West Ham United F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 09/2014
Full name:
West Ham United Football Club
Nicknames:
The Irons
The Hammers
The Academy of Football
Founded:
1895; as Thames Ironworks
Ground:
The Boleyn Ground
(1904 - current)
Capacity:
35,016
Owner:
David Sullivan 55.6%
David Gold 30.6%
CB Holding Ltd. 10%
Minority Investors 3.8%
Manager:
Sam Allardyce
League:
Premier League
2013-14:
Premier League, 13th
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, East London, England currently playing in the Premier League, England's top tier of football.
The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current Boleyn Ground stadium.
They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before eventually joining the full Football League in 1919 and subsequently enjoyed promotion to the top flight for the 1923 season.
1923 also saw the club feature in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley against Bolton Wanderers.
In 1940 the team won the inaugural Football League War Cup.
The club has won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975 and 1980 as well as being runners-up twice, in 1923 and 2006.
In 1965, they won the European Cup Winners Cup, and in 1999 they won the Intertoto Cup.
They are one of eight existent clubs never to have fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 55 of 87 league seasons in Division 1 to 2013.
However, unlike the other seven (Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur), the club has never won the league title.
The club's best final league position is third place in the 1985-86 First Division.
Three West Ham players played significant roles in the England's victory in the 1966 World Cup final: captain Bobby Moore, and both goalscorers, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.
HISTORY - ORIGINS
The earliest generally accepted incarnation of West Ham United was founded in 1895 as the Thames Ironworks team by foreman and local league referee Dave Taylor and owner Arnold Hills and was announced in the Thames Ironworks Gazette of June 1895.
The team played on a strictly amateur basis for 1895 at least, with a team featuring a number of works employees including Thomas Freeman (ships fireman), Walter Parks (clerk), Tom Mundy, Walter Tranter and James Lindsay (all boilermakers), William Chapman, George Sage, and William Chamberlain and apprentice riveter Charlie Dove.
The club, Thames Ironworks were the first ever winners of the West Ham Charity Cup in 1895 contested by clubs in the locality, then won the London League in 1897.
They turned professional in 1898 upon entering the Southern League Second Division, and were promoted to the First Division at the first attempt.
The following year they came second from bottom, but had established themselves as a fully fledged competitive team.
They comfortably fended off the challenge of local rivals Fulham in a relegation play-off, 5:1 in late April 1900 and retained their First Division status.
The team initially played in full dark blue kits, as inspired by Mr. Hills, who had been an Oxford University "Blue", but changed the following season by adopting the sky blue shirts and white shorts combination worn through 1897 to 1899.
In 1899 they acquired their now-traditional home kit combination of claret shirts and sky blue sleeves in a wager involving Aston Villa players, who were League Champions at the time.
Following growing disputes over the running and financing of the club in June 1900 Thames Ironworks F.C. was disbanded, then almost immediately relaunched on 5 July 1900 as West Ham United F.C. with Syd King as their manager and future manager Charlie Paynter as his assistant.
Because of the original "works team" roots and links (still represented upon the club badge), they are still known as 'the Irons' or 'the Hammers' amongst fans and the media.
Birth of West Ham United
West Ham Utd had joined the Western League for the 1901 season in addition to continuing playing in the Southern Division 1.
In 1907 West Ham were crowned the Western League Division 1B Champions, and then defeated 1A champions Fulham 1:0 to become the Western League Overall Champions.
The reborn club continued to play their games at the Memorial Grounds in Plaistow (funded by Arnold Hills) but moved to a pitch in the Upton Park area in the guise of the Boleyn Ground stadium in 1904.
West Ham's first game in their new home was against fierce rivals Millwall (themselves an Ironworks team, albeit for a rival company) drawing a crowd of 10,000 and with West Ham running out 3:0 winners, and as the Daily Mirror wrote on 2 September 1904:
In 1919, still under King's leadership, West Ham gained entrance to the Football League Second Division, the first game being a 1:1 draw with Lincoln City, and were promoted to Division One in 1923, also making the first ever FA Cup Final to be held at the old Wembley stadium.
Their opponents were Bolton Wanderers.
This was also known as the White Horse Final.
This is because so many people turned up to the game, (estimated at 200,000), that they spilled out on to the pitch.
