Search: 'Barry Hearn'
Stories
While the Olympic Stadium saga continues, Mark Segal asks whether a move to Stratford really is in the best interests of West Ham
When West Ham first announced their intention to move into the Olympic Stadium after London 2012, the response from fans was at best lukewarm. After it was made clear that the new 60,000-seat ground will include a running track, scepticism grew among fans who were still not entirely convinced that their team needed to move away from Upton Park.
While the battle for an Olympic legacy was a fierce one, there don’t seem to have been any real winners. Ian King explains
The decision to grant the post-2012 use of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford to West Ham United gave us, presumably unintentionally, the opportunity to pause for a moment and consider the priorities of English sport at the start of the new century. Over the last few weeks of the bidding process, we saw an unseemly attempt at a land grab between two large sporting institutions, both of whom seemed to cherish one thing above all else, a site in east London with outstanding transport links that was available on the cheap. Money, as ever, trumped all other concerns.
James McMahon explains why Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn is concerned about the fate of the Olympic Stadium
On January 28, the Olympic Park Legacy Company will meet to decide the future of the £500 million state-owned stadium centrepiece of the 2012 Olympic Games. Not permitting Acts Of God or natural disasters, by then we will know whether it is West Ham or late bidders Tottenham Hotspur who will be looking to relocate to a new home in Stratford post-2012.
Leyton Orient's dismissal of Martin Ling met with most fans' approval yet he left with his popularity intact, says Tom Davies
Supporters who clamour for their manager’s dismissal tend not to get a decent press, portrayed as they are as an impatient and fickle mob, wielding metaphorical pitchforks at the hapless gaffer at the drop of a point. Some of this is fair – sack-the-manager campaigns are often manifestations of the worst kind of phone-in led denunciation frenzies – but much of it isn’t, especially when popular sackings are accompanied not by anger but sadness.