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By Daniel Binns

Leyton Orient Football Club has said it is confident of winning a judicial review into West Ham's proposed move into the Olympic Stadium.

A club statement said it "would not have issued proceedings if it were not confident of success" and said lawyers had advised it had a strong case.


Chairman Barry Hearn said he did not believe that the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) had been fair in choosing who should be the new tenants for the venue in Stratford.


It comes after Mr Hearn expressed fears that his club could be killed off unless the LLDC agrees to let the O's share the stadium with West Ham United.



The news also follows a report in the Sun newspaper on Monday which claimed that West Ham co-chairman David Gold expected to sign an agreement over the move on Saturday March 16.


West Ham are the preferred tenants for the stadium and had been hoping to move in time for the 2015-16 season.


It is the second time that Orient has launched a judicial review over the stadium.


A previous attempt to pick a tenant collapsed and had to be started again following the legal action and complaints from both Orient and Tottenham Hotspur FC.


Mr Hearn said: "We took an interest in the stadium when we knew they were going to cover the athletics track, and our proposal for tenancy was built on a foundation of a large scale community project.


"Our plan was, and remains, to be the community offering alongside a wealthy Premier League club.


"We don't intend to interfere with West Ham's residency at the Stadium, but maintain the position that if they are going to be there, then we need to be there too."


A spokeswoman for the LLDC said: "We have been notified that Leyton Orient have made the decision to issue proceedings for judicial review.


"Whilst this is disappointing, we believe that our processes have been robust, fair and transparent and that the challenge is misconceived."


Explaining the legal basis for the judicial review, an Orient spokesman said bidders had been required to consent to sharing the stadium, which the LLDC was supposed to consider.


But he claimed this had been ignored.

Campo wrote:


Explaining the legal basis for the judicial review, an Orient spokesman said bidders had been required to consent to sharing the stadium, which the LLDC was supposed to consider.


But he claimed this had been ignored.

Share it with Live Nation, ECCC and the track events, not with a third-rate football club.

Hearne make me wish you were allowed to staple-gun peoples faces…

Suzanne Claret wrote:Hearne make me wish you were allowed to staple-gun peoples faces…

I'm sure there's not a law that specifically says you're not allowed

Well I've checked and there is No law that's says specifically you can not staple gun Barry Herns face..............so enjoy

Motty , check to see if a nail gun is considered acceptable

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David James
The Observer, Saturday 9 March 2013 22.00 GMT

If I were a West Ham fan I would be worried right now. As early as next week the club are expected to sign a 99-year lease to relocate to the Olympic Stadium, but I am unconvinced that the move will guarantee benefits for the club and their supporters. My concerns are not merely rooted in nostalgia, although I admit I do love the atmosphere of Upton Park – the sense of an old-fashioned East End, jellied eels and 1960s football icons. The thought of all that history being wiped away and replaced with a bunch of corporate box prawn sandwich munchers from the City breaks my heart.

That the club will be renting the stadium, 25 matchdays a year, exacerbates that feeling of loss. I've heard that they plan to counter the lack of homeliness with "dressing" – but what does that mean? Shipping in the Bobby Moore statue once a fortnight? Putting up a few hoardings? What if you want to go on a stadium tour on a non-match day? Will the corridors be lined with photographs of Hammer heroes in claret and blue? Or are those only allowed on the allotted 25 days? Crucially, how will this new arena promote the club's history and identity?

Putting the emotional arguments to one side, the cold, hard facts are simple enough: West Ham need more revenue if they are to grow as a club and that means increasing gate receipts. The Olympic Stadium looks a cheap option when you consider that Arsenal's Emirates Stadium cost the club a whopping £390m while West Ham will pay £15m upfront for the Olympic Stadium and then £2.5m per year in rent thereafter. A steal, no?

Unfortunately, those figures only stack up as value for money if the club can attract enough supporters to fill a 60,000-seat stadium. And how will the club attract new supporters if the team don't perform? Last season they were in the Championship; what is to guarantee their enduring presence in the Premier League? They are hardly the model of consistency, having spent three seasons in football's second tier in the last decade alone. To me that's worrying.