The pitch had to be cleared prior to kick-off, by Billie, a giant white horse (actually grey) being ridden by PC George Scorey.
The Cup Final match itself ended 2:0 to Bolton Wanderers.
The team enjoyed mixed success in Division 1 but retained their status for 10 years and reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1933.
In 1932 the club was relegated to Division Two and long term custodian Syd King was sacked after serving the club in the role of Manager for 32 years, and as a player from 1899 to 1903.
Following relegation King had mental health problems.
He appeared drunk at a board meeting and soon after committed suicide.
He was replaced with his assistant manager Charlie Paynter who himself had been with West Ham in a number of roles since 1897 and who went on to serve the team in this role until 1950 for a total of 480 games.
The club spent most of the next 30 years in this division, first under Paynter and then later under the leadership of former player Ted Fenton.
Fenton succeeded in getting the club once again promoted to the top level of English football in 1958, and, with the considerable input of player Malcolm Allison, helped develop both the initial batch of future West Ham stars and West Ham's approach to the game.
THE GLORY YEARS
Ron Greenwood was appointed as Fenton's successor in 1961 and he soon led the club to two major trophies, winning the FA Cup in 1964.
The team was led by the young Bobby Moore.
They also won the European Cup Winners' Cup.
During the 1966 World Cup, key members of the tournament winners England were West Ham players, including the captain, Bobby Moore; Martin Peters (who scored in the final); and Geoff Hurst, who scored the first, and only, hat-trick in a World Cup final.
All three players had come through the youth team at West Ham.
There is a "Champions" statue in Barking Road, opposite The Boleyn Tavern, commemorating West Ham's three sons who helped win the 1966 World Cup: Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.
Also included on the statue is Everton's Ray Wilson.
They also won the FA Cup in 1975 by defeating Fulham 2:0.The Fulham team had former England captains Alan Mullery and West Ham legend Bobby Moore.
After a difficult start to the 1974-75 season Greenwood moved himself "upstairs" to become General Manager and, without informing the board, appointed his assistant John Lyall as team manager.
The result was instant success - the team scored 20 goals in their first four games combined and won the FA Cup, becoming the last team to win the FA Cup with an all-English side when they beat Fulham 2:0 in the 1975 final.
Lyall then guided West Ham to another European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1976, though the team lost the match 4:2 to Anderlecht.
Greenwood's tenure as General Manager lasted less than three years, as he was appointed to manage England in the wake of Don Revie's resignation in 1977.
Their last major honour was winning the FA Cup in 1980.
They made into the finals by defeating Everton.
The final was played against Arsenal in which The Hammers won 1:0, with a goal scored from a header by Trevor Brooking in the 13th minute.
UPS ANS DOWNS
In 1978, West Ham were again relegated to Division Two, but Lyall was retained as manager and led the team to an FA Cup Final win against Arsenal in 1980.
This is notable as no team outside the top division has won the trophy since.
West Ham were promoted to Division One in 1981, and finished in the top ten of the first division for the next three seasons before achieving their highest-ever league finish of third in 1985–86.
However, they suffered relegation again in 1989, which resulted in Lyall's sacking.
He was awarded an ex gratia payment of £100,000 but left the club in what Lyall described as 'upsetting' circumstances, meriting only 73 words in a terse acknowledgement of his service in the club programme, Lyall left West Ham after 34 years service.
After Lyall, Lou Macari briefly led the team, though he resigned after less than a single season in order to clear his name of allegations of illegal betting while manager of Swindon Town.
He was replaced by former player Billy Bonds.
In Bonds' first full season (1990-91), West Ham again secured promotion to Division One.
Now back in the top flight Bonds saw West Ham through one of their most controversial seasons. With the club planning to introduce a bond scheme there was crowd unrest. West Ham finished last and were relegated back to Division Two after only one season.
However, they rebounded strongly in 1992-93.
With Trevor Morley and Clive Allen scoring 40 goals, they guaranteed themselves second place on the last day of the season with a 2:0 home win against Cambridge United, and with it promotion to the Premier League.
With the team in the Premier League there was a need to rebuild the team.
Oxford United player Joey Beauchamp was recruited for a fee of £1.2m.
Shortly after arriving at the club he complained that he should not have made the move as it was too far from his Oxford home.
