While this chaos persists, it really doesn't sound like a very good place to be, as, apart from the lesser dangers, terrorists must surely be able to watch the news, too.
The next fixtures at the Yours'n'Mine Arena, subject to changes for TV :
Sep 21 Accrington Stanley Sep 25 Southampton Oct 01 Middlesbrough Oct 22 Sunderland Nov 05 Stoke Dec 03 Arsenal Dec 13 Burnley Dec 17 Hull Jan 02 Man Utd
The Arsenal match at present kicks off at 15.00 on a pre-Xmas Saturday. Especially if the weather is fine, there could be monumental numbers heading for Stratford. We have a PM with several years experience of the Home Office - surely on the grounds of public order alone (both inside and outside the stadium) the present unsavoury buck-passing has got to be brought to an immediate halt so that proper grown-ups can get involved and some serious professionals sweep away all this amateurish shilly-shallying. Wishful thinking will no longer get the job done. This is not the first or the biggest football ground ever built - WHU's brazen arrogance has put the mockers on the whole sorry shambles.
Until now it's only been about the money - serious though that undoubtedly is, problems of much greater concern might well be lurking just around the corner.
Out of interest, how is it that games can go ahead if they seem to think they need a police presence inside the ground and the police won't provide one ? (Apologies if that's already been covered/asked)
If you put the words advised, preferred, recommended etc then basically you don't need to do anything.
We have been advised that WHUFC would prefer to have a police presence within the ground, and have recommended they upgrade the radio systems within the stadium, however none of us actually give a flying fuck as we won't be paying towards it, unlike you silly taxpaying pricks, hahahah
They can put any qualifying words they like but if they've identified a problem/deficiency in safety arrangements then surely wouldn't they will all be bang to rights if anything does happen and they haven't taken appropriate measures to prevent it ?
West Ham and the stadium administrators have been caught napping. Lots of attention given to the colour of the seats, the outside wraps and the massive and impressive dressing rooms and training facilities inside the complex (they were on Football Focus on Saturday) but enough to the basics of security
Surely the required infrastructure for emergency services comms was available for the Olympics?
As mentioned above, this now means it's clear for the entire world to see, there's a Premier League venue which lacks the communications infrastructure to support the emergency services. This is an unacceptable compromise to the security and safety of everyone in that stadium, especially at the moment.
Surely the required infrastructure for emergency services comms was available for the Olympics?
As mentioned above, this now means it's clear for the entire world to see, there's a Premier League venue which lacks the communications infrastructure to support the emergency services. This is an unacceptable compromise to the security and safety of everyone in that stadium, especially at the moment.
Or the Rugby World Cup last year for which much of the rebuilding work had already been done
There is no doubting that it's an impressive stadium.
Sorry but it just isn't.
It really isn't. I was there for the Olympics and couldn't believe what a bare-bones structure it was. Spurs had the right idea, knock it down and build a proper football ground with a sensible athletics facility elsewhere. As usual, ego and greed get in the way of common sense.
There is no doubting that it's an impressive stadium.
Sorry but it just isn't.
It really isn't. I was there for the Olympics and couldn't believe what a bare-bones structure it was. Spurs had the right idea, knock it down and build a proper football ground with a sensible athletics facility elsewhere. As usual, ego and greed get in the way of common sense.
Awful football stadium. It might be brilliant for other events but if its primary use is for football then it has failed.
Surely the required infrastructure for emergency services comms was available for the Olympics?
As mentioned above, this now means it's clear for the entire world to see, there's a Premier League venue which lacks the communications infrastructure to support the emergency services. This is an unacceptable compromise to the security and safety of everyone in that stadium, especially at the moment.
Or the Rugby World Cup last year for which much of the rebuilding work had already been done
Private security (G4S) and subsequently the army were on patrol during the Olympics. I don't know if they use different comms systems?
As for the RWC. I saw France vs Romania at the ground and I don't remember seeing a bobby inside the ground. I would imagine they weren't needed for crowd control given that there was much more a family feel at that match. However, given this development, I am grateful that there was no major incident where police action was required.
