So the players know where the edge of the pitch is, obviously never played on Hackney Marshes.
Don’t give them any clues, the rest of the PL has been working very hard to keep the dimensions of the Taxpayers stadium pitch a secret from the West Ham players.
Close to the Man U grey kit excuse. If you need the edge of the pitch a different colour, then blue is surely fine? Just another attempt to make the stadium so 'West Ham' it won't be feasible for anything other than to be gifted to them.
The borderline offensive excuses/reasons make it all the more galling.
The bazooka has been fired, however we have deliberately limited its line of fire, to give Bacon the benefit of the doubt that he genuinely might not have some of the financial data we have. He has it now. How unfortunate for the LLDC that last year I found on a vacant seat next to me on the Heathrow Express a raft of internal E20 management documents.
We can now show Mr Bacon that the loss of naming rights fees, and the burden of expensive retracting of seats by hand, means that the stadium will be showing an annual loss of at least £2m until those problems are fixed.
How ironic that £2m figure is. It is exactly the amount the LLDC told the European Commission the Stadium would have lost each year if it had been left in athletics mode, per the plans pre Johnson. This justified the expenditure of £330 m to convert it to West Ham's spec. No unfair State Aid here, no siree.
Caroline Pidgeon, copied on the bazooka as the only assemblyperson to give us an audience, replied within minutes, saying that the LLDC are back before the full Assembly next week, and she hopes the matters we have highlighted could be put to them then. That too should be on video, so I will keep you all posted.
I have a feeling this is exactly what West Ham have always wanted. Get a deal in place that they pay absolute minimum and means E20 have very little room for profit. Wait for the shit to hit the fan and offer to take the stadium off their hands at a hugely reduced price. Club then becomes very attractive to sell to someone else and the dildo merchants laugh their heads off at the hundreds of millions they've made.
I have a feeling this is exactly what West Ham have always wanted. Get a deal in place that they pay absolute minimum and means E20 have very little room for profit. Wait for the shit to hit the fan and offer to take the stadium off their hands at a hugely reduced price. Club then becomes very attractive to sell to someone else and the dildo merchants laugh their heads off at the hundreds of millions they've made.
Can see the Athletics still being held there as part of any deal but can also see West Ham charging them more than they currently pay for the football.
I suppose the next question is what actually happens if the stadium goes into administration and is sold to another company?
Do the new owners have to honour the contract with West Ham? If the stadium were kept permanently in "athletics" configuration and used for athletics, concerts etc. it would probably be able to make a small operating profit.
Without an unpopular sitting tenant, it might even attract a modest fee for naming rights!
This seems the best solution for the tax payer but I have no idea if it is legally possible?
Well this article is highly suspicious. The chances of coincidence that this appears 48 hours after our detailed email to -only - GLA members Bacon and Pidgeon, is about as high as that of those shysters winning the FAPL this season. There is no way that article was written without a detailed knowledge of what we have written (although he probably didn't get the full thing, as he doesn't mention our specific figures)
Why exactly it should be leaked, by whom, and with what motivation, is less clear, and we are urgently trying to find out. After all, if this appeared as a result of our own press briefing, I guess we would not be disappointed with it, other than that we get no credit for the info.
What do you all think about it as an article in the context of our cause? And if, as I currently suspect, it was leaked by Bacon, a notable Johnson acolyte, what is his goal in doing so?
Well this article is highly suspicious. The chances of coincidence that this appears 48 hours after our detailed email to -only - GLA members Bacon and Pidgeon, is about as high as that of those shysters winning the FAPL this season. There is no way that article was written without a detailed knowledge of what we have written (although he probably didn't get the full thing, as he doesn't mention our specific figures)
Why exactly it should be leaked, by whom, and with what motivation, is less clear, and we are urgently trying to find out. After all, if this appeared as a result of our own press briefing, I guess we would not be disappointed with it, other than that we get no credit for the info.
What do you all think about it as an article in the context of our cause? And if, as I currently suspect, it was leaked by Bacon, a notable Johnson acolyte, what is his goal in doing so?