Bonds found this attitude hard to understand compared with his own committed, never-say-die style. This was the first evidence of his losing appetite for the modern game and modern player.
58 days later Beauchamp was signed by Swindon Town for a club-record combined fee of £800,000, which included defender Adrian Whitbread going in the opposite direction.
Whitbread was valued at £750,000 in the deal.
Assistant manager Harry Redknapp was also now taking a bigger role in the transfer of players, with the club's approval.
With rumours of his old club, AFC Bournemouth being prepared to offer him a position the West Ham board and their managing director, Peter Storrie made a controversial move.
The board were anxious not to lose Redknapp's services and offered Bonds a place away from the day-to-day affairs of the club, on the West Ham board.
This would have allowed them to appoint Redknapp as manager.
Bonds refused the post offered and walked away from the club.
His accusations of deceit and manipulation by the board and by Redknapp have continued to cause ill-feeling.
Peter Storrie claimed they that they had handled the situation correctly, saying, "If Harry had gone to Bournemouth, there was a good chance Bill would have resigned anyway, so we were in a no-win situation.
We're sad that Bill is going, and it's a big blow but it's time to move on and we have appointed a great manager".
Redknapp became manager on 10 August 1994.
Redknapp's time at West Ham was notable for the turnover of players during his tenure and for the level of attractive football and success which had not been seen since the managership of John Lyall.
Over 134 players passed through the club while he was manager producing a net transfer fee deficit of £16m even after the £18m sale of Rio Ferdinand.
Some were notably successful such as the signings of Stuart Pearce, Trevor Sinclair,Paolo Di Canio, John Hartson, Eyal Berkovic[ and Ian Wright.
Some were expensive, international players who failed at West Ham such as Florin Raducioiu, Davor Suker, who earned as much in wages as the revenue gained from one entire stand yet made only eight appearances, Christian Bassila who cost £720,000 and played only 86 minutes of football, Titi Camara, Gary Charles, whose wages amounted to £4.4m but made only three starts for the club, Rigobert Song, Paolo Futre and Marco Boogers, a player often quoted as one of the biggest failures in the Premier League.
His first season in charge saw West Ham fighting the threat of relegation until the last few weeks.[55] His third season saw another relegation battle.
Always willing to enter the transfer market, Redknapp bought in the winter transfer window John Hartson and Paul Kitson who added the impetus needed at the season's end.
In 1999, West Ham finished fifth. This was their highest position in the top flight since 1986.
They also won the Intertoto Cup beating FC Metz to qualify for the UEFA Cup.
Things started to falter for Redknapp with the sale for £18m to Leeds United of Rio Ferdinand in November 2000.
Redknapp used the transfer money poorly with purchases such as Ragnvald Soma who cost £800,000 and played only seven league games, Camera and Song.
Redknapp felt he needed more funds with which to deal in the transfer market.
Chairman Brown lost patience with Redknapp due to his demands for further transfer funds.
In June 2001 called to a meeting with Brown expecting to discuss contracts, he was fired.
His assistant Frank Lampard left too, making the sale of his son Frank jnr inevitable.
In the summer of 2001 he joined Chelsea for £11m.
With several names such as former player Alan Curbishley now linked with the job chairman Brown recruited from within the club.
Reserve team coach Glenn Roeder was appointed manager on 9 May 2001.
He had already failed in management with Gillingham, where he lost 22 of the 35 games he managed, and Watford.
His first big signings were the return of Don Hutchison for £5m and Czech centre back Tomas Repka.
Finishing 7th in his first season Roeder, in his office at Upton Park, suffered a blocked blood vessel in his brain.
Now needing medical help and recuperation, former stalwart Trevor Brooking stood in as caretaker manager.
Despite not losing another game the Hammers were relegated on the last day of the season at Birmingham City with a record for a relegated club of 42 points.
Nine seasons of top tier football were over.
Many top players including Joe Cole, Di Canio and Kanoute all left the club.
The next season now in the second tier Roeder resumed as manager.
Results were still poor and after an away defeat to Rotherham United he was sacked on 24 August 2003.
Brooking again took over as caretaker.
He lost only one game, a 2:0 away defeat to Gillingham and is known as "the best manager West Ham never had".
Former Crystal Palace player and the manager of Reading, Alan Pardew was lined up to be the next manager. Reading and their chairman, John Madejski, were reluctant to let him leave.
