East end of nothingness

[CaptainMorgans]

I heard that on radio sheffield. Wasn't sure what happened, as when cheer for a non-goal it's normally followed by a huge ''AAHHHHH!!!'' from the other side.

Nothing!

I assume they're used to it, knowing that no sod can see anything. They probably couldn't it wasn't a goal either!

Looks dreadful as a ground. Was it loud when they scored, or is even the acoustics shite?

It wasn't loud when West Ham scored. Really subdued celebrations, most around me just clapped. Half the stadium had emptied for half time. Half the stadium was empty at kick off. Streams were leaving on 80 mins. Really weird atmosphere.

 

[alcoblade]

I heard that on radio sheffield. Wasn't sure what happened, as when cheer for a non-goal it's normally followed by a huge ''AAHHHHH!!!'' from the other side.

Nothing!

I assume they're used to it, knowing that no sod can see anything. They probably couldn't it wasn't a goal either!

Looks dreadful as a ground. Was it loud when they scored, or is even the acoustics shite?

Acoustics were really shite. Everything about it was shite.

 

[nicksufc]

I think part of their disgraceful deal to get the stadium for free was that it had to be mixed use - concerts, baseball, NFL and athletics had to be included as part of the gig. The biggest balls up was that the stadium was purely built as an athletics stadium with no long-term plan over who it would be handed over to afterwards. Obviously it's not feasible to solely have an athletics stadium when you might (at best) have one event a year there. So when it came to refitting the stadium for West Ham it took several years and several millions of pounds, and it's still fucking awful.

Compare that with the renovations that Real Sociedad have had done to their ground for this season. Used to be similarly vast, open and with no atmosphere, but they've completely reformed it and now it looks cracking.

 

[HammerInPeace]

It's ok, I've got my flak jacket on..
Hi guys, been reading some of your threads recently. Just wanted to give some insights, if you're interested.
I would say that the majority of WH fans did not want to leave Upton Park. We were happy there. We had a capacity of 35/36k & the oldest stand left to be redeveloped was the East Stand. That probably would have brought us up to 40/41k.
The trouble was, who had bought us. Gold & Sullivan claimed to be WH fans but in truth, they are money makers first.
When moving to the OS first became talked about, I personally said to no one in particular, if it's anything like the old Wembley, it will be terrible; far too far from the pitch, you might as well be at home, watching it on the telly.
The fact was, none of us were given any choice in the matter as to whether we should move. We had no say in it. They (G&S) conducted some sort of poll that allegedly said that 85% of 12,000 fans were in favour of the move. That's nowhere near, a majority of 35k.
You wouldn't believe some of the lies that we were spun, in order presumably, to quell any anti-move protests. Many of us just had to go along with it, just putting our faith in G&S that they knew what they were doing & that they were doing it for the best..
The obvious talk (lie) that we got was that moving from 35k to 57k (at first), meant that we'd be able to buy better players. AFTER the move, David Gold admitted that the extra attendance had resulted in about £11m extra a year....we moved for that.... In the PL, the gates, any size, are worth relative peanuts to a club. The REAL money is the Sky money.
We got the anger of other teams fans, about getting a new ground for free & just paying a tiny rent. Again, that was nothing to do with us fans & at no point, have we benefited from it, for being 'free'. It was built for watching athletics in the Summer, not for football in the Winter. No amount of money or tinkering (less than knocking the whole thing down & starting again, which G&S will never do) will ever make any difference.
When I/we hear other teams telling us, you're not WH anymore, we agree, you're right, we're not. We lost SO MUCH by moving. All of that history at UP. All of those people that had their loved ones ashes, buried or scattered on the pitch.
If you want to read some of the hatred towards G, S & B (Brady), have a look on Kumb sometime. I call them the three c*nts of the apocalypse.
We're just ordinary loyal fans, just like yourselves. Don't ever let someone move you, unless it's to somewhere purpose built, for football.
We didn't need a new ground, we just needed less-mean owners, to buy better players.

 

[Sean Thornton]

In some part it is. Their Icelandic owner was stripped of wealth by the financial crisis so wasn’t well placed to bankroll a club hit with a £20m bill on top of the cost of improving the squad.

