Prem league v Lower league

There are to many issues now from boring spuds to that nonsense yesterday pooh v arsey. Jumped up shite heads thinking what the fuk am I doing waiting my time here when I could be playing for Barca .so they enter into protracted agro with their manager virtually going on strike a bit like what s going on with us trouble is our lot have an over exaggerated opinion of themselves

what's great for neutrals is how the lower leagues are so unpredictable. Promotion candidates one year could be mid table fodder the next,have respect for the likes of jeff sterling keeping to his roots,you have the pundets on sky sports frothing at the mouth over the so-called big boys,and then theres jeff going crazy if hartlepool get a result,he keeps it real lol

i attend sutton utd games quite regular and i enjoy it a hell of a lot more than the prem stuff served up at the weekends...if we are on the box i will watch of course but this national league is really competitive...saw orient get beat opening day good football good crowd and players not into rolling around as if they have been shot....and i make a point to watch the efl goals roundup every week..some cracking action there..

F*ck me its hard enough watching westham!!lol

Of course, if we had thought about the value of the lower leagues, maybe we would have been better off staying at the Boleyn. I miss the Castle on the badge. More fuel for your fire: the whole world-wide marketing of the EPL plays into the "plastic" nature of the league and fans. It's a paradox for me: I'm in Australia (you're in Nigeria, I believe); but I married into the West Ham religion, so on the one hand, I have a lifeline to real fans, club history, the Black Lion, etc. etc. but on the other hand, the TV marketing makes it possible to live here and be a fan. Still, it's getting so bad I'm starting to think relegation would be a blessing.

as sutton go clear at the top of the league:-) still part timers bit like west ham players only more passionate

To be fair the season we were in the Championship I went to quite a few games ( as some were local for me ) and ( IMO ) it was a joy to watch and I think it was a better atmosphere watching as well....JMO..

Peterborough & barnsley were a couple of games i went to & it was great,easy to get tickets....
6 & half thousand hammers at peterboroughs 10,000 stadium was unreal,also 4 thousand at barnsley,great days out!

Played there as a youth and the club has now changed dramatically due to huge investment. The new owner has decided to make himself manager and he has developed the ground to a 5000 capacity stadium, had a look a few weeks ago and it's very impressive. Wage bill of £32k a week with the like of Konchesky, O'Hara and Pennant (CL Finalist with Liverpool). The owner is on a mission to achieve football league status within the next 3-5 years and he is hell bent on achieving this status. I have met the owner over the years, through his new assistant coach, and he is a very passionate person. Not sure if Billericay long term will have enough of a fan base to match his ambitions but apparently they are playing good football and within a well constructed stadium. 10 minute drive on the back streets to Herongate where we now live so I'm keeping tabs, as I might decide to change from season tickets at West Ham if the club continues to serve up crap on the pitch and false promises. The other option is to dust off the boots..........taxi for Bailey!

Been to a couple of their games as my son lives that way,him & his mates (all hammers) go regularly.Cheap beer,old school ground (albeit a lot of improvements), like you say the owner has really changed it & they will be in the football league in a few years time imo...another player there -leo chambers was a hammer recently...

Good piece Dicksy. I think that football as we know tor most of us of a certain age is gone. Ive said before but I think there will be no tackling in 10 years or so in top flight football. Money has killed the game, and the disparity between the regular punter and the player is to great now. I've got a couple of mates who played in the Championship say 10 years back and they were earning decent money, but always accessible always stopped for the kids etc.. to sign autographs. They're now playing non league football and have dropped through the leagues n the way, but fundamentally they're still the same people. The same with a few of the '86 boys that I know well. The common denominator is that they earn a good living but not these astronomical wages. They were still grounded, they still had to look at the price of something. My kids don't play grass roots football, they play rugby, although my eldest wants to try break into the school football team this year, but what i hear form junior football isn't much different to the modern professional game. It's become the most individual team sport going. Its all about me me me. The idea of a team sport is that you learn discipline, respect and solidarity. Nothing in top flight football looks like this anymore. I think its already starting to implode if I'm honest. I know so many people that go to lower league football now instead of their Prem teams. I think only the younger generations will like what is now modern football, it reminds them of FIFA17 on their playstations. It's more abut haircuts and moisturiser than substance and fight. I don't actually watch any other football than West Ham anymore, and I've been flabbergasted how much really average players are going for, Johnny Evans £20 million!!!!?? Dembele plus £100 million, it's so obscene it's unreal.