Realigning Expectations

West Ham chief executive Scott Duxbury has hinted that the club's proposed new stadium is likely to have a lower capacity than initially mooted. Eggert Magnusson, when talking about the plans for a new home last year, suggested that the planned capacity would be around 60,000 to match that of Arsenal's new stadium. However, in an interview with the Newham Recorder, Duxbury confirmed that the initial site will house slightly less. "At the moment, we are looking at a 50,000 stadium with the option of extending it to 60,000," he admitted. "It is not that we don't think we can fill 60,000 seats, but the last thing we want is empty seats. We are confident that we will be able to fill a 50,000 capacity stadium." The downsizing is in line with the ten-point plan for the future outlined in an official club statement on Monday. It all seems designed to lower expectations to a slightly more realistic level following the wave of early euphoria when the Icelandic consortium initially arrived.

In respect to the location of the proposed new ground, Duxbury revealed that the Parcelforce site by Upton Park tube station - which had previously been earmarked as the primary choice for relocation - was now in doubt due to certain conditions regarding the numerous gas tanks that reside on the same land. "There is really nothing new to say about the situation. We are still negotiating and in a multi-million pound deal, these things can take some time," explained Duxbury. "There are one or two obstacles that we still have to get over. One of those is the gas holders on the site. We are currently discussing things with Health and Safety about the problems of potentially explosive structures being there, and we have asked them to come back to us with a solution. We could build a stadium on the site with the gas holders there, but that would curtail what we want to do in terms of a hotel and a leisure complex. There is also a bus depot being looked at for the site, but obviously the more of the site we can get, the better."

Although plans are still at a tentative stage, Duxbury revealed that the firm contracted to carry out the project the site would be the same company responsible for Reading's Madejski Stadium - architects ACP, who also built Oxford's 15,000 capacity Assam Stadium and three quarters of Wolves' Molineux home. "In terms of the architects, we haven't got to the design stage yet, but it will be done by the same architects that designed Reading's stadium," disclosed the chief executive.

Finally, the club announced that they are close to securing the site for a new training ground. Some stories had suggested that financial pressures had caused the move to be shelved, but Duxbury confirmed that was far from the truth. "The completion of the new training site is nearer to fruition than the new stadium, though we don't expect to have completed the deal until September," he declared. "I can't say where the site is, but it is very near to Chadwell Heath, and the pitches are set up there already. It is just a matter of constructing the building and we will be ready to move."