The club (west ham) must surely be responsible for this. In most offices as major Tennant and in this case West Ham are the only Tennant bar the Athletics in the summer - West ham are not sharing facilities whilst they are on site during the football season. They (West Ham) have paid for security through the service charge but the landlord must surely be saying for your specific needs you stump up the rest. The landlord is providing security for a non segregated event such as Athletics. West Ham need a segregated service and police - that is clearly extra and as such they must pay. Or did Boris say 'no problem i know several million in London who will gladly pay your bills for you'. Its just incredible how West Ham think they are being short changed, no landlord pays for personal tenant security needs for free. They would provide the basics and the rest is either down to you or the landlord does it and you pay - however for insurance reasons, the landlord would most likely say, your responsibility.... i sincerely hope that is what they are saying now.
West Ham want E20 to arrange for police and more experienced stewards inside stadium.
This is the bit that gets me.
"The club says the stadium's owners and matchday operator need to bolster policing, stewarding & segregation"
You'd have thought that having got a free 50k stadium, they'd be prepared to at least pay for policing. And surely segregation is their responsibility? How much does it cost to put a few rows of netting between rival fans?
Of course there is a way around the problem if the council stumps up for the cost of policing to save whu dipping into its £100 million (?) from the PL and offsets the costs by cutting housing benefits/services in the borough.
Surely the required infrastructure for emergency services comms was available for the Olympics?
As mentioned above, this now means it's clear for the entire world to see, there's a Premier League venue which lacks the communications infrastructure to support the emergency services. This is an unacceptable compromise to the security and safety of everyone in that stadium, especially at the moment.
Or the Rugby World Cup last year for which much of the rebuilding work had already been done
The police are basically admitting that their comms kit is no good. What is unacceptable is that they are refusing to provide a public safety service, hiding behind the fact their kit is no good. Airwave has been widely known to be a bit duff and is due to be replaced imminently anyway. It makes no sense to spend fortunes installing soon to be obsolete gear, just to force the police to do their bloody job properly.
Surely the required infrastructure for emergency services comms was available for the Olympics?
As mentioned above, this now means it's clear for the entire world to see, there's a Premier League venue which lacks the communications infrastructure to support the emergency services. This is an unacceptable compromise to the security and safety of everyone in that stadium, especially at the moment.
Or the Rugby World Cup last year for which much of the rebuilding work had already been done
The police are basically admitting that their comms kit is no good. What is unacceptable is that they are refusing to provide a public safety service, hiding behind the fact their kit is no good. Airwave has been widely known to be a bit duff and is due to be replaced imminently anyway. It makes no sense to spend fortunes installing soon to be obsolete gear, just to force the police to do their bloody job properly.
If you have any reliable back -up info on this, again we (the OSC) could make good use of it. PM only though.
There is no doubting that it's an impressive stadium.
Sorry but it just isn't.
It really isn't. I was there for the Olympics and couldn't believe what a bare-bones structure it was. Spurs had the right idea, knock it down and build a proper football ground with a sensible athletics facility elsewhere. As usual, ego and greed get in the way of common sense.
The upper tier was designed to be removed after the Olympics so was a very basic structure, leaving a 30k athletics track using the permanent lower tier. I still don't entirely understand why "we" couldn't afford to just keep this going, but CAN afford the massive bill involved in converting it into a football stadium?
I suppose the benefit of keeping the higher capacity is that it can be used next summer for the World Athletics, but after that the 60k capacity will probably never be needed again for athletics
Surely the required infrastructure for emergency services comms was available for the Olympics?
As mentioned above, this now means it's clear for the entire world to see, there's a Premier League venue which lacks the communications infrastructure to support the emergency services. This is an unacceptable compromise to the security and safety of everyone in that stadium, especially at the moment.
Or the Rugby World Cup last year for which much of the rebuilding work had already been done
The police are basically admitting that their comms kit is no good. What is unacceptable is that they are refusing to provide a public safety service, hiding behind the fact their kit is no good. Airwave has been widely known to be a bit duff and is due to be replaced imminently anyway. It makes no sense to spend fortunes installing soon to be obsolete gear, just to force the police to do their bloody job properly.
If you have any reliable back -up info on this, again we (the OSC) could make good use of it. PM only though.
There is plenty of stuff on Airwave and its problems in the public domain. Commons committees have reported on its performance during the 7/7 bombings and I think they looked at its cost to the taxpayer due to the fixed price contract with O2.
The police refusing to provide a public safety service because their very expensive comms kit isn't supported by base stations at the stadium is scandalous. Normal icom radio handsets would do a perfectly sound job at the stadium.