Thoughts welcome...
unfortunately, I think the article is right that it will now become a point scoring issue with khan using it for point scoring rather than dealing with the issues of the whole deal.
think @colthe3rd is right and the dildo brothers will step in to buy it for fuck all and Khan will claim that as a victory that he managed to sell it where as bojo and co basically agreed to fund it.
Well this article is highly suspicious. The chances of coincidence that this appears 48 hours after our detailed email to -only - GLA members Bacon and Pidgeon, is about as high as that of those shysters winning the FAPL this season. There is no way that article was written without a detailed knowledge of what we have written (although he probably didn't get the full thing, as he doesn't mention our specific figures)
Why exactly it should be leaked, by whom, and with what motivation, is less clear, and we are urgently trying to find out. After all, if this appeared as a result of our own press briefing, I guess we would not be disappointed with it, other than that we get no credit for the info.
What do you all think about it as an article in the context of our cause? And if, as I currently suspect, it was leaked by Bacon, a notable Johnson acolyte, what is his goal in doing so?
Thoughts welcome...
unfortunately, I think the article is right that it will now become a point scoring issue with khan using it for point scoring rather than dealing with the issues of the whole deal.
think @colthe3rd is right and the dildo brothers will step in to buy it for fuck all and Khan will claim that as a victory that he managed to sell it where as bojo and co basically agreed to fund it.
well, that is what whoever briefed the Sun wants people to believe. So it is helpful that you write that this is the conclusion you came to after reading it.
It is however a highly politicised view of the process (theirs, not yours). My experience in dealing with Moore Stephens was that they are a team of typical forensic accountants. Meticulous, dispassionate, not given to chucking conspiracy theories around.
It is after all a fairly widely held view that the deal is as it is because Johnson rushed it through with one eye on his personal 'legacy'. If the evidence points to that, surely he should be held accountable? People should ignore the political spin and pay attention to what the report actually says. We, of course, will do our damndest to make sure that this is how it is treated.
If indeed it is Gareth Bacon who has leaked our mail, without even doing us the courtesy of a reply, what does that say about him? (****, would be my personal answer)
Well this article is highly suspicious. The chances of coincidence that this appears 48 hours after our detailed email to -only - GLA members Bacon and Pidgeon, is about as high as that of those shysters winning the FAPL this season. There is no way that article was written without a detailed knowledge of what we have written (although he probably didn't get the full thing, as he doesn't mention our specific figures)
Why exactly it should be leaked, by whom, and with what motivation, is less clear, and we are urgently trying to find out. After all, if this appeared as a result of our own press briefing, I guess we would not be disappointed with it, other than that we get no credit for the info.
What do you all think about it as an article in the context of our cause? And if, as I currently suspect, it was leaked by Bacon, a notable Johnson acolyte, what is his goal in doing so?
Thoughts welcome...
unfortunately, I think the article is right that it will now become a point scoring issue with khan using it for point scoring rather than dealing with the issues of the whole deal.
think @colthe3rd is right and the dildo brothers will step in to buy it for fuck all and Khan will claim that as a victory that he managed to sell it where as bojo and co basically agreed to fund it.
Personally, I’d be quite happy if we gave WHU the ground (but not the land it sits on) for nothing. Let them pay for its maintenance and other running costs.
It needs to go bust and the tax payers can cut their losses. Hopefully and I very much doubt that it happens, a new company takes over the stadium with a view to redeveloping the site. Let the cash rich premier league, (for this season at least), club finance their own home instead of us.
If they say no, kick them out and make it a permanent athletics arena, and convince the Jacksonville Jaguars to move here permanently, with the London Stadium as their home
If they say no, kick them out and make it a permanent athletics arena, and convince the Jacksonville Jaguars to move here permanently, with the London Stadium as their home
And this is the point. The NFL has the power, will, and money to use this stadium as the home for a London NFL franchise.
Converting it back to a running track? No problem, as the NFL season finishes in February...
If they say no, kick them out and make it a permanent athletics arena, and convince the Jacksonville Jaguars to move here permanently, with the London Stadium as their home
And this is the point. The NFL has the power, will, and money to use this stadium as the home for a London NFL franchise.
