We don't want you West Ham

Today the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) announced that West Ham United has won the right to move into the Olympic Stadium and in turn the LLDC has lost the right to have Legacy in its name.

The fact that West Ham are moving into the Olympic stadium frustrates me for so many reasons, the first one is the fact that London's Olympic bid was focused on legacy and that there would be a world class athletics venue in the east end of London. I personally think that stick seats for a football club over the athletics track compromises on this promise given in 2005.

Furthermore the public funds of refurbishing the stadium are ridiculous considering the stadium opened a year ago. I do not usually worry about public money being spent on sport (probably because I'm too young to pay taxes) however £60m for a privately owned team to use it is ridiculous.

It puzzles me even more when you consider that Arsenal not only paid for the construction of the Emirates Stadium, but they also had to pay for changes to infrastructure with no support from the government.

Clearly there is a fantastic record of football clubs playing in athletics stadia, take Juventus for example who stayed in Stadio delle Alpi for a whopping 16 years and let's not forget Bayern Munich who played at the Munich Olympiastadion from 1972 to 2005. It is incredibly likely that West Ham will follow this route and put the Olympic Stadium into jeopardy once they get tired of playing there.

The one argument that might make West Ham an exception is retractable seating, which will most likely be very disappointing, considering the lower tier already sits in front of the upper tier as well as the fact the lower part of the stadium is dug into the ground. Changing to the seating would also ruin the view for athletics spectators, therefore ruining the stadium and its primary purpose.

If the FA allow the Hammers to move into the Olympic stadium they will be ignoring their own rules to protect small clubs. The stadium sits within the zone entitled to Leyton Orient and letting West Ham move in would destroy their ability to generate profit.

I wouldn't mind the stadium being used in the Rugby World Cup, I would happily see it in the Football World Cup if it is ever in England again, the stadium would be a brilliant place to host big cricket matches due to the large capacity. The stadium is fully sustainable without a football club as tenant; it could be used for concerts, making use of the pixels that dazzled the world last summer as well as hosting world class athletics.

Hopefully common sense will prevail and something will stop West Ham moving in, but for now I fear for the stadium that brought you Super Saturday and Thriller Thursday.