Friendlies And Foes Broadcast Carve Up!

On Tuesday next week, West Ham will face Ipswich Town and Wycombe Wanderers, with both games kicking off at 2pm and both being available through media streaming platforms, the Hammers have also confirmed that they will host Brentford, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League, in a hastily arranged friendly to be played on Saturday August 21st at the London Stadium. The Irons will then travel to play another Championship side, Reading, on Tuesday September 1st, before competing in the Betway Cup.

The Betway Cup match will be at the London Stadium against AFC Bournemouth following the Cherries’ relegation to the second-tier, this 'season opener' is usually reserved for an exotic team from abroad, or a team from which a player has just been signed, and the game is usually seen as part of the deal, not so this time!

With crowds definitley unable to attend early fixtures, these pre-season friendlies will take on an eerie feel that will later be replicated in stadiums up and down the country when the Barclays Premier League season begins on the 12th of September without any fans in attendance.

Fans who got used to the 'blanket' TV coverage of top flight games when project restart began, are going to be extremely dissapointed with the viewing options available for them to see their teams while crowds are not allowed in the Stadia, there will be NO free to air matches, and the coverage provided by Skt TV, BT Sports and Amazon most definitely doesn't cover all the games to be played. With no exact information available at the time of this article with regards to when, how and if fans are going to be able to return this season, there will be many very disappointed supporters who will see very little of their teams on TV because the broadcasters have their 'pet' teams they like to show, fortunatley for Hammers supporters West Ham are one of them, every season the Irons' games are broadcast more frequently than any of other team outside the top six, whether you agree or not, Hammers are still big box office around the Globe.

Fans who have been trying to navigate through the myriad of hoops required in order to 'link' to their previous West Ham account in order to access their 'club cash' rebate, will be none too pleased with the Broadcasters decision to not show all the games where crowds cannot attend, it seems as if there is a concerted effort, or hidden agenda agreed by all clubs and the broadcasters to 'continue as normal' with season ticket sales despite all the evidence pointing towards how few if any people will actually be allowed to attend.

If you thought 'linking' your West Ham account in order to get your hands on your club cash was difficult, just imagine how virtualy impossible it will be to get your rebates that will become due to you for each match where supporters cannot attend? If the logistical system now in place is tasked with dealing with the vast amount of variable rebates that it will undoubtedly have to deal with, it will crash, plain and simple, it is not even currently fit for purpose so God knows what will happen when the 'shinola' hits the fan in the closing days.

*Our advice is to delay your renewal until the last four days, in the vague hope that the system can be effectively tweeked to deal with renewals efficiently, the club must know there are serious problems to iron out, they confirmed as much by 'extending' the renewal deadline from the original August date until Friday the 11th of September at 5pm.

* Update, the confusion relating to linking accounts manifests itself by you requiring to request a pass word reset becuase your original log in will not work. The reason is that the entire system had to be restructured in order to facilitate the multiple options for renewal, club contacted us to confirm this and we can confirm that by following this procedure you can access your club cash. Try to log in, then request new password, a link will be sent to your e-mail, reset pass word and there you go, when you make the transaction ensure you click on the 'use my club cash' icon, that value will eventually get deducted, initially you will see the amount you have to pay minus your club cash, but when you enter your card details the full amount will appear without the deduction for your club cash, panic not because the final amount deducted from your card does factor in your club cash if you check with your card issuer. - Ed