The Olympic Stad Pick Experience
Westfield Stratford is much like a mirror image of Westfield in White City, except the Stratford one has the Hammers 'Reservation' take away outlet! Ray Winstone's distinctive voice booms out via the promotional video, an audio assault which the poor blighters who work there have had to endure many thousands of times, saying how we are going to 'ammer the opposition when they turn up at what has been cruelly dubbed as The Tax Payers Stadium. The irony of using Big Ray is that his voice is synonymous with Bet 365 in play, whereas West Ham are sponsored by their fierce rivals Betway, perhaps they might put a bid in for his services during the summer transfer window.
Anyway, to continue the 'experience', those people lucky enough to even be at the arse end of the queue duly turn up to their allotted time slot, shortly after the aforementioned 'promo' is shown an agent sits down to show what seats are available, and it can be confirmed that as of yesterday (26.04.2016) there are very few left and even fewer choices! Essentially the only remaining seats are (a) up in the gods (b) next to the away fans (c ) next to the broadcasting towers, there is also the caveat that seats will not be available for FA Cup matches because of the need to offer 15% of the available seats for away fans, a signed declaration is required from the season ticket purchaser before completion. The next stage is paying and receiving your seat allocation and registration numbers which are highly important, but the on line validation process might confuse some, on completion of the process and just before departure fans are obliged to have their photo taken twice, once with a scarf and then once making the crossed hammers sign, this is ostensibly for giant background pictures because the original 'wrap' has been turned down. The fact that a two year ticket purchase is mandatory is not in itself an issue, after all the 'economy' seats are priced very keenly and so most fans are happy to stump up, there is also a loan facility so no one is left out, all of this is very encouraging, but there is one nagging doubt. During the signing up process it is made known and is common knowledge that these last seats were only available because of the club's decision to increase capacity from 55,000 to 60,000, therefore what is disturbing is that people are still being asked to pay a £10 registration fee to join the priority list, one which is currently over subscribed by 30,000! So basic maths shows West Ham will make an extra £300,000, peanuts in today's ludicrously bloated football industry, the people at the end of that list don't have a hope in hell of ever getting a ticket, definitely not for years, so shouldn't the club be more transparent about the waiting list? It would be rather a decent gesture if the club's hierarchy were able to publicly announce the success of the season ticket issue while at the same time warning how long it may take to get your ticket if you are on the priority list, it might be an even better gesture if they were to offer the money back to people who now realise they are unlikely to ever get their hands on a ticket. It would be an inexpensive PR coup, and would help endorse the fact that West Ham United really is moore than a club. - Ed
