It’s official, my former club West Ham United will be the new tenants of the Olympic Stadium from 2016.It was the big story in Britain yesterday as the London Legacy Development Corporation confirmed that a deal had been reached with West Ham that will see the club become tenants under a 99-year lease with the stadium to be transformed into a 54,000-seater stadium in time for the 2016-17 season when West Ham move in.I think it is a good thing, though our stadium holds a lot of history and we’ve had tons of fantastic players playing there, the fans are settled there, but I think it is the right thing to do. The club has to look at itself and see where they want to go. If they want to be in competition with the big clubs they need to get more revenue and the Olympic Stadium, when they occupy it, will be the third biggest club ground, in terms of capacity, in England behind Old Trafford (75,000) and Emirates Stadium (60,000).Going to a bigger stadium is a way of getting more revenue. Of course Upton Park, which has been home since 1904, holds lots of history and there will be some people who are not happy with the decision to move. I understand how the fans are going to feel and as a former player I’m sad to see us leaving because there is so much history at Upton Park and it’s a wonderful place to play, a very homely place to play and if you have never played there then you need to get there and play before they close it down completely.I understand they are going to turn the ground into housing and a park and I can see that happening because it is a housing area where right now people from their flats behind the ground can look over and probably see the game on the field. It will always be a spiritual home for me and I’ll be sad to see it go, but you have to go with the times. I just hope at the new ground they will continue to want to play football that will make the fans want to come out and watch.The current ground holds about 35,000 but I know they can fill the new stadium, West Ham have lots and lots of fans. I’ve been at Upton Park when we had 44,000 and the gates were closed many times because we couldn’t get any more in and they were lined up outside in the streets. We have to try to produce that again and the way to do that is by playing entertaining football.They will have to bring players in who can play and who have a feeling for the club. Why West Ham have been successful on the field over the years is because we’ve always introduced our own players, players from the area who had a passion for and attachment to the club.When you look at the players around the Premier League now and the players who the club produced over the years, we are the Academy of Football. Malcolm Allison said many many years ago when he was playing at West Ham that we were one of the first teams to play the ball on the carpet and knock it around. That’s the way we were brought up and Ron Greenwood used to say if you have to play in your living room, then you should still be able to have a game of football.I watch a lot of football and like teams to play cultured football, like how Barcelona are playing. That’s total football. The Dutch play it and the Brazilians and that’s the way we always tried to play it.Karren Brady, the assistant CEO at West Ham, confirmed on Sky Sports yesterday without hesitation that the Bobby Moore statue would be going to the new ground so a piece of West Ham history will be preserved. Bobby Moore meant so much to West Ham, people still talk about him today and he’s been dead for 20 years. He’s an icon and I tell people all the time that Bobby Moore is Mr West Ham. Everybody can identify with West Ham through Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters.I can still see the kit lady who used to watch the kit, Mrs Moss, in my mind today, George the groundsman, Paddy, an Irish guy, all fantastic people. It’s going to be tough to leave but the time is probably right.No matter where you are in the world change is always hard and for some people it is difficult to accept. As long as it is for the best and is going to make the club money I think it is a good thing. If we are going to the Olympic Stadium we have to get class players in to be able to compete with your Manchester Uniteds, your Arsenals, Liverpools, Spurs.I have heard about the concerns of a smaller club in the area, Leyton Orient, whose ground is a very short distance from the Olympic Stadium. They are concerned they could lose their fan base and could be forced out of business, but I wouldn’t worry about that because in England once you are a fan you are a fan for that club. You don’t worry about any other club. If I’m an Arsenal fan I support Arsenal only, or if I’m a West Ham fan, then West Ham only.