Over the last few weeks there have been a few barely noticeable, but significant developments in the Olympic stadium saga.
Since the OPLC terminated their previous agreement with Newham Council and West Ham, there has been a distinct shift in the language used by both parties.
The government and the OPLC are obviously keeping tight lipped over the nature of the tender documents, but haave released certain details so as to ease the worries of the World Athletics Championships committee and smooth the successful bid for the games in 2017.
The new fixed 99 year lease for athletics at the stadium has effectively ruled out Tottenham and Leyton Orient as they never had any intention of playing in a stadium with a running track, although don’t be surprised if the duplicitous Barry Herne pops up once the bidding process begins again.
This development that has given primacy to athletics is something that was not in the original agreement and is a worrying glimpse into what West Ham can expect from their possible future landlords.
Yet Karren Brady recently said in her Sun column that the club was looking at temporary seats to bring the stands closer to the pitch and David Sullivan tweeted a similar statement.
This would be similar to the arrangement Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium has developed. Someone had better tell Seb Coe, he’s not going to be too happy with that idea.
Boris Johnson stated that the intention now was for a ‘multi-sport’ stadium, but aside from the occasional and sparsely supported athletics meeting, which sports will want to take up this offer?
Essex County Cricket Club made tentative noises about playing some T20 games at the Olympic Stadium and there could be the possibility the ground hosting a double header of London rugby union teams that are sometimes held at Wembley.
But no solid agreements have been made and none of this is in the best interests of West Ham.
With this new emphasis the board should think long and hard about the implications of what getting involved in such an arrangement would mean for the future of the club.
Without their own ground they would be at the whim of the government of the day, who is to say that a change of coalition or new London Mayor at some point down the line would not result in the Hammers being out on their ear.
When the initial bid was in conjunction with Newham Council it felt a little safer, but being under the government and the OPLC leaves an uneasy felling.
As it turns out Newham have their own plans for getting back in on the action; the OPLC still expect them to contribute £40m to the cost of re-structuring the stadium after the games, and as part of that deal they want to have a say in how it’s run with a place on the management board.
In an interview with talksport, David Sullivan hinted at a rethink on the part of the West Ham board and he also raised the hopes of campaign group WHU Views that a support vote on whether the club will continue their interest in moving into the stadium could go ahead.
But he also stated that West Ham had to move at some point in the future, ruling out many fans hopes of a redevelopment of the East stand, bringing the capacity to a more realistic 45,000, but this could just be a move to try and strengthen the club’s position when and if negotiations begin.
His main reason for considering the Boleyn Ground an untenable option was that it created a small-team mentality within the club.
Many fans would dispute this evaluation that the ground has held the club back. If there has been a lack of ambition in the past it has come from the board.
It could be argued that the old ground and the unique atmosphere created, despite diminishing in intensity of late, has helped the team over the years.
Coe’s determination to continue his preening self-congratulatory world tour has moved the goalposts but it is not West Ham’s responsibility to save the government’s blushes by continuing the ‘legacy’ and prevent their project from becoming a ‘white elephant’.
But with the board determined to move grounds in the future, what are the other options? The club cannot afford to finance the building of a completely new stadium so they will probably continue full steam ahead with their plans to bid for the Olympic Stadium once more.
With new details and revelations being made on an almost daily basis this tedious saga is likely to rumble on and on.
