West Ham and Olympic Stadium

Newham Mayor Sir Robin Wales has raised the prospect of West Ham eventually moving into the yet to be built Olympic Stadium,

"The only expansion you can have at Upton Park is over on the East side, but if they could move into the Olympic Stadium, well now you become one of the big clubs, maybe one of the top 20 clubs in the world," said the Mayor."

Last month London mayor Ken Livingstone stated that the IOC would not allow London to change the pledges of their bid document. In other words the new stadium would have to remain an athletic track after the games. Officials had insisted that after the 2012 London Games the new stadium would be reduced in capacity and could not be used as a football stadium. However olympic organising committee Chairman Lord Coe has now said that there are no rules against the stadium housing a premiership team. This has in turn lead to renewed speculation that West Ham could take over the stadium after the olmypics.

Sir Robin Wales statements about this prospect seem to suggest that Newham council would welcome the club moving out of Upton Park to an area that was designed for holding large sporting occasions. This would have the obvious benefit for the council of removing the huge congestion caused in a residential area on match days.

However if the stadium has to retain an athletic track it would mean West Ham fans would have to sit a long way from the pitch and the atmosphere in the ground would presumably be very stilted. So I would guess it is not a move that would be welcomed by West Ham fans.