And where is the model of success for them to follow? Arsenal have not made a footballing success of their own move. Since leaving Highbury, the club have failed to win a single trophy. We can argue about why that is but to my mind part of the problem has been that opposition teams simply love playing there. And who could blame them? The away dressing room is like Claridge's – a joy to behold. The experience is a world away from the old Highbury where the radiators in the away dressing room – mysteriously – used to reach unbearably high temperatures and the opposition would sit there roasting before they had even stepped out on to the pitch.

For most top-end clubs no trophies in seven years would have the fans baying for blood. Luckily for Arsène Wenger – and Arsenal – the club have a history of success and that has bought them time and patience from the fans. But West Ham won't have that luxury.

Manchester City is another example, and the club have been incredibly successful since relocating to Eastlands, now the Etihad. But their model differs to West Ham in that their attendances have hardly wavered over the years. While West Ham's figures have leapt about inconsistently, Manchester City's fans always seemed to turn up. Even when the club were relegated from the Premier League in 1997, attendances dropped on average by a mere 1,200. And then they went and got themselves a billionaire sheikh.

In contrast, West Ham have struggled to keep their gates consistent over the past 10 years. Three spells in the Championship have not helped, but the situation is as much to do with the club having successful big-name rivals in Tottenham and Arsenal located a few miles away.

In short, West Ham's recruitment is challenged by the transient fan. On moving to the new stadium they will have an extra 30,000 seats to fill, and that cannot be done on "kids for a quid" days and extra corporate boxes alone. And if the football isn't pretty, and the results are not forthcoming, then why would business people, or anyone else for that matter, want to pay to watch mediocre football? Even historically West Ham's best Premier League finish was fifth under Harry Redknapp with a team stuffed full of talent – players such as Paolo Di Canio and a young Frank Lampard.

All of which leads me to question whether this move is really about West Ham, or whether it is more likely a great opportunity to place the club in a shop window, for sale to the highest bidder come 2016. Arguably that might be no bad thing. If an investor in the mould of Sheikh Mansour came along, West Ham could soon out-rival their more high-profile neighbours in Arsenal or Tottenham. Still, the venture seems like a gamble to me. In 2016 the club could be handed the keys to their new stadium and be playing in the Championship. Are an extra 30,000 fans going to want to start attending West Ham games to witness that? I don't think so.

To think, Bobby Moore's statue, commemorating an England legend, consigned to 25 days' exposure, or worse still, placed next to Costa Coffee.

I'm sorry but I think that's all a load of bollocks. Either barry Hearn or a spud in disguise.

Its our very own DJ Motty , the reason I posted it was for the comedy aspect and how he got some of his facts wrong

The atmosphere aspect is concerning. Granted, I've never been to UP, but it's one that comes across through the set. OP would seem to be a bit sterile if every aspect about the atmosphere is temporary.

What a steaming pile of horse shit that article was!

Yeah it through up some points about making it homely and the atmosphere but I'm confident the honours, who really do seem to be genuine West Ham fans, will do their utmost to make the ground as homely as they can do. Ultimately time and new memories will be the best way of solving that problem!



If west Ham can be as successful as Arsenal i'd be more then happy! They play good, attractive football and have some fantastic players play for them over the year. They have just been unlucky that Citeh and chelsa have been bought out by billionaire who have disrupted the natural order of football. Otherwise the top 4 and the premier league would be very different league today, and citeh and Chelsea might very well be doing a Portsmouth!


I don't think we have to find an extra 30,000 fans! from my understanding the capacity wasn't going to be that large anyways? Even so if you walk around places like lakeside, bluewater then we are one of the best supported, shirt wearing fans out there and that is NOT claret and blue tinted glasses. We have a large fanbase ready and waiting for cheaper seats and better transport links. 60k really wont be a problem. If I can sit in a pub in Tunbridge wells over run by hammers fans on play off final day then there's fans out there! Having a dig at the kids for quids is bad taste, its a excellent scheme to get future generation of hammers fans going.

