gdp's Comments

West Ham Till I Die : Parish Notice

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:47:11 +0000

Fine. You clearly have no conscience...although I'm not surprised by that, and feel you can do what you like however unjust. Just be prepared to accept the consequences of winding people up and p*ssing them off. In the end you'll wonder why... all this for a simple comment on a blog. But it's the decison you made. You started this, make sure you remember that.

West Ham Till I Die : Parish Notice

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:09:08 +0000

Actually Iain, I said the tone of his post was almost psychotic. I was talking about the tone of his post, not him. Even then, my exact words were "The tone of your above post is quite worrying actually. It's almost psychotic". I am sure you know what 'almost' means. That is completely different to what you said: "A commenter in the previous thread called SJ “psychotic”. Clearly misleading. You're claiming the moral high-ground here yet you make flagrant statements like that that will no doubt incite people against me who will just believe what you've written. I'm not sure if you're man enough to apologise, but let's see if you're man enough to correct yourself and live up to the standards you profess.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:38:21 +0000

Good point about Hearn's argument. It should be dismissed without question. In fact, if our atmosphere is rubbish, he may even see hammers fans turning up at his games! :)

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:34:08 +0000

And we don't all believe they aren't TIS. Dont get upset by it mate. You need to take on the points, make the argument tell us if there's something we dont know. All this thing that people are negative is just crazy. We just have genuine concerns. It's not being negative.

West Ham Till I Die : Burnley: An Opportunity to Sort Out a Few Things!

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:25:59 +0000

To be honest Aussie, I was surprised Iain made that decision but it's up to him I guess. Maybe Iain could have offered more direction, I don't know. And yes, there is nothing wrong with splitting up your posts Chandos. Writing about so many subjects in one post is why they're fairly lengthy. A paragraph or two on one subject more frequently isn't bad advice to take on board. And you don't have to be strict and conventional in your articles' structure as you touched on above. Blogging is not like that. Take Iain's posts as example. They can even be just a paragraph. There doesn't have to be a introduction, a for, a against, a discussion and then a conclusion. So if you're saying you're bound by that, you're not.

West Ham Till I Die : Burnley: An Opportunity to Sort Out a Few Things!

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:56:48 +0000

That's a poor attitude Chandos. You need to get a thicker skin mate and try to take people's criticism on board and not ignore it. You don't write for yourself, despite what you may think, you write for this audience and you should listen to it. The tone of your above post is quite worrying actually. It's almost psychotic. You criticise everyone else about their dichotomous thinking but you display it quite clearly yourself when you say "I will write what I like and I will make it as long as I like. Full stop. Understand? No one, but no one, dictates to me about the content or length of my peices [sic]". I think if you want to write publicly, you should be prepared to be criticised. There's no point crying about it. The debate on the post which you refer to was lovely to see. There were no insults, but people putting their views with good reasoning, something you have issue with. I think there are a lot of bloggers that bring valuable debate to this blog who do not always agree with what you or Iain say. Here you have painted them...or tarnished them, all with the same brush.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 17:34:39 +0000

Birzo, I hope that G& are as sly with others as they are with us. What I mean by this is that they have a plan to remove the track in the future through some Machiavellian manner. I'm not the only one who thinks this may happen, as apparently Spurs are seeking assurances that we will not remove the track in the future. Whether they will bother or just settle for what they get, I'm not sure.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:24:15 +0000

As long as you're back here in 2014 Dave.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:17:19 +0000

Chris, I share your anger. The naivety of everyone involved initially with the Olympic stadium is astounding. If football was not going to fill it, what was? They should have considered this from the outset. As for temporary seating mate, that is no-no right from the off. The reason is that you'd have to place them in front of the permanent seats which have a set gradient (slope). Hence, views will be blocked.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:11:29 +0000

Dave, The inner rings of seating are permanent. What are the architects going to do? You have to remove these if you want to install retractable seating. We don't have to be architects to understand that. They are not going to be replaced of course. Put their money where their mouth is? They bought half the club...the minimum, just enough to take control, just enough so that could do what they wanted to (get the OS. sell Upton Park). Skimping on players signings and loans. Never addressing issues early enough until recently when relegation has become a reality, when Keane, Ba and Bridge were brought in...probably too late. If they really cared for the club, they would have let Fernandes buy it....that's 100% of it. They're in it for other things. I have a right to be critical of Gold and Sullivan.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:04:56 +0000

