West Ham 0 Burnley 3
This goes down as perhaps the worst day in West Ham’s history – not because of a defeat at the hands of Burnley but because of crazed mindless so called fans determined to shame themselves and the club we love.
Few of us will have seen such scenes as erupted after the Hammers conceded the first goal of the match when Burnley’s Barnes smashed home an unstoppable shot.
Protesters arrived on the pitch with Mark Noble trying to wrestle one of them away whilst after the second, four minutes later, all hell broke loose in front of the director’s box with stewards losing control.
David Gold, David Sullivan and their entourage were forced to leave their seats as the bitter and vile demonstration – which will have long term repercussions – went on and on.
My words cannot give any impression the intense hatred that is now starting to destroy West Ham United.
For the record Wood added a third on the 81st minute as our team attempted to play against its own so called supporters who had created an atmosphere in which anybody would find it impossible to perform.
For the record we had the better of the first half with Arnautovic missing out on a couple of chances along with Lanzini and Mario.
But when the Clarets introduced a second striker after the break we simply couldn’t cope and any resistance we had disappeared with the first goal and the avalanche of hatred which followed.
Tonight I am ashamed to call myself a West Ham United supporter. Whatever we feel about the way our club is being run this was vile, hateful and a disgrace to everything we hold dear.
I really feel the people who want the board out may have succeeded but please tell me what happens then.
This wasn’t about football – this was about lunacy, madness and thuggery!
Couldn’t agree more. I feel utterly embarrassed to be associated with so called fans of this club. Having been the better side we went one nil down. All we expect is for our players to keep their heads and try to get back in the game but instead we destroy all hope by refocusing their mind on wrestling idiots off the pitch. I’m an emabarrassed by our fans…enough is enough
Shame only a few got on the pitch.If 50000 had the board might then realise how much their hated.Birmingham supporters did warn us what would happen when G & S take over
Fans??? Embarrassing morons who will cause major problems for the club. Hope everyone who whipped up this anger towards the board are happy now. The various sites have been full of stupid comments from ‘fans’ for weeks & this is the result.
Disgraceful behaviour, utterly ridiculous. Embarrassed to be associated with them.
We were the media’s pet hate before today now it will be open season
Not all fans that want the board out were on the pitch there were plenty in the stadium sat down who wasn’t happy but didn’t cause trouble .I dont condone any of it as I have 3 kids myslf and it was shameful.. But you cannot tar the thugs with decent fans who want the board gone…and the board are as much to blame for all! This getting out of control as well …
Something like that was always going to happen, just about everyone is frustrated about the whole saga that’s been going for far too long now …maybe just maybe the supporters voice has been heard …actions by the board need to be addressed immediately….I’m not condoning the actions of fans going on the pitch , but it’s time the people that be started taking the various issues seriously……now we’re deep in the mire ..what we really need are some serious investors who will buy players and not keep buying players that scrape the bottom of the barrel..the warning signs were always there especially the way we were exposed in the F.A.CUP. !!
IT’S TOTALLY EMBARRASSING BEING A HAMMERS FAN ATM !!
Are you surprised this happened? It’s been a long time coming. They have destroyed our club from the inside out.
Yet another post supporting our board. Seriously, look at what they’ve done to our club without your blinkers on.
This was always on the cards quite simply because they feel that the board is not re investing money to strengthen a struggling squad.The Defence is threadbare and archaic and the midfield just as bad if not worse.All these problems have been obvious for most of the season and today was just the straw that broke the camels back.The introduction of Wood( who could quite easily been a Hammers player if again the board had any ambition) turned the whole match on its head and we had no answer).Why did they buy Hugill ?.Just the sort of chances he would have loved in the 1st half.Good as Arnoutovic is he is not an out and out striker.Those missed chances have literally sunk this club.
Totally agree but whatever happens they have to sack Moyes, totally clueless.
I am not pro or anti board however this isn’t the first time for gold and Sullivan. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/may/12/premierleague.birminghamcityfc
This is what I said 8909 they did the same a Birmingham but the fans are not as volatile as west ham fans so it wasn’t as bad and the Birmingham fans even said the same they promised the world but delivered very little ..now they have raised expectations here and havnt delivered ..now its a mess …
I hope the pro board people read that link 8909…very very similar
Emotional claptrap!
As STILL a Proud West Ham supporter of 58 years standing (and sitting), I, too, have spent many £000’s following my team at Home, Away and Abroad.
