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West Ham are “massive” to quote the chant of the moment – and so, surprisingly, was the London Stadium in the memorable Europa League win against Sevilla. Six years after moving from Upton Park, the club’s troubled new ground had changed from corporate dome to a cauldron of noise. Is Stratford finally starting to feel like home for Hammers fans?
For all Karren Brady’s promises of a successful migration, it did not start well in 2016, with fans who preferred to stand put next to fans who wanted to sit and fights breaking out in an early game against Watford. The stewarding was poor and in a League Cup tie against Chelsea rival fans used the circular concourse to cause aggravation.
It seemed difficult to get a chant going all around the vast stadium. The diehards had many complaints: the distance from the pitch, plastic fans, the long walk from Stratford and the sale of popcorn. It was forgotten that sometimes Upton Park could be quiet, too. The club improved the stewarding and moved fans to more appropriate areas, but many problems remained.
The nadir for the London Stadium was the pitch invasion during a 3-0 home defeat to Burnley in March 2018. David Moyes was in his first spell as manager with the club, as ever fighting relegation rather than moving to the promised next level. One middle-aged fan planted a corner flag in the centre circle. With the stewards as proactive as the West Ham defence, Mark Noble found himself acting as a makeshift bouncer, manhandling one miscreant and inspiring the Guardian cartoonist David Squires to draw Noble singing “I’m forever throwing Herberts, stewards vanish in thin air”. Several hundred fans gathered around the directors’ box chanting: “You’ve destroyed our club” at owners David Sullivan and David Gold. There didn’t seem any coming back from that.
Another problem was how to cover the athletics track. When Sofiane Feghouli scored against NK Domzale in the first Europa League match there and kissed the massive green carpet around the pitch, it highlighted how the playing area looked like one giant chunk of AstroTurf. The then manager Slaven Bilic complained in 2017 that it made it psychologically difficult for his players to track back: “You look up and it is not easy, because everything is green ahead of you, to appreciate exactly where is the end of the pitch.”
For a long period there was a standoff between West Ham and the stadium’s owners, the London Legacy Development Corporation, which would not allow a claret carpet to be installed over the running track area. Eventually, relations improved and the carpet finally arrived in April 2019. It was not, as some feared, a shagpile offcut from Sullivan’s home, but a claret surround with the club’s name emblazoned at the sides.
Michail Antonio was so impressed he celebrated a goal against Leicester by lying down and fondly stroking the carpet. Renaming the East Stand the Billy Bonds Stand was another positive move. Bonds came on to the pitch before the game against Newcastle and was moved to tears by the reception he received.
But even the Irons’ magic carpet couldn’t prevent the Manuel Pellegrini years turning sour. Moyes returned and West Ham were out of the relegation zone on goal difference when lockdown happened. They played their final games behind closed doors and stayed up. In the Covid season of 2020-21 Moyes started to make dramatic progress.
West Ham finished an improbable sixth and the fans had a team they could be proud of, if only on TV. When 10,000 fans were allowed for the final game of the season against Southampton they discovered the stands at either end had been squared off, making it much more like a football ground.
When this season began with a 4-1 home demolition of Leicester the fans realised they were grateful to be back watching West Ham, whatever stadium they were in. It felt like a homecoming. Fans were more used to their pubs and matchday routes. The incremental improvements had worked: the carpet, the squared ends, playing music outside the stadium, the razzle-dazzle before matches of flame throwers, DJs, bubble machines and light shows. The ground was slowly developing an identity.
Home wins against Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea created the best atmosphere since the last season at the Boleyn. And selling popcorn really didn’t matter much. Memories are being made, such as a tearful Andriy Yarmolenko scoring against Villa and raising his hands to the sky. The Sevilla match put it up a notch again. When the two goals went in under the lights the whole place was bouncing.
The London Stadium will never be as intimate as Upton Park and the stands at the sides really could do with being closer to the pitch. But opposition teams do not fancy playing there now and 60,000 fans turn up every game. A new generation don’t even remember the Boleyn.
It has been a long journey, but it does feel like the Hammers finally have a ground that is not only literally massive, but also has the power to intimidate once more.
Pete May is the author of Goodbye to Boleyn (Biteback) and blogs at hammersintheheart.blogspot.co.uk