Enter the dildo salesmen and the reality TV star. ☠

He ended up bankrupt!

 

[Digs blade]

It's ok, I've got my flak jacket on..
Hi guys, been reading some of your threads recently. Just wanted to give some insights, if you're interested.
I would say that the majority of WH fans did not want to leave Upton Park. We were happy there. We had a capacity of 35/36k & the oldest stand left to be redeveloped was the East Stand. That probably would have brought us up to 40/41k.
The trouble was, who had bought us. Gold & Sullivan claimed to be WH fans but in truth, they are money makers first.
When moving to the OS first became talked about, I personally said to no one in particular, if it's anything like the old Wembley, it will be terrible; far too far from the pitch, you might as well be at home, watching it on the telly.
The fact was, none of us were given any choice in the matter as to whether we should move. We had no say in it. They (G&S) conducted some sort of poll that allegedly said that 85% of 12,000 fans were in favour of the move. That's nowhere near, a majority of 35k.
You wouldn't believe some of the lies that we were spun, in order presumably, to quell any anti-move protests. Many of us just had to go along with it, just putting our faith in G&S that they knew what they were doing & that they were doing it for the best..
The obvious talk (lie) that we got was that moving from 35k to 57k (at first), meant that we'd be able to buy better players. AFTER the move, David Gold admitted that the extra attendance had resulted in about £11m extra a year....we moved for that.... In the PL, the gates, any size, are worth relative peanuts to a club. The REAL money is the Sky money.
We got the anger of other teams fans, about getting a new ground for free & just paying a tiny rent. Again, that was nothing to do with us fans & at no point, have we benefited from it, for being 'free'. It was built for watching athletics in the Summer, not for football in the Winter. No amount of money or tinkering (less than knocking the whole thing down & starting again, which G&S will never do) will ever make any difference.
When I/we hear other teams telling us, you're not WH anymore, we agree, you're right, we're not. We lost SO MUCH by moving. All of that history at UP. All of those people that had their loved ones ashes, buried or scattered on the pitch.
If you want to read some of the hatred towards G, S & B (Brady), have a look on Kumb sometime. I call them the three c*nts of the apocalypse.
We're just ordinary loyal fans, just like yourselves. Don't ever let someone move you, unless it's to somewhere purpose built, for football.
We didn't need a new ground, we just needed less-mean owners, to buy better players.

Interesting stuff there. I started this post and wasn’t looking for a cheap dig at you lot, just giving an honest opinion of my match day experience which seems to mirror those if many of your fans from what you’ve said.

Out of interest did anyone take them to task over the findings of the survey you describe or did you just take their word for it that that was the outcome eg how did they select the 12000 to do the survey, did you know any of them personally etc etc. 85% in favour seems suspiciously high.

With regard to us ever moving then you can never say never but I’d like to think it would never happen in my lifetime. We love our ground, our location and everything about it and playing somewhere else wouldn’t be the same

 

[bromtom]

Everything is so canted towards London that there'll always be the spectre of the land your ground is on suddenly become so valuable your owners eyes start spinning like fruit machines.

Bramall Lane is about as well positioned as you can get for a football ground in a city centre but the value will be miniscule compared to a bit of land an eighth of the size in an area similarly located to central London.

 

[Robboblade1889]