After serving a period of notice and gardening leave and with West Ham paying Reading £380,000 in compensation he was appointed manager on 18 October 2003, their tenth manager.
Pardew set out to rebuild the side bringing in Nigel Reo-Coker, Marlon Harewood and Brian Deane.
In his 1st season in charge they made the playoff final only to lose to Crystal Palace.
His signings of Bobby Zamora, Matthew Etherington and veterans Chris Powell and Teddy Sheringham saw West Ham finishing 6th and subsequently beat Preston North End 1:0, thanks to a Zamora goal, in the 2005 playoff final to return to the Premier League.
Pardew said "It's a team effort.
We defended well and we're back where we belong."
RECENT SEASONS
On their return to the top division, West Ham finished in 9th place,[ The highlight of the 2005–06 season, however, was reaching the FA Cup final, and taking favourites Liverpool to a penalty shootout, after a three-all draw.
West Ham lost the shootout but still gained entry to the UEFA Cup as Liverpool had already qualified for the Champions League.
In August 2006, West Ham completed a major coup on the last day of the transfer window, after completing the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
The club was eventually bought by an Icelandic consortium, led by Eggert Magnússon in November 2006.
Manager Alan Pardew was sacked after poor form during the season and was replaced by former Charlton manager Alan Curbishley.
The signings of Mascherano and Tevez were investigated by the Premier League, who were concerned that details of the transfers had been omitted from official records.
The club was found guilty and fined 5.5 million pounds in April 2007.
However, West Ham avoided a points deduction which ultimately became critical in their avoidance of relegation at the end of the 2006-07 season.
Following on from this event, Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan, supported by other sides facing possible relegation, including Fulham and Sheffield United, threatened legal action.
West Ham escaped relegation by winning seven of their last nine games, including a 1:0 win over Arsenal, and on the last day of the season defeated newly crowned League Champions Manchester United 1:0 with a goal by Tevez to finish 15th.
In the 2007-08 season, West Ham remained reasonably consistently in the top half of the league table, with Fredrik Ljungberg in the team, despite a slew of injuries; new signing Craig Bellamy missed most of the campaign with Kieron Dyer out from August 2007.
The last game of the season, at the Boleyn Ground, saw West Ham draw 2:2 against Aston Villa; ensuring 10th place, finishing three points ahead of rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
It was a five-place improvement on the previous season, and most importantly West Ham were never under any realistic threat of relegation.
After a row with the board over the sale of defenders Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney to Sunderland, manager Alan Curbishley resigned on 3 September 2008.
His successor was former Chelsea striker Gianfranco Zola. Zola took over on 11 September 2008 and in so doing became the club's first non-British manager.
In the 2008-09 season West Ham finished 9th, a single place improvement.
In the 2009-10 season, West Ham started strongly with a 2:0 win over newly promoted Wolves with goals from Mark Noble and newly appointed captain Matthew Upson.
A League Cup match against old rivals Millwall brought about violent riots outside the ground as well as pitch invasions and crowd trouble inside Upton Park.
In August 2009 the financial concerns of Icelandic owners parent companies left the current owners unable to provide any funds until a new owner was found.
The club's shirt sponsor SBOBET provided the club with help purchase a much needed striker, Alessandro Diamanti.
West Ham had a poor season which involved a prolonged battle against relegation.
They finally secured their survival with two games remaining by defeating Wigan Athletic 3:2.
The club managed to take 35 points from 38 games, seven fewer than the total they had when relegated seven years prior.
On 11 May 2010, two days after the end of the 2009-10 season, West Ham announced the termination of Zola's contract with immediate effect.
On 3 June 2010, Avram Grant signed a four-year deal to become the next manager of West Ham subject to a work permit.
West Ham's form continued to be poor with the team seldom outside the relegation zone, placing Grant's future as manager under serious doubt.
A 4:0 Football League Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United was an otherwise bright point in a disappointing season.
West Ham's form in the Premier League did not affect their form in the two domestic cups.
The Hammers reached the semi-final of the League Cup before being eliminated by eventual winners Birmingham City as well as the quarter final of the FA cup before a 2:1 defeat at Stoke City.
On 15 May 2011, West Ham's relegation to the Championship was confirmed after a comeback from Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.