Kildare, Yep.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:04:11 +0000

Kildare, Since before they bought our club, they have been obsessed with the Olympic stadium. 90% of their energies since they took over have been on reducing spending and winning the Olympic stadium. There was no real consideration how suitable the seating plans would be for football. It was a stadium, a big new one and they wanted it on the cheap. If they had considered sight-lines and distances etc, they would have come to the same conclusion Tottenham did. It's simple. Depressing mate.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:55:09 +0000

Dave, There's no need to argue, we can debate respectfully as fellow hammers. I am ready to change my point of view if you are able to convince me. And you should be ready likewise. We should be a light unto one another mate. We wont discover anything if we just always agree to disagree and walk away. I do know that the 25,000 are permanent seats. I do know they have a concrete base. I do know that they will have to be up-rooted for retractable seating. I do know that this will cost a lot of money...too much money. Let G&S come out and say this will be done and I'll be happy. But they should have by now if they were seriously considering it. The fact that they haven't tells me that they are going to stick with it as it is. I keenly await their excuse though, but my money is on the fact that they are relying on a) The illusion of putting covers over the track and b) Our fans being so overawed by the new stadium that we will not bother kicking up a fuss.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:48:53 +0000

Chris, I agree, we didnt do anything, but it was because those with a voice, like Iain, were ready to toe the line. It was also because many of our fans were ready to trust g&s. Business decisions are fine if they have the club and fans at heart. I dont think g&s have. They have done this mostly for personal gain.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:43:27 +0000

Chris, Stadiums that are suitable for retractable seats (eg the Etihad, Stade de France) are designed for retractable seating from the outset. That is because room is required under the tier behind the retractable seats for the seats to retract into. We will not have this because the tiers in question will be the permanent 25,000 seats left behind. It will cost too much for Gold and Sullivan to touch this. I posted a pic of the Etihad seats on a previous post. So, whilst we don't know 'what the changes made to the stadium will be', as you said, we do know what can and cant be done. This is from the site of the company that did the retractable seating for the Stade de France. http://www.ponticelli.com/Front/index.php?RID=143... The seats that are moving in this pic are the ones that are permanent at the OS. We cannnot have this unless they remove them and start again. And David Gold had the nerve to tell us they were exploring options like that at the Stade de France? If we are not architects who know what we are talking about, what is he? And why is he bullsh*tting? You're entitled to think they're not stupid, I think they are. But the fact is, they clearly think we're stupid and are relying on it.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:28:58 +0000

Exactly. Because we dont matter. It was a busin£ss decision and fans are not let in on busin£ss decisions. They can say how they are going to consult us now all they like but what is the point when it's all decided? Are they can stop if we say no now? Dont be fooled people.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:14:20 +0000

Chris, But you should be concerned if the stadium is designed for retractable seating too (it's not). You should be concerned that the owners are bullsh*tting us. Retractable seats cannot just be plonked in front of the other seats.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:11:44 +0000

Dave65, The facts are that the 25,000 seats left after the Olympics are permanent, made on a foundation of solid concrete. These are not moving. We will not be getting any closer to the pitch unless they dig them up. They are not going to be digging them up.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:08:40 +0000

Dave, I know they will spend but any figure they are banding about at the moment has nothing to do with the main issue of how far we will be from the pitch. This money will be spent on the roofing, upper stands, boxes, pitch etc "primary concern - and greatest financial burden - is to replace the existing roof" (Ian Tompkins). The 'supremo' as Iain called him, said himself in the KUMB interview that they are considering the seating issue so I dont think they would have a sum of money in their mind already. You dont know the distance so how can you say we wont be 9 lanes from the pitch? How is this going to be addressed then? How will they bring the seating closer? You cant make wishy washy statements like that but accuse me of not knowing all the facts mate. It's not going to be re-built. They will do the minimum to convert it. Once the Olympics finishes and it is stripped to the 25,000 seats (permanent seats!), they will just add to it.

West Ham Till I Die : KUMB Q & A With Hammers Olympic Supremo

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:55:17 +0000

I was thinking the exact same thing Liam! :)