Converting it back to a running track? No problem, as the NFL season finishes in February...
If they say no, kick them out and make it a permanent athletics arena, and convince the Jacksonville Jaguars to move here permanently, with the London Stadium as their home
And this is the point. The NFL has the power, will, and money to use this stadium as the home for a London NFL franchise.
Converting it back to a running track? No problem, as the NFL season finishes in February...
is it something the NFL have explored?
Since the beginning of the games at Wembley, when they realised how popular the sport is over here, the announcement of the Jags playing at least one "home" game a year in the UK for the next few years, and the fact that the owner of the Jaguars is also the owner of Fulham, Shahid Khan, they have definitely explored the option of a UK based franchise, with a hub for training etc on the east coast of the US. It's doable logistically, typically flights from NY to London are 7 hours, and Miami to Seattle is 6.5 so the arguement is it's not much further to go, and they can fly out and train a couple of days before games. To alleviate travel they could even schedule games in pairs, so 2 games at home, 2 away etc. etc.
It's just a matter of them agreeing to it and hoping they can build a fanbase with a successful franchise, as that's what will ultimately help the team to flourish here in the UK
Back to the article and it reads to me as setting the stage for us all to be very grateful when WHam take it off our (taxpayer) hands.
Wham and UK Athletics would, I assume, both qualify for leaseholder's collective Right of First Refusal, should the landlord go into liquidation - but that would surely have to be at the going rate for a stadium of such stature. Fortunately, we will have a comparison as Spurs, I'm sure, would be able to provide costings on their own new WHL.
Well this article is highly suspicious. The chances of coincidence that this appears 48 hours after our detailed email to -only - GLA members Bacon and Pidgeon, is about as high as that of those shysters winning the FAPL this season. There is no way that article was written without a detailed knowledge of what we have written (although he probably didn't get the full thing, as he doesn't mention our specific figures)
Why exactly it should be leaked, by whom, and with what motivation, is less clear, and we are urgently trying to find out. After all, if this appeared as a result of our own press briefing, I guess we would not be disappointed with it, other than that we get no credit for the info.
What do you all think about it as an article in the context of our cause? And if, as I currently suspect, it was leaked by Bacon, a notable Johnson acolyte, what is his goal in doing so?
Thoughts welcome...
unfortunately, I think the article is right that it will now become a point scoring issue with khan using it for point scoring rather than dealing with the issues of the whole deal.
think @colthe3rd is right and the dildo brothers will step in to buy it for fuck all and Khan will claim that as a victory that he managed to sell it where as bojo and co basically agreed to fund it.
well, that is what whoever briefed the Sun wants people to believe. So it is helpful that you write that this is the conclusion you came to after reading it.
It is however a highly politicised view of the process (theirs, not yours). My experience in dealing with Moore Stephens was that they are a team of typical forensic accountants. Meticulous, dispassionate, not given to chucking conspiracy theories around.
It is after all a fairly widely held view that the deal is as it is because Johnson rushed it through with one eye on his personal 'legacy'. If the evidence points to that, surely he should be held accountable? People should ignore the political spin and pay attention to what the report actually says. We, of course, will do our damndest to make sure that this is how it is treated.
If indeed it is Gareth Bacon who has leaked our mail, without even doing us the courtesy of a reply, what does that say about him? (****, would be my personal answer)
My guess is Bacon has done this to just get on the good side of The Sun. I rub your back, you rub mine scenario. Being The Sun it could have tried in some way to smear Khan but hasn't. Only mearly presenting the facts. In saying that I don't understand the start of the article. "Mayor of London and Newham Council will move heaven and earth to avoid the humiliation of the Hammers being locked out of their ground or made homeless". How do they know that!
Comments
Well, we have a big bazooka we have been keeping under wraps, and we have decided to roll it out and fire it at Mr Bacon. Watch this space..
Promises, promises, PA !
I take it that we will also be paying for this?
Sooner or later the straw that breaks the camels back will come along
The borderline offensive excuses/reasons make it all the more galling.
