Iron Men Page #3

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if you know what I mean?

Obviously, you want people in

the door but you also want...

You don't want to lose the...

atmosphere

that you get at Upton Park.

[woman] We've made a unanimous

recommendation

to select West Ham United

in the London Borough of Newham

as the preferred long-term

tenant for the Olympic Stadium.

[Boris Johnson]

This fantastic stadium

will not only host athletics

and all sorts of other sports

where the ball is not

necessarily spherical.

This Olympic Stadium

will now be

the home of a great

London football club.

[reporter] The winning team

in front of West Ham's latest

trophy, the Olympic Stadium.

Capturing this

half-a-billion-pound-prize

was a moment to savor.

As a community, we involve

so much local schools,

all of East London

will be coming to it.

There'll be so many local events

and they will say,

it's wonderful what's happened.

So, I think they may see in time

it is a perfect solution.

Well, I'll show that basically

it's more West Ham.

I'll go down the stairs

rather than the lift,

rather than cramming the lift.

I've never been at the club

that's changed ground.

I have been relegated.

I've been promoting the playoff

final, been to a cup final.

But I've never ever been

to a club changing grounds.

It's a very unique thing.

All that is West Ham.

That's every West Ham team

since we've been there.

One day, hopefully,

it'll fill both sides.

That's when West Ham went up

there with the Wembley playoff.

And that's pieces of art,

the Krays and things, you know.

I'll just dim the lights.

I think it's the best thing.

It has to be done,

and this is my little office.

I don't say it's going to change

the club completely.

It gives us

another 10 or 12 million more,

which would buy

one reasonably good player,

but it's not going

to completely change

the whole finance of the club,

but what it does is it increases

the fan base,

increases the status.

We priced it bringing support

from everywhere

and we're attracting

a whole new breed of supporter

and we're bringing people

into football

who wouldn't be watching

a football game.

We're taking

the armchair supporters

and making them real supporters,

and I think we'll attract

more players.

If you show them Upton Park,

unless they are into history,

it's not the most grand

of grounds to play at.

Well, the new stadium

looks the part.

If you're a foreigner coming to

England, it'll have an impact.

When you take them

to the ground,

they think,

"We've come to a big club."

You take them to Upton Park,

they think they're coming to a

middle type of club, you know,

not a top six club, you know,

but the new stadium

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