Holland: It's a great feeling to be back on the pitch
WHUFC.com
Nathan Holland is targeting a strong end to the season after making his return after four months out with a hamstring injury. The exciting winger made an eye-catching comeback in Sunday's 1-0 Premier League 2 Division 1 defeat by Chelsea at Chigwell Construction Stadium, where he successfully came through a pre-planned 60-minute appearance. Reassuringly, Holland showed the same pace, acceleration and elusiveness that saw him make his first-team debut in the Carabao Cup win over Bolton Wanderers at London Stadium in September. "When I've been sprinting all the data from training has been good, so to get back out there on the pitch now is great," he explained. "It's a great moment for me after working hard behind the scenes and hopefully I can just get fitter now and get back to my best. "When it first happened I was down about it, but I got over it as quickly as I could and worked hard. Thank you to Tom [Smith, Academy head of elite performance and sports medicine] and Matt [Bramhall, Academy strength & conditioning coach] for working hard with me and getting me back on the pitch feeling good."
Having taken confidence from his comeback appearance, Holland is looking to finish the campaign strongly. "We were unlucky not to get a result on Sunday," he added. "Hopefully the hard work will pay off in the next matches coming up. "We started the season really well and we've shown how we can play. If we perform as we can the results will come. We want to finish the season strongly. "It was good to play with Marcus Browne again on Saturday. He's been given the captaincy and with that responsibility, he has the job of keeping the team pushing forward. "It's not only that - just by the way he plays helps us push on the pitch. It's good for him to have that responsibility."
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Kouyate called-up for Senegal's pre-World Cup friendlies
WHUFC.com
Cheikhou Kouyate has been called up for Senegal's international friendly matches with Uzbekistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of March. The West Ham United midfielder captains his national team and is set to lead the Lions of Teranga into their first FIFA World Cup finals in 16 years in Russia this summer. The 28-year-old, who has earned 25 caps since making his debut in South Africa in February 2012, will line up against the Uzbeks at an undecided venue in Morocco on Friday 23 March before facing Bosnia and Herzegovina in the French city of Le Havre four days later. Kouyate is joined in the squad by former West Ham teammate Diafra Sakho, as well as Liverpool's Sadio Mane, Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye, Stoke City pair Mame Biram Diouf and Pape Alioune Ndiaye, Cardiff City's Armand Traore, Wolverhampton Wanderers' Alfred Ndiaye, Birmingham City midfielder Cheikh Ndoye and Crystal Palace's fit-again Pape Souare.
The matches will serve as preparation for Senegal's second World Cup finals appearance, where they will tackle Poland, Japan and Colombia in the group stage.
On their only previous appearance in 2002, the Lions of Teranga reached the quarter-finals, with future Hammers Papa Bouba Diop and Henri Camara scoring in historic victories over reigning champions France and Sweden. Speaking to whufc.com in February, Kouyate explained how he is taking the responsibility of leading his country in Russia very seriously. "I'm very proud because 15 million people in Senegal are behind us. I am the captain and my people are behind us, so I need to lead my team. "It won't be easy, though, as this is a World Cup and every game is hard. Every game is a final and we are going there to give our best, because all of Senegal are proud of the team. Everybody in the country loves football. "This will be my first World Cup, and the same for my teammates, but first I have to think about the end of the Premier League season and saving West Ham, and only then can I start to think about the World Cup."
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Roberta Moore touched by 'special' tribute to her Dad
WHUFC.com
Roberta Moore told of her pride at seeing her father Bobby commemorated at London Stadium. West Ham United marked 25th anniversary of the passing of the late, great Hammers and England centre-half and captain at Saturday's Premier League fixture with Burnley, with Roberta and Bobby's grandchildren Ava and Freddie in attendance. The trio spent time visiting a special exhibition featuring memorabilia from Bobby's illustrious career before taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony, a giant mosaic in the East Stand and minute's applause before kick-off. "It's so nice to see so many people seeing these treasures, and it was so special for me as I had not seen them myself for such a long time," said Roberta. "I'm so pleased that the Club has done this and we're really grateful, as it's a real tribute to Dad. It's really special. "It's a very poignant and moving time for the family. At Upton Park, he was so close to all of us and we could sort of feel him there as it was a place of my childhood memories of going to watch him play. It's different here at London Stadium, but I think that the Club has made a real effort to keep the continuity going, which is great. "The mosaic, floral tribute and minute's applause were all wonderful."
Surrounded by so many reminders of her father's career and her own childhood, Roberta was asked for her own standout memory of her Dad in a West Ham shirt.
"That's a really hard question! For me, I know I've said it a million times before, but I always remember Dad running down the pitch, waving at us under his arm. To me, that was Dad at West Ham."
While the 25th anniversary commemorations may have now come and gone, Moore's legacy will live on, both in the shape of historic displays at London Stadium and the Moore Family Foundation, the charity founded by Roberta and the West Ham United Foundation to provide life-changing opportunities for thousands of Year 6 students across east London and Essex. "It's great. It is making a real difference. We've engaged with over 18,000 young people now and we are now working with some special needs schools, so it's really coming along. "The aim of the Foundation is to provide life-changing experiences and mentor young people so they make the right decisions, which is something we feel passionate about and are really proud of."
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Loan watch: Makasi marks first senior start with spectacular goal
WHUFC.com
West Ham United loanee Moses Makasi marked his first senior start with a spectacular goal in Plymouth Argyle's 1-1 EFL League One draw at Fleetwood Town.
The midfielder, who had featured just once as a substitute in five previous league matches, opened the scoring for the promotion-chasing Pilgrims at Highbury on Saturday. A point kept Plymouth in sixth place and on track for a place in the Play-Offs ahead of Saturday's home match with ninth-place Bristol Rovers at Home Park.
Elsewhere, Martin Samuelsen played for the final 35 minutes as Burton Albion grabbed a goalless draw at home to Bristol City. The Brewers now sit two points adrift of safety in the Championship and will hope to climb out of the bottom three by winning at Sheffield United on Tuesday evening.
At the other end of the Championship, Robert Snodgrass had another fine game for promotion-chasing Aston Villa, assisting James Chester's ultimately winning goal in a 4-1 victory over leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers. Villa now sit four points behind second-place Cardiff City with ten matches still to play, the first of which comes at home to Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday.
In the same division, Reece Burke played the full 90 minutes as Bolton Wanderers snatched a last-gasp 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday. The Trotters sit six points clear of the relegation zone and return to action against Snodgrass and Villa at the Macron Stadium on Saturday evening.
Further afield, Reece Oxford was on the bench for Borussia Monchengladbach and remained there during their 2-0 German Bundesliga defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.
Toni Martinez was also an unused substitute for Spanish Second Division club Real Valladolid in their goalless draw at Alcorcon at the weekend.
