Forum | Non-Football Related

The international break invariably 'throws up' a plethora of Hammers related articles that are 'left field', and during this break attention has turned to 'the most successful stadium move ever', as described by Lady Brady! After five years the initial problems remain the same, ie the collosal distance between the fans and the pitch.

While there has been a small amount of cosmetic treatment, the squaring off of both ends behind the goal mouths, the need for a comprehensive re jigging of the Stadium is painfully obvious to all and sundry. Due to the unique and quite frankly ludicrous, for all parties, terms of Hammers 'tenancy', the club is unable to carry out anything other than the equivalent to a 'new lick of paint' until the ownership of the London Stadium changes hands.

It should be remembered that as far back as the 'biscuit baron' era the club had offered to be involved, however, in their wisdom the LDDC decided to ignore any collaborative offers, and proceeded to write off many millions of tax payers money as a result! We should also mention that if it had not been for a certain Mr Levy, the club would have purchased the ground outright, but due to his enormous envy, he managed by fair means and foul, to stymie the process in true 'dog in a manger' style.

Levy, with nose clearly put out of joint then decided to build his own 'white elephant' at white hart lane, as a consequence his club now owe in excess of £1 Billion, and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person, karma? You betcha!

So what can be done to the London Stadium to make it fit for purpose, without tearing it down and doing a complete rebuild? Well, surprisingly an awful lot. Any one who has been to the LS regularly cannot have failed to notice all the 'unused' seats and scaffolding underneath the main seating areas. Having consulted a friend of the site who has been involved in the cross rail construction project, we can confirm that it IS possible to completely alter the current sight lines by 'excavating' the pitch and opening up the level that already exists.

There is already the facility to be able to drive a truck under the ground, this was probably the only useful legacy from the Olympics, and was originally designed to facilitate and accomodate all the broadcasting equipment from nations around the globe, along with all their various logistical requirements.

Incidentally, talk of there being a 'toxic dump' underneath the stadium are wide of the mark, the is toxicity under most of London's buildings due to the fact that London, is essentially built on clay, and as such there is, and has always been, a degree of 'unpleasantness' associated with constructing large structures on clay, the difficulties are most definitely surmountable, it there is the will.

There is definitely the will, but is there the where withal, or indeed the desire to effect the changes necessary to turn the Stadium in to a football venue that is fit for purpose, at some point the co-owners will either have to put up or ship out and sell the club. - Ed

According to reports emanating from Hammers 'goose green' training ground, midfield dynamo Pablo Fornals and forward Andriy Yarmolenko will both be available for today's clash with London rivals Arsenal. 'Yarmo' is at best now seen as a 'fringe' player, whereas Fornals is seen as an integral component in the 'Moyes machine'.

The extremely generous, some might say quite ludicrous, terms of Yarmo's contract beggar belief, £115,000 per week for a player who has been unavailable through injury for vast tracts of time, in fact he has played only 53 games scoring ten goals in the process during his entire time with West Ham. Astonishingly he was offered a FOUR year deal, which expires on the 30th of June 2022, despite having a propensity for picking up injuries.

Yarmolenko's current market value is £5 Million, the problem is no one will be willing or able to match his outrageous salary, so it looks as if the club are going to be stuck with him unless they do a similar deal as was done with Jack Wilshere, just to get him off the books.

It is worth bearing in mind that both Yarmo and wheelchair were Pellegrini signings, their combined £225,000 per week wages ate up a staggering £11 Million per year, so far the cost of these 'dalliance' signings is in excess of £30 Million! How David Moyes would love to have had that money at his disposal?

Unfortunately for Moyes he has had to do the housekeeping that involves trying to offload the players who are crippling the club with their lucrative deals, eventually they will all be gone, but not before a considerable amount of fiscal pain.

Fornals, on the other hand, is young, fit and increasing in value, he along with 'Fab' are the only players Pellegrini signed that have been any good, the rest have been very expensive mistakes! So the fitness of Yarmolenko is neither here nor there, but Fornals is a different kettle of fish, fans will be praying that he will be available, because the other options available could fill them with fear. - Ed