The next level of west ham

[TrueBlue]

Now this is a serious quote and it would be interesting to hear other shrimpers views, from what I can see is that east London mob are moving into a new phase of their club, new stadium (we paid for!) more fans at games more money etc... And not to mention they have got a good squad and manager however what effect will
It have on Southend as a club at the moment we are still benefiting on decent crowds due to promotion and having a better then expect season in my book where just staying up would have been good.

You get off at Stratford and your a short walk to the new stadium they can get easy another 20k watching them a match will this impact us? I think orient will bare some brunt

Your views?

 

[Pubey]

I think Orient will completely fall out of the league, sadly (I don't like Orient but their club is about to be decimated).

Hard to really know how it'll affect us. Probably highlights why we need the new ground and development, otherwise we'll continue to struggle to bring fans through.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Don't think it will affect us tbh. I think a lot of East Londons kids having taken advantage of ticketing and they wouldn't have come to us anyway.

I'm sure I read somewhere that orient are being compensated each season by the hammers.

I'm sure the FA have a mandate that clearly says a club is not allowed to move into the territory of another if it puts the other club in jeopardy. I'm guessing money talks.

Hate orient but I would be very worried if I were them.

As for us. Season card sales are on the up and we are averaging 7k. Have a good season and with a few bigger/local clubs to visit us next year I think we will average around 8k next term.

 

[Feathers]

Now this is a serious quote and it would be interesting to hear other shrimpers views, from what I can see is that east London mob are moving into a new phase of their club, new stadium (we paid for!) more fans at games more money etc... And not to mention they have got a good squad and manager however what effect will
It have on Southend as a club at the moment we are still benefiting on decent crowds due to promotion and having a better then expect season in my book where just staying up would have been good.

You get off at Stratford and your a short walk to the new stadium they can get easy another 20k watching them a match will this impact us? I think orient will bare some brunt

Your views?

I think the cost of tickets will be a big factor. There are a lot of people in the Southend area with a West Ham allegiance who come to Roots Hall as it is easier and cheaper, especially if they bring their children with them.

I suspect that in the short term people will go to the new ground just to see what it is like but in the long term will hopefully continue coming to Roots Hall.

Leyton Orient have a loyal following so I would expect them to maintain their numbers for now but I think it will become increasingly difficult for them to attract new supporters. I hope they can survive; I enjoy our rivalry with them and have respect for fans that choose their local club over a Premier league club

 

[Jai]

There are enough people in our catchment area for it not to adversely affect us too much, although it will be a bit sickening to see all the extra claret and blue baboons travelling to matches from Essex. I'm guessing the cheap prices will not be permanent - once Gold/Sullivan and co realise they've hooked a few in they'll treat them like all Premier League clubs treat their fans, as cash cows to be milked as often as possible.

Out of interest, why do they sing 'East London is wonderful' when most of their fans are either not from there, or were so keen to get out of it?

 

[shrimperjon]

Don't think it will affect us tbh. I think a lot of East Londons kids having taken advantage of ticketing and they wouldn't have come to us anyway.

I'm sure I read somewhere that orient are being compensated each season by the hammers.

I'm sure the FA have a mandate that clearly says a club is not allowed to move into the territory of another if it puts the other club in jeopardy. I'm guessing money talks.

Hate orient but I would be very worried if I were them.

As for us. Season card sales are on the up and we are averaging 7k. Have a good season and with a few bigger/local clubs to visit us next year I think we will average around 8k next term.

Agree with this, i dont think it will affect us that much. I feel our hardcore support will remain intact. When i was younger our crowds suffered as we used to get a lot of day trippers those that supported a big side and used us as a second club, hence, the move to friday night football. I feel now that our support is ours in the main, im certain there are still many big club fans who attend roots hall, but our won core support has grown steadily over the past few years. I know of at least two west ham fans who have already bought season tickets for roots hall next season as they dont want to go to the olympic stadium etc and just enjoy watching football and like the atmosphere at roots hall etc

 

[Uncle Leo]

As Scott says, this is a fantastic opportunity for West Ham. Good manager, good squad, amazing deal to play in a big new stadium, bundles of TV money coming in.

I'm not advocating such behaviour of course, but supporting West Ham for (say) and eight year old from Rayleigh will start to look a lot more tempting than supporting us.

 

[jaffa1]

Have said this before, me and the eldest are Blues, wife and the youngest are Hamsters, we live 10 mins from Stratford. Next season they would be paying slightly less for their season tickets than we are for ours! That said I do not think their kids prices will stay that low for that long and we will not be affected too much (if at all). For too many seasons now I have seen platforms full of fans decorated in London club colours at stations such as Wickford and Benfleet, heading West rather than east, it's a sad fact of life and will not change, unfortunately. The Olympic stadium will attract the floaters and the curious from Metropolitan Essex, just as our Fantasy stadium would attract the floaters and the curious from South East Essex in it's first few mythical seasons.

 

[rigsby]

As Scott says, this is a fantastic opportunity for West Ham. Good manager, good squad, amazing deal to play in a big new stadium, bundles of TV money coming in.

I'm not advocating such behaviour of course, but supporting West Ham for (say) and eight year old from Rayleigh will start to look a lot more tempting than supporting us.

The PL has already had an effect on our long term support. Many a child now grows up living in our area and has never been to RH. I'm sure many shrimpers were taken by their London team supporting dad to say a Friday night game in the 70's or 80's

We are up against the ever increasing money and the allure of that great big circus called the PL. I sure we all know West Ham fans who look down upon us and make sure the children have never belittled themselves by watching lower league football. The new stadium will only widen the already enormous gap between our clubs. It will without doubt have along term effect on SUFC.