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West Ham fans to vote on whether to hold protest march against owners
By Simon Stone
BBC Sport
A leading West Ham supporters' group will vote this month on whether to reinstate plans for a protest march against the club's owners. The cancellation of a march on Saturday was claimed as one of the triggers for crowd trouble against Burnley. The West Ham United Independent Supporters Association will ballot members on 31 March. Chairman Mark Walker said: "If the majority of members want a march, it is our obligation to do that."
Newham Council and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, have both joined the condemnation of the angry scenes. These included fans running on to the pitch during the game and West Ham's co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold being advised to leave the directors' box for their own safety as crowds gathered to shout abuse. Sullivan was hit by a coin thrown at the directors' box, although he was not injured.
Khan called the scenes "disgraceful" while Newham Council said it was "urgently reviewing the safety management plans, procedures and staffing" at London Stadium. West Ham expect to issue a number of banning orders later this week, once they have identified the culprits. It is understood the club want a significant police presence at their five remaining home games this season, starting with the Premier League game against Southampton on 31 March, although, under the terms of their agreement at the stadium, it would be LS185, the body that runs the stadium, which would pay for it. Walker said: "A lot of people were geared up to express their disappointment. "I don't think you will see a repeat of that going forward but that is only if the supporters are given the opportunity they want to express how they feel about the board."
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West Ham v Burnley: Footballers praised after crowd trouble
BBC.co.uk
One mother, who was at the match with her son, said she was "terrified" after a fight broke out among West Ham supporters Burnley players who sheltered a group of young fans during crowd trouble at West Ham's London stadium have been praised for their actions. Some West Ham supporters invaded the pitch during Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Burnley, while disturbances also broke out in front of the directors' box. Burnley players who spotted the trouble lifted some young fans clear and on to their bench as the game continued. Parent Sharyn Elamir said she was "so grateful" for the players' help. Since the disturbances a series of meetings have taken place, the BBC understands. The gesture came to wide attention when it was was praised by Gary Lineker, who shared an image of the boys on the Burnley bench.
Skip Twitter post by @GaryLineker
Gary Lineker
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@GaryLineker
Well played Burnley as their players let young West Ham fans sit safely on their bench amidst crowd trouble.
5:12 PM - Mar 10, 2018
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7,952 people are talking about this
End of Twitter post by @GaryLineker
Ms Elamir, from Essex, was at the match with her seven-year-old son Zayn, her nine-year-old nephew Aston, and their friend William, aged eight. She told the BBC they had been enjoying the Premier League game but that quickly changed when Burnley scored their second goal. "A fight broke out among the West Ham supporters right behind us and more and more people kept joining in," said Ms Elamir. "I was terrified and just wanted to get the boys out of the stadium. As I was pushing them towards the exit a Burnley player said 'Do you want me to put them in here?'" Burnley players Phil Bardsley, Jeff Hendrick, Sam Vokes and Dean Marney gave up their seats for the boys for the remaining 20 minutes of the game. "I was really shaken up but the boys were chatting away to the players and watching the game. They were unaware of the chaos going on around them," Ms Elamir added. At the final whistle Phil Bardsley gave Zayn his shirt, Jeff Hendrick gave Aston his training jacket and William got Hendrick's football boots. "They were absolutely thrilled. They saw themselves on Match of The Day and have watched that about a hundred times! "I'm so grateful to the Burnley players for taking control during such a frightening situation. "It's been a lovely experience from what had been an awful day."
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Moses Makasi: West Ham youngster wants run in Plymouth Argyle side after first goal
BBC.co.uk
Moses Makasi says he hopes he can establish himself in the Plymouth Argyle midfield after scoring on his full English Football League debut. The 22-year-old, who is on loan from Premier League side West Ham until the end of the season, opened the scoring as the Pilgrims drew 1-1 at Fleetwood. Makasi came into the side after Antoni Sarcevic was ruled out with a groin problem that has required surgery. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time," Makasi told BBC Devon.
Makasi - who has played six times for West Ham's Under-23's in the EFL Trophy over the past two seasons - had made just one substitute appearance for the Pilgrims since joining on January transfer deadline day. "I thought to myself that I'd be having a bit more game time, but you've just got to knuckle down and keep working and be patient," Makasi added. "Hopefully I took my chance, but we'll see next week if I'm in the team. "I'd like to think I took my chance with my goal, but there's still a lot more to come and it is up to me to show the Plymouth Argyle fans what I've got. "Hopefully I'll get a run of games, but I've got to work hard on the training field and stay humble."
Paddy Madden's second half equaliser denied in-form Plymouth a seventh successive League One victory, a run which has taken them into the play-off positions.
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MP calls for investigation
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 12th March 2018
By: Staff Writer
An Essex-based MP has called for an investigation into the alleged abuse received by a member of an Independent Supporters' Association. Mark Walker, the head of WHUISA (who is also a member of KUMB) was targeted by an online campaign last week after attempting to resurrect a postponed fans' march. And Wes Streeting, the MP for Ilford North has since written to West Ham in order to ask why the club failed to support Walker, a season ticket holder, in the wake of the attack. "What concerns me is that mainstream representatives of a supporter group have been sidelined and the abuse they have been subjected to appears to not have been not taken seriously by the board," Mr Streeting told the Guardian's Jacob Steinberg. "The club can't pretend to be unaware of the fears following intimidation to fans. Instead West Ham seem to be acting like ostriches with their heads in the sand and are hiding behind bureaucracy. Karren Brady should be taking this more seriously."
Explaining how he became involved in the furore, Streeting revealed that he first read of Mr Walker's plight in the media. "I was concerned to read the coverage about Mark's treatment in the Guardian over the weekend and have subsequently spoken to him about his experiences," he continued. "I am very troubled to hear about the threats he has received and that he has feared for his and his family's safety."
And he confirmed that he has since written to vice chair Karren Brady, requesting her observations on the incident. "I am disappointed that you, and other directors, appear not to have clearly condemned the online abuse and threats to Mark, which meant that he was advised not to attend Saturday's game," read the letter. "I believe that the club has a particular responsibility to call out abuse and threats when you become aware of them. Tensions are clearly high between fans and the club's owners and directors, reflected in the scenes over the weekend, but this should not be allowed to impact on fans like Mark."
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Flag man named
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 12th March 2018
By: Staff Writer
The man who picked up a corner flag and planted it in the centre circle at the Olympic Stadium has been identified. Businessman Paul Colborne, 61, who attends matches at the Stratford arena with his son stepped forward after giving himself up to Police who wanted to speak with him in association with Saturday's events.
