Aston Villa vs West Ham Pre-Match Thread

[Risso]

I know it’s the Olympic Games stadium but it looks decent enough for fans from seeing in on the TV.   

I'm not sure how you can ascertain what it's like for fans from the telly but in any case you're wrong. It's shit.

[JD]

What is so bad about their stadium to get such universal disapproval?

Where do you start?

It's not designed for football, at all. You're miles from the pitch, and the away fans are sat where the stage goes for music concerts. One half of the fans in the lower bit, then the stage, then the other half are further up.

The atmosphere is shit.

Getting there is OK, as it's a ten minute walk from Stratford station, but afterwards they block off the path around the stadium. The home fans have to put up with a stop/go system, and the away fans are treated to a 40 minute march back to the station around the ring road.

It is in Leyton Orient territory and should have been given to the local team, not West Ham. 

[cdbearsfan]

This thread has got a bit bitter since Sendo turned up. They don't particularly bother me. If the main criticism is that their ground isn't a great place to watch football then I suspect most West Ham fans would agree, though it does mean an extra twenty thousand fans can turn up each week so hardly all bad.

[Chico Hamilton III]

It’s a shit ground to watch football in. And I’m not sure who I dislike the most - the old school mouthy cockney bigots who follow the club or the posh kids from Essex who take a day out to east London once a fortnight in order to pretend to be cockney bigots.

[TonyD]

I know it’s the Olympic Games stadium but it looks decent enough for fans from seeing in on the TV.   

I'm not sure how you can ascertain what it's like for fans from the telly but in any case you're wrong. It's shit.

I didn’t ascertain what it was like from the TV.  Just wondering why it got such negativity as it’s tricky to see that from the TV. 

[JD]

This thread has got a bit bitter since Sendo turned up. They don't particularly bother me. If the main criticism is that their ground isn't a great place to watch football then I suspect most West Ham fans would agree, though it does mean an extra twenty thousand fans can turn up each week so hardly all bad.

It has CD. As I posted earlier I have no issues with them, just hope we can beat them for once.

[JD]

It’s a shit ground to watch football in. And I’m not sure who I dislike the most - the old school mouthy cockney bigots who follow the club or the posh kids from Essex who take a day out to east London once a fortnight in order to pretend to be cockney bigots.

You've just described everywhere I grew up Chico. Made me shudder.

[Joe S]

Just back to the pissy feet thing, the male toilets at the old Vetch were also the same as Ads described their Cardiff rivals facilities. I had an old mate from Swansea who wanted to go to the game whilst we were on a Weekender. We all agreed it was a good idea, it was brilliant seeing his face as he strode into the home turnstile whilst the rest of us all carried on to the away end to cheer on Bury !

Back on topic, draw seems most likely. Two average teams serving up an average dull affair. Sorry for those who are going.

(I hope I'm wrong though and it's a season starter for us).

[Nev]

It's not the clubs ground. They share it with Muse, Green Day and Dina Asher-Smith.

[Ads]

Ads, you're youngish, how do you remember Exeter, Oxford etc.?

I went to Exeter when we had them in 94. Must have been 7? It was when McGrath didn't play as he'd got on the ale and we had the very first airing of "on the piss". I went to the Mannor Ground a couple of times, just not when the Villa played them.

[Ads]

It’s a shit ground to watch football in. And I’m not sure who I dislike the most - the old school mouthy cockney bigots who follow the club or the posh kids from Essex who take a day out to east London once a fortnight in order to pretend to be cockney bigots.

You make a good point. When they play Tottenham, they dial their racism up to 11.

[Joe S]

It's not the clubs ground. They share it with Muse, Green Day and Dina Asher-Smith.

Correct Nev, snigger hehe

[sendô WHU]

What is so bad about their stadium to get such universal disapproval?

Where do you start?

It's not designed for football, at all. You're miles from the pitch, and the away fans are sat where the stage goes for music concerts. One half of the fans in the lower bit, then the stage, then the other half are further up.

The atmosphere is shit.

Getting there is OK, as it's a ten minute walk from Stratford station, but afterwards they block off the path around the stadium. The home fans have to put up with a stop/go system, and the away fans are treated to a 40 minute march back to the station around the ring road.

It is in Leyton Orient territory and should have been given to the local team, not West Ham. 

Leyton and West Ham must be all of two miles apart, and the stadium is still in Newham.

[cdbearsfan]

Leyton Orient playing there would make the Darlington Arena seem a sensible idea.

[Percy McCarthy]

The worst bogs ever were on the right hand side of the old Kop at the Sty. Just a dark hole in the ground in the middle of the terrace with the steps an almost 90 degree drop. I still miss those days though.

I also fondly remember the grimy blokes who worked at the drop forge that ran along the back of the Tilton. They used to appear at the barred little windows when they were on nights in midweek games and ask the score. Different world but lots of fun in the desanitized football of those days.