Guest Post by Tom Smith
I am a fan of WHTID (and The Irons since the early 1940s) but not really into commenting. I am, however, still seething over the blatant bias in the travesty of an enquiry aired by the BBC last Thursday. If you live outside London you won’t have seen it but courtesy of the iPlayer you can watch it again HERE. Prepare for your blood to boil.
There appears to be a presupposition that West Ham will have exclusive occupancy of the Olympic Stadium when the fact is that the Club will have use of the Stadium for approximately 27 days (Home PL-19, FA Cup-4, Lge Cup-4) in each 365 i.e. 7.5% of the year for which they pay an annual rental. The remaining 338 days are available to the owners, LLDC for other revenue generating events.
Apportioning the reported total cost of £702m, West Ham’s ‘share’ for 27 days would be £52.7m. Deduct the up-front payment by the Club of £15m and the £40m contribution from Newham Council and the amount is covered with £2.3m to spare.
Question: If Barry Hearn hired a car for 27 days in a year would he be agreeable to pay for all 365?
Question: Would Chris Bryant be so vehement in his attack were Ken Livingstone still Mayor of London?
I have a penchant for limericks and the following has come to mind:
That odd couple Bryant and Hearn
have, really, a great deal to learn.
They may argue for hours
but the Stadium’s ours.
So push off and never return! (Polite version!)