It's ok, I've got my flak jacket on..
Hi guys, been reading some of your threads recently. Just wanted to give some insights, if you're interested.
I would say that the majority of WH fans did not want to leave Upton Park. We were happy there. We had a capacity of 35/36k & the oldest stand left to be redeveloped was the East Stand. That probably would have brought us up to 40/41k.
The trouble was, who had bought us. Gold & Sullivan claimed to be WH fans but in truth, they are money makers first.
When moving to the OS first became talked about, I personally said to no one in particular, if it's anything like the old Wembley, it will be terrible; far too far from the pitch, you might as well be at home, watching it on the telly.
The fact was, none of us were given any choice in the matter as to whether we should move. We had no say in it. They (G&S) conducted some sort of poll that allegedly said that 85% of 12,000 fans were in favour of the move. That's nowhere near, a majority of 35k.
You wouldn't believe some of the lies that we were spun, in order presumably, to quell any anti-move protests. Many of us just had to go along with it, just putting our faith in G&S that they knew what they were doing & that they were doing it for the best..
The obvious talk (lie) that we got was that moving from 35k to 57k (at first), meant that we'd be able to buy better players. AFTER the move, David Gold admitted that the extra attendance had resulted in about £11m extra a year....we moved for that.... In the PL, the gates, any size, are worth relative peanuts to a club. The REAL money is the Sky money.
We got the anger of other teams fans, about getting a new ground for free & just paying a tiny rent. Again, that was nothing to do with us fans & at no point, have we benefited from it, for being 'free'. It was built for watching athletics in the Summer, not for football in the Winter. No amount of money or tinkering (less than knocking the whole thing down & starting again, which G&S will never do) will ever make any difference.
When I/we hear other teams telling us, you're not WH anymore, we agree, you're right, we're not. We lost SO MUCH by moving. All of that history at UP. All of those people that had their loved ones ashes, buried or scattered on the pitch.
If you want to read some of the hatred towards G, S & B (Brady), have a look on Kumb sometime. I call them the three c*nts of the apocalypse.
We're just ordinary loyal fans, just like yourselves. Don't ever let someone move you, unless it's to somewhere purpose built, for football.
We didn't need a new ground, we just needed less-mean owners, to buy better players.

Really feel for you lot if I'm honest! I don't buy into all this hatred of West Ham because of the tevez debacle, we got relegated because of Neil Warnock simple as that.

I went Saturday and your stadium is truly awful, it seems to sap the life out of you. It's the quietest we have been away from home all season and it is purely down to the stadium. It feels like you aren't part of the game it is so detached. I have been to the Boleyn a few times and loved it, the ground was smack bang in the middle of the community and as an away fan you always felt some trepidation when walking from the tube station.

The OS is an abomination of a football ground the gap between the bottom and top tier is bizarre, they even manage to make crowd control before and after the game look like a take that concert with stop and go signs. Out of all the London teams always had a soft spot for West Ham and to see what these owners have done to your club is nothing short of a disgrace. I hope you make your voices heard let them know exactly what you think of it.

 

[Bert]

Everything is so canted towards London that there'll always be the spectre of the land your ground is on suddenly become so valuable your owners eyes start spinning like fruit machines.

Bramall Lane is about as well positioned as you can get for a football ground in a city centre but the value will be miniscule compared to a bit of land an eighth of the size in an area similarly located to central London.

True but Upton Park isn't in central London, it was in a very run down area of the East End... we have 11 acres.

 

[gordoncharles]

The obvious talk (lie) that we got was that moving from 35k to 57k (at first), meant that we'd be able to buy better players. AFTER the move, David Gold admitted that the extra attendance had resulted in about £11m extra a year....we moved for that.... In the PL, the gates, any size, are worth relative peanuts to a club. The REAL money is the Sky money.

I imagine a lot of people got carried away by what happened to Arsenal after they moved from Highbury. Bearing in mind that was 13 years ago their match day revenue went up from £44m to £91m. That's significant.

But there are some other factors that don't apply to West Ham. Arsenal's move was barely a move at all. They were, then, one of the top sides in Europe with a chance of winning the league every season with a waiting list prepared to pay an extortionate amount for tickets. You, and I mean this in the best of all possible ways, are not fecking Arsenal.

Instead, despite a 60% increase in attendances, your match day revenue went from £27m in 2015-16 when you left Upton Park, to £29m in 2016-17 and less than £25m in 2017-18.

 

[AnotherSpur]

I've been doing away games since 1977 and the Taxpayers Stadium is easily the worst 'football' venue ever.

I'd rather watch it though the Goodison Park letter box.

Horrendous.

