West Ham have finally acknowledged that, after ten years at the London Stadium, it is time for the ground to “feel like home”. The admission comes as the club considers proposals to reorganise supporter sections in an attempt to improve the atmosphere and matchday experience.
According to the minutes of the latest Fan Advisory Board meeting, West Ham have reviewed the FAB’s “Creating The Home Advantage” proposal. Designated standing, singing, atmosphere and family sections are among the ideas that will now be examined by the Matchday Experience working group.
These are admirable proposals, and I wouldn’t discourage the club from pursuing them. However, there is no firm commitment to reorganise the stadium and no timetable for implementing the changes. More significantly, it all feels a little like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic when the fundamental problems with the London Stadium remain untouched.
London Stadium’s Fundamental Problems Remain
West Ham are tenants with limited control over the stadium. The club can change some peripheral things, and those improvements would undoubtedly help, but the fundamental problems cannot be solved simply by moving supporters into different sections.
Until the stands are brought closer to the pitch and something is done about the enormous gap between the upper and lower tiers, the same difficulties will remain.
We are too far from the pitch, too far from the action and consequently detached from the team. Designated standing and singing sections are sensible proposals, but there is only so much that can be achieved inside an athletics stadium, even when the running track is covered by carpet.
Many of these issues were inherited from the original move, while David Sullivan remains at the football club. Promises were broken, although there seems little value in going back through every pledge made by David Gold, Sullivan and Karren Brady.
The stadium is what it is. West Ham now have to find improvements that can realistically be delivered.
The Easiest Improvement Requires No Building Work
There is one glaring way to improve the matchday experience without turning a single nut or bolt.
West Ham could start matches on the front foot.
When the final rendition of Bubbles ends and the first ball is kicked, the team cannot take another 30 minutes to come alive. If West Ham began with energy, aggression and attacking intent, it would improve the atmosphere immediately.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s team have started slowly in their last five games against Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Lincoln City, Swansea and Southampton. Those matches include home and away fixtures, but the pattern is difficult to ignore.
It is little wonder that the atmosphere becomes flat when supporters watch the opposition take control while West Ham fail to threaten their goal. Fans arrive with hope and expectation, but nervousness quickly replaces excitement when the minutes pass and our goalkeeper is busier than theirs.
Give Supporters Something To Sing About
West Ham have done remarkably well to grow from a club playing in front of 34,000 supporters to one regularly attracting crowds of around 60,000.
That makes it even more important to give those fans something worth responding to.
Standing sections, singing areas and stronger West Ham branding may all help around the edges. However, nothing will transform the mood more quickly than the team attacking from the opening whistle.
To borrow a phrase from Paul Weller: that’s entertainment.
I agree Gonzo, the fans build the atmosphere pre kick off and the players should snap into action at kick off, buoyed on the wave of bubbles echoing around, not wait until we are behind. Regarding singing areas, it really should have been enacted 10 years ago, but it’s better late than never. With singing areas the fans can dictate the atmosphere and the stadiums’ suitability for football can be overridden. Remember those wonderful European nights? Fans make atmosphere not stadiums
Attendances were low to mid twenty thousands in the nineties, the home support has grown enormously.
The slow starts are a mystery, how can we be so poor at the start of games but go on to dominate so comprehensively ? If not for the lacklustre starts we’d be winning games by two and three goals.