The banners which appropriately sum up the current ownership read:
“We were $old a Dream and given a Nightmare.”
“When you create a storm, don’t complain when it rains”
The type of protest you probably subscribe to is historically lapped up by the objects.
Vociferous demonstrations of anger and objection by people whose club means more to them than almost anything else can be justified provided there is no associated violence.
The current owners have consistently lied to the fans, orchestrated by the Baroness.
The current running and dealings of the club, especially when in public, has been a shambles from the outset.
A peaceful march did not receive permission, presumably at the behest of the owners’ representatives.
Unfortunately, because of the various elements involved, such protests as today’s will have self-defeating repercussions.
1 – 0 was against the run of play, and we were still well in the game, if it wasn’t for these morons actions after the first goal.
As Hugh says it was impossible for us to perform. For me it was impossible because our own players were still in shock at the actions of so-called supporters, which were obviously directed against our own club and team.
None of these animals are supporters let alone real supporters. It is plainly obvious that they would rather see us relegated, just to prove them right in their warped grossly over-stated “cause ”
Hopefully for us real West Ham supporters ( 98% ), they will all be banned for life, before they destroy our club.
Absolute disgrace. Left with 15 minutes left because my 7 year old son was begging me to take him home. As much as I love West Ham we’ve got more than our fair share of idiots among our fan base.
Same with me JB. My 10 year old says he doesn’t want to come back this season and frankly I don’t blame him. It might be it for me too as I can’t bear to have his empty seat next to mine. I can’t say anything that hasn’t been said already.
Kind of what I expected here. Are you really so blinkered? This has been brewing for months – even here.
The question I have is why was security so lax? The anger directed towards Gold last week. The proposed march cancellation leading to all kinds of bitterness.
Surely today of all days they’d have precautions in place. Fans getting on 3 times? Irrespective of what you think of the “thugs” – I prefer to think of them as fans not being listened to (as the Burnley players said, they didn’t feel at risk it was fans voicing their displeasure.) getting on that many times is unbelievable.
But worst thing in West Ham history. What a load of hyperbole! Millwall 2009 was much worse.
This was just akin to the Bond protests.
As I said when Bilic was sacked on this very blog, if Moyes didn’t work, the buck would stop with the owners.
I personally believe our owners do not deserve this – they have made terrible decisions but they are only human. What I can say is that they love this great club of ours so I believe I speak for the majority of fans that the behaviour of a minority is not representative of the real fans. Sorry day and apologies to the owners. I hope ye stay on but we need better decisions on management team and players. I just hope we have enough to see us over the line and safe this season.
I think it’s reasonable to voice criticism but inside the ground we show our support for our team. That guy was clearly just waiting for something bad to happen so he could invade the pitch. Idiot. Mark Noble though….legend!
Maybe I was at a different game here I have seen hammers for decades and only morons who didn’t see this coming for more than two seasons now can come up and say like Hugh it’s disgraceful for us as supporters to behave like this are totally clueless. These board members sucking our club dry making huge profits from our supporters selling players and buying nothing only loans needed to go years ago . Lies upon lies and don’t think we’re not a majority only clueless clowns like you Hugh are walking around blind. So according to you and your supporters were meant to keep quiet and put up with this stealing and profiteering of a bunch of wealthy thieves,? Well now your see and maybe your even brave enough to print this as time has run out for these thieves. Get out of our club and stay in your comfort zone. As for the game we did our best for the players we are left with due to underfunding by these thieves. Hart should never put on a hammers shirt again a complete clown and pep will confirm this. The rest did their best only for showing how short we are of quality players due to once again underfunding of massive quality needed to get anywhere near the top six with our massive support and sky’s obscene money going into our premier league. COYI
Profiteering??!? The yearly accounts are published – the Davids take no salaries. The only ‘profit ‘ they make is on the loans they made to the club to stop us going into liquidation, and the interest they make on them is less than a bank would charge and less than they could make by investing it elsewhere!! If they did what you want and sold the club THEN they would make a profit, but its blindingly obvious that Sullivan at least wants his sons to inherit the club. They’re not in this to ‘profiteer’ !!
