With the events that occurred at the London Stadium at the weekend, I got thinking, with what's happened to Leyton Orient, Coventry City and Blackpool to name just a few, do West Ham have the right to complain?
The short answer is yes, everybody has the right to complain about their clubs. However, there is a line and in my personal opinion, a small proportion of West Ham United fans have crossed this line. As a Leyton Orient fan who endured the Becchetti era, myself and I’m sure a few other Orient fans are currently looking at our east London neighbours with a bit of a disappointment.
Watching Upton Park and a lot of people’s second homes being torn down must be a knife through heart and every football fan will understand that. Despite this, I personally feel that the move from the Boleyn to the Olympic Stadium had genuine good intentions. At some stage or another, football teams need to move or have their stadiums renovated. Much like the very first house you lived in, you adore it and have so many great memories of the place but when everything starts to break and even though you don’t want to, you know it’s time to move on.
Sullivan and Gold stated that the purpose of the move was to attract a larger crowd and to help propel the club into European competition. It is fair to say that they have done far from this. As Frank Lampard pointed out on Match of the Day, West Ham have only spent £29m which if they want to compete with the other Premier League front runners isn’t enough. To put this into perspective, Manchester City spent over £150m on just defenders.
Albeit, the West Ham board are showing a lack of effort but it’s still effort nonetheless. Yes, they aren’t spending enough, but they are spending. Yes, you’ve left Upton Park, but to progress as a club you needed to. Yes, it’s a frustrating time, but to be honest it could be so much worse.
If fights are breaking out in the stands and pitch invasions occur when you go 1-0 down to Burnley, who knows what would of happen if the owners turned their back on you like Becchetti did at Orient.
Maybe I’m being quite bitter about the situation because of my past experiences with Orient, as we literally watched the unthinkable happen as a single man destroyed the sole of such a proud London club. However, I do believe that if the fans went about their protests in a more civilised way, they’re more likely to get what they want – as throwing coins at the director’s box and stealing the corner flag in a Graeme Sounness-esque fashion isn’t the answer.
Looking back, I’m very proud of how we handled the Becchetti situation. It’s fair to say that we took it one step further than West Ham, as mass pitch invasions took place and supporters gained entry to the director’s box to display a banner. However, this man masterminded multiple relegations in a few short years, refused to pay wages, got us in a huge amount of debt and has left a detrimental effect on Leyton Orient for years to come.
I would never say to West Ham fans to not protest, it’s essentially that they do to get what they want and what they need. But there are certain ways of going about it.
Furthermore, I do have a soft spot for West Ham United, as a few members of my family and close friends support the side. Having been through a similar situation ourselves, I wouldn’t wish these sorts of problems on my worst enemy, not even on Dagenham & Redbridge and Southend United. Therefore, I hope the Hammers can solve this situation and that they remain a Premier League side, because lets be honest, we need at least one east London side in the Premier League.