 

[Booker4]

It's ok, I've got my flak jacket on..
Hi guys, been reading some of your threads recently. Just wanted to give some insights, if you're interested.
I would say that the majority of WH fans did not want to leave Upton Park. We were happy there. We had a capacity of 35/36k & the oldest stand left to be redeveloped was the East Stand. That probably would have brought us up to 40/41k.
The trouble was, who had bought us. Gold & Sullivan claimed to be WH fans but in truth, they are money makers first.
When moving to the OS first became talked about, I personally said to no one in particular, if it's anything like the old Wembley, it will be terrible; far too far from the pitch, you might as well be at home, watching it on the telly.
The fact was, none of us were given any choice in the matter as to whether we should move. We had no say in it. They (G&S) conducted some sort of poll that allegedly said that 85% of 12,000 fans were in favour of the move. That's nowhere near, a majority of 35k.
You wouldn't believe some of the lies that we were spun, in order presumably, to quell any anti-move protests. Many of us just had to go along with it, just putting our faith in G&S that they knew what they were doing & that they were doing it for the best..
The obvious talk (lie) that we got was that moving from 35k to 57k (at first), meant that we'd be able to buy better players. AFTER the move, David Gold admitted that the extra attendance had resulted in about £11m extra a year....we moved for that.... In the PL, the gates, any size, are worth relative peanuts to a club. The REAL money is the Sky money.
We got the anger of other teams fans, about getting a new ground for free & just paying a tiny rent. Again, that was nothing to do with us fans & at no point, have we benefited from it, for being 'free'. It was built for watching athletics in the Summer, not for football in the Winter. No amount of money or tinkering (less than knocking the whole thing down & starting again, which G&S will never do) will ever make any difference.
When I/we hear other teams telling us, you're not WH anymore, we agree, you're right, we're not. We lost SO MUCH by moving. All of that history at UP. All of those people that had their loved ones ashes, buried or scattered on the pitch.
If you want to read some of the hatred towards G, S & B (Brady), have a look on Kumb sometime. I call them the three c*nts of the apocalypse.
We're just ordinary loyal fans, just like yourselves. Don't ever let someone move you, unless it's to somewhere purpose built, for football.
We didn't need a new ground, we just needed less-mean owners, to buy better players.

I've read a few articles from KUMB and they've delighted in out failure to get out of league One and loved to see us fail. That's totally what I'd expect don't get me wrong that's football rivalry but I'll refrain from reading anything from them although I do think you were totally shafted and what happened was a disgrace to any football club, although personally (nothing against you personally) I struggle to have any sympathy. I would imagine one day will come, probably a long time in the future when West Ham will seek a move away from the London Stadium or will demand that the ground is seriously amended for football, in which case it'll no longer be a football stadium.

 

[Bladesman]

I've been doing away games since 1977 and the Taxpayers Stadium is easily the worst 'football' venue ever.

I'd rather watch it though the Goodison Park letter box.

Horrendous.

I bet you are glad you missed out on it now. Although your plans were to flatten it anyway?

 

[Ricky]

West Ham won't stay at that stadium forever. It might be another 20 or 30 years. But sadly that's enough time for many fans to never see them in a proper home again. Unfortunate time for the club.

 

[AnotherSpur]

I bet you are glad you missed out on it now. Although your plans were to flatten it anyway?

Definitely. I was on the anti-Stratford protest that shut Tottenham High Road.

We would have flattened it sure but we would not have been in Tottenham. If we had turned into a franchise club like Woolwich or West Ham I would have jacked the game in.

 

[Bladesman]

Definitely. I was on the anti-Stratford protest that shut Tottenham High Road.

We would have flattened it sure but we would not have been in Tottenham. If we had turned into a franchise club like Woolwich or West Ham I would have jacked the game in.

I like to think most Blades would do the same and protest if it ever happened to us.

How do you feel about your new ground? I heard it has attracted a lot of the prawn sandwich sit down brigade and fans are also being told by stewards to sit down.

 

[AnotherSpur]

I like to think most Blades would do the same and protest if it ever happened to us.

How do you feel about your new ground? I heard it has attracted a lot of the prawn sandwich sit down brigade and fans are also being told by stewards to sit down.

Like Woolwich and West Ham we have a hardcore of 35-40k fans so you need to attract an extra 20-25k day trippers and tourists to fill the place. Most of them don't understand traditional football culture.

On top of that lots of ST holders myself included can't afford to do every game. My ST averages £65 a game. Add on transport, food and beer it is a £100-120 day out. If you doing 25 games a season like I used to that is £2500-3000 a season or £5k out of your gross salary.

