Former Hammer Frank Lampard says he sympathises with some of the frustrated West Ham fans. The former Hammer did not shy away from calling the Hammers fans aggressive, but did offer his thoughts as to what was the catalyst to yesterday’s scenes.
“They feel like they’ve lost an identity in moving stadium. Part of that deal in moving was to fight for Europe and invest- the club has a £29 million net spend, it’s not enough- they have gone backwards.”
Lampard noted that the atmosphere within the ground was ‘toxic’ and said: “It was a horrible feeling in the second half, in particular.”
Speaking on BBC Match of the Day after the game, he said: “Fans coming onto the pitch, I understand Mark Noble’s position. He is Mr West Ham.
“He cares and that is why he reacted in that way.The game got so bad, that referee Lee Mason even consulted David Moyes and Sean Dyche over abandoning the game.”
Loss of identity? For many the Boleyn was a sacred home, a reference point. As ‘terroir’ is to French wines, so ‘home’ grounds are to football teams/clubs. Spurs have sussed this out. Mr Levy has insisted on a strategic development of the club using a business model that retained White Hart Lane as its epicentre. Respect to him. I’m all for modernising. But modernising the ground is not the same as modernising the mindsets of the co-owners. The latter is the first priority; infrastructure upgrades follow. That is the fatal flaw at WHUFC.
The sugared rhetoric of promised investment was a sweetener or palliative to legitimise the move to the LS. But investment in players hasn’t followed; nor yet investment in a decent coaching regime. Allardyce, Bilic and now Mr Moyes are hardly top-draw. So fans across the board do feel cheated, conned, ripped off, and deceived. Winkled out of the Boleyn for commercial gains, and as a reward we are a club that looks to be heading to the Championship not the ‘promised land’ of the Champions League. Nothing has changed; always on the edge of the relegation abyss.
Frank Lampard Jnr is correct; ironically the club promised progress but appears to be going backwards. The situation is complex and there are no easy answers. One possible and realistic solution is for the owners to sell up. Though that alone does not guarantee transformational change.
Although I hope all the haters get banned because they are ripping the club apart. a lot of rubbish is being reported such as Motty saying it was the worst he has experienced in football, the 80’s was 100 times worse than what went on at Burnley, yes it has to be kicked out, I might be wrong but I would be surprised if at least some of those involved at the weekend hadn’t received bans previously, they are complete morons the type that think casual racism is ok, it is not the ring leaders are probably well known, they only populate a small section of the stadium from my experience and without doubt they are toxic, nothing will appease them they have been looking for an excuse for a long time, their match didn’t go ahead because the numbers involved would have made it an embarassment, much like the minority asociated to WHUISA what was it 70 – 80 at best it actually looked a lot less, most fans know the club is looking down the barrell and want to get behind the team, these idiots would rather us go down for some petty little win, kick em out ban very one involved for many years. Lets have a strong end of season COYI!!!
That’s on point No 32. The 80’s were much worse, more threatening than yesterday’s malarkey. There does seem to be among some a hell-bent desire to rip the guts out of the club. And the owners do seem to be giving those interests all the excuse ammo they’re looking for. But there does seem to be some truth in the suggestion that ‘toxic’ fans have decided to declare war on ‘toxic leadership’. Deceit and mugging off ‘followers’ is not the way to win hearts and minds. The owners are not blame free.
Blown up out of all proportion.I certainly do not condone yesterdays behaviour,but certainly understand why they are so P….. Off with the owners.As a child of the 70s i can tell you that it was truly terrifying going to some matches back in the 70s and 80s and if Motty thinks thats as bad as he has seen then he must have been plastered through those 2 decades.Lets hope it does not descend to those levels when British clubs were banned from Europe inc us in 86/87,and playing behind closed doors at Upton Park which i also remember.Shame on the owners that they have let this great club slip so much after promising such a bright future.
We had,what ? 4 fans on the pitch. Hundreds chanting at the directors box, Alleged coin thrown at Sully. Yet, Wigan fans went on pitch before the teams had left and one attempted to assault Aguero. Hundreds of other Wigan fans tried to get at the City fans. They were fined £50,000. No lifetime bans. We had every reason to protest and again the blame is deflected from the unfit for purpose board to the fans.