*This article was first published back in April, the newsnow auto regulator decided to re-publish!
We were asked a series of questions by Reuters News Agency regarding the club, about the next match, about the owners, the London Stadium, the season so far, the good and the ugly, and whether David Moyes will remain at the club.
The general consensus is that the Stoke City game is a season defining match, this is especially so given the other remaining matches West Ham have to play, none of them are easy therefore three points against Stoke is regarded as essential.
This is one of those games where the team that scores first will be in the ascendancy, a goal for Stoke early on could 'turn' the crowd. Much depends on Arnoutovic playing against his former club, if the traveling fans don't elect to stay at home and watch the match on TV then ironically their presence will probably spur him on to greater heights as they did when they gave him relentless 'stick' on his return to the bet 365 following his transfer to West Ham from Stoke.
Stoke can definitely pose a threat, as we previously mentioned, should they manage to score the first goal then the London Stadium could become toxic although it is very unlikely that there would be a repeat of the disgraceful scenes that occurred during the 3-0 home defeat by Burnley. If West Ham score first then it would be a completely different scenario that would see the home side probably romp home to a victory.
West Ham are not safe now, however West Bromwich Albion are gone, Huddersfield are in a downward spiral and Palace need to start turning good performances in to victories otherwise they will be sucked in to the drop zone. Swansea's resurgence has ground to a halt so they are not safe. Stoke are next in the vulnerability line and their fate will largely be dictated by their match against West Ham at the London Stadium, defeat will probably condemn them in joining West Brom and one other to Championship football next season.
There are very few positives to take from the season, very few at all! The emergence of Declan Rice from Academy player to the first team has been a welcome positive albeit one generated as a result of a once catastrophic injury list. The arrival of 'Super Mario' has been uplifting as has the general effort shown by the players since the arrival of David Moyes in place of Slaven Billic as manager.
The feeling among most of our members and most Hammers fans in general is one of unrest, if things had gone well this season then the feelgood factor would have over ridden the questions about funding and more importantly what to do with the dreadful eyesore of a stadium that replaced fans beloved Boleyn Ground. Things will be put on the back burner until the battle for Premiership survival is won or lost, but the discontent will not go away. Fans feel cheated, "they were sold a dream and were given a nightmare". Or in the words often sung by visiting supporters "you sold your soul for this **it hole".
Moyes is a strange managerial problem, it is without doubt his arrival was met with much discontent, but he began to rescue the sinking ship successfully until the recent series of three defeats by three goal margins cast a doubt over his ability to keep the club afloat. For Hammers fans they ca find hope in the fact that the teams currently below them all have to play games against fellow strugglers, so essentially they will be taking points off each other. As to whether Moyes would be a popular choice to stay on as manager he is a bit of a 'marmite' character, but many view him as a dour drab manager and would hope for someone with more panache and style, perhaps someone like Slaven Billic? -Ed
