West Ham co-owners David Gold has admitted that he has regrets over promises he made regarding the London Stadium, when speaking to the Blowing Bubbles magazine.
The Hammers moved from Upton Park to the London Stadium for the start of the 2016/17 campaign.
And West Ham have really struggled in their new home. They have won just 26 out of 65 Premier League games at home.
One of the main problems as far as the club’s fans are concerned is the lack of atmosphere at the London Stadium. This isn’t helped by the fact that the seats are so far away from the pitch.
David Gold promised that this wouldn’t be the case when the Hammers moved to their new home.
He now regrets those words, however.
The West Ham co-owner told the Blowing Bubbles magazine:
“Is the stadium perfect? No, it’s not. Why? Because the people building the Olympic Stadium had a firm belief that football would never be played there and that it must always remain an athletics stadium. This left us with a legacy of that gap from the first row of seats to the pitch on that side. We’ve got to be realistic, from a financial point of view, that it doesn’t make sense to continue having athletics at this stadium. I wish I’d kept my mouth shut more. I regret saying that the seats would be ‘this’ close to the pitch and then that didn’t happen.”
Many Hammers fans feel like their club has lost its soul. There is a real lack of identity at West Ham at the moment. And their move to the London Stadium certainly hasn’t helped with that.
In order for West Ham to make their stadium feel more like home, however, they need to start performing on the pitch.
And unfortunately for Hammers fans, that really isn’t happening at the moment.
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