Keep fighting the good fight @PragueAddick et al.
The bazooka has been fired, however we have deliberately limited its line of fire, to give Bacon the benefit of the doubt that he genuinely might not have some of the financial data we have. He has it now. How unfortunate for the LLDC that last year I found on a vacant seat next to me on the Heathrow Express a raft of internal E20 management documents.
We can now show Mr Bacon that the loss of naming rights fees, and the burden of expensive retracting of seats by hand, means that the stadium will be showing an annual loss of at least £2m until those problems are fixed.
How ironic that £2m figure is. It is exactly the amount the LLDC told the European Commission the Stadium would have lost each year if it had been left in athletics mode, per the plans pre Johnson. This justified the expenditure of £330 m to convert it to West Ham's spec. No unfair State Aid here, no siree.
Caroline Pidgeon, copied on the bazooka as the only assemblyperson to give us an audience, replied within minutes, saying that the LLDC are back before the full Assembly next week, and she hopes the matters we have highlighted could be put to them then. That too should be on video, so I will keep you all posted.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/4767642/west-ham-london-stadium-e20-stadium-llp-bust-administration/
Do the new owners have to honour the contract with West Ham? If the stadium were kept permanently in "athletics" configuration and used for athletics, concerts etc. it would probably be able to make a small operating profit.
Without an unpopular sitting tenant, it might even attract a modest fee for naming rights!
This seems the best solution for the tax payer but I have no idea if it is legally possible?
Why exactly it should be leaked, by whom, and with what motivation, is less clear, and we are urgently trying to find out. After all, if this appeared as a result of our own press briefing, I guess we would not be disappointed with it, other than that we get no credit for the info.
What do you all think about it as an article in the context of our cause? And if, as I currently suspect, it was leaked by Bacon, a notable Johnson acolyte, what is his goal in doing so?
Thoughts welcome...
think @colthe3rd is right and the dildo brothers will step in to buy it for fuck all and Khan will claim that as a victory that he managed to sell it where as bojo and co basically agreed to fund it.
It is however a highly politicised view of the process (theirs, not yours). My experience in dealing with Moore Stephens was that they are a team of typical forensic accountants. Meticulous, dispassionate, not given to chucking conspiracy theories around.
It is after all a fairly widely held view that the deal is as it is because Johnson rushed it through with one eye on his personal 'legacy'. If the evidence points to that, surely he should be held accountable? People should ignore the political spin and pay attention to what the report actually says. We, of course, will do our damndest to make sure that this is how it is treated.
If indeed it is Gareth Bacon who has leaked our mail, without even doing us the courtesy of a reply, what does that say about him? (****, would be my personal answer)
Hopefully and I very much doubt that it happens, a new company takes over the stadium with a view to redeveloping the site. Let the cash rich premier league, (for this season at least), club finance their own home instead of us.
If they say no, kick them out and make it a permanent athletics arena, and convince the Jacksonville Jaguars to move here permanently, with the London Stadium as their home
They can pay what it cost to build from scratch or the market value of the stadium.
Converting it back to a running track? No problem, as the NFL season finishes in February...
It's doable logistically, typically flights from NY to London are 7 hours, and Miami to Seattle is 6.5 so the arguement is it's not much further to go, and they can fly out and train a couple of days before games. To alleviate travel they could even schedule games in pairs, so 2 games at home, 2 away etc. etc.
It's just a matter of them agreeing to it and hoping they can build a fanbase with a successful franchise, as that's what will ultimately help the team to flourish here in the UK
Wham and UK Athletics would, I assume, both qualify for leaseholder's collective Right of First Refusal, should the landlord go into liquidation - but that would surely have to be at the going rate for a stadium of such stature. Fortunately, we will have a comparison as Spurs, I'm sure, would be able to provide costings on their own new WHL.
Being The Sun it could have tried in some way to smear Khan but hasn't. Only mearly presenting the facts.
In saying that I don't understand the start of the article.
"Mayor of London and Newham Council will move heaven and earth to avoid the humiliation of the Hammers being locked out of their ground or made homeless".
How do they know that!