I suspect this is all a smoke job to hide a very serious argument behind the scenes about who is paying for the police to be in the stadium and how the entire Olympic Park/Westfield area requires blanket policing to make it safe from football aggro/terrorist threat every other Saturday.
West Ham want E20 to arrange for police and more experienced stewards inside stadium.
This is the bit that gets me.
"The club says the stadium's owners and matchday operator need to bolster policing, stewarding & segregation"
You'd have thought that having got a free 50k stadium, they'd be prepared to at least pay for policing. And surely segregation is their responsibility? How much does it cost to put a few rows of netting between rival fans?
Once again - you can't blame them. They are just referencing the ridiculous contract that they were able to negotiate.
The problem is with the guys managing 'our' side of the contract.....not West Ham.
Absolutely i agree, you can't blame them for certain aspects of this shambles but Watford wasn't the first game there's been trouble at. So whilst the situation regarding policing and the suitability of stewards is sorted out, you'd still think they'd try and take their own precautions. I keep reading that there's no segregation between rival fans, but like i said, how much trouble can it be to put some netting between the two sets of fans to at least solve one potential fighting issue.
Then they just need to worry about their own fans fighting! What a mess.
I am really surprised that more is not being made of this. A Premier League team is openly blaming the taxpayers of this Country for not providing security and police officers to attend their matches.
Bullshit you can't blame them, meaning West Ham SMT... You know when you're ripping someone off, whether it's your fault or not. You can argue about what that might mean, but when it's the taxpayer and you're using your years of experience to exploit the naive negotiators on a massive public works project, then you're a special piece of shit.
Bullshit you can't blame them, meaning West Ham SMT... You know when you're ripping someone off, whether it's your fault or not. You can argue about what that might mean, but when it's the taxpayer and you're using your years of experience to exploit the naive negotiators on a massive public works project, then you're a special piece of shit.
Knights of the Garter, starring David Gold and David Sullivan.
Comments
Sep 21 Accrington Stanley
Sep 25 Southampton
Oct 01 Middlesbrough
Oct 22 Sunderland
Nov 05 Stoke
Dec 03 Arsenal
Dec 13 Burnley
Dec 17 Hull
Jan 02 Man Utd
The Arsenal match at present kicks off at 15.00 on a pre-Xmas Saturday. Especially if the weather is fine, there could be monumental numbers heading for Stratford. We have a PM with several years experience of the Home Office - surely on the grounds of public order alone (both inside and outside the stadium) the present unsavoury buck-passing has got to be brought to an immediate halt so that proper grown-ups can get involved and some serious professionals sweep away all this amateurish shilly-shallying. Wishful thinking will no longer get the job done. This is not the first or the biggest football ground ever built - WHU's brazen arrogance has put the mockers on the whole sorry shambles.
Until now it's only been about the money - serious though that undoubtedly is, problems of much greater concern might well be lurking just around the corner.
Shame that an area wasn't set aside for safe standing.
As mentioned above, this now means it's clear for the entire world to see, there's a Premier League venue which lacks the communications infrastructure to support the emergency services. This is an unacceptable compromise to the security and safety of everyone in that stadium, especially at the moment.
Shame that's not an Olympic Sport.
As for the RWC. I saw France vs Romania at the ground and I don't remember seeing a bobby inside the ground. I would imagine they weren't needed for crowd control given that there was much more a family feel at that match. However, given this development, I am grateful that there was no major incident where police action was required.
"The club says the stadium's owners and matchday operator need to bolster policing, stewarding & segregation"
You'd have thought that having got a free 50k stadium, they'd be prepared to at least pay for policing. And surely segregation is their responsibility? How much does it cost to put a few rows of netting between rival fans?
I suppose the benefit of keeping the higher capacity is that it can be used next summer for the World Athletics, but after that the 60k capacity will probably never be needed again for athletics
The police refusing to provide a public safety service because their very expensive comms kit isn't supported by base stations at the stadium is scandalous. Normal icom radio handsets would do a perfectly sound job at the stadium.
I suspect this is all a smoke job to hide a very serious argument behind the scenes about who is paying for the police to be in the stadium and how the entire Olympic Park/Westfield area requires blanket policing to make it safe from football aggro/terrorist threat every other Saturday.
They are just referencing the ridiculous contract that they were able to negotiate.
The problem is with the guys managing 'our' side of the contract.....not West Ham.
Then they just need to worry about their own fans fighting! What a mess.