Comments on: Elegy For Upton Park

By: Ros

Ros — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 16:00:40 +0000

Excellent interview and choice of photographs. So many stories there!

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 07:50:19 +0000

I can relate to this. Living on the other side of London my dad used to take me in alternate weeks to Chelsea and Fulham. But it was always Chelsea I identified with because of one player – Jimmy Greaves. So even as they slid into the second division I stuck with them even though Fulham had some great players; not least the England captain, Johnny Haynes. Until I moved away from London there was no place to go on a Saturday but Stamford Bridge – it was a given. And it was cheap – 4/6 (that’s 22p) in present money! But I’m happy I wasn’t around for the slide into hooliganism and the crazy price hikes.

By: Caroline Bottomley

Caroline Bottomley — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 05:58:37 +0000

That’s great. Have tried to get into football but I just can’t make it happen.
Reading about it is a nice alternative 🙂

By: Roger Holcombe

Roger Holcombe — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 05:00:20 +0000

Sorry to disagree Robert but many of us, especially those who visited regularly in the 60/70s
will miss the old place. Of course large crowds sometimes upset people it was life get over it.

By: Robert Green

Robert Green — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 23:42:17 +0000

Sorry to pour cold water on this wallowing of nostalgia but as someone who spent > 50 < years both living and running a business right opposite the main gates to the ground on Green St I can tell you that traders aside virtually EVERYONE who actually lives in Upton Park will be only to pleased to at long last see the back of West Ham football ground and all the chaos and congestion that go's with it, apart from the folk law and the memories of a diminishing number of older supporters the football club has got no relevance at all to Upton Park in the moden day, 90% of their current supporters don't even live in London let alone Upton Park, I lived through the turmoil of the 60s 70s and 80s when every other Saterday on Green St was like a battlefield and in spite of what the authorities would try to have you believe even to this day on matchdays when the big teams visit there is still a very intimidating atmosphere around the ground, people can try as much as they like to paint a cosy whiter than white picture of what this place represents to the East End but I know the reality of what this place has been all about because for nearly six decades I lived both in and under the shadow of it day and night, at last they may be moving but to the vast majority of people who actually LIVE there it won't be a sad farewell, it will be more of a GOOD RIDDENCE.