However Mr Colborne told the Daily Mail that he had no regrets, despite facing a potential criminal record. "I had to do something," he said. "I wasn't being violent, but I couldn't take it anymore when Burnley went 2-0 up. "I got out of my seat in the Bobby Moore stand and climbed over the fence, got the flag and walked towards the centre circle. James Collins came up and said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'You've been here 15 years Ginge, I love you, but I have been here 49 years'. "Eventually I put the thing into the centre spot. James Collins was real nice and really reasonable. "I believe the Metropolitan police will arrest me because when I gave myself in to Hatfield police station on Sunday, they said a criminal investigation was going on. "I am also worried and found it scary when the police said West Ham would be bringing a civil case against me. If they get fined say £30,000 they could come after me and I won't be able to pay, but mine was a symbolic gesture. That was all I was trying to do. "I am a very worried man now. I don't want people to say that I am a mindless thug and that the flag was an offensive weapon. That is rubbish. "Encroaching on the field of play is a criminal offence, but I am worried that they were going to link it all with those people who were semi-violent. I want to be dealt with as a separate entity which I believe it is."
Mr Colborne's gesture was a hark back to the Bond Scheme protests of 1992 when a West Ham supporter walked past a string of bemused players before similarly symbolically planting a flag in the centre circle.
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Police presence to be increased for rest of season
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 12th March 2018
By: Staff Writer
Security is set to be stepped up at the Olympic Stadium following Saturday's scenes of unrest. Almost immediately after the final whistle West Ham ordered an investigation into the disturbances witnessed during the second half of Saturday's game with Burnley, which United lost 3-0. And as a result the stadium is likely to have a greater police presence than ever before for the five remaining matches to be staged at Stratford this season. Despite having promised to beef up security internally on several occasions since West Ham moved into the stadium during the summer of 2016, stadium operators LS185 and E20 have consistently fallen short of providing acceptable levels of safety for fans. And that was perhaps best encapsulated by a video of a steward falling asleep during Saturday's game, shortly before all hell broke loose around him. With West Ham United retaining little faith in the stadium operators, and with the Premier League threatening to impose sanctions upon the club as a result of the constant security issues, the Board are understood to have taken responsibility for the fans' safety in-house.
And that is likely to result in an increased police presence inside the stadium for each of the remaining games to be staged in Stratford. Remarkably perhaps, there were few if any police inside the ground on Saturday prior to the first pitch invasion as a result of the game being categorised as a low-risk fixture. However the presence of co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold plus vice chair Karren Brady, all of whom are deeply unpopular with large sections of the fan base is likely to necessitate increased police presence, regardless of the opposition.
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A taste of one's own medicine
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 12th March 2018
By: Staff Writer
Jamie Carragher's comments regarding West Ham United winger Arthur Masuaku have come back to bite him. Only last month, the Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender called Masuaku "an absolute disgrace" after the Hammer received a six-match ban for spitting at an opponent during the FA Cup defeat at Wigan Athletic. "It's vile, it's disgusting and it's an absolute disgrace", he told Sky Sports following Masuaku's six-match suspension. "It's one thing playing like that, as poorly as he did, but it's another thing to go and spit at an opposition player. It's now down to West Ham to react and show the fans that, that type of behaviours not tolerated. It's an absolute disgrace."
However the boot was on the other foot this morning as a grovelling Carragher was forced to issue an apology live on air after he himself was recorded spitting in the face of a 14-year-old child at the weekend. "Totally out of order and I've apologised personally to all the family this evening," he said via Twitter. "I was goaded 3/4 times along the motorway while being filmed & lost my rag. No excuse apologies." Naturally West Ham fans have condemned Carragher for his hypocritical stance, with many urging the TV company to fire him as a result. The 40-year-old has since been suspended by Sky Sports.
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West Ham protests caused by fans not feeling listened to by club, say supporters' group
Last Updated: 12/03/18 4:29pm
SSN
Paul Turner from the West Ham Independent Supporters' Association says some fans feel their opinions haven't been heard by the current ownership
West Ham Independent Supporters' Association's vice chairman says a breakdown in dialogue with fans over the running of the club led to Saturday's protests.
A number of fans invaded the pitch on several occasions during Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Burnley, while a large group of other fans congregated beneath the directors' box to protest against the club's board. Paul Turner says the group do not condone any criminal activity including pitch invasions and believes the protests have manifested as a result of some fans not feeling listened to by the club.
The FA are considering charging West Ham following Saturday's supporter unrest, and are currently awaiting the club's observations. "Unfortunately we seem to be in a situation now where a number of people feel their opinion hasn't been listened to or their opinions haven't been heard by the current ownership," Turner told Sky Sports News. "A number of things have manifested themselves, which unfortunately domestically and internationally everyone saw on Saturday."
West Ham's income has doubled over the last five years, with spending on players also having doubled during that time, but Turner questioned the club's "real investment" in the football team. During the January transfer window, West Ham signed Jordan Hugill from Preston North End and secured Inter Milan's Joao Mario on loan, before adding free agent Patrica Evra to the squad in February. Asked what more the owners could have done, having increased player spending, Turner said: "You could see investment in the football team itself. "There seems to be a real disconnect between announcements of the 17th highest revenue-earning football team, the 10th highest wage in the Premier League. But actually where is the real investment in the football team?
Sam Wallace insists protests have always been part of the game in England but thinks the scenes on the pitch at West Ham went a step too far "On the pitch the options for the manager where there seems to be a lack of quality at times in the squad, where it gets to the point you have to bring in Patrice Evra in February just as soon as the January transfer window closes because you can't invest and recruit properly. "Most transfers you can agree a fee but you have to agree a lot more behind it to get it over the line. We as a football club, the way we're being run at the moment, it doesn't seem like they can recruit appropriately and properly to give the manager the best options on the pitch on a Saturday."
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West Ham may face FA sanctions after supporter unrest on Saturday
Last Updated: 12/03/18 1:49pm
SSN
The FA could make West Ham play a number of their forthcoming Premier League games behind closed doors, Sky Sports News understands. The FA will consider a charge once it has received West Ham's observations regarding the pitch invasions which occurred during Saturday's 3-0 loss to Burnley. A three-person commission will then consider if the club is guilty and, if so, what sanction or sanctions should be handed out. It will consider a wide variety of sanctions, including making West Ham play a number of future matches behind closed doors.
Paul Turner from the West Ham Independent Supporters' Association says a breakdown in dialogue with fans over the running of the club led to Saturday's protests. Supporters invaded the pitch on several occasions during Saturday's game, while a large group of other fans congregated beneath the directors' box to protest against the club's board. And an emergency summit is being held involving West Ham and London Stadium stakeholders in order to discuss ways to prevent such incidents occurring again. Saturday's referee Lee Mason has sent his match report to the FA, detailing his version of events. Mason spoke to both managers about the possibility of abandoning the match in the second half and the Premier League will ask West Ham for assurances that their forthcoming fixtures will not be jeopardised in a similar way.
