West Ham Way spirit reborn with some Pelle’s tweaks

CandH top blogger Allen Cummings watches the return of the West Ham Way and wonders whether the younger generation of Hammers fans can truly accept it!

I reckon Hugh got it spot on with his ‘Back to the Future’ headline for West Ham’s thrilling 5-3 victory over Hertha Berlin. There was end-to-end football, goals aplenty and a cavalier attitude that said “however many goals you score, we’ll try to score more”.

That, in a nutshell, is the famous West Ham Way Ron Greenwood preached way back in the 1960’s. The style that won us plenty of friends at home and abroad. The style that won us our first ever FA Cup, followed by that magnificent European Cup Winners’ Cup victory, and in truth was instrumental in producing that amazing trio of players that went on to win the World Cup.

But judging by some of the comments posted on various forms of social media after Wednesday’s victory, I’m not sure some of our fans are truly ready to accept such an open and expansive brand of football in this day and age. “Back four were all over the place”…..”Defence was a shambles”….”Defensive work needed and quick”….”At times we were torn to shreds”.

There were clearly plenty of furrowed brows. We have always liked to preach about the West Ham Way – boast about our proud tradition of wanting to play the game in the right way. Some of us have seen and experienced that ‘original’ West Ham Way for ourselves.

It could be exhilarating and exasperating in the space of minutes. Others talk fondly of it, but do they fully appreciate it. Are they really ready to accept it again in its raw form? I have my doubts.

Defensive midfielders – attackers who track back – that’s the order of the day now but those kind of players didn’t really feature very highly, if at all, in Greenwood’s master plan. Today it’s a very different world. Supporters wont accept players who are simply one dimensional. The stakes are so much higher of course nowadays. The cost of failure is so much greater.

In reality the true and original brand of playing the ‘West Ham Way’ while being a thing of beauty is also a thing of the past. But all is not lost. I believe under Manuel Pellegrini we now have a genuine opportunity to see for ourselves that the spirit at least lives on from that bygone age – with a few modern-day tweaks of course.

As Hugh said the signs are it’s going to be an interesting season – a footballing roller coaster at times maybe. A season with both highs and lows – interesting and intriguing but never boring.

ClaretandHugh member Wolfie Horgan described Wednesday’s result as a “Keeganesque scoreline”. A reference to that brilliant Newcastle United side of the 80’s. I’d certainly settle for a few more of those in the nine months ahead. But would everyone else?