[gmanr26]

I was thinking today about how Arsenal got a new stadium this season and talks of new stadiums in the future for West Ham, and Liverpool.... and especially in Europe where football is a huge part of the culture and how people tell you about the atmosphere for them and feeling in their home stadiums....

So I want to know from the spectators and fans of your teams....

how do you feel when you hear about your team getting a new home gorunds?

[Matt the Thrasher]

I think football fans in general tend to be a little over sentimental about these things, I was a season ticket holder at Upton Park for nearly 20 years I used to stand on the East Terrace ( known as the Chicken Run) and I was absolutely gutted when they made the stadium all seater, but my season ticket was transfered to the new Bobby Moore stand I carried on watching as before nobody died. I have many great memories of UP in many ways you could say I grew up there, but I would have no qualms about West Ham moving if it was for the good of the team.Having said that I think it would be a mistake for West Ham to move to the Olympic Stadium for 2 reasons 1,the running track around the pitch would lead to a lack of atmosphere and 2, they simply couldn't fill it , better to have a 35,000 stadium packed to the rafters than a 70,000 seater half empty.
For Arsenal moving was an economic neccessity they had a 38,000 capacity at Highbury and were turning away thousands every week , it was impossible to redevelope so they had to move and whilst Arsenal fans may have shed a few tears they will soon have many happy days at the Emirates I am sure , Liverpool are in much the same situation .

[squid]

It's strange because fans are overlly nostalgic but if the likes of West ham look at it they havejust had a huge increase in the amount of spending power that they which should mean that they will go on to a new level and to move into a new ground should be indicitive of that. Thier fans should be excited about what waits ahead and the prospect of saying i was thier when...

However i understand the bitter sweet aspect of it because Celtic were involved in the same same thing when it was proposed that the club would move away from Parkhead to Cambuslang and the feelin that we didnt want to leave and releief thast eventually we didnt have was all the greater.

[goldenHuddlestone]

You see its all well and good if your moving onwards and upwards to a stadium with a larger attendance and stuff like that a la Arsenal however I thinkwe can all agree that when thinks go as far aifield as Wimbledon did it is not a positive thing.

[squid]

yeah, agreed. then it becomes as a bad as american football, where teams are known as franchises.

But i think in most cases, in england anyway, clubs seem to be trying to stay local.

[Matt the Thrasher]

There's a big difference between moving stadium in the same city than moving to an entirely different part of the country,clearly by doing that you lose your identity as indeed Wimbledon did.

[aisuru]

the gypsy scum ( or Clyde FC as they are sometimes known ) did that. they moved out here to Cumbernauld in the hope that they'd develop a new fan base, since the 'Nauld is a New Town and didn't really have a big local team. i don't think it's worked too well though, due to most of the town's population being from Glasgow overspill, and thus supporters of one of the InFirm or the mighty Jags.