So I/we sell the tickets for some games on our ticket exchange to recoup a bit of cash. These are if course bought by 'non-regulars' so exacerbating the issue.

Stewards are up and down. I have only been to one home game this season where they have been adamant that we sit down. So all in all not terrible.

Upside - every seat in the place has a brilliant view. The facilities (read kharzis) for old gits like me are a massive improvement.

I like the stadium but don't relate to the popcorn munchers and vloggers but most of the bods in my vicinity are decent.

Atmosphere is very up and down, when it is good it is very good but at other times it is shocking. Not helped by the fact that a lot of the newbies only know 2 or 3 songs.

 

[Snake]

True but Upton Park isn't in central London, it was in a very run down area of the East End... we have 11 acres.

Upton Park wasn't even in London at all until 1965. They have always been Essex boys. The area where the new stadium is located was also Essex until 1965.

And the East Ends boundary is the River Lea (as was the old London County boundry pre 1965 too).

Mockneys the lot of em

 

[Eddiecolquhounsleg]

One of the worst views was at BDTBL from the cricket pavilion side at the big games.

But so many of us fell in love with the place.

I always thought that watching the big games, like Australia and the West Indies, from the pavilion was the best view in the ground.

 

[Pedro Verde]

Must admit when I first walked into the stadium I was very impressed very light and airy
But then when the game started the view wasnt great and the atmosphere was shocking
I wasnt impressed by the queue to get searched took around 20 mins to get through that
All in all not great for watching football

 

[Tony Kenworthy’s toe]

The searches aren't particularly a West Ham thing, it‘s a shitty part of modern life in a metropolis. Unfortunately the OS will be a prime target for certain sections of society. Queuing up for a few minutes, although annoying is what we have to do.

 

[penthouseblade]

Like Woolwich and West Ham we have a hardcore of 35-40k fans so you need to attract an extra 20-25k day trippers and tourists to fill the place. Most of them don't understand traditional football culture.

On top of that lots of ST holders myself included can't afford to do every game. My ST averages £65 a game. Add on transport, food and beer it is a £100-120 day out. If you doing 25 games a season like I used to that is £2500-3000 a season or £5k out of your gross salary.

So I/we sell the tickets for some games on our ticket exchange to recoup a bit of cash. These are if course bought by 'non-regulars' so exacerbating the issue.

Stewards are up and down. I have only been to one home game this season where they have been adamant that we sit down. So all in all not terrible.

Upside - every seat in the place has a brilliant view. The facilities (read kharzis) for old gits like me are a massive improvement.

I like the stadium but don't relate to the popcorn munchers and vloggers but most of the bods in my vicinity are decent.

Atmosphere is very up and down, when it is good it is very good but at other times it is shocking. Not helped by the fact that a lot of the newbies only know 2 or 3 songs.

How does it really feel to play home games there though? The Olympic Stadium clearly is not West Ham, it’s got no soul amongst lots of other problems! Spurs however built a new place virtually on top of White Hart Lane, so is this just New White Hart Lane, soul, history an all; or a more alien place so far....?

 

[AnotherSpur]

How does it really feel to play home games there though? The Olympic Stadium clearly is not West Ham, it’s got no soul amongst lots of other problems! Spurs however built a new place virtually on top of White Hart Lane, so is this just New White Hart Lane, soul, history an all; or a more alien place so far....?

Oh it definitely feels like WHL only super sized. The architects and Levy have done a great job from that perspective.

 

[Bladesman]

Oh it definitely feels like WHL only super sized. The architects and Levy have done a great job from that perspective.

Are fans quite close to the pitch? it is not that easy to tell from the pictures.

 

[Digs blade]

No

 

[TaxiBlade]

The searches aren't particularly a West Ham thing, it‘s a shitty part of modern life in a metropolis. Unfortunately the OS will be a prime target for certain sections of society. Queuing up for a few minutes, although annoying is what we have to do.

Something I learned years ago. 99% of the population 'suffer' unnecessarily because of a 1% set of ****'s!

 

[AnotherSpur]

Are fans quite close to the pitch? it is not that easy to tell from the pictures.

Much closer than the Emirates or Wembley.

