Guest Post by PC Hammer
If you look back on our history our founder Arnold Hills, although seemingly a tough chap, had a rich streak of fairness and the hope of doing the right thing in him as can be seen by this quote attributed to him:
“The committees of several of our clubs, eager for immediate success, are inclined to reinforce their ranks with mercenaries. In our brass bands and in our football clubs, I find an increasing number of professionals who do not belong to our community but are paid to represent us in their several capacities… Now this is a very simple and effective method of producing popular triumphs. It is only a matter of how much we are willing to pay and the weight of our purses can be made the measure of our glory. I have however, not the smallest intention of entering upon a competition of this kind: I desire that our clubs should be spontaneous and cultivated expressions of our internal activity.” (http://spartacus-educational.com/WHhillsA.htm)
What would he have made of our club’s current migration process to the new stadium?
As it stands our present owners have decided the best ‘clear and transparent’ way to do this is advertise very fancy, expensive corporate packages / seats first then offer seats to season ticket holders (STH) band by band. The club, in their infinite wisdom, are only revealing which seats are in which band when that band is called forward and not in advance which begs the question, why?
The choice for the ‘best’ seats is initially available to people willing to pay a lot of money and specific areas of the ground, where arguably the best views are to be had, have been reserved for them. Next up are those in the most expensive seats at the Boleyn – band 1. However the club have a plus 2 policy which means along with the original season ticket holder (who may have had that ticket for 1 season or 50) anyone (whether a supporter or not of West Ham who has been or never been to the Boleyn before) can buy a season ticket in the most prestigious areas of the new ground before anyone else in bands 2 / 3 / 4.
Once all band 1 STH’s (along with any plus 2’s) have secured their tickets it is the turn of Band 2 STH’s who (along with their plus 2’s) have dibs on band 2 seats and if they don’t like what they see can buy a ticket in Band 1 OR purchase a 1966 seat (an area in the new East Stand allegedly providing very good views).
And so the process is repeated until band 4 STH’s have been through the procedure.
Early indications show many people in Band 1 and 2 have not been impressed with what was offered to them and have purchased an £1100 1966 seat. This represents a massive increase on the current price for a band 1 or 2 season ticket and seems a desperate attempt to get a ‘decent’ seat in the new stadium. The club does not mind though – ‘thanks for your continued support and extra money’ for a ‘comparable seat’ (that you did not like) as the club points out. It also seems that the 1966 seats have now sold out. Will they ‘release’ some more if demand continues?
Other figures indicate for every 4 season tickets sold so far 1 is ‘a plus 2’ (if that make sense) i.e. for every 1000 tickets in say Band 1 250 tickets are ‘new’ people. Overall this could mean up to 6,500 people, who did not have a season ticket in the last season at the Boleyn, will have one before all current season ticket holders have had their chance to secure a seat. Fair…?
Band 3 and 4 STH’s are having kittens on where they will be offered seats as the club, as pointed out above, has not published any details about this at all. We are all aware they have also not published any concrete details about distances of stands from the pitch, rake levels, sight lines and we are all only just now actually seeing that what we will move into is a stadium with not 1 running track to view the match over but for the lucky people on 3 sides of the ground at least another area as large as a running track between the upper and lower tiers. This will be covered, we are told, with West Ham branding to make it ‘feel’ like our home but the reality is we could have claret and blue circus (the irony) type tents over gaps as wide as a….running track!
On a like for like basis or ‘comparable’ as the club suggests all of us will, in actual fact, be a lot further away from the action than we are at the Boleyn. The cost of seats at the new stadium reflects this as band 1 and 2 season ticket prices (traditionally on the sides of the pitch) are by and large similar to the prices for the last season at the Boleyn while those for Band 3 and 4 STH’s (the majority of those behind the goals) are up to 23% cheaper. No wonder band 3 and 4 STH’s are feeling uneasy as why are the prices offered to them at such a heavy discount? Is it that they will have far less of a choice of seat and may be offered upper tier seating only?