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David Sullivan must take a step back – West Ham need a chief executive to direct the club
KEN DYER
ES Sport
What occurred at the London Stadium on Saturday was unpleasant, unacceptable and for some - such as club legend Sir Trevor Brooking, captain Mark Noble, and members of the club's triumphant FA Cup-winning side of 1964 who were there as special guests - just plain sad. As Sir Trevor will be only too aware though, it is not the first time that a section of West Ham fans have shown their displeasure in a similar way. In the 1991-92 season when the club, on the back of promotion, decided in their wisdom to introduce a bond scheme, there were various pitch invasions including one where a fan took it upon himself to sit down in protest on the centre spot at the Boleyn Ground. West Ham were relegated that year. In 1996-97, when they were again struggling to stay in the top division and the then chairman Terry Brown refused to sell to Michael Tabor, there was a 'red card' protest and another pitch invasion. The club stayed up, largely because they responded by investing significantly in two strikers, John Hartson and Paul Kitson.
So the question today has to be: what are David Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady intending to do to placate those supporters - and there are many of them - who are unhappy with the way the club are being run?
Not the few who ran on the pitch on Saturday during the 3-0 defeat to Burnley, the fan who brandished a corner flag, not even the couple of hundred who took advantage of the inept stewarding to vent their fury at the hierarchy - but the mostly silent majority who feel the club they loyally support are at best shambolic and at worst entirely dysfunctional.
The first and most pressing answer to what now seems an almost insoluble problem is that there is no repeat when West Ham next play at home in three weeks' time of the weekend's ugly scenes which are now the subject of a Football Association and club enquiry. That, you would imagine, could be solved by sensible stewarding but not at the London Stadium, where such matters are overseen by the stadium operators, LS185. Is it too much to ask, when there are supposed to be a thousand stewards at West Ham's home matches, for one or two to actually go onto the pitch and give club captain Noble a hand in apprehending one or two of the offenders?
The reasons why those few infiltrated the playing area, why hundreds roared their abusive discontent - and thousands more are unhappy and disillusioned - are more complex and, as a result, more problematical. Noble summed it up on Saturday when he said that the ill-feeling had been bubbling away for two seasons - in fact ever since the club moved from their old home, with all its East End history and atmosphere, to the more sterile environs of Stratford. There were those, as with every club that moves home, who just do not want to go; there are some who are apprehensive but prepared to give it a try - and those who cannot wait to sample a new, bigger stadium with infinitely better transport links, loads more toilets and - in West Ham's case - sensibly-priced seats. It is even okay, as West Ham's owners did, to promise their supporters that this was the moment - not merely a commercial opportunity - to take the club to a different level and even European qualification. That ambition was something to which fans could cling when the seating was not retractable as was promised and some seats were so far away from the action that opticians in East London and Essex suddenly struck boom time. If you promise success, you have to deliver it and a £29 million net investment in the West Ham playing squad since they moved has proved totally inadequate.
When you add in a selection of the intemperate public utterances by the people who are supposed to run the club, the £43m profit they made in the 2016-17 season - and failed to re-invest in the squad - and it is unsurprising that West Ham's fan base has quite simply had enough. Even the cancellation of the mass protest march last Saturday backfired because many who felt thwarted by that decision vented their spleen in the stadium immediately Burnley scored the first of their three goals.
So how can this perilous situation be improved? Most importantly, Sullivan must stop doing player deals and talking to agents but follow the example of practically every other professional club and appoint someone with experience and knowledge, whether a chief executive, managing director or whatever, to act as a conduit between owners and management.
As for West Ham's supporters, they need to temporarily put aside their grievances and back their team if they want to be watching Premier League football next season. One thing is for sure, things need to change at West Ham DisUnited - and quickly.
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Sadiq Khan calls on West Ham to take action on 'disgraceful' London Stadium scenes
JACK ROSSER
ES Sport
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has labelled the chaos which broke out at London Stadium on Saturday as 'disgraceful', after West Ham fan protests turned ugly during their 3-0 defeat to Burnley. The Hammers are facing an investigation by the Football Association after a series of pitch invasions and widespread supporter unrest, which saw the club's co-owner David Sullivan struck by a coin towards the end of the game. The club themselves have launched an investigation, and are holding an 'emergency meeting' with London Stadium stakeholders, where the board are expected to ask for more control over the stewarding, which is currently run by stadium operators LS185. On Monday morning, a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "The disturbances at the London Stadium were disgraceful and it's clear that there cannot be a repeat of the ugly scenes witnessed on Saturday. "It is up to West Ham to carry out a thorough investigation, together with stakeholders, and take proper action against those supporters who misbehaved."
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West Ham fans are right to turn up the heat - they're battling for the club's soul
TONY EVANS
ES Sport
Watching West Ham supporters hurling pound coins at David Gold and David Sullivan, the first, depressing thought was simple enough: "Haven't these idiots thrown enough money at the owners?" The missile-throwing was unconscionable but the protest was understandable. The anger aimed towards the directors' box at the London Stadium on Saturday was raw, sincere and visceral. Pitch invasions tend to be counterproductive. Brawling in the stands is never acceptable but hysterical suggestions that this was a return to the days of hooliganism are nonsense. It is hard to think logically about West Ham's problems because so much about football defies logic. This is not an ordinary business. Gold and Sullivan made a sensible fiscal decision to move the club from Upton Park to Stratford. The People's Game? Didn't come into it.
The deal to occupy the Olympic Stadium seemed a gift from the gods — or at least Boris Johnson, who acts like a malign deity, bringing chaos to everything he touches — and impossible for the owners to pass up. Yet when they quit the Boleyn Ground, they left something behind: the club's soul. In most boardrooms it's just another asset to sell. In some ways it is pointless chanting 'sack the board'. Gold and Sullivan are going nowhere. Fans can try to organise boycotts and attempt to hit the owners in the pocket, but the days when supporters could exert financial pressure on Premier League clubs by not buying season tickets are largely over. In last year's accounts, West Ham earned nearly £120million from television, dwarfing the £28.6m received from ticket sales. Even though the domestic TV money appears to be levelling off, matchday income will become a decreasing proportion of overall revenue in the next decade.
Top-flight supporter rebellions in the big-money age do not have a great record of success. Remember the 'Green-and-gold-until-it's-sold' demonstrations against the Glazer family at Manchester United? Most Stretford Enders would rather not. The colourful uprising was largely forgotten as Sir Alex Ferguson racked up the trophies. The Glazers are still there.
What about Liverpool? Anfield was under the control of George Gillett and Tom Hicks for three tumultuous years and the Americans' departure was celebrated wildly on the Kop. Hicks referred to fans involved in an online campaign to push him out of the club as "internet terrorists." It suited everyone's narrative. The cold reality? The plug was pulled by Royal Bank of Scotland, who had less interest in supporters' views than they pay on a current account. There is another problem. There are not many buyers for Premier League clubs in this financial climate. At Newcastle, the site of longstanding hostility to the owner, there is no sign of a sale despite Mike Ashley going public with his desire to sell. It gets worse in the Championship. Ellis Short cannot give Sunderland away.
