A terrible start to the season, infighting amongst fans, resentment towards owners and concerns over safety have soured West Ham United’s season so far.
West Ham United’s Adrian, Dimitri Payet and team mates look dejected
Slaven Bilic’s side have lost three of their opening four Premier League matches and scraped past Bournemouth in their solitary victory.
The Hammers were also embarrassingly dumped out of the Europa League by Romanian minnows Astra Giurgiu for the second season running.
Fans are at each other’s throats over standing at their new 60,000 seater Olympic Stadium home while Karren Brady – who spearheaded the club’s move to Stratford – was allegedly spat at by her own supporters as things turned sour in a 4-2 home defeat to Watford last time out.
A toxic atmosphere is starting to fester at West Ham and fans are beginning to question some of Bilic’s team selections and tactics.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
It is a far cry from last season when West Ham enjoyed their best ever points total of the Premier League era, recorded a first positive goal difference since 1986 and finished just four points off the Champions League places in their emotional farewell campaign at Upton Park.
Before addressing the problems it must be said there is plenty of good about the stadium and the move undoubtedly elevates West Ham onto a new level.
Indeed the job done by David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady should not be underestimated.
But there are a series of aspects the Hammers must address to stop their big move turning into a farce.
Here are the five key elements which need urgent attention followed by five niggles supporters would like to see addressed.
Match stewards attempt to make West Ham United fans sit down
Stewarding
The stewarding inside the London Stadium – as it is currently known – has been criticised by supporters from day one at the new ground.
With the stadium operators in charge of stewarding West Ham are starting to realise the consequences of being a tenant and not owning the ground.
Many fans say the club should be handed control of stewarding and that they need to bring back all the stewards from Upton Park.
But a large number of them have already taken up positions so the problem is more complicated than that.
Better crowd management is needed and venue knowledge. More thorough security checks and an end to the open door policy at half-time.
The stewards at Upton Park were friendly, helpful and understood the crowd and stadium inside out and it made for a much safer and enjoyable experience for all fan types from hardcore to family groups.
West Ham fans
Police presence
West Ham’s request for police presence inside the ground has been refused this week after it emerged the Metropolitan Police warned the stadium operators the radio system at the Olympic Stadium was not of the required standard all of two years ago – as reported by the likes of Sky Sports.
It is quite simply mind boggling that in this day and age of terror threats there is no police presence inside a stadium that is iconic in Britain after it staged the 2012 Olympic Games.
Indeed until the Watford game there were no officers anywhere to be seen outside or anywhere near a ground hosting 60,000 football fans.
Aside from obvious security concerns the lack of a police presence has been exacerbated by infighting amongst fans with some sections insisting on standing throughout games.
Ugly scenes have marred all of the matches so far with violence breaking out between fellow Hammers supporters and rival fans inside and outside the stadium.
West Ham fans
Segregation
And that brings us onto the subject of segregation or more to the point a complete lack of it.
At Upton Park and all other Premier League grounds, home supporters are separated from the away fans by a substantial section of covered seats – usually at least five to six rows depending on the history of rivalry.
Against Watford – who are not in any way, shape or form a rival for the Hammers – thousands of opposing supporters were separated by the steps between two rows and a single line of stewards.
It was a incident waiting to happen and happen it did when Watford turned a 2-0 deficit into an unlikely 4-2 win and violence erupted.
Against Bournemouth in the concourses West Ham fans strolled into the away section where Cherries fans were drinking and eating during half-time. Videos of the shambolic segregation were posted online much to the shock of the wider football community.
The segregation issue also needs to be addressed outside the ground. Rival supporters need to be ferried directly into the away entrances on buses and not just free to walk up the main stadium approach mixed in with thousands of Hammers fans.
Imagine the chaos if the situation remains unchanged when West Ham play a true rival such as Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea or Arsenal or the likes of Manchester United or Liverpool. God forbid the club draw hated rivals Millwall in one of the cups.
West Ham fans
“Singing” sections and seat transfer policy
This needs to be tackled immediately and not left until next season if the infighting is to stop and the club is to get its licence to increase capacity to 66,000 – making it the biggest stadium in London.
While Hammers fans will cringe at the phrase “singing section” it is not literal in its meaning.
Of course West Ham fans pride themselves on generating a good and intimidating atmosphere.
But with sections insisting on standing throughout, singing sections – perhaps the Bobby Moore and Sir Trevor Brooking stands – would see like-minded fans sitting together.
This was an issue that could have been avoided with better planning by the club at the migration stage and more consideration when selling season tickets.
At the reservation centre West Ham sales reps reassured supporters the ‘whole ground would be family friendly’ which just is not the case as the scenes in recent weeks have proved.
An online forum or relocation application process could be set up to move supporters together with like-minded fans before a more robust overhaul next summer.
Westfield Stratford
Get around the table with Westfield
The club’s relationship with Westfield Shopping Centre next door is crucial and at the moment West Ham fans are being treated like second class citizens there despite pouring millions of pounds into its food and drink outlets and shops already.
At the first two games against Domzale in the Europa League and Juventus in the official opening game, the various exits in Westfield were open which allowed a number of options for fans to filter down on their way to the stadium.
Not only did that ensure fans did not feel like second class citizens, it also avoided the ridiculous bottleneck which now takes place inside the shopping centre as fans and shoppers have one single exit to use.
The decision to close off the exits before the game means a long walk, thousands of fans getting in the way of shoppers and people turning up to the game in a bad mood from the get go.
After all the Hammers fans are spending their money in and around Westfield just like anyone else and as long as they behave themselves should be treated with more respect.
There is a distinct lack of common sense being used in all aspects so far and it must be sorted quickly.
West Ham’s Olympic Stadium
Other niggles about the stadium:
> The sore looking green astroturf covering the running track in no way matches the colour of the pitch as was originally promised by Brady.
> The concrete areas next to the big screens look ugly. Again Brady has revealed these areas are set aside for the naming rights partners – which is due to be announced in the new year, but in the meantime she hopes to cover them with West Ham images.
> The 1966 seats – premium seats around the halfway line in the East Stand – came with the promise of names on the seats which has still not been done a month into the new season.
> The roof, hailed the biggest cantilevered roof in the world and a marvel of construction, does not even cover all the supporters from the elements. The first sign of rain against Watford left the first 15-20 rows getting soaked while there were also leaks with large drops dripping on a few unlucky supporters throughout the game.
> Hide the scaffolding. The seating solution at the stadium to bring the seats closer to the action for football mode leaves supporters in the concourses staring at an ugly Meccano set of metal tubes and frames. A simple answer would be to emulate what the club has done in other areas and cover these with the fabric claret and blue wrap as they have done outside and over the various gaps – perhaps use pictures of Hammers legends and heroes?
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