West Ham United’s opening home game of the season against Huddersfield is becoming something of a sideshow.
The Hammers are a club in crisis.
Having lost each of their opening three Premier League games, Slaven Bilic’s side sit bottom of the table with a minus eight goal difference already.
That form has led to intense speculation Bilic will soon be replaced by co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold with the likes of Rafa Benitez and Roberto Mancini linked.
Many supporters were already unhappy they have had to wait until well into September to play the first home game of their second season at the former Olympic Stadium owing to the athletics World Championships being staged there.
Throw in the fact serious doubts remain over the stadium’s fitness for purpose as a football arena and the club’s poor start and the tension has been palpable.
So when West Ham failed to add any further transfers before the window closed last week it tipped many over the edge.
The club’s net spend is just £10m and that more than anything is the root of West Ham fans’ grievances against Sullivan and Gold.
Because Hammers supporters are used to not winning anything. And they are certainly used to being fed empty or broken promises over the years from the days of Terence Brown through to the doomed Icelandic regime.
But the latest raft of promises were made with the caveat of leaving their beloved Boleyn Ground home of 112 years.
West Ham fans were promised big money, marquee signings as they made the move to Stratford last summer.
Indeed the ability to compete with the Premier League elite as a result of the stadium move was held up as a carrot to fans dubious over the decision to leave Upton Park.
The reality is in stark contrast and the rage is building, fuelled by Sullivan’s prevailing ability to somehow always make matters worse with his latest public statement on the club’s official website which thousands of supporters on Twitter labelled as ‘more lies’ and comments which ‘threw Bilic under the bus’.
One planned protest banner reads” “Formed by the working class, ruined by the rich, sold a dream built on lies. Brady, Sullivan, Gold and co., enough is enough, it’s time to go.”
Another reads: “Lie after lie. Enough is enough, Brady, Sully & Co time to go.”
West Ham fans aren’t banner types. Never have been. The fact they are going to these kind of lengths speaks volumes of the toxic atmosphere building within the club.
Huddersfield, who have made a bright and unbeaten start to their first ever Premier League season under the guidance of David Wagner, will be relishing the unrest.
It plays perfectly into the opposition’s hands ahead of what could well be Bilic’s last game in charge.
So much for the second season at the London Stadium being more settled.
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