There are worse owners than Gold and Sullivan. They probably could have got away with meddling in transfer activity, embarrassing forays by relatives into social media and a recent race scandal without the move away from their spiritual home. No doubt they thought their actions were in the best interests of the club — especially when they aligned, as they appeared to, with their own best interests. Until they find a way of addressing a multitude of issues — stewarding in the stadium would be a start — they deserve continued vocal criticism and non-violent insurrection.
And protest is not entirely pointless. A football club is not just a business, it's an idea, built around a sense of uniqueness and unity. It's about shared purpose and belief and is still rooted in a notion of community. Owners who tamper with these ideals go into dangerous territory.
The supporters are angry because they care. They still believe in their club, despite being in an alien, soulless stadium that feels far from home. Upton Park was a comforting, spiritual cradle that could bring succour in despair through its traditions and familiarity — like St James' Park does for Geordies. The cultural dislocation gives West Ham fans nothing like this to cling to at London Stadium. Yet while there's anger, there's togetherness.
After the fury will come despondency. The next step will be indifference and the claret-and-blue diehards will stop showing up. What's at stake here is not just a few quid. It's what's left of West Ham's soul.
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West Ham pitch invasion led to unjust aggression, but the corner flag stood for something greater at the London Stadium
ES Sport
Amid the mayhem at West Ham, the wider world missed the meaning of the raised and brandished corner flag. Understandably so. Only Hammers fans of a certain vintage will know that it was a symbol - a throwback to another time of mass protest in the stands when the club's supporters successfully torpedoed the hated Bond Scheme in 1992. At a home game against Everton in February that year, a fan very deliberately climbed out of the old South Bank end at Upton Park, grabbed a corner flag and marched slowly and methodically to the centre circle. He then planted it in the centre spot before sitting down, daring anybody to move him.
A memorable picture of the time showed Julian Dicks pleading with him to leave the pitch. Instead, hundreds more poured on to spark what became springtime of fury at the board's plans to make people pay for the right to buy their season ticket by purchasing a Bond first. A few bought them and they still have privileges to this day at the team's new home, the London Stadium. But the scheme was largely and quietly shelved and the directors had to find another way to finance the re-building of the ground. The man who carried the corner flag on to the pitch during the pitch invasions and fighting which disrupted Saturday's 3-0 defeat by Burnley looked to be of the right vintage to have understood the history behind his actions. Even if he didn't, plenty of older supporters will have noted it.
The point about this is that it underlines both the fact that the trouble on Saturday was not a repeat of old-style, pointless hooliganism of yesteryear. Although it was very wrong and many people, including children, were frightened – such scenes also capture how profoundly the whole rotten, toxic mess at West Ham is rooted in the bewilderment of the fans over their lost heritage and the empty soullessness of what has replaced it.
That heritage and history is no more special than at any other club, although it is true that that the Hammers have the strongest regional identity of London's major outfits and that the supporters have proudly nurtured that as a perfectly acceptable placebo for success. But no major club has undergone such a traumatic change of home. Arsenal moved into their own purpose built new stadium. Tottenham will next season. Chelsea in some years' time, too. None of them was or will be set adrift from their followers even if they have gone global and corporate - and couldn't compete for trophies, otherwise. The nature of West Ham, by contrast, has been utterly changed by the move to the Olympic Park. That is why there are so many messages on Twitter declaring West Ham RIP - because so many people believe that the old club has gone and can't be replaced. Most fans were prepared to understand the need for the move because they understood it was a way forward. Most don't condone Saturday's troubles. But the ground isn't as promised. It really isn't.
Neither has been the advancement of the team which was supposed to accompany the move from Green Street. Fans, actually, can accept that. They know that success in football cannot be guaranteed. But when they believe they have been lied to, a different response will set in. And West Ham's fans feel they were conned. That is why this is all so poisonous. Not because the team face relegation, but because some of the supporters feel they've been turned over. No matter that the board had to move or face accusations that they lacked vision and ambition - this is all such a Catch 22 for everyone involved - it will be hard now to convince the disgruntled hordes that they were not hood-winked. That genie is out of the lamp, so to speak. One pal of mine calls the ground Moonbase Alpha. Another says it resembles a Meccano Set put together back to front, if you get the idea. Athletics. Olympics. The Rolling Stones. Fine. But the London Stadium is not fit for purpose as a football ground. Until that situation is resolved, the problems at West Ham are going to go on and on and on and they may get even nastier. It is the very nature of the place which is eating away at the club from within.
Every setback, every disappointment, every grievance is heightened and magnified by the sense of unrest and dislocation which the stadium breeds. Of course, there were bad times at Upton Park. Many more than there were good times, in fact. But it felt like home and the fans lived with all the mediocrity and the multiple relegations of recent decades. Stratford never will unless there are drastic changes or, in the end, there is a decision to bite the bullet, knock it down and re-build - and that's beyond West Ham's powers - or move elsewhere. Put plainly, it surely cannot be beyond such successful business brains as those of David Sullivan, Karren Brady and David Gold to find a way to ease this part of the problem and improve the atmosphere of the place. That is the responsibility they took on when the decided to leave home. They are hamstrung because West Ham are merely tenants in E20. But something more profound and meaningful needs to be done than decorating the place with temporary-looking claret-and-blue hoardings and occasionally commemorating the memory of Bobby Moore. For now West Ham can only react instantly to these events. Their statements read: "West Ham United have immediately launched a full and thorough investigation into the incidents which marred the second half of the match and are committed to taking decisive and appropriate action. "An emergency meeting has been called with all London Stadium stakeholders. There will be no further comment at this time."
That's the response you would expect. The club must act strongly. The long term, though, requires some innovative, clear and insightful thinking. Honestly, I'm at a loss for now to come up with an instant way of making the stadium feel more loved and loveable. But there has to be a ground shift and the issues created by the fact that West Ham have landlords to deal with have to be confronted afresh. There has to be, perhaps, some way of making the surrounds of the place more hospitable, more fan friendly, more like home. In the era of fashionable pop-up bars, restaurants and shops, surely there is something to work with here.
Inside, the ground has to change drastically, too. Whatever promises were made when the owners were convincing the supporters to back the move, the seats are yards and yards from the pitch. And the rolling out of the section which covers the running-track on the dugout side just makes things worse as a huge chasm opens up behind them. There are sections of bare concrete and metalwork on show all around the ground and it creates a bleak sense of ugliness and estrangement in an atmosphere which feels little like that of a proper football ground. The on-going stewarding problems require dealing with robustly, too. There can be no going back to Upton Park. But the board appear to have failed to grasp some of the profound issues created by the move to Stratford. Perhaps, in fact, those issues were insurmountable all along for one simple reason - the stadium was built for the Olympics, not football. But the time for hoping that things will all settle down in the end is over. West Ham have to find a way, however difficult, to change the very nature of their new home. Or move.
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Delusions of stadium grandeur haunt West Ham and club's owners
Richard Williams
The Guardian
Mon 12 Mar 2018 22.00 GMT
The fate of the little memorial garden on Green Street, next to where the Boleyn ground's main entrance once stood, is just one of the problems facing West Ham United. Full of bedraggled scarves and wilting flowers and plaques dedicated to long-gone fans – should it be taken from its present location, where the roar of the crowd will never be heard again, and reinstalled in the club's widely detested new home?
