain due to logistical reasons we were able to re-launch, however every time we did so we were subject to DDoS attacks generated from a certain site with a & in their title. It is difficult to prove but it had two direct effects. (a) people got pissed off trying to log in for weeks on end, and secondly it meant us having to move to a new server at 5 times the cost of the original just to ensure security for our members.
We will be re-launching the site yet again when the new season kicks in....and will be making a point of showing that we have NO pop overs, pop unders or intestetial adverts attacking you from all directions!

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393 users have voted.

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