The Boleyn Ground did not go quietly, that is just not the West Ham United way, but after hosting one last emotional hurrah, it stood silent on Wednesday, condemned to the history books.
Broken glass still carpeted the streets around the club’s home of 112 years the morning after the incident-packed night before, while claret-and-blue scarves adorned the statue of England and West Ham great Bobby Moore on the corner of Green Street.
That statue is soon to be whisked 4km up the road to the 60,000-seat Olympic Stadium where the Hammers are to begin a new era next season with a golden future beckoning.
Photo: Reuters
While West Ham’s owners talk boldly of taking the underachieving London outfit to a new level, many will mourn another of England’s iconic clubs being ripped out of its community.
“I think it’s terrible for the area. [The club] is the only thing that’s left here,” said Nikki Harvey, who has been serving burgers outside the Boleyn for 25 years.
“Up there [at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford] it will have none of the street atmosphere. This is like a carnival on match day. It’s tragic that’s what it is,” Harvey said.
Photo: AFP
When the Premier League kicks off next season, at least nine clubs, 10 if Derby County are promoted, will do so in stadiums built since 1995. Three others — Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton — have new ones in the pipeline.
West Ham’s Boleyn, which survived a direct hit by a doodlebug bomb in World War II, is to be demolished for housing, although a new Moore statue is planned as a link to the past.
It is a familiar tale.
Champions Leicester City vacated Filbert Street in 2002.
It is now university accommodation.
Manchester City moved from Maine Road to what is now the Etihad Stadium in 2003 and where the Kippax terrace once stood, another housing development has been built.
The Dell, Southampton’s quirky stadium where they played since 1898, met its end in 2001, while Arsenal left the marble-halled Victorian splendor of Highbury in 2006 for the sweeping curves of the Emirates Stadium a short distance away.
Outside the Premier League it is also a familiar story, with Derby’s Baseball Ground, Cardiff City’s Ninian Park, Bolton Wanderers’ Burnden Park and Coventry City’s Highfield Road — England’s first all-seater stadium — all long gone.
Not everybody wants to live in the past and for some fans a new ground brings benefits on and off the pitch.
“Move with the times or get left behind,” Southampton fan Tim Cook said. “I grew up going to the Dell in the 1980s and I have great memories of watching [Kevin] Keegan, [Peter] Shilton, [Mick] Channon there ... great, great times.”
“I now take my boys to St Mary’s. It is a fantastic 21st-century ground. I loved the Dell, but I wouldn’t want to go back. I’m lucky — I’ve known both,” he said. “I’ll always have a soft spot for the Dell, but it isn’t like we moved city ... we’re still in Southampton and we have a stadium to be proud of.”
West Ham’s move from the earthy Victorian neighborhood that has been home since 1904 to a concrete bowl neighboring the posh shops and bars of Westfield Shopping Centre, is poignant.
Butted up next to the Lady of Compassion Church, overlooked by a 1950s tower block and surrounded by a patchwork of Asian shops, greasy-spoon cafes and the rough-and-ready Queens Market, the Boleyn coexists at the heart of a community.
Even St Edwards Roman Catholic School in the shadow of the Bobby Moore Stand is painted claret and blue.
No wonder emotions were mixed on Tuesday night as West Ham signed off with a 3-2 win over Manchester United in the Boleyn’s 2,398th game — a floodlit thriller amid a cacophony of noise after a 45-minute delay caused by an attack on the visiting team’s bus.
Like many of the independent traders who do a thriving match-day business around Upton Park, Harvey is not sure what the future holds or whether she will even be welcome on the manicured surrounds of the new stadium.
She plans to relocate her takeaway van to the fringes of the Olympic Park next season, while others selling programs, scarves and memorabilia are still in talks with London Legacy Development Corp over proposed pitches.
West Ham’s move to a stadium that cost ￡700 million (US$1.01 billion) of mainly taxpayers’ money, for a seasonal rent of ￡2.5 million plus addons, sounds like great business.
It should ensure annual revenues approaching ￡200 million and, with 52,000 season tickets already sold, it seems fans are buying into joint chairwoman Karren Brady’s mantra that the club is poised to become one of the 10 most powerful in Europe.
But what about the heart and soul of the club?
“It’s a sad indictment on the state of football,” said Bruce Pangay, who sells scarves and hats outside the Boleyn.
“It’s going to be homogenized and generic over there. I think this area will really suffer once the club goes,” Pangay said.
Others are prepared to trade history for silverware, which West Ham have not enjoyed since the 1979-1980 FA Cup final win.
“I’m not sure the atmosphere will be the same,” said Richard Laroche, a fan of 45 years who already has a season ticket for next season. “I’ll miss this, but that might be the price for having a better team.”
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