Forum | General Discussion

West Ham have had to deal with numerous troubles since moving to the London Stadium in 2016, but one significant issue, one that is fixable, that has persistently been a bother has been seeing away fans in the home end.

Particularly, last season, there were numerous occasions where away fans were sat in the home end. I cannot fathom how many people were kicked out of the Bobby Moore upper stand, half of the buggers wouldn’t have known who he was!

Perhaps Manchester United at home this season would’ve been the breaking point for the club, as it was yet another fixture that was flooded with away fans, and on that particular night, the stewards certainly had their work cut out for them.

The Hammers only have a few remaining home games this season, one of which is against Arsenal.

An Arsenal fan recently attempted to buy a home end ticket and received an email, which indicates that action has actually been taken towards making a change. The said individual was informed that, as it was their first time purchasing tickets for West Ham, they would have to be validated - otherwise, the ticket wouldn’t be able to be used.

To have the ticket validated, you would have to provide “photographic evidence that you are a West Ham United supporter which can be from a party, event or fixture wearing West Ham merchandise or West Ham releated evidence (Please note any merchandise will need to be purchased PRIOR TO January 2026”

You will also have to provide ID.

This is an intelligent move.

To add on to that, it is also mentioned that this evidence needs to be sent before Tuesday, 31st March 2026, 1:00 pm - presumably around the five-day mark from receiving the initial email. A typical true West Ham fan would easily be able to attach a photo, followed by a photo of ID, and no worry is to follow, for Away supporters… that’s a struggle.

This move should make it further difficult for away fans to enter the home end - it may cause some trouble, and undoubably their will be a few that wriggle their way through the identification system, but this certainly should stop a large bunch in theory.

Let’s wait and see how this system is when in action.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side faced a damning 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa as his squad appeared nothing but tired heading into the final game before the international break, and for once, it seems to have come promptly for West Ham.

Without beating around the bush too much, it’s a miserable defeat and one with little to no positives. Nuno’s side struggled from the off, seeing as Jean-Clair Todibo’s calf injury, which he had sustained in the warm-up, saw Freddie Potts introduced. Whilst Freddie wasn’t too bad himself, it annihilated the gameplan the Hammers had set out to achieve, and from Villa scoring the first, it all avelanched down.

Chances were minimal, mindsets were down. Nuno and Paco’s side weren’t able to formulate any chances of serious intent, unless you want to narrow it down to Pablo’s halfhearted attempt in the box.

In reality, West Ham are lucky it wasn’t more - Konstantinos Mavropanos saved at least three goal scoring oportunities, closing the game out at two-nil, but it very easily could’ve been four or five had he not been involved.

Whilst Mavro might’ve been the positive of the match, the same cannot be said for unbothered Bissaka, who had a woeful performance this afternoon, strolling around and almost refusing to run and at one point chased Morgan Rogers for his shirt, a performance of comedy, not courage.

The best positives that can be found are the factors surrounding the game rather than the 90 minutes themselves.

The timing of the international break will see Crysencio Summerville as well as Jean-Clair Todibo returning to the first team, allowing Nuno to go back to the 4-4-2 formation, which has had the highest win percentage for the Hammers this season.

Additionally, the Hammers return from the international break with two home matches, one against Leeds United in the cup on Easter Sunday, which could be an opportunity to gain a world of confidence, whilst on Friday evening we take on Wolves, which could ultimately decide our season, and three points at the Bowl could help bolster our survival chances significantly.

Nottingham Forest, unfortunately, annihilated the Spuds in a 3-0 victory, meaning West Ham remain 18th on 28 points, whilst Spurs are sat in 17th on 29.

It’s very easy to be all doom and gloom after this afternoon’s result - but the fact of the matter is that West Ham have only lost three in the last ten, have closed down a ten-point gap to one and finally have now recovered from all injuries, including our star man Summerville.

Bubbles were miserably burst today, but our dreams were not all crushed. Seven games to go.

As the Premier League season begins to close, a handful of questions start to arise. West Ham’s primary focus is, of course, the league seeing as where the club will be next season remains unknown, but another factor is dependent on which league the Hammers are in, which will decide the sponsorships that come along.

Many can predict and ponder about how much West Ham will get paid if they are in the Championship or if they are in the Premier League for promotions, but one aspect that is a guarantee is that for the next Premier League campaign, front shirt betting sponsors are banned, meaning West Ham’s current sponsor of Boyle Sports, will have to change should we stay in the top flight of English Football.

With a forceful change on the horizon, the Hammers have identified their next non-betting sponsorship and have set their eyes and landed on ‘amazing Thailand’.

Amazing Thailand are a travel company that, in recent years, has looked to venture into the sporting market, previously being sponsors of Leicester City and Oxford United around 2020, and they have now set their eyes on sponsoring the Hammers for years to come.

Whilst nothing is confirmed, their deputy governor for marketing recently posted a photo of how the kit could potentially look. This, of course, isn’t an accurate representation as it is a mock-up and the Hammers will also have kits made by New Balance next year, not Umbro.

In the event that West Ham do unfortunately suffer relegation, the club will continue to use Boyle Sports, seeing as the Championship isn’t integrating the betting sponsor just yet, but if safety is secured, fans could expect the front of the shirt to have Amazing Thailand on the front and Boyle Sports as a sleeve sponsor, which will be allowed.

Boyle Sports currently pays West Ham £12.5m per season.