 

[AnotherSpur]

Spurs fans will be much closer to the action than their London rivals, with the maximum distance from the pitch to the stand measuring 7.9 metres.
The furthest distance at the Emirates is 13.8 metres and 18 metres at Wembley.

 

[HammerInPeace]

Interesting stuff there. I started this post and wasn’t looking for a cheap dig at you lot, just giving an honest opinion of my match day experience which seems to mirror those if many of your fans from what you’ve said.
It's ok Db, those of us that hate the new place would probably, totally agree with you.
Ok, I grant you, the Olympic Park is quite nice & new. You should have seen what it was like there before it...
From the outside, walking to the stadium, no question, it looks impressive. Yeah, probably much better looking than walking up to Upton Park.
But it's what's inside, that really counts. Even the closest seats imo, are too far from the pitch. If you're watching a game of football & you can't even tell who is playing or on the ball, let alone manage to see any of the details of play, what is the point going?
Someone superimposed the footprint of Upton Park inside the OS (I refuse to call it the London Stadium), if I remember rightly, it barely went over the seats at the front of the OS.
And this is the thing, we don't like it & most opposing fans that visit, don't seem to like it. It's not pleasant for us or for you. Of course, an away win does help!

Out of interest did anyone take them to task over the findings of the survey you describe or did you just take their word for it that that was the outcome eg how did they select the 12000 to do the survey, did you know any of them personally etc etc. 85% in favour seems suspiciously high.
I had a hunt around & found this:
West Ham United fans back move to Olympic Stadium, claims new survey
Tuesday, 14 May 2013


By Duncan Mackay

May 14 - West Ham United's plan to move to the London 2012 Olympic Stadium has received the backing of a large majority of its supporters after 85 per cent of fans who took part in an independent survey said they supported the idea.

Only five per cent of the 11,858 respondents - which covered bond and season ticket holders, academy members and matchday ticket holders - who took part in the poll carried out by SMG YouGov were against West Ham leaving their current home at Upton Park under any circumstances while 10 per cent said they would consider backing the move but required more information.

The poll published today also revealed that of those that voted in favour, more than 50 per cent said they did so because they believe the move to the Olympic Stadium, due in 2016-2017, will provide the resources to improve the squad and build the Premier League club.

Nearly 12,000 fans responded to the independent survey conducted by SMG YouGov poll
"I am delighted that the SMG YouGov independent poll shows that such an overwhelming majority of our fans are in favour of our plans to move to the Olympic Stadium," said Karren Brady, vice-chairman of West Ham.

"I would like to thank each and every supporter that took the time to have their say on what is an historic and monumental decision for the cub.

"We must now engage further with the fans who've requested more information but it is fantastic to know that the consensus among our supporters is that they are behind the move.

"Now we know we have their support to advance this incredible project, we can look forward to the busy, but exciting, three years ahead working together to ensure that this world-class arena exceeds their expectations."

West Ham United fans have overwhelmingly backed the club's proposal to move to the London 2012 Olympic Stadium
West Ham were awarded the anchor tennacy of the Stadium in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park by the London Legacy Development Corporation in March.

A total of £160 million ($260 million/€200 million) is due to be spent converting it into a venue suitable for both football and athletics with the capacity reduced from 80,000 to 54,000.

"The impressive response of nearly 12,000 completed surveys underlines the passion West Ham United fans feel about the historic move to the Olympic Stadium," said SMG YouGov's managing director, Frank Saez.

"The number of respondents is six times larger than typical survey sizes used for a robust research analysis.

"The immense turnout means the survey results provide a highly accurate reflection of the views of all core spectator groups including season ticket holders, academy members and matchday attendees.

"West Ham United can now use the results of the survey that will follow to plan their next steps and focus on the areas that their supporters feel the most passionately about."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

Many were sucked in by the bs & the spin. There were definitely some fans against it but they were usually shouted down & accused of wanting to hold the club back. In the end, it was presented as the only choice if we wanted to become bigger & achieve some success. You had to go along with it. If you're told you're going to go from 35k to 57 then 60k+, you can't help but think that extra attendance will boost your ability to then buy better players.
As said it didn't & hasn't.
I really believe that we couldn't have stopped the move from happening, even those of us who didn't want it to. We even had David Gold on video at Upton Park saying that the front seats there, would be as close at the OS.
That 'large majority of supporters who backed the move', amounted to just over 10,000 people..