With West Ham leading 2:0 at half-time by two Demba Ba goals, Wigan battled back to win 3:2 thanks to an added-time strike from Charles N'Zogbia.
Following the loss, West Ham announced the sacking of manager Avram Grant just one season into his tenure.
On 1 June 2011, Sam Allardyce was appointed as manager as Grant's replacement.
The club finished third in the 2011-12 Football League Championship with 86 points and took part in the play offs.
They beat Cardiff City F.C. in the play off semi-final 5:0 on aggregate to reach the final against Blackpool at Wembley on 19 May 2012.
Carlton Cole opened the scoring, and although Blackpool equalised early in the second half, Ricardo Vaz Tê scored the winner for West Ham in the 87th minute.
West Ham on their return to the Premier League signed former players James Colllins and George McCartney on permanent deals, as well as record signing Matt Jarvis and Andy Carroll on loan.
They won their first game of the season, on 18 August 2012, 1:0 against Aston Villa thanks to a Kevin Nolan goal.
The highlight of the first half of the season was a 3:1 home win against reigning European champions Chelsea on 1 December 2012 which saw them in 8th position and 12th at the end of the year.
On 22 March 2013, West Ham secured a 99-year lease deal on the Olympic Stadium, with it planned to be used as their home ground from the 2016-17 season.
10th place was secured at the end of the season with nine home wins and only three away from home.
Only eleven away goals were scored, the lowest of the entire league.
In June 2013 West Ham again broke their record transfer fee with the signing of Andy Carroll signed a six-year contract for a fee of £15 million.
COLOURS
The original colours of the team were dark blue, due to Thames Ironworks chairman Arnold Hills being a former student of Oxford University.
However, the team used a variety of kits including the claret and sky blue house colours of Thames Ironworks, as well as sky blue or white kit.
The Irons permanently adopted claret and blue for home colours in the summer of 1899.
Thames Ironworks right-half Charlie Dove received the Aston Villa kit from his father William Dove, who was a professional sprinter of national repute, as well as being involved with the coaching at Thames Ironworks.
Bill Dove had been at a fair in Birmingham, close to Villa Park, the home ground of Aston Villa and was challenged to a race against four Villa players, who wagered money that one of them would win.
Bill Dove defeated them and, when they were unable to pay the bet, one of the Villa players who was responsible for washing the team's kit offered a complete team's 'football kits' to Dove in payment.
The Aston Villa player subsequently reported to his club that the kit was 'missing'.
This however, is often disputed.
The predecessors of Thames Ironworks, Old Castle Swifts FC, played in pale blue shirts, white shorts and claret socks as early as 1892, around the same time Aston Villa played in said same colours.
Thames Ironworks, and later West Ham United, retained the claret yoke/blue sleeves design, but also continued to use their previously favoured colours for their away kits.
RIVALRIES
West Ham have strong rivalries with several other clubs. Most of these are with other London clubs, especially with Tottenham Hotspur in an east versus north London derby and with Chelsea in an east versus west London rivalry.
The rivalry between West Ham and Tottenham has been fuelled by players such as Michael Carrick, Martin Peters, Paul Allen, Jermain Defoe and Scott Parker leaving the Hammers to join Tottenham.
The rivalry deepened with the appointment of former Hammers manager Harry Redknapp as Tottenham's manager.
Since the 2006-07 Premier League season, West Ham have developed a strong rivalry with Yorkshire club Sheffield United, due to the dubious circumstances surrounding the transfer of Carlos Tevez.
The oldest and fiercest rivalry is with Millwall.
The two sides are local rivals, having both formed originally around the works sides Thames Ironworks and Millwall Ironworks shipbuilding companies.
They were rivals for the same contracts and the players lived in the same locality.
The early history of both clubs are intertwined, with West Ham proving to be the more successful in a number of meetings between the two teams, resulting in West Ham being promoted at the expense of Millwall.
Millwall later declined to join the fledgling Football League while West Ham went on to the top division and an FA Cup final.
Later in the 1920s the rivalry was intensified during strike action started by the East End (perceived to be West Ham fans) which Isle Of Dogs-based companies (i.e. Millwall fans) refused to support, breeding ill will between the two camps, the bitterness of this betrayal enduring for years.
