In the late Summer of 1985, just as McAvennie, Cottee & Co. were getting ready to set the top flight alight, the attention of the International media was focused upon the tiny village of Ballinspittle in Co. Cork where locals alleged that statues had started moving!
The events were seen as evidence of divine intervention and provoked a frenzy of over 300,000 visitors arriving to witness the goings on. Pretty soon there were moving statues all over the West of Ireland as the nation engaged in mass hysteria!!!
And so, winding the clock forward, statues are threatening to move again - but this time on East London's Green street. It has been rumoured that the much loved statue of Bobby Moore and the lads holding up the World Cup may be joining the Lyall gates and various other Upton Park fixtures in shifting to the Olympic stadium.
However, on this occasion locals are not impressed by the movement of statues and have launched a petition to keep the statue at the junction of Green street and the Barking road. Not unreasonably, they have suggested that the statue can serve as a reminder of the connection between the club and the West Ham locality.
Given that suggestions to convert the Upton Park turf into a playing pitch for the local area were rejected in favour of a lucrative conversion into apartments, maybe its not so much to ask that the statue remain where it is. As the 17th richest club on the planet, West Ham can surely afford to commission a replacement for the Olympic Stadium site?
I thought that they were commissioning a replacement at Green Street, it certainly was mentioned at one point.
ReplyDeletekeep the statue where it is,
ReplyDeletelet upton park live on alittle