This says it better than I can. You'll want your speakers on..

 

[HammerInPeace]

Really feel for you lot if I'm honest! I don't buy into all this hatred of West Ham because of the tevez debacle, we got relegated because of Neil Warnock simple as that.
I can't blame you's for being angry with us. If there was a problem (which there was), the PL should have acted as soon as they knew.
The irony is, many of us pinpoint our troubles as going back to when Tevez & Mascherano first arrived. They were hailed as the players to turn us into (the then) Man Utd. All they actually did was really destabilise the team, for some reason.
One incident with Tevez that I do remember (a 2-1 away win at Blackburn) was when he ended up standing just behind the opposition's goal line when one of ours shot straight at him. For some reason, he couldn't get out of the way, the ball hit him, came back out & the goal was given & it won us the match. I've never seen it since but at the time thought that it looked like that it hadn't actually crossed the line. VAR would have ruled, no goal. Possibly, of course...
No, I've got no animosity towards you's. Two old, proper clubs (you quite a bit older than us) with great support. Good to see you back in the top flight, you waited long enough. I think you'll stay up this season but be careful you don't do a Huddersfield, next season..
I went Saturday and your stadium is truly awful, it seems to sap the life out of you. It's the quietest we have been away from home all season and it is purely down to the stadium. It feels like you aren't part of the game it is so detached. I have been to the Boleyn a few times and loved it, the ground was smack bang in the middle of the community and as an away fan you always felt some trepidation when walking from the tube station.

The OS is an abomination of a football ground the gap between the bottom and top tier is bizarre, they even manage to make crowd control before and after the game look like a take that concert with stop and go signs. Out of all the London teams always had a soft spot for West Ham and to see what these owners have done to your club is nothing short of a disgrace. I hope you make your voices heard let them know exactly what you think of it.
Things came to a head in March 2018. The anger had been building since the move; poor results, poor performances, poor players AND the stadium all combined to ignite the fans. A bit of momentum got going & various forums & groups started getting together to try to stage some kind of angry march before an upcoming home game against Burnley. There were going to be thousands of people taking part. The Dildo Brothers & Karren Brady were going to get it, loud & clear. We wanted them gone or at the very least, start spending some money & stop charging us (the club) 7% interest on loans. Some of the loudest voices were of old, icf faces & they kind of took over the whole thing. No, not people or history that we're especially proud of.
Shortly before the 10/3/18 march, 2 of the old icf faces were approached by David Sullivan to 'have a chat about things & the upcoming march'.
A day or two before the march, unexpectedly & completely out of the blue, the icf guys were saying that the march was now cancelled. We don't know why but whatever went on in that meeting, it was enough to turn the icf guys (& their followers) from poachers to gamekeepers..
I'll leave it to you to wonder what had happened at that meeting..
Many of the other groups still wanted to march & didn't trust for one minute, what had happened & so set about carrying on. This got back to the icf guys & suddenly (I don't know if it was those two guys or just their followers), fellow WH fans were getting threatened with violence on social media if we carried on with the march. It was VERY nasty at the time. So called WH fans turning on their own. Absolutely disgusting.
I believe much smaller marches still went ahead on the day but it's what happened in the ground during the match that caught the headlines. I can't remember if Burnley were leading 1 or 2 nil but suddenly about 200 people had worked their way round the stands & got just below the posh seats where G, S & B were. A few rang onto the pitch stopping the game & one guy picked up a corner flag, rang to the centre circle & planted it on the centre spot. It seemed very symbolic somehow, harking back to some other protest, from years before. For his part, the guy was banned for life. (I think they should have punished him more by making him keep going...).
They really gave it to the board vocally & afterwards Sullivan claimed that he'd been hit by coins thrown. No footage of this occurring has ever been found though.
Although 200 people seems small, it managed to get it into the media that despite what positive spin was still being said of the move, the reality was different.
Since then, they cut the interest that they were paying themselves & spent more money on players. We still feel that they are only doing enough to keep on the PL gravy train, until they sell up in the next few years.