Effra ignores the rest of the problems facing West Ham and takes a look at the club’s latest distraction.
As West Ham’s players start eyeing the world record for Premiership games without a goal, things off the pitch have taken a decided turn for the worse over the past few days.
Just as the Iranian seemed to have lost the initiative to the Icelandic biscuit millionaire in the West Ham takeover sweepstakes, club chairman Terence Brown seems determined to give Joorabchian another chance to find more money from dubious sources, and the Sports Minister Richard Caborn is now mouthing off as he battles with Ken Livingstone about the future of the Olympic stadium.
Now losing to Spurs hurts, not scoring a goal for 7 games is mind-numbingly depressing, and remembering that two of the next four games include Premiership fixtures against Arsenal and Chelsea is an invitation to the football funny farm. But watching West Ham becoming a plaything in this property and political mania generated by the Olympics coming to the East End leaves me with a glimpse of what it would mean to say goodbye to football as I have lived it for more than 30 years.
Take a look at what this sci-fi stadium is supposed to look like and tell me that it is got anything to do with what football has meant to the generations of West Ham fans who have poured their passions into Upton Park for the last 102 years. Sure, sometimes clubs move grounds successfully, but not when they move to stadiums that have being designed and build without a second’s thought for football, especially the relationship of the fans to the players, or because they’ve become pawns in someone else’s vaulting ambition.
Ask hard core Manchester City fans and they’ll tell you they’d like their club back. Even Tottenham’s board seem to get the point and won’t let the Spuds be tossed up to the vultures because there is quick money and influence to be made out of it. Their Sporting Director Damien Commoli even acknowledged the “poor atmosphere” at stadium’s with running tracks factored into their decision.
It’s in your hands Terence Brown – just say no.