The rivalry between West Ham and Millwall has involved considerable violence and is one of the most notorious within the world of football hooliganism.
The teams were drawn against each other in the second round of the 2009–10 League Cup and met on 25 August 2009 at Upton Park.
This was the first time in four years that the two clubs had played each other, and the first ever in the League Cup.
Clashes between fans occurred outside the ground, resulting in violence erupting up to half a mile away from the stadium, with serious injuries, damage to property and several arrests reported by police.
There were also several pitch invasions which brought a temporary halt to the game.
NICKNAMES
The team and supporters are known as "The Hammers", in part because of the club's origins as Thames Ironworks (see club crest) and also erroneously, due to the club's name.
They are also known as "The Irons"[156] and as "The Cockney Boys" as they are a Cockney club.
Other nicknames are "The Academy of Football", or just "The Academy".
STADIUM
West Ham is currently based at the Boleyn Ground, commonly known as Upton Park, in Newham, east London. The capacity of the Boleyn Ground is 35,016.
This has been West Ham's ground since 1904.
Prior to this, in their previous incarnation of Thames Ironworks, they played at Hermit Road in Canning Town and briefly at Browning Road in East Ham, before moving to the Memorial Grounds in Plaistow in 1897.
They retained the stadium during their transition to becoming West Ham United and were there for a further four seasons before moving to the Boleyn Ground in 1904.
Former chairman Eggert Magnússon made clear his ambition for West Ham United to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics, a desire reiterated by current chairmen Gold and Sullivan when they assumed control of the club stating that they felt it was a logical move for the Government as it was in the borough of Newham.
However in February 2010, the British Olympic Minister stated that West Ham would not get the stadium, and it would instead be used for track and field.
On 17 May 2010 West Ham and Newham London Borough Council submitted a formal plan to the Olympic Park Legacy Company for the use of the Olympic Stadium following the 2012 Olympic Games.
The proposal was for a stadium with a capacity of 60,000 which would retain a competition athletics track.
The proposal was welcomed by the chairman of UK athletics, Ed Warner, who said "I think it will feel great as a football stadium and I speak as a football fan as well the chairman of UK Athletics.
I think you'd find West Ham would cover the track in the winter season so it wouldn't look like you had a track between you and the pitch".
On 30 September 2010, the club formally submitted its bid for the Olympic Stadium with a presentation at 10 Downing Street, and on 8 October 2010 the world's largest live entertainment company Live Nation endorsed the club's Olympic Stadium plans.
Three days after Live Nation's endorsement UK Athletics confirmed its formal support for West Ham United and Newham Council in their joint bid to take over the Olympic Stadium in legacy mode.
In November 2010 West Ham United commenced a search for potential developers for "informal discussions" about what would happen to the ground if it were to win its bid to take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.
According to the club, the site could be vacated and open to redevelopment by the summer of 2014.
On 11 February 2011 the Olympic Park Legacy Committee selected West Ham United as the preferred club to move into the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games
The decision in favour of West Ham's bid was unanimous, although controversial as local rivals Tottenham Hotspur had also been bidding for the venue.
However, their hopes of moving to the stadium have since been placed under doubt following a challenge by Leyton Orient, fearful that having West Ham playing less than a mile away from their Brisbane Road ground could steal support from the club and put them out of business.
On 3 March 2011 West Ham United's proposed move to the Olympic Stadium was formally approved by the British government and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
On 8 June 2011, it was confirmed that the Westfield Shopping Centre had been in detailed talks with West Ham for naming rights of the new Olympic stadium which could be called the Westfield Stadium.
In August 2011 an independent investigation initiated by the Olympic Park Legacy Company upheld the decision to award West Ham the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.
West Ham announced plans to move from The Boleyn Ground from season 2014-15.
By March 2012 West Ham was one of the four bidders for the Stadium.
With a decision due by the Olympic Park Legacy Company in May 2012 Boris Johnson delayed the final selection of future tenants until completion of the 2012 Olympics stating that it was "overwhelmingly likely" that the tenants would be West Ham United.
It was announced on 22 March 2013, that the team signed a 99-year lease for the Olympic Stadium after the government agreed to put in an extra £25m towards the costs of converting the site.
It is seen as a massive step forward for the club.
They plan to move into the Stadium before the start of the 2016–17 season.
Players