Forum | General Discussion

In the light of UEAFA's 'sudden' ban imposed on Hammers travelling fans, many who have already purchased tickets AND paid substantial amounts of money on hotels and air flights intend to go to Vienna to be part of the game and take in the atmosphere, either through sitting in local bars with fellow Hammers supporters or, more controversially, by accessing tickets originally intended for home supporters.

It is believed that in excess of 1000 tickets that would place West Ham fans among the home supporters have been snapped up via the 'grey' market in Vienna's re-sale underworld at vastly increased prices. This is a set of circumstances of UEAFA and 150 morons' making, it does not bode well for the future and could seriously threaten Hammers European Trophy and potential Champions League qualification aspirations.

It would only take a small spark to ignite a potentially dangerous situation and perhaps UEAFA might have thought through the implications that their 'last minute' decision would have on 'legitimate' fans who had already arranged to attend the game.

We accept that sanctions had to be made and understand that by banning fans from the the upcoming fixture it technically opened the door for fans to be there for the knock out stages of the Europa League Cup, unfortunately having 'disgruntled' travelling fans mixed amongst home fans is a recipe for disaster!

We are NOT suggesting that Hammers fans would be attending looking for trouble, but unfortunately as the song goes, "You looking for trouble? Well you've come to the right place!" is a rather apt musical analogy of 'Rabid's' fans, well at least those who were on display at the London Bowl earlier in the competition.

In order to comply with UEAFA regulations, West Ham will HAVE to officially advise fans against travelling to the Vienna game under ANY circumstances, this will leave the club between a rock and a hard place and the possibility of watching future games being in the hands of those who do choose to attend the game irrespective of the guidance.

Fans have waited YEARS and YEARS for the opportunity to finally see their club playing in a 'meaningful' European competition, it would be a crying shame if they were denied this unique prospect as a result of the actions of a minority of individuals.

David Moyes, his coaching staff and yes even the board as well in their own way, have created a new West Ham that is no longer content with being occasional achievers sandwiched between continuous failures into a team that has genuine aspirations of dining at football's top table. Indeed there is every chance that Hammers will be back in European competition next season, either one way or the other, so there is NO need for fans to panic.

It will take a long while for long suffering fans to acclimatise to the rarefied air that comes with life near the top of the table, but make no mistake, what is happening to club at the moment is REAL, so we would ask fans to show some intelligence and not blow what could be a golden era for the club by their foolish acts even if they are frustrated by UEAFA!

Think about the future!- LN

Having been repeatedly ignored by Gareth Southgate, Michail Antonio chose to represent Jamaica instead of England, he scored for the Reggae Boyz against El Salvador the other day and has just scored a stunning goal against the USA, from OUTSIDE the box!

In his entire career at West Ham United Big Mikey has NEVER scored from outside of the box, in fact we are not sure if he has EVER scored from the distance he did tonight.

Take a look, he's gone to another level on the pitch, but now he has to undertake a massive 14 hour flight to get back to England from Jamaica. Hopefully the journey will not take too much out of him and that he is sufficiently rejuvenated for what will be a challenging fixture away to Wolves on Saturday. - Ed

West Ham United's most closely linked website Claret & Hugh, were well placed enough to be told directly that the UEFA imposed ban on travelling fans was in fact a correctly reached decision, despite the inconvenience and financial loss hundreds of fans will face.

Hammers had written to Uefa seeking reasons for the ban and what they could do about the situation but were emphatically informed that the penalties would stand irrespective of any actions taken by the club to facilitate a change of decision.
The club were told that the reason lies with 150 supporters who stormed the gates at Genk and forced stewards to open them. UEFA have made it clear that they intend to enforce the ban and it is now the case that if such trouble continues in the future all away support will be banned, possibly indefinitely!

Fans were enraged by UEFA's decision seeing it as a bias against the club, but unfortunately it is the club's OWN fans who have brought the club into disrepute. Not only have they ruined the plans of hundreds of 'real fans', costing many a lot of money, but they have now made a rod that can be used on the club's back JUST as there are genuine opportunities for fans to follow the club abroad for the first time in a generation!

There are usually two sides to every story, unfortunately the club Genk's CCTV that UEFA used clearly shows Hammers fans were at fault and had mounted a sustained 'reign of terror' against the stewards before finally forcing their way into the ground.

Repetitions of what England fans did at Wembley during the European Finals against Italy are viewed as extremely troubling by those who run UEFA, the selfish 150 have done lasting damage and threaten to derail the future plans of so many fans.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill paradoxically, "Never have so many been so messed up by so few", well done the 150, NOT! - Ed