Roeder's West Ham taking shape

You need to wear a hard hat around West Ham these days, just in case. Safety headware is still essential if you want to walk around the club's partly built new grandstand, while manager Glenn Roeder may feel in need of a crash helmet at some stage, if things don't go to plan this season.

Construction is the key word for West Ham this summer, with the new Dr Martens Stand, part of the club's £35 million stadium redevelopment, due for partial opening in time for the club's first home match of the season against Leeds in a month's time.

Away from the building site that is Upton Park, Roeder is attempting to reconstruct a squad which will surprise the pessimists who forecast relegation - and help keep bums on the shiny new seats in the process.

There is no disputing that the last few months have been an unsettled period for what has been traditionally one of the more stable of English football clubs but, as the new season draws ever nearer and the new stand, complete with its twin turrets, really takes shape, the feeling of anticipation hangs in the East End air along with the brick dust.

For the first few months, only the top tier of the new stand will be open but by the end of November everything will be up and running, raising the ground capacity to 35,000 and eventually, when the East Stand is replaced, 40,000. Deep in the bowels of the stand, with its emergency lighting, it is still difficult to envisage the finished article but David Thorpe-Tracey, the club's director of hospitality, talks enthusiastically about the project.

"Seeing this take shape is enormously exciting," he says. "On match days, we'll be serving 2000 meals here with a staff of 500."

He points out the skeletal shapes of the White Horse Suite, which will accommodate 120 members, the 800-capacity Carlsberg Suite, the conference facilities for 1000, the home dressing room complete with Jacuzzi and the tiles inset with crossed hammers.

Commercial director Stuart Ryan reports that 85 per cent of the stand's 71 executive boxes have been sold with most of them converting to hotel rooms during the week.