Forum | General Discussion

The groundswell of opinion among fans and the massively negative press that followed the 2-4 defeat to Watford at the London Stadium has, as expected, invoked an immediate response from the club with the blame for events being firmly placed on the stadium management and particularly on the security company they use. The 'robust' response on the club's official website is as follows:
"West Ham United undertook a full investigation into the crowd issues immediately after Saturday’s game with Watford and today held a productive meeting with stadium owners E20. Whilst West Ham United do not hold the Safety Certificate (this is held by LS185) or control the security at the stadium, the Club is doing everything possible within its jurisdiction to help provide a safe and enjoyable environment for all supporters. It is important that we recognise the vast majority who have attended the first five fixtures played at London Stadium have been outstanding with their behaviour and support. They, like all at West Ham United, do not want their reputation or the Club’s to be tarnished by the minority. Today, the Club have insisted that E20 guarantee a police presence in the Stadium. In addition, the Club have also specified a number of essential important improvements to match day operations moving forward, including the need for LS185 to bolster the stewarding and security operation in terms of numbers, but also in terms of the level training and experience they have dealing with Premier League football matches. E20 confirmed today that immediate action is being taken on the issues raised. The Club will work tirelessly with them to ensure London Stadium continues to be the inclusive and family-friendly environment that all parties have worked so hard to achieve. This includes a more robust and secure line of segregation between the home and visiting fans as specified by the Club. We have been assured this will be in place ahead of the next match. The Club has already taken action to improve all match day elements within their control, including the relocation of young children and families from areas where the fans are more vociferous and the issuing of season long bans for supporters engaging in antisocial behaviour.
The Club is working hard to move likeminded supporters into areas to enhance their match day experience. This process commenced ahead of the Watford game and has already proved successful in key areas. The Club will continue prioritising this approach around the stadium.
In relation to Saturday’s match against Watford: • 10 individuals were ejected from the Stadium.• No arrests were made. • The Club received seven complaints in relation to standing, although 40 reports were received in relation to the antisocial behaviour in the stands.
The Club would appeal to supporters to report any incidents directly to the Club, as all reported complaints and incidents are fully investigated, in conjunction with a full review of CCTV footage from the day, with a view to issuing further bans where appropriate. Supporters are requested to provide as much information as possible, as the more intelligence the Club have the more proactive and focused all efforts to clamp down on antisocial behaviour will be. The Club will act on every piece of evidence all of which will be collated and treated in the strictest of confidence. The Club now appeals to all supporters to come together and support West Ham in the famous way we have historically been so proud of."
At least the issues are being addressed, certain teething troubles were expected following the move from the Boleyn Ground to the London Stadium, but they have turned out being more root canal than a simple filling!
It does appear that the immediate issue that needs addressing is top of the agenda, and that being crowd segregation. It is a blessing in disguise that things 'kicked off' during the Watford match, and as much as their 'cheerleaders' would like to think, they were one of the 'softer' teams that West Ham will face, even though the match was technically a London derby. Had the visitors been from Tottenham or Chelsea the outcome could have been horrific, and that is no over statement!
Negatives & Positives:
The obvious negative is that the publicity for the club has been atrocious, images of fighting fans have been beamed all round the world, hardly the sort of global branding envisaged by the West Ham hierarchy. Fans feel 'disconnected', not because of sight lines or atmosphere, more the fact that the stewards treat them generally politely but incredibly inefficiently, acting with no latitude, empathy is an essential element of crowd control!
The positives are that a major incident has thus far been avoided, and henceforth the impending 'shoring up' between the away fans and the Sir Trevor Brooking stand home fans will engender a feeling of increased security and well being, especially among those who are accompanying children. Because there has been such a brouhaha about the first few matches, rival supporters have begun to think the london stadium is 'there for the taking', the new controls being put in place should help snuff out that particular cinder and hopefully people can enjoy watching a football match instead of seeing an endless stream of hapless 'yellow jackets' panicking as they try to diffuse situations they have little or no training for.
The increased police presence is also a must, and one that will be welcomed by all, even those who don't always see eye to eye with the authorities! It is to be hoped that they can suggest the leaving time for the away supporters in order to avoid clashes outside the stadium as well.
So: Build a wall to segregate the away fans, a sufficient metal barrier that is high enough not to be vaulted and strong enough not to be knocked over. Have a Police presence inside the Stadium, and insist on much better training for the security staff. These actions will go a long way to making a visit to the London Stadium a positive experience that can be recommended. Of course we haven't touched on the issue of safe standing and family zones yet, why on earth given the amount of season tickets held by under 16's, was no provision made for a family zone? It beggars belief that the hard working board of West Ham didn't perceive this issue before it had a chance to develop. The safe standing problem will unfortunately run and run due to the FA's vice like grip on any meaningful change to the rules, however common sense can prevail if like minded souls are given the option to swap areas that they are currently seated in and be positioned where they are not obscuring the views of those who cannot or do not wish to stand, or those of children. Of course by doing so the club would be surreptitiously condoning standing, but technically they would just be 'assembling' like minded supporters who like to 'sing and chant' more than others.
It is vital that West Ham United is seen as a club moving forward, and their supporters not as a bunch of ingrates who cannot handle being 'gifted' one of the best stadiums in the world, but as supporters who are embracing a brave new world whist maintaining the core values that made West Ham many opposition supporters' favourite second team. Come on you irons? - Ed