The club will, of course, offer disgruntled those fans the opportunity to buy a ticket in Band 1 or 2 or 3 and interestingly or cunningly (?) the price differential between a band 3 / 4 ticket this season and next is about £150. Have the club priced the tickets so that the ‘small’ amount to go to band 2 will tip the scales and have hundreds rushing to get a better seat as the view will be at least a little better in the east / west stands than potentially the upper tier behind the goal? Cue ‘thanks for your continued support and the extra money for a comparable seat…’
The current policy is an absolute disgrace and affront to ALL West Ham United fans whether they are season ticket holders or those buying tickets for matches as and when they can. It quite clearly benefits those with money / contacts and appeals to the shadier side of human nature – greed in that I want the best for me and I shall get what I want because I can and sod those behind me. That is not how the average West Ham sees their self but that is the impression coming out of this process at the moment. Poor band 4 STH’s will get the least choice and what a bun fight that will be if band 1 and 2 is anything to go by.
Fair? Doing the right thing for their lifeblood – the fans? Arnold Hills will be turning in his grave.
The migration policy must STOP RIGHT NOW and the following should be implemented immediately.
I understand there are 54,000 seats available at the new stadium and the club presently has in the region of 25-26,000 STH’s. This means that when you take off the away team allocation (usually 3,000) about 6,000 tickets are currently sold by the club on a match by match basis at the Boleyn. The new stadium has 4 stands each with an upper and lower tier (except the west stand with a middle tier corporate area). The Boleyn Ground has 4 stands each with an upper and lower tier. Picture painted…then here we go…
In the interests of fairness whether you have been a season ticket holder for 1 season or 30/40/50 years the club should allocate a truly comparable seat for each current STH in the new stadium. In other words those in the front row of say the Bobby Moore Lower should get the ‘same’ seat position in the front row of the South stand in the new stadium i.e Row 1 seat 1 at the Boleyn now gets Row 1 seat 1 at the new stadium. Each row going backwards to the rear of the particular stand is allocated accordingly. People with aisle seats could be offered that similar position as the club are doing at present.
It seems there are 27 rows in the BML while I calculate there are a similar amount of rows in the lower tier of the South Stand. Apply that principle to the other parts of the stadium and you have a fair and transparent policy which I believe few people would argue with.
The East stand at the Boleyn has 23 rows in it (Upper and lower tiers) while the East stand at the new stadium has more rows than that in the lower tier section before the additional fill in part to make it a ‘continuous’ stand i.e. no differentiation between the upper and lower tier sections. There 30 rows of seats in the West stand lower and up to 34 rows in the West Stand upper. The west stand at the new stadium would easily accommodate those numbers.
On a truly like for like basis and in the interests of fairness approximately 19,000 of the 54,000 seats which are in the lower tier and will be closer to the action could be allocated to 75% of all STH’s. Simple, straightforward and no plus 2’s (yet). Fair…? Looking after you fans…? Maybe…just maybe.
Further once allocated your ticket you have a finite period of time to either buy it or refuse it. When the club knows who has bought their season ticket they can then allocate those that wish to move another seat based on what is left – in other words exactly what they do at the end of every season if someone wants to move their seat. This can be done on a first come, first served basis as it is now and is also where you can bring in the plus 2 scenario if the club wishes. If the club publishes a seating plan that would be so much easier and it is the 21st century the last time l looked.
I would wager a large number of fans would stick with their initial allocated seat and see how it went in the first season. If they are unhappy with the seat they have the option to change it for the start of the new season as we have been able to do for years. Fair? Sounds fair enough to me.
The problem may come with Band 3 (Bobby Moore Upper) and Family area STH’s in the Sir Trevor Brooking Upper but if the away fans are put in the upper tier at one end of the ground (which is where I think they should go) there is a whole end in the lower tier at the North end of the ground that these STH’s could be offered.
Once all tickets have been allocated to STH’s the season ticket waiting list is opened up and the gaps are filled.
The fans, like the workers at Arnold Hills Ironworks from where our team originated, are absolutely vital to the club and need to be looked after because without them the club (and Arnold’s business) would be nothing. Not everyone feels this move is for the best in the same way when we moved from the Memorial grounds to the Boleyn all those years ago but with the backing of the current fans we could be on the brink of something very interesting.
The system of seat migration I have proposed, in my opinion, is fair and does the right thing and can still be done – I reckon a good deal of you reading this and Arnold Hills would agree but will the club…?