by Pete Ellis
Social medi-arrgggghhhh!!!!
Before I begin, imagine the music from the the old Hovis adverts, the brass band playing that old slow sad song….are you with me? Ok.
I miss the days of teletext. The anticipation of waiting for page upon page of stuff you had no interest in, & taking longer to switch to another page than it takes Benni McCarthy on a visit to a Pizza Hut buffet. Eventually you will get to the West Ham section and you would be greeted with little to no news at all, and certainly not anything of note.
But despite this you waited for the pages to go around again (for another week or two) in the hope something had been updated. But no. you got nothing but blurred vision waiting for news on the teletext/ceefax services
.
Compare that to nowadays, when we have 24hr news, dedicated sports stations on both TV and radio, and more “in the knows” than you can shake a stick at. We even have owners family sending out snippets of info, no doubt secured by holding a glass up against the old man’s office wall.
This is all as great as it is depressing. While we all rejoice at the good news and the exciting rumours, the flip side is that anyone who dares to offer a view or an opinion that is different from the masses, is often ridiculed, personally insulted and loyalties questioned.
When did we all revert back to the playground antics?
Social media gives everyone a voice, no matter how smart, dumb, nasty or nice they are. We have all had our moments dealing with trolls, but I was astonished at some of the comments my fellow Hammers have received this last week over when daring to express a negative ( or even a non positive) opinion on Stratford.
People who have spent more of their life with a season ticket than without being called “fake fans” and being told to “give your s/ticket to a true fan” or simply “don’t come back”.
This is ridiculous to me. You are no less a fan of West Ham if you question the club, than if you blindly believe/obey everything they tell you like a lovestruck teenager. If you think everything they do is bad you are probably a bit simple, likewise if you think they do no wrong, you too probably lose at noughts and crosses more than the average person, or look at the sun and mutter “ooh, shiney shiney”
We need checks and balances. We need a round of applause and acknowledgement when things are done well, as much as we need people to be held to account and informed when they get it wrong.
Exactly whether Stratford is wrong or right is open to everyone’s own interpretation. My mind is far from made up as I’ve seen pictures that make me grin like a Cheshire Cat, and others that make me pull the face you do when you’re stuck in a lift Big Sam used after he’s been out on a curry Thursday at the local Wetherspoons.
Ultimately, having a different opinions makes us no less or more of a fan than we were before the move. It just means we are passionate and care about the club. As it says on the tin we are West Ham United. Not West Ham divided. Disagreement is fine, but disrespect?
Let’s unite and get behind the boys this Monday and show that 13year old west London outfit what proper fans sound like.
#COYI
Big Sam in a lift after a curry..thanks for that all too vivid image I now have 🙂
Wed said that man. Been going to The Boleyn for 40 years one off…last 2 with my boy. I’m impressed with ghetto new stadium 100% happy after going to both games. The reason for this is simple …. I’m aiming to make the memories with my son, like the ones I made. COYI ⚒⚒
poxy predictive text….our new stadium.
how did our come up as ghetto in predictive text hehe classic mewp 😀
Excellent Pete and very well said. Considering hammerschat is a forum I have seen first hand the vibrancy differing opinion and debate creates. Saying “you’re not a true fan” is just a lazy a cheap way to shut down debate without having to offer a considered opinion in argument.
The moment we all agree is the moment it all gets very boring.
I went to both of our games as a claret member I take what seat is best thats available for the Domizale game I was in a 1966 seat thought the atmosphere was amazing on the way home heard a lot saying it was also really good and few peeps saying that they didn’t feel it at all, on Sunday I was in block 220 of the Trevor Brooking and I wasn’t really feeling it although on way home I heard people saying it was better for them than on Thursday, for me this demonstrates that its possible for all of us to be in there but some with different perceptions than others. I am a pretty opinionated fan and sometimes those opinions change more often than Big Sam changes his underwear after a curry at the wetherspoons you have seen him at, personally speaking I think it is good that we all have different opinions it makes for good banter and sometimes it makes us question our opinions or views which is all good, obviously as you suggest there are lines when banter moves closer to bullying and thats never a good look, certainly when I was younger I crossed those lines a few times not just on a keyboard but in real life but I learned from the experiences realised too late in some cases that I was out of line and try these days to have a better perspective, we wouldn’t be West Ham if we didn’t say it how we see it and hopefully some will take on board what you have said and yes lets look forward to Chelski away, will be the first time in a few seasons I won’t be there but I will be cheering on from behind the box COYI!!!
I think that lift on a Thursday night was where Allardyce wrote his Friday presser notes no matter who we played.It only took him two floors to come up with ‘they are a tremendous team,have very good attacking players so we will have to defend well.We will need to keep a clean sheet tomorrow’ 🙂
opinions are like assholes,everyone has one. lets just sit back and enjoy some of the most exciting times in the clubs history, i was born in 76 so have never really seen us win a thing, this squad is the closest thing we have to a real title challenge since 85/86
Agree. Will miss the Boleyn, although only an occasional visitor, latterly.
BUT. I have been very ill for a year. My Boleyn days are over. However, I can make it to the Olympic Stadium – sarf Londoner – so I can contemplate some more visits. I am over the moon, personally. 🙂
I saw some of the abuse Nigel Kahns article got on Over Land & Sea on FB,it was so out of order some of the things said to him.However you don’t want to be in a situation where you have sites where everyone who disagrees with the regular users gets banned so all you do is end up with a site like an admiration society for one another 😉
With the greatest of respect you’re a nitpicking bunch of feckers
but I love you all
(Except ONE)
What you love us so much you were the one that said none of us can read on here?.That’s funny love Teddybard 🙂