Olympic Stadium/West Ham Utd/Taxpayers!!
vinnymarsden
Posts: 560
Just heard on the BBC radio news….the Olympic Stadium, which is set to become West Hams new footballing home will go over £100million over budget for the work to make it a footy stadium, and guess what…the cost to be borne by us the taxpayers of the UK!!
Now I'm not saying it shouldn't happen, but why in the name of all that is sensible is the taxpayer expected to make good on something for a private enterprise like West Ham? The last I read Sky had splurged £5.5 billion for the rights to show the Premier League on TV..so don't anyone dare say there isn't enough money in football to do it. I cancelled my Sky Sports subs on the strength of that obscene deal, and hearing this news only makes me more angry. The club get the stadium EXACTLY as they want it…and lets face it..for FAR less than the cost of building a new one would be to them, and we foot the bill. It couldn't happen anywhere else but this stupid f ing country! Rather like the High Speed Train idea… we ALL suffer the cost for very little real benefit…if you REALLLLLY need to be in London 30mins earlier…catch an earlier train/set off earlier…its not rocket science, or the more likely scenario with both the Olympic stadium and the train…lots of MPs will have vested interests in some of the infrastructure work, so it gets pushed through, damn what the taxpayer feels about it.
I personally, if I want to invest tax money in sport would like to see grass roots sport funded properly, in Sheffield we had a sports stadium, even hosted some European athletics meetings…. what is it now?? Some college or other built on the site where Olympic stars used to train, and we wonder why future stars are dwindling. Cycling is next, the velodromes are few/far between, I think our nearest is Derby or Manchester……long way to go for VERY limited track time.
But please West Ham, enjoy the facilities that I/other taxpayers will be paying for, just don't pass on any savings in reduced tickets, or heaven forbid a sensible wage structure!!!
Rant over!!!
Now I'm not saying it shouldn't happen, but why in the name of all that is sensible is the taxpayer expected to make good on something for a private enterprise like West Ham? The last I read Sky had splurged £5.5 billion for the rights to show the Premier League on TV..so don't anyone dare say there isn't enough money in football to do it. I cancelled my Sky Sports subs on the strength of that obscene deal, and hearing this news only makes me more angry. The club get the stadium EXACTLY as they want it…and lets face it..for FAR less than the cost of building a new one would be to them, and we foot the bill. It couldn't happen anywhere else but this stupid f ing country! Rather like the High Speed Train idea… we ALL suffer the cost for very little real benefit…if you REALLLLLY need to be in London 30mins earlier…catch an earlier train/set off earlier…its not rocket science, or the more likely scenario with both the Olympic stadium and the train…lots of MPs will have vested interests in some of the infrastructure work, so it gets pushed through, damn what the taxpayer feels about it.
I personally, if I want to invest tax money in sport would like to see grass roots sport funded properly, in Sheffield we had a sports stadium, even hosted some European athletics meetings…. what is it now?? Some college or other built on the site where Olympic stars used to train, and we wonder why future stars are dwindling. Cycling is next, the velodromes are few/far between, I think our nearest is Derby or Manchester……long way to go for VERY limited track time.
But please West Ham, enjoy the facilities that I/other taxpayers will be paying for, just don't pass on any savings in reduced tickets, or heaven forbid a sensible wage structure!!!
Rant over!!!
0
Posts
Crudder
CX
Toy
Couldnt agree with you more, but this is the way this country is run, pseudo right wing, capitalism, market forces blah blah.... until they want state leftie intervention and then the tax payer picks up the bill
it should be made into a multi use stadium not for football, which can afford it s own facilities.
hmmm, only £2.5m a year, but i guess it can be used for other things too. plus west ham don't own the naming rights, I'd like to think another team will buy them and call it something wildly inappropriate!
As for the stadium - apparently it's a 99year lease - everything I've read says West Ham have got a very good deal out of the taxpayer.
You are right, the stadium isn't theirs, but realistically the cost of building a new stadium on the scale of the olympic one is outside West Hams price range, their input..for all the work……a measly £15million !!!
Sell that donkey Carroll and their contribution sorted!!
I personally want a few bricks with my families names on them in there…cos I/they are paying for it, once again all the money centred in London...
The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
Not a Hammers fan nor an avid football fan but what would these 'multi uses' be? As posted above, the Sheffield arena was converted to something else. If there had been greater demand for sporting facilities, perhaps it would have survived.
So the only sensible solution would've been west ham or spurs as tenants, a long term rent, contribution to costs that arose because the authorities screwed up their planning. And ensuring the stadium is not a white elephant is the only way of ensuring many different sports people can use it. Again, I think the chairmen will cash in, but I don't agree that this is at the detriment of other sports or that it is the fault of football that the tax payer has incurred such high costs.
We won you the bloody world cup, the least we deserve is a new stadium.