From the beginning of the season It was only to be expected that there would be more than a fair share of media coverage given to any negativity with regards to West Ham United's tenure of the London Stadium, given the jealousy surrounding and muck raking involved in the decision process to appoint Hammers as the anchor tenancy, despite it being the only realistic option to avoid having a 'white elephant' stadium as has happened in other host countries.
There has been a lot of coverage with regards to fans refusing to sit down, a situation that could be easily resolved by having a safe standing area similar to the one that Celtic have, but the real problem is the lack of segregation between the rival fans. Currently there are NO physical barriers to separate fans, only a couple of 'mini' hurdles that a child could jump over (possibly a legacy from the olympic games) On Saturday the 'thin line' of stewards could easily have been overwhelmed had the opposing fans been from a less 'gentile' club, the situation is compounded because the walkways to the opposing sections are like an 'avenue of honour' allowing home/away fans to taunt each other depending on how the matches are panning out, it would only takes one or two 'nutters' to create a dreadful situation by diving into the opposition supporters from above, The current situation is an accident waiting to happen, all those involved need to seek a resolution before something terrible happens, which it will if nothing is done, and pronto! This may seem like dragging up 'old coals' but the importance of a quick resolution cannot be stressed highly enough, the reputation of the club is at a pivotal point with global exposure as never before, it would be ludicrous to blow this once in a life time opportunity by presenting the club as an organisation incapable of maintaining it's own security let alone progressing to the 'higher level' so often talked and dreamed about!
The logical conclusion would be that West Ham step up to the plate and 'offer' to take over security or at least the bulk of it on match days, original Boleyn stewards should be sort out and re-hired (at a premium if necessary) they, with a few 'real' policemen and women along with realistic barriers would be able to keep matters in hand far better than the current situation. In the end it is the only viable option to prevent the inevitable sanctions that will follow any unrest in the Stadium and even worse the possibility of people getting hurt.
Stadium Operators, London Stadium 185 have released a statement following events on Saturday:
“London Stadium have identified a number of supporters involved in incidents of disorder during Saturday’s Premier League match between West Ham United and Watford. Our stewards and response teams were called to address isolated instances of violent confrontation which resulted in ten supporters being ejected from the stadium and three handed to police.
“In line with our safety and security policies, these supporters will be banned from all stadium events. In addition, we will continue to review CCTV footage and take retrospective action where necessary. Any evidence of crime and disorder will be passed to the police.We remain determined to ensure that all supporters can enjoy the best possible matchday experience in a safe and secure environment. We will continue to work closely with West Ham United to identify and take action against the small number of supporters found to be responsible for these incidents.”
It's a start, but the stadium operators need to be pro-active instead of reactive if similar situations are to be avoided - Ed

West Ham United's line up for the Watford match was impressive, and despite the odd early warning sign everything was going to plan for the first 40 minutes. Two goals from Michail Antonio, the second a work of art created by Dimitri Payet seemed to have set Hammers on route for a resounding victory, and then the ginger pele had a moment of madness by dispossessing his own keeper and giving the ball to the opposition who promptly scored! Two minutes later, another catastrophic error, this time by Winston Reid, saw the visitors score again and turn the game round on it's head. Hammers cause wasn't helped when new signing ZaZa, eager to impress the home crowd found himself in the referee's book for a relatively needless challenge early in the match, after that he looked a bit of a busted flush, unable to exert his physical presence for fear of picking up a second yellow.
When the second half started it looked like there was only going to be one winner and that was Watford, having been handed the initiative at the end of the first half they continued as they left off and proceeded to silence the home crowd by constantly threatening West Ham's fragile defence, every time they sent a ball over the top they looked like scoring, in fact had it not been for some heroic keeping by Adrian the score could have and should have been a lot worse!
It is easy to be wise after the event, so perhaps it would be churlish to suggest that Slaven Billic was naive in putting out such an attack minded team, but for the early part of the match it was glorious, however from the get go Mark Noble looked ponderous, his usual positive play seemed to have been replaced by a scott parker/butch wilkins 'crab' style, but to his defence he did get clattered a few times and was not helped by an ineffectual limp wristed referee and his assistants. Noble was eventually subbed in the second half, he looked jaded and exhausted.....perhaps of all the team he actually DOES need a rest! Winston Reid, perhaps still suffering from 'elbow in the face syndrome' and James Collins were simply atrocious! Matters weren't helped any by the level of exposure they experienced, but having to cope with the elected attacking formation is something one would expect a modern professional footballer to do, sadly neither defender covered them selves in glory, with the 'ginger pele' Collins the main culprit! Apart form gifting the opposition their first goal, ginge looked fragile all afternoon, an accident waiting to happen, unfortunately this insecurity crept in to the entire defence who looked completely ragged by the end of a match which saw vast droves of fans leave early.
It can safely be assumed that Angelo Ogbona, who must have been tearing his hair out whist watching from the bench, will replace 'Ginge' for the next game against West Brom in what has become a crucial fixture if the events of the weekend are to be put to bed.
Finally, in what turned out to be a very negative experience for Hammers fans, there was the issue of stewarding. Why on earth the away fans were given such a large area behind the goals beggars belief, because it (a) means there is no segregation on the Trevor Brooking stand upper levels that adjoin where the away fans are located and (b) the opposition supporters are able to 'large it' and antagonise the home supporters as they make their way to and from the main concourse area where the concessionaires sell food and drink.
A wholesale restructuring of the away end is not only desirable but essential if a nasty incident is to be avoided, because quite frankly the current stewarding set up appears to be completely overwhelmed when a situation begins to develop, and there were certainly quite a few of those yesterday!
It's not all doom and gloom. last season, which is acknowledged as one of the best in many years, began with two extremely disappointing home results and two away wins, so things aren't really that different, maybe expectations were a little high moving in to the plush new stadium, well those hopes and dreams have come down to earth with a bump, it couldn't be any other way for West Ham could it? - Ed