Don’t like all the trouble its terrible but as for the accounts published you really believe the figures… Cmon if you believe that then thren you believe everyone in the u.k pays exactly right tax they should……….they show us what they want us to see everyone can write things down..think your being a bit short sighted
Listen to yourself, you’re embarrassing yourself. These are legal published accounts open to scrutiny and the owners would be risking prison. Your points, or lack of them is laughable.
I think your point laughable also..just because there published its means its 100% right ..sorry but I don’t agree .but your entitled to your opinion..
Calling it stupid is far too kind, people were obviously looking for any excuse to cause a scene. We had a decent game untill these self centered egotists decided to get involved.
I have been very unhappy with a lot of decisions made by the club but this is just pure tribalism…Burnley subs gave up their seats for West ham fans..beyond ridiculous, though they deserve our thaks for doing so,
To think I have to agree for the first time ever, with Hoddle. ” West Ham fans have hurt the club in a big way “
I appeal to you Hugh to combine with other influential like-minded people (such as Iain Dale and the like) to coordinate the Silent Majority of Hammers Fans into a powerful voice that drowns out the unreasonable actions and attitudes of those who want the board out. Across TV and Radio stations and newspapers, today’s horrendous events are being portrayed as the result of the majority of West Ham fans hating the board. The truth is that the awful behaviour was that of less than a 1000 fans whose objective of getting the board ‘out’ is shared by a sizeable MINORITY. The ‘invasion’ was … 6 people? Probably another 10,000 there today support the objective if not the methods. That means 45,000 there are in the silent majority who don’t share their objectives – and what about all the fans not at the match? The (partially) silent majority contains many who are annoyed by some of the things that have occurred during and since leaving the Boleyn, but recognise that The Davids, as life-long fans, love the club as much as the rest of us and on many occasions have listened to grievances and made changes accordingly. We must stop being the silent majority, because if we don’t our beloved club will be very seriously damaged. We, the silent majority, need the leadership of people who have a powerful on-line voice – like you.
Don’t think your the majority more like the minority.
Completely agree. Totally shameful display from the fans who ran on the pitch and the few hundred who lost the plot inside the ground.
One of the saddest days in my 40 years of following the Club and all on a day that we were supposed to ‘honour’ Bobby Moore. He lived through many ups and downs at our club but in a way I’m glad he wasn’t here today to see how low we have fallen thanks to the actions of a few fans who can’t see past their anger to know how much damage they are doing.
Razor I have avoided joining any fan forums till today because it seemed counterproductive but people with an attitude such as yours are doing a lot more damage than the board.
We are absolutely not meant or obliged to be be quiet and I agree with you to a point about the board but what we had today was adults (in age at least) turning their back on players who had actually played a pretty good game and if the ref had been paying attention we would have had a penalty and they would have had a red.
Despite this we get fans on the pitch the second we concede ruining any home advantage and giving our own players cause for concern when they should be focusing on getting a goal back. These supporters claim to be Irons fans but seem to be made out of Jelly we have suffered way worse than this and were on the brink of going bankrupt when the board took over and more amazingly we seem to have forgot just how bad the previous owners were even with the money they spent.
Being angry is fair being suspicious of the board seems pretty much like a legal requirement as a fan but above both of those should be the requirement to repsect your fellow fans and their young kids who have to put up with this BS that they do not understand.
“fans riot”? where did that happen? I saw a handful of people run on pitch – hardly a riot! I do not condone that behaviour but our club is broken, people are frustrated, sold lies, and Christopher Upson wake up buddy and get your head out of the sand. I’ve supported this club for 35+ years and I don’t believe for a second this is a small minority of fans simply discontent.
The most informed article on the troubles today… http://www.football365.com/news/f365s-early-losers-west-ham-hitting-rock-bottom
Yeah spot on nickh
I could not agree more, a fantastic summary that many so called “silent fans” should read and learn from.
I read something along the lines of ‘Brooking was sitting there dreaming of Upton Park’ and instantly realise what a load of rubbish that article was. How would anyone know what Brooking was thinking? it just told me that the writer is a dreamer and that invalidates his article
So basically your just replying to people who you don’t agree with and disrespect them …very clever …..plse don’t reply to my post I’ve no time for bullies ..
I think both sides should get a life. Start protesting for serious issues, not ’cause a striker is not good enough or you need a right back. You are more than happy to pay 50 quid (at least) a ticket, buy expensive merch, you are part of the problem. As for the owners, of course they are here to make money, what do you think they’re here for. The root of the problem is football and society in general, and you won’t change that.