West Ham legend Sir Geoff Hurst is confident the impending move to the Olympic Stadium could signal the start of a golden era for the club.

Hammers co-chairman David Gold revealed earlier this month that talks over the £429m venue are at an advanced stage, and Hurst believes a deal could help them become the next Manchester City.

World Cup 1966 hero Hurst, 71, said when asked if the east Londoners could emulate the likes of Chelsea and City: "It's not beyond the realms of possibility if we go to the stadium and with the support we've got.

"West Ham has a huge supporter base. If you could make a comparison to another club of a similar stature and I would say Manchester City is it. Look what has happened to them after they went to a new stadium.

"If you were a foreign investor looking to buy a football club then West Ham would be a similar contender in the new stadium.

"More so if you want to buy a London club rather than a team in Manchester. It would be absolutely unbelievable. That could happen.

"I think it has been great for Chelsea with (Roman) Abramovich and for Manchester City. It has been great for the game. Of course I'd be thrilled to bits if it happened to West Ham."

yes we need to move
yes we want success

but no way do i want us turning in to those plastics wankers in the west

Redevelopment of the Olympic Park

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Admin wrote:West Ham legend Sir Geoff Hurst is confident the impending move to the Olympic Stadium could signal the start of a golden era for the club.

Hammers co-chairman David Gold revealed earlier this month that talks over the £429m venue are at an advanced stage, and Hurst believes a deal could help them become the next Manchester City.

World Cup 1966 hero Hurst, 71, said when asked if the east Londoners could emulate the likes of Chelsea and City: "It's not beyond the realms of possibility if we go to the stadium and with the support we've got.

"West Ham has a huge supporter base. If you could make a comparison to another club of a similar stature and I would say Manchester City is it. Look what has happened to them after they went to a new stadium.

"If you were a foreign investor looking to buy a football club then West Ham would be a similar contender in the new stadium.

"More so if you want to buy a London club rather than a team in Manchester. It would be absolutely unbelievable. That could happen.

"I think it has been great for Chelsea with (Roman) Abramovich and for Manchester City. It has been great for the game. Of course I'd be thrilled to bits if it happened to West Ham."

Cannot disagree more.

Barry Hearn promises to drop his legal fight with West Ham and find a new home for Leyton Orient if he fails to win a judicial review in to the handling of the tenancy of the Olympic Stadium.

Orient chairman Hearn announced two weeks ago that he had asked for a judicial review in to the London Legacy Development Corporation's (LLDC) decision to name West Ham as their preferred tenant for the stadium.

He thinks West Ham moving in to the 60,000-seater Olympic Stadium will damage Orient because it is so close to Brisbane Road, which holds just over 9,000.

"If I lose the judicial review, I have got to walk," Hearn tells a London news conference. "That's it. It must stop - I can't do anything else."

Orient chairman Hearn is convinced he has done the right thing in fighting West Ham's move to the Olympic Stadium.

But he says he will look to move Orient to a new home if the Hammers' switch goes ahead.

"If I stay, I get crushed," Hearn added. "And I am not prepared to see a club that is 130 years old, that reaches more kids than another other in the country through the community schemes, get crushed.

"I don't know where (Leyton Orient would move to). Harlow has been mooted, Romford has been mooted, off the A13 down by the Docks... Barking way."

Barry Hearn promises to drop his legal fight with West Ham and find a new home for Leyton Orient

his usual once a month 'look at me , i am hard done by ' bollocks

He dont need a new home , what is wrong with the place they have now , they cant fill it so what the point , he should of kept his big cake hole shut in the begin,ing and not sided with the squirts then maybe just maybe he might have got some sympathy ................... just joking , give him fekall

Looks like its all done and dusted

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Relief with a good bit of sadness on top.

Spot on Cochese , but at the end of the day I think it is the only way forward , fingers crossed

I'd also very much like to think we could make it 'homely' with claret and blue seats, named stands, west ham flags, SIR Bobby Moore statue etc.