Forum | General Discussion

David Sullivan co-owner and main share holder of West Ham United has had to issue a statement on behalf of the club following the unsavoury events and images that preceded what was supposed to be, and finally was a wonderful night of football and celebration. Mr Sullivan's statement on the club's official site www.whufc.com in response to the events is as follows: "If we were to have scripted how our final game at the Boleyn would have played out, it wouldn't have been much different to last night's match. The West Ham family then all celebrated our legends and former players together in what was a truly fitting ceremony to say goodbye to our home of 112 years."Sadly, the actions of very small minority of people outside the ground prior to kick-off risks overshadowing those celebrations. I want to be clear - their behaviour was completely unacceptable and does not represent our Club or our values. "When I was asked about the incident prior to yesterday's game, I was unaware of the damage that had occurred to the Manchester United team bus. I want to apologise to Manchester United for that damage and assure them that we will be doing all we can to track down those responsible and ban them for life. "This morning I have already tasked my senior team to work with the police to identify them as their behaviour belongs in the past and not in a future that promises so much for our great Club." "I truly hope that in due course we will look back on what happened in the stadium rather than what happened outside and remember our farewell to the Boleyn for all the right reasons."
There have been conspiracy theory stories on social media that the supporters that attacked the Manchester United coach weren't even Hammers supporters but were Tottenham or Millwall fans wanting to 'spoil the party', however the truth is more than likely to be that a few tanked up 'pond life' fans, operating on an amoeba level of intelligence, thought that they might influence the result in their team's favour by conducting a spontaneous assault! The reason we use the term spontaneous is because, for some reason, similarly to when they played Tottenham recently, Manchester United chose to arrive late at the Boleyn despite being fully aware of the congestion their coach would face. This is not in any way meant to condone the actions of a mindless few, but the situation was served up on a plate to them. Fortunately with the amount of CCTV footage taken, both overt and covert, identifying and bringing the culprits to account should be possible. Life bans have been promised for those who participated, if indeed they were West Ham fans, whether they were intent on causing disorder or if is was a spur of the moment thing is irrelevant, because there are those who DO have an agenda against West Ham United, particularly those who will not let the Olympic Stadium anchor tenant deal go away. Those people seeking to besmirch West Ham will have a feeding frenzy in the next few days, and the club's International image will have been tarnished, but hopefully when the dust settles, the last night at the Boleyn will be remembered for a cracking game of football played in an electrifying atmosphere that will be hard to re-create, or will it? Next season awaits, but there is the matter of the final game against Stoke City coming up this Sunday, 3 points guarantees European football and with Liverpool and Southampton finishing strongly only 3 points will do unless they both slip up, which is entirely unlikely. - Ed

West Ham Utd: Randolph, Antonio, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Kouyate, Sakho, Lanzini, Payet, Carroll.
Subs: Spiegel, Tomkins, Valencia, Obiang, Collins, Moses, Emenike.
Manchester Utd: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Herrera, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Mata, Rashford, Martial.
Subs: Romero, Borthwick-Jackson, Jones, Carrick, Lingard, Januzaj, Memphis.

Today for many marks the end of a great romance, a love affair of history, comradeship, allegiance and pride, an affair of the heart and the mind, the mistress and the wife combined. After tonight the smell of the burgers, the mad traffic, the crowded pubs and off licences keen to oil the wheels of fans making their way to the Old Lady that is the Boleyn Ground, continuously and annoyingly referred to as Upton Park by lazy journalists and commentators, will be no more. That's it, all the memories, all the sights and sounds of thunderous nights under the lights will forever be consigned to the past, to some it is a regrettable change that they cannot fully comprehend yet, to others leaving the Boleyn is the price of progress. Tonight will be steeped in emotion and history, which is as it should be, there will be 'ceremonies' and stuff! All the old players who are still able will attend the match against Manchester Utd, a match which has seen tickets changing hands for crazy money (over £1,000), although the demand may have died down a bit following last weekend's humiliating loss to Swansea! The problem with 'planning' surprises is that they tend to not be as exciting or as desirable for those watching as they are for those who did all the planning, pray to your god that the Hammers hierarchy don't carry out their 'threat' to have a giant hologram of 'Sir' Bobby stroll across the pitch he once graced, it would have the dear chap turning over in his grave.
Any doubts most fans have about moving to the Olympic Stadium will evaporate once the new season is under way, fans sitting in tonight's traffic jams or trying to squeeze through the match day one way system at Upton Park tube, will reminisce about how great it was, but they will be extremely happy that their journey to and from the new stadium will be so much easier, and also that it will be possible to have a family day out in the pleasant surroundings of the Olympic Park.
Bye Bye Boleyn, and thanks for the great memories, but time stands for no man. - Ed