Former Arsenal player Martin Keown says West Ham are playing their best football because the club’s supporters are NOT in attendance showing their displeasure at the team. He told Talksport listeners that he thinks David Moyes is doing an impeccable job for the Hammers as he has been allowed to run the club in his way.
West Ham have had a superb Premier League campaign so far and sit in fifth place, just two points off Liverpool in fourth place.
Keown believes the reason they’re on such a good run is that the fans are not voicing their displeasure at the side or the owners in protests like they would if they were allowed to attend home and away matches.
“Isn’t it interesting how West Ham are doing without any supporters in the ground,” he told talkSPORT.
I actually don’t completely disagree with Keown. There’s people that sit near me at London Stadium and they start moaning about the team and/or tactics literally minutes after kick off!
Our travelling support is amazing but the home support is a different kettle of fish entirely I think.
With this logic the Gunners should also be doing better. Was among the Arsenal fans, at the Emirates, when Wilshire was on for Ramsey. He was brilliant, Arsenal won through hard work (clearly not the current squad), and the fans were bad tempered and petulant.
An ugly win is still better than an ugly loss. WHU fans appreciate the effort, not just the outcome.
I agree with what you say, but Keown has a point. There has been far too much negativity about this club from the supporters , & some of it has been from me. We are always getting on the backs of the players, the management & the owners & complaining about them & our lot. The lack of this (at the London Stadium) must be a bit of fresh air to them all. Long may it continue
He’s right though
Definitely not the only reason, but is it reasonable to competent dismiss it as one potential reason? Doesn’t always help to be immediately on the defensive when outsiders make points about our club
I completely agree with him Hugh on this one. I haven’t listened to his comments but based on what you’ve written and quoted, he didn’t say it was ALL down to the lack of fans – he also said it was because he was able to manage the club his way and was being tactically adept…
So I think perhaps a little rationality needs to be applied here. West Ham fans have turned into the kind of self-entitled moaners that we used to take the Micky out of (ie Spurs fans). Sure, there are things we might not like and we’re right to express our displeasure, but the way some morons have gone about it is ridiculous, shows a complete lack of understanding, vision and class, so I have no doubt that these idiots not being in attendance has helped the team.
Our society will always been ladened with bitter, negative, angry people, because we believe that, as a nation, we’re Billy Big Balls and don’t appreciate things. That carries forward into the stands when traditionally, football is where you go at the end of a long week to be emotive.
I don’t see anyone else on here investing hundreds of millions into a football club from their own pocket, do you? Yet we’re quick to judge and have a go.
I just hope that an upshot from the world’s ridiculous disproportionate response to covid is that we show a proportionate respect for football moving forward. Peace.
Fans are happy and singing when the team are playing well and when they’re winning and they moan when the team is not playing well and when they’re losing.
We haven’t had much to sing about at games since the move due to being rubbish most of the time, hence why there has been negativity. It’s not rocket science, Martin
Keowns spot on actually though isn’t he. Many of us don’t enjoy these protesters and the negative atmosphere that they bring. Think of a game like the Tottenham one losing three nil. Would we have come back from three nil down in front of those type of fans. Truth is most of them would have been kicking up a complete stink before leaving the stadium long before any chance if a comeback. Those if us that support the team through thick and thin would have stayed but by that time the bad atmosphere would have fed through to the players on the pitch and any comeback might not have been possible.
He’s got a point, i’m surrounded by negativity at the LS
Distasteful as it may be, Keown is making a very relevant point. As a season ticket holder I’ve all too frequently been aware of the negative atmosphere in the stadium. If fans put as much energy into supporting the team as they do in abusing the board and complaining about the stadium, then the team would thrive on the positivity.
Hopefully this will be a lesson learned when we all return to normality!
I’ve expressed this view before, all the marches and protests amplified in the media could only unsettle the team. One way you overcome it is by winning games. Its a shame we are not around to witness it but least it allows David and team to embed a regime which brings stability and puts Upton Park(never called The Boleyn in my day!) into a deserved place in the history books and we look forward to a happy and hopefully a successful future!
Don’t believe all you read, even if it sounds believable. Martin didn’t have a great relationship with West Ham supporters back in the day and can speak from personal experience of just how much West Ham fans can affect the opposition’s performance. Martin was buried unmercifully, especially on one occasion when he played for Arsenal and I’m sure he still holds some animosity towards us.