There has been a London Stadium redevelopment update and it’s not good news for some West Ham fans with a big grievance.
There has been much confusion among fans over West Ham’s London Stadium redevelopment plans this summer.
Many West Ham fans were and remain unhappy with the London Stadium since the big move to Stratford in 2016.
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The major bone of contention has been the distance from the stands to the pitch.
Given what West Ham fans had at their beloved Upton Park and the vision sold to them on leaving the famous Boleyn Ground, it is understandable.
Seating behind both goals at the London Stadium was reconfigured last year to be squared off in line with more traditional football stadia.
West Ham then announced that redevelopment will take place this summer alongside a stadium capacity increase from 60,000 to 62,500.
The news was welcomed by many West Ham fans who hate the bowl-shaped nature of the ground as it was presumed the West Stand would be squared off – as the Hammers had done with the stands behind the goals.
But there has been confusion over the plans with claim and counter claim over whether the stand would be squared off.
Now there has been a London Stadium redevelopment update and it’s not good news for some West Ham fans with a big grievance.
Not only is the stand not being squared off, but most supporters will now be EVEN FURTHER AWAY from the pitch according to a club diagram.
The image shows an outline of the current stand in yellow with the new reconfigured stand in grey (fig.1 above).
And it is clear the vast majority of West Ham supporters in that stand will now be further away from the action with just a tiny number of seats, either side of the dugouts, marginally closer (highlighted in red fig.2).
The only major change that may be viewed as a positive is the reduction of the gap between the upper and lower tiers.
Of course some fans may not be overly fussed about being slightly further away – as long as the team is doing well on the pitch.
But many supporters feel that squaring the stadium off on all four sides and bringing he stands closer to the pitch is the only way to truly make the ground feel like home.
For many West Ham fans, the London Stadium may never feel like home. But the majority of supporters have started to settle as the years tick by and matchday routines normalise.
Some fans are also deeply unhappy with the way the seating rearrangements for the West Stand redevelopment has been handled by the club.
Many Hammers supporters claim they were moved away from friends and family without warning ahead of the changes.