Another is the much loved statue 50 yards away, on the crossroads at the junction with Barking Road. It depicts Bobby Moore, the embodiment of the club's self‑image, in his moment of greatest triumph, holding aloft the World Cup while borne on the shoulders of his club mate Geoff Hurst and Everton's Ray Wilson, while a third Hammer, Martin Peters, looks on.
Across the road, posters in the windows of the Boleyn pub invite fans to join an online petition urging the mayor of Newham to stop the statue's proposed move to the former Olympic Stadium in Stratford, four miles down road but a continent away in emotional distance. "The way I look at it," the lady behind the bar says as she pulls a pint, "I mean, Bobby Moore and them never played at Stratford, did they?"
The football club has gone, leaving only echoes of the matchday crowds strolling along Green Street towards an institution that once gave life to this part of east London. The social centre of the West Ham United Supporters Club is shuttered and padlocked, a stained and crumbling hulk awaiting the outcome of a meeting at the pub later this month.
The Boleyn, Nathan's Pie & Mash restaurant and the Newham Bookshop, celebrating its 40th anniversary this spring, are among the few visible survivals in a district whose demographics and culture have changed almost beyond recognition in the decades since Moore, Hurst and Peters returned in triumph to a tightly knit community.
On a wall at the back of the old supporters' club centre, someone has spray-painted LONG LIVE THE BOLEYN in blue on a claret background. But the Boleyn is dead and gone, swiftly razed once the sale of the ground to developers for around £40m was completed. Whatever the football club's destiny, it will not be played out in E13. The pre-match pie and mash delivered by Nathan's to a new fans' rendezvous on the edge of the Olympic Park is as close to the old authenticity as the Hammers' more nostalgic fans can come in the club's new age.
West Ham's true legacy in this part of east London is the building site from which apartment blocks are rising, fronted by a landscaped sales suite where eager representatives give their spiel to prospective buyers of a range of 842 living units. Although attractive enough in the glossy brochure, these are not the kind of palaces in the sky currently rising in more prosperous parts of London. It's hard to imagine members of the McMafia wanting to park their families or their funny money in this unpretentious location.
By every yardstick except that of profit for the club's owners, the new development seems an unfair swap for what was once a football ground with a character built up through 112 years of joy and disappointment. With a final capacity of 35,000, Upton Park always seemed to be the right size for a club of West Ham's proportions and aspirations: big enough to stage top-tier matches but not an embarrassment in harder times.
Football fans, however, are easily persuaded by dreams of glory, and West Ham's faithful were no different when they listened to the promises of their owners, the former porn barons David Gold and David Sullivan. Had the team built on the promise of the last season at Upton Park, when Slaven Bilic guided them to seventh place in the Premier League, there would have been no scenes like those witnessed last Saturday.
Success on the pitch would have silenced internal reservations about the former Olympic Stadium's inadequacies and probably external complaints about the £300m of public money spent on the rebuilding, too. But failure, unsurprisingly, has turned the cocktail of incompetence, expediency and greed created by the deal into something explosive.
Before trouble broke out at the weekend, forcing the owners and their families to retreat from a furious mob, the club had managed to stop a planned protest march from Upton Park to Stratford. In meetings attended by Karren Brady, the club's vice-chairman, they negotiated with various supporters' groups, including one that includes members of the old Inter City Firm, West Ham's representatives in the hooligan wars of the 1970s and 80s.
By appearing to favour one fan organisation over others, making offers to reimburse travel costs and provide complimentary match tickets, Brady and her colleagues appear to be copying the modus operandi of Argentina's barras bravas and Italy's ultras, some of whom have historically used the threat of violence and disruption as a means to gain favoured status and a measure of power within their clubs. This is a dangerous game and one to which, amid the present volatile mood, it is hard to foresee a happy ending.
At least West Ham's owners still make their way from their Essex and Surrey mansions to show their faces on matchday. But what they are watching is the sight of their policies turning the threat of relegation from something to be absorbed with a bit of grumbling and a few economies into a potential catastrophe for a club whose strong heart they have ripped out and left bleeding in Green Street, amid the scarves and flowers.
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Why the chaos at West Ham is symptomatic of the club's deep dysfunction
What many football figures and West Ham fans describe as 'the worst run club in the Premier League' has directly led to one of the worst atmospheres the division has ever seen
Miguel Delaney Chief Football Writer @MiguelDelaney
The Independent Sport
Just days before the weekend's worryingly hostile scenes at the Olympic Stadium, West Ham United were given the opportunity to condemn the threats made to other fans by members of an Inter City Firm-affiliated supporter group the club had met with… and refused. Sources explained that, among other concerns, they didn't want to inflame the situation. Saturday instead saw that situation explode.
Really, the refusal to condemn seems like a lack of decisiveness. There also appears a lack of decisiveness in the general running of the club. That is part of why the fans are so angry and protesting against the board, against co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold.
What many football figures and West Ham supporters openly describe as "the worst run club in the Premier League" has directly led to one of the worst atmospheres the division has ever seen.
This is by no means to excuse those responsible for the actual aggression that took place on Saturday. That was disgraceful and lamentable. There is no excuse for missiles being thrown, or people feeling intimidated.
The wider protest was still borne of a context of so much pent-up frustration, so much anger.
West Ham supporters were actually supposed to march in protest at the board before the defeat to Burnley, only for it to be postponed, with Newham Council citing "safety". Underscoring the situation were threats made on Facebook by members of the ICF-affiliated Real West Ham Fans group (Real WHF), specifically towards the West Ham United Independent Supporters Association (WHUISA), who took up the baton on the march when the former cancelled.
Saturday ended up as the outlet for so many, even if it was not in the manner intended.
Then again, there's an element of Greek tragedy to the hierarchy that took West Ham to an Olympic Stadium, in the sense of how so many decisions they've taken have had the opposite outcome to what was intended.
West Ham had initially completely refused to meet with the Real WHF group because of their ICF affiliations, only to then go back on that stance because of the public relations repercussions of a 10,000 fan-strong march.
At meetings with a coalition of fan groups, vice-chairman Baroness Karren Brady attempted to argue against marching, ironically pointing to: the potential dividing of supporters; how damaging it could be to the team; how damaging it could be to the employees; and how damaging it could be to sponsors.
The optics of any march would likely have been tame compared to what happened on Saturday, when there was open brawling in the stands and players wrestling with pitch invaders.
Much more relevantly, there was the sight of so many fans turning to where the board were seated, and directly rounding on them. This is what happens when supporters don't feel listened to, don't feel acknowledged.
West Ham's refusals to condemn the Real WHF group, following the willingness to meet with them, felt like the latest in a long line of wishy-washy bad decisions, missteps and controversies that these owners have been involved in.
