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Brooking tells unhappy fans to stay away from games

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Sir Trevor Brooking has told unhappy supporters to stay away from the London Stadium for the good of the club.

“I just think that the different supporter groups obviously got frustrated and were going to have the demonstration and then they cancelled it during the week,” Brooking told the BBC on their Sportsweek program.

“It looked as if some of those decided if we went behind that was the time then to show their frustration. But the actual level of aggression was something I couldn’t believe a West Ham fan could get involved in.

Some of the aggression was so strong – it did go back to the bad old days. I saw a few young families leaving because the youngsters were frightened. That’s not your genuine West Ham fan, and some of the aggression was really strong.” 

“The stewards were quite young and really couldn’t deal with the aggression that they were faced with.”

“The fans, and the fans involved in that have to understand that and really shelve all those discussions and all those frustrations – just don’t come to the games at the moment until you try and allow the players to get the points to try and stay up and that is the biggest challenge in the next three weeks.

“There have been a lot of frustrations about spending money and a players coming in and all those sort of things as whether the stadium is the right place. The fact is we’re at the stadium and it’s nearly the end of the second season and yes there’s a debate on investment but now with five home matches remaining. It looked an advantage. But when you’ve just lost 3-0 and had people coming onto the pitch with a lot of people venting their frustrations towards the directors… that means the next five games at home look pretty bleak. There is no way that the team is going to be able to play and get the points to stay up under that sort of atmosphere – it’s impossible

“All I will say is that between now and the end of the season, anyone who has got that aggressive frustration to just don’t come to the five home games that are left because we need everyone, all the fans and the team all working together, to try and get sufficient results in the five home games – which we thought were going to be the strength – but yesterday became a massive weakness.”

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I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball,

I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh.

Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons!

Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

12 comments

  • sleepswithdafishes says:

    Would these idiots even recognize such a legend of this club; let alone listen to his reason.

  • hammers64 says:

    That 1st Burnley goal was always going to be the trigger for what followed.We lost that match in the 66th minute as a result.The team has come from behind to salvage points before this season at home but what happened yesterday was to totally wreck the fragile confidence of the team.Moyes has to take a fair share of the blame though.Starting a home game with both Hernandez and Hugill on the bench backfired and you feel that if those 1st half chances had fallen their way we would have scored and the whole thing could have been so different..This may sound drastic but i think the only way to get back on track is get Marco Silva in and the momentum of a new manager on board will see us accumulate enough points to scrape over the line.

    • cas_blue says:

      Why do you think Marco Silva would make any difference? Hugely overrated. His job was to keep Hull up. He didn’t. Got found at Watford after 10 games. I can’t believe people are talking about a different manager.

  • danbee says:

    Class as a player and as a man, just wish he would manage to the end of the season while Moyes stays away also.

  • Clive says:

    these idiots wouldnt know what a gentleman was thats for sure. if theyd ever had a role model like trevor they probably wouldnt be the idiots they are.

  • RayStwartsRightPeg says:

    Fans need a proper voice and need to be genuinely listened to. Geting a bit bored of the usual club propaganda. Start listening and acting and it won’t happen. Deal with the cause not the symptoms and you’ll start getting somewhere. Not that I’d this blog to genuinely represent fan views, but always ready to jump to the GSB defence.

  • kevin says:

    These so-called supporters even had the front to try and dissemble the team on the 25th anniversary of Bobby Moore and in front of a West Ham United Legend . They are disgusting and not worth the effort of even trying to defend . Low life’s that should never be allowed into the LS ever again . Of course we are not happy and have reason to complain . But complain only ,,,, not mount a hate campaign … most normal decent fans don’t do the things these people did on Saturday . There can be absolutely no compromising with these idiots and the less we see and hear from them the better . They were ready to jump on the protest wagon at the very first opportunity to scupper our season and they should hang Thier heads in shame … but we know they won’t ., and that’s the sad thing . I won’t blame the Stewarding or Policeing ,,, I only blame the mindless and no amount of nonsense from some media reporters can paint over the fact that we have an element of really bad people
    at West Ham who only want to destroy the club . We were down one goal to nil and could have recovered to win . These idiots ensured that wouldn’t happen . We don’t need those kind of fans at West Ham and I wish they would all **** off . The Pitch invaders need banning directly and anybody else who was seen aiding and abetting them . Decent normal fans with West Ham United in Thier hearts are disgusted …. The Board , although maybe not the ideal people to run the club in some people’s eyes have at least saved us from certain doom … but these blind and ignorant fans would undo even that . I wouldn’t blame the Board and players if they want to walk away from that bunch of Nonsense . And now to put the Icing on the cake they are blaming David Moyes ,,,,, for crying out loud you couldn’t invent it . I would be very surprised if Moyes wants to stay and if any quality players would ever sign at West Ham wheather we stay up or not . Those horrible non-fans are doing Thier very best to destroy our Club .

  • kennycandb says:

    Kev. Brilliant and agree with every comment 100%.
    When I read the media reports this morning, I could not believe I was at the same match. It was as though world war 3 had broken out. But the mindless thugs that pulled our club down into the gutter gave them the opportunity to write us up that way. Those stupid idiots must be banned for life from the LS.
    Sure, the owners have not covered themselves in glory and the soonwr Sullivan keeps his promise to put the new player recruitment procedures in place the better – it will prove that he keeps to his word (which has not been the case in the past). But the vilification they suffered is totally unacceptable and I am ashamed of what happened.
    David Moyes is a good manager. But why did he start with 5 at the back in a match we had to win with Antonio playing in a position he is not comfortable with. Time after time we are overun in midfield playing this formation. If we are to win matches we must go 4-4-2 and in that case, drop Cresswell and bring in Evra. And please, please, forget Hart.
    And it is not just about the policing/stewarding issue inside the stadium that is an issue. It is the whole match-day experience which is not helping. I would love to have a communication channel to KB or any member of the senior management. Simple things could be changed that would make our fans more settled and less likely to behave in the way the stupid minority did on Saturday. For eample, in recent home matches, acces from Westfields has been via the Cow Pub on The Street. Saturday, we were herded all the way via John Lewis for no good reason (and please no one cite construction works as a reason because it was not). Main line closures because of Cross-Rail was another major issue for anyone attending from the South-East. I left home at 12.15 and arrived back at 7.15. 7 hours for a 90 minute football match. And why are so many stewards employed outside the ground before and after the match – deliberately causing an obstruction to the safe egress of fans trying to get home.
    It is time for the club to form a committee of proper fans coming to the LS from a variety of locations to obtain proper feedback of supporter experience.
    I know this is long-winded and covers a number of issues but some of us genuine WHU fans do have the club at heart and would love to provide input to help resolve the impasse that is appearing between the board and the supporters.
    We know we are cannon fodder in the eyes of most of the media and we must take steps to stop this.

  • mooro66uk says:

    No one knows we would have come back to get something out of the game. Considering we have dropped thirty six, yes that’s 36, points this season from winning positions I would venture not.

  • mooro66uk says:

    Conversely we have only come back to win once. That was against the rock bottom West Brom.

  • Aussiedave15 says:

    100% with Kev and Kenny, there is a time and place and TYPE of demonstration. These although passionate but moronic pitch invasions, marches the bullying and verbal abuse of our board, will not have other buyers queuing to buy the club or invest.
    The way to get a new board us be mature and open sensible negotiation making it an attractive option.

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