 

[onceknownasrab]

It's a good point raised by TrueBlue but I think it has more to do with what we do as a club as opposed to what West Ham do. With our catchment area we are trading at least a division below our optimum. If we can achieve greater on field success we will more than hold our own.

I think it's outrageous that they have been allowed to move into Orient's manor but unfortunately money does talk and the fans put up with it.

 

[united we stand]

As Scott says, this is a fantastic opportunity for West Ham. Good manager, good squad, amazing deal to play in a big new stadium, bundles of TV money coming in.

I'm not advocating such behaviour of course, but supporting West Ham for (say) and eight year old from Rayleigh will start to look a lot more tempting than supporting us.

exactly this , especially when Dad works in London and already has a season ticket - train fare for his lad £1.00. Kids are the future and we are going to loose some to West Ham. Its ridiculous to think otherwise . The question is how many?
If 1% of our average attendence was to go to West Ham that woyuld cost the club approx £30,000 a year. Its going to be difficult/impossible to calculate IMO becasue it will be more, but not exclusively , the floating supporter, or potential supporter that we will fail to convert .

 

[united we stand]

Don't think it will affect us tbh. I think a lot of East Londons kids having taken advantage of ticketing and they wouldn't have come to us anyway.

I'm sure I read somewhere that orient are being compensated each season by the hammers.

I'm sure the FA have a mandate that clearly says a club is not allowed to move into the territory of another if it puts the other club in jeopardy. I'm guessing money talks.

Hate orient but I would be very worried if I were them.

As for us. Season card sales are on the up and we are averaging 7k. Have a good season and with a few bigger/local clubs to visit us next year I think we will average around 8k next term.

exaclty this . the move is against FA rules, it is black and white . If we were to ignore the bigger picture and go just with the rules then Orient have been stiched up completely . HOWEVER they dropped their court case and came to an agreement with the EPL , the details of which will never be published.

 

[rigsby]

exaclty this . the move is against FA rules, it is black and white . If we were to ignore the bigger picture and go just with the rules then Orient have been stiched up completely . HOWEVER they dropped their court case and came to an agreement with the EPL , the details of which will never be published.

The FA lost all credibility when they allowed the MK Dons fiasco. Besides West Ham are hardly taking the p*** moving to Stratford.

 

[united we stand]

The FA lost all credibility when they allowed the MK Dons fiasco. Besides West Ham are hardly taking the p*** moving to Stratford.

apoloiges, I meant EPL rules not FA rules, although no doubt the FA has rules for this as well - EPL rules below

would not adversely affect Clubs having their registered grounds in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location”

not sure how anyone can say that this rule has not been broken

 

[Fairport]

This move to Stratford may have a small effect on us but the damage to our profile in the town has already been done. Having a Spurs shop in town and the hundreds of Hammers shirts seen in the area doesn't help us. These clubs know from their ticket sales that much of their support comes from South Essex. This is due to the so called "white flight" from East London. Does anyone know of a West Ham or Spurs fan that actually lives in Newham or Tottenham? We still have a good solid support as most of us have Roots in Southend and are proud of our town and it's football club. Like many others I find it very irritating seeing Spurs and Hammers shirts paraded in our town but the best way to counter that is success on the field and a new stadium, Reading being a good example although they had an owner with deep pockets rather thanempty ones like Ron. We will prprobably lose a few people who support West Ham but come to the odd game at Roots Hall but I don't think there are that many.

 

[Jai]

It is a complete embarrassment to Southend as a whole that the Spurs shop is still there.

 

[Beefy]

not sure how anyone can say that this rule has not been broken

Because Stratford is very clearly a West Ham area and Orient are only impacted because they moved into West Ham's back yard in the first place.

I don't think this will be the death-knell of Leyton Orient anyway. They, like us, have to be smart about how we get more people through the turnstiles but they can't rely on the establishment to do us any favours and, tbh, shouldn't need any. Orient's core support are not going anywhere.

 

[Farmer Fossett]

In the short term I believe it will have a minimal effect. I however believe that if West Ham do keep their prices low then we will need to react. If you are a casual fan or if you have children that support West Ham then are you going to want to pay a similar price for watching Premier league football to that of first division? I understand that the cheapest season ticket at West Ham for next season is £289!

 

[Ricky Otto]

It is a complete embarrassment to Southend as a whole that the Spurs shop is still there.

I really thought that would go the same way as the one in Chelmsford went. So many West Ham and Arsenal Fans here as well as Spurs and you always saw stuff on social media of vandalism to the shop and people urinating on it on a night out and a good few cases of people taking a number 2 outside! I don't know if that was the reason it closed but no other shop in the high st attracts that kind of attention.

 

[Tommy2holes]

I still believe our season cards a high for the division.

Plenty of other clubs charge under £200 for the season


Charlton are offering their fans the chance of a seat behind the goal next season for £179.

Compare that to the £350 we charge to sit in a crumbling stadium with awful views and catering, it actually highlights how loyal our fans are.

The problem is the the match day experience and facilities which loses us fans.

If we were also moving into a brand new ground this season like the hammers and offered adults at £200 and kids at £50 for a limited time then I don't think we would have any trouble getting 10k plus through the turnstiles.

The problem is we can't offer that kind of deal as we only have around 8500 home seats available due to segregation.

Imho £24 to watch some of the recent dross is daylight robbery and the fact the premier can afford to lower ticket prices due to tv money doesn't help one bit.