You can trace the line back to when they first took over the club in 2010. Sullivan openly announced then that the intention was to move to the Olympic Stadium, raising the question of whether an alternative was ever considered, and the plan was that West Ham could avail of the advantage of their London location to become a truly international club and move onto the next level.
That has however encountered two problems. First of all, it has alienated one of the most idiosyncratic fan bases in England. Secondly, there's the fact that fan base reflects how the club has never quite had that wider appeal, directly affecting that plan.
The latest accounts show that the first season in the Olympic Stadium brought an increase of a mere £9m in revenue, compared to the last at the Boleyn Ground. Commercial activities only improved by £6.8m, ticket revenue by £1.7m and merchandising by less than £200,000.
That rise would barely lead to the price of a back-up full-back in the modern Premier League market. So much for the move bringing the world-class team in a world-class stadium, as was promised.
The issues with the ground – from the distance to the pitch to basic logistics and the roof, as well as the poor relationship with landlords LLDC – are well documented. The issues with the team are becoming more and more pronounced, as they fall deeper and deeper into trouble.
Then there is the process that goes into which players are signed, let alone who the players are.
There appears to be no plan, no blueprint.
There is a situation whereby a chairman is more involved in transfers than any other club. Then there is the way another Premier League hierarchy – in this case Leicester City with Islam Slimani – refused to sell them a player because of media comments by one of the vice-chairmen, Brady.
Such a situation is part of a spectrum that also saw another public dispute with Sporting Lisbon over whether a bid for William Carvalho was actually put in. There is then the bigger question of how much money the owners have actually put in.
These are also only the most obvious problems, of a club that now seems deeply dysfunctional. It says much that the scandal involving the sacked head of recruitment Tony Henry – for sparking a race row – is now largely forgotten.
West Ham are just a club that go from issue to issue, problem to problem, with that move from one stadium to another almost offering tangible signposts of all this. On Saturday, that stadium saw scenes that felt inevitable for so long.
So, what next?
The board are fortunate that the team have not got a game now for three weeks due to the international break and an FA Cup weekend.
There is nothing fortunate about this whole situation, though, and it's not going away.
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West Ham fans feel like we have been sold a lie – but the real issue is the disconnect between the board and the fanbase
PAUL TURNER
VICE CHAIRPERSON OF THE WEST HAM UNITED INDEPENDENT SUPPORTERS' ASSOCIATION
12 MARCH 2018 • 10:00AM
The Telegraph
There is real anger and frustration among many in the West Ham United fanbase, and hundreds of fans clearly felt this weekend that they had to get that message across in some way or another. That strength of feeling against the club's board was only amplified by the team's poor performance on the pitch, and by everything that had happened last week with a planned protest march that was eventually cancelled. It felt as if many of these supporters had no other avenue through which they could vent their feelings, other than the game itself. And yet if West Ham had taken the lead, we would not have seen these incidents that took place in the London Stadium. That, though, does not wash away the long-standing fury that many supporters are feeling towards the current ownership.
To put it in the broadest possible terms, a number of West Ham fans feel like we have been sold a lie. They feel like they have been sold a lie on how much money the club would invest in player recruitment, a lie on what the change of stadium would do to the finances, and a lie on the way the operation is going to be run in the future.
That said, there is a wide spectrum of reasons for the discontent. Some fans might be unhappy with singular issues about stewarding at the new stadium, for example, while some could be having difficulties in travelling to home games. At the other end of the scale, there are some fans who will interrogate line after line of the club's financial accounts.
There is a feeling that the club is in no better a financial state than it would have been if we were still played at the Boleyn Ground. For many fans looking for evidence of an upturn, there is no real discernible difference to how the club is being run or funded. That is seen as a failure to deliver what the co-owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, had promised.
There is a lack of trust in the owners, and a real disconnect between the board and the fanbase. There is also unhappiness at Gold's activity on social media, which can feel unprofessional, and at the tabloid column written by Karren Brady, the club's vice-chairman. There was particular unhappiness with Brady after It was reported last month that Leicester City refused to allow Islam Slimani join West Ham because she had caused the club offence in that column.
It is a blessing for the club that our next home game, against Southampton, is not until March 31. If that game was taking place this week, I think everyone would be simply waiting to see what the trigger would be for more protests.
Now that there are a couple of weeks out, the sting will be drawn from the situation and there will be time to reflect on the situation. But I have already seen suggestions that plans for a protest march could be revived, and it will take more than a little break to wash away the anger.
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West Ham ready to improve stewarding at London Stadium but demand increased policing – at taxpayers' expense
Jason Burt, chief football correspondent
12 MARCH 2018 • 11:18AM
The Telegraph
West Ham United will demand a heavy police presence at their final five Premier League home games of the season. West Ham have already sold 57,000 tickets for the home fixture against Southampton on March 31, which was postponed for earlier in the season, but may face calls for matches after that to be played in front of a reduced capacity.
A series of meetings will take place, starting this morning, between West Ham – led by their vice-chairman Karren Brady – and the various stakeholders who are involved with the London Stadium following the pitch invasions and violence that marred Saturday's 3-0 defeat at home to Burnley.
West Ham do not have control of the stewarding inside the stadium – that is in the hands of London Stadium 185 – but will offer to take over that. They are prepared to pay to improve the standard of stewarding with their main complaint being that the current personnel are not good enough to deal with the demands of supervising Premier League matches.
If agreed West Ham would expect the stewarding budget to be transferred to them and would then add to that with their own funds. However they also believe that a far more visible policing presence inside the stadium would also calm down supporters and will ask why that has not happened before now.
Under the terms of West Ham's rental deal, the costs of policing and stewarding are covered by London Stadium 185 and paid for by the taxpayer. During the protest, a coin struck co-chairman David Sullivan on his glasses, while David Gold, his fellow co-owner, broke down in tears after he had left his seat.
Despite the abuse, they will continue to attend home matches. According to the rental agreement, which allows West Ham to use the stadium for £2.5 million per year, any strengthening of police and stewarding presence would be paid for by the public purse.
Sullivan said on Saturday night that he felt "very badly let down" by the stadium operators, and there is particular concern over the ease with which fans were allowed to run on to the pitch, where one was thrown to the floor by Mark Noble, the West Ham captain.
Meanwhile, Noble said he could not see a way in which the anger from the fans towards the club's owners, much of which centres around the move from Upton Park to the London Stadium, would dissipate. "This is our stadium now," Noble said. "There is nothing we can do about it. It seems to me that there is so much anger out there that it is not going to go away.
"It has been bubbling over for a long time and the only way that it has ever really gone quiet is if we won games. And West Ham is a side that is not going to win every game. We are going to lose games. But when we lose games, it is pretty much the end of the world."
