“This isn’t a feud you look at and see easy exit routes. With a 99-year lease signed in 2013 on the London Stadium, new owners would find it hard to extricate their new possession. And where would they go? The cost of building another new ground in this part of London would be astronomical, and potentially take decades.
Sitting-in for half an hour after the Newcastle United game offered a stark contrast to the previous two home performances which had seen 20,000 fans boycott the Brentford game and thousands stream away early against Crystal Palace following painful losses: It was rare to see the ground almost full come the final whistle.
The fan protest – planned in Graham Potter’s era – seemed almost ungrateful after the teams’ performance but of course, it was aimed at the board not the team. A further protest is planned for next Saturday’s crucial ‘six pointer’ Burnley fixture.
No end in sight to fan protests at West Ham ‘United’.
However it seems as though the supporters and board conflict could easily fester on and become a chronic condition: As the observer.co.uk puts it today:
The disquiet therefore is of the circular, gnawing kind. The owners sit on their ‘investment,’ which exploited the impasse over the London 2012 stadium’s future use, and the team stays locked in survival mode while the fans experience a kind of existential dread”
And so it goes on like some kind of never ending, football-themed Groundhog Day conflict between supporters, eyes fixed firmly in the rear view mirror and occasionally with rose – tinted glasses reminiscing of the ‘old days’, and a board that doesn’t really care about their fanbase experience or coming good on their promise of a world-class anything, merely running the club like it is still 1975.
Where will it end? Providing the club doesn’t get relegated, supporters are a notoriously fickle bunch and if Nuno guides the Hammers up the table four or five places, chances are enough of the supporters will ‘settle’ for that. Until the next time.
What was great against Newcastle is that many people who normally walk out well before the end of a game actually stayed until the final whistle. Thus greatly improved the atmosphere at the end of the game compared and helped us on to a late goal.
The awful (from a football perspective) is the Olympic Stadium. Were WHU given or sold full control of the site, the most logical solution is to keep the footprint of the stadium but rip out the interior infrastructure and replace it with new seating/standing areas closer to the pitch at a sharper angle. By effectively building a new ground within the confines of the old, there would be increased space for the concourses and a far better matchday atmosphere. The downside? Money – who’s going to pay for it?
I was there Sunday and enjoyed every minute of it , the stadium was buzzing,
The protests are not just about the stadium though
This isn’t going away – supporters are sick of Sullivan and Brady running the club like a pub team. A few wins , while it is obviously what we all want, is not relative to removing this disease from the club. This club should be challenging for European football every season, not treading water.
Whole structure of club needs to change to that of a modern Premier League football club with a professional scouting network. The recruitment of teams like Bournemouth and Brighton puts us to shame and needs to be addressed immediately.
We need FOOTBALL people running the club, period !
Agreed Kenny.
Im not too fussed as to who the shareholders are.
However, when it comes to football governance within the club, an executive board is required.
A qualified CEO who drives the vision and leadership team on the footballing side of matters in unison, but who also is accountable to the shareholders is desperately required.
Thereafter, D.O.F who reports to the CEO exclusively, mandated to imbed the footballing philosphy throughout the entire club, seniors down to the juniors.
The D.o. F appoints the head coach who works in unison with the aforementioned.
who i in turn hires the head coach
Contd…
Who in turn hires head coaches assistant team.
From sports science, nutritionist, specialists in mental well-being. Set- piece coach, fitness etc