Noble feared there would be a mass pitch invasion, and said he was thankful that his wife and children had not attended the game. Asked how the side could now prepare for the next home game, against Southampton, Noble said: "I don't know. If we go 1-0 down at home again, what will happen? I can't imagine. They showed everyone how they feel. Hopefully they will now rally together and get behind us."
Defender James Collins, who was also involved in scuffles with pitch invaders, said the team were affected by the confrontation with Noble and the events in the stands as they fell to their third consecutive defeat.
"Seeing my friend, captain and a boy who loves this club as much as me, and who has been here since he was a kid, having to do that with a fan on the pitch is going to affect anyone," Collins said.
"We were probably a bit scared, a bit nervous if you like."
Sir Trevor Brooking, the former West Ham player who was watching from the directors' box, said the "aggressive" atmosphere could result in relegation.
"That atmosphere must never come back in the last five games otherwise the players won't be able to deliver," he said.
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Hutchison says he recommended Ziyech to West Ham as Payet replacement
HITC
Subhankar Mondal
Would Ajax midfielder Hakim Ziyech have been a good signing for West Ham United? Don Hutchison has revealed on social networking site Twitter that he recommended Hakim Ziyech to West Ham United two years ago. The 46-year-old former West Ham midfielder has also stated that the Ajax midfielder should have replaced Dimitri Payet at the Hammers. French attacking midfielder Payet rejoined Marseille from West Ham in January 2017 for a transfer fee reported by The Telegraph to be worth £25 million. Ajax signed 24-year-old midfielder Ziyech from FC Twente in the summer of 2016 for a transfer fee reported by ESPN to be worth €11 million (£9.74m).
Don Hutchison
@donhutch4
Another player I recommended to West Ham 2 years ago. He was on 🔥 today with a hat trick of assists #BALR
5:51 PM - Mar 11, 2018 · Enfield, London
Mark Webster
@ItsMarkWebster
Leave it, Hutch ;) https://twitter.com/donhutch4/status/972892686842810368 …
Don Hutchison
@donhutch4
Should have replaced him for Payet🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️
6:32 PM - Mar 11, 2018 · Hackney, London
Ziyech is one of the best midfielders in the Eredivisie in the Netherlands and has been playing well for Ajax so far this season. The Morocco international midfielder has scored six goals and provided 11 assists in 27 league matches for Ajax so far this campaign, according to Whoscored.com. The 24-year-old would have been a good signing for West Ham when Hutchison recommend him to the London club, and perhaps the Hammers should look at the Ajax star in the summer of 2018.
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West Ham ready to pay for huge police presence at London Stadium
• Decision follows ugly scenes at home game against Burnley
• Under stadium deal LLDC foots bill for police at matches
Jacob Steinberg
The Guardian
@JacobSteinberg
Mon 12 Mar 2018 13.41 GMT Last modified on Mon 12 Mar 2018 13.44 GMT
West Ham United are prepared to pay for a huge police presence inside the London Stadium to help to prevent a repeat of the crowd disturbances that marred Saturday's 3-0 defeat by Burnley.
The stadium's security failings were exposed by unrest which featured four pitch invasions and David Sullivan, the club's co-owner, being struck by a coin during protests against the club's board by hundreds of furious supporters, who easily overpowered stewards stationed in the area below the directors' box.
West Ham, who are facing heavy punishment from the Football Association, are unhappy with the failure by stewards to deal with the disturbances and have insisted that the stadium operators, LS185, place officers inside the ground in each of the final five matches of this campaign. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, condemned the trouble on Monday and called for an investigation.
The club are not responsible for footing the police bill under the terms of their agreement with the London Legacy Development Corporation, but the FA will hold West Ham responsible for what took place. Senior board members have been shaken by the protests and have indicated a willingness to make a financial contribution in order to bolster the stadium's security arrangements.
The fixture against Burnley had been designated as a low-category one by the Safety Advisory Group, which is why officers were stationed outside but not inside the ground. Discussions will take place about whether West Ham's remaining five home games should all be deemed high-category fixtures. There is a chance that the stadium could be shut if an agreement over tougher security cannot be reached.
West Ham, who do not play again until hosting Southampton on 31 March and are three points above the bottom three with eight matches left, launched an investigation and called an emergency meeting with the London Stadium's stakeholders in the aftermath of Saturday's game. The LLDC and LS185 are aware of a video that appeared to show a steward sleeping during the game and questions were raised about the slow response by stewards after Burnley took a 66th-minute lead.
David Sullivan, second left, is the target of fans' chants during Saturday's game. Photograph: Christopher Lee/West Ham United via Getty Images
A fan immediately ran on to the pitch and was hauled to the turf by Mark Noble, the West Ham captain. The centre-back James Collins clashed with another pitch invader and a female steward was knocked to the ground when fans gathered below the directors' box to aim abuse at Sullivan and David Gold, the co-owners.
There is concern within the squad that the toxic atmosphere will harm their relegation fight. Sullivan and Gold were escorted from their seats on safety grounds in the 84th minute, with the former's glasses saving him from potentially serious injury when a coin hit him. Missiles were also thrown at supporters sitting in boxes next to the directors. Discussions are taking place about how to strengthen the security around those boxes after protesters were able to run amok in the walkway immediately underneath it.
The buildup to the game had been dominated by the fallout from a cancelled protest march against the board, which featured threats being aimed at Mark Walker, the chairman of the West Ham United Independent Supporters Association, by rival fan groups. A febrile atmosphere broke out once West Ham were behind. The LLDC and LS185 are looking at whether there was intelligence to suggest that there would be some form of protest during the game.
A spokesman for the mayor's office said: "The disturbances at the London Stadium were disgraceful for and it's clear that there cannot be a repeat of the ugly scenes witnessed on Saturday. It is up to West Ham to carry out a thorough investigation, together with stakeholders, and take proper action against those supporters who misbehaved."
The FA is studying a report from the referee Lee Mason and is seeking West Ham's observations. West Ham, who banned around 200 fans after violent clashes during last season's League Cup victory over Chelsea, expect to receive a fine; the FA's disciplinary committee has the power to make them play behind closed doors. Aston Villa were hit with a £200,000 fine after pitch invasions overshadowed their FA Cup victory over West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park three years ago.
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UNITED TILL THE SUMMER - THEN THE CLUB REQUIRES CHANGE FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
By HamburgHammer 12 Mar 2018 at 08:00
WTID
I will try to moan and whinge as little as possible in my column today, but I won't be putting my fingers in my ears, pretending everything is fine. It's not.
Saturday was not a good advertisement for football in general and certainly not for West Ham in particular – and things always seem to look worse once the Hammers are involved.
I don't believe the players were in danger actually. But the pitch invasions were sad to see nonetheless, even though it was only a few individuals and not, God forbid, thousands of irate "supporters". I don't condone the scenes we saw, they made me sick and, believe it or not, the scenes kept running through my head at night and I was actually struggling to get to sleep. I don't like what happened.
But what with the march getting cancelled and all those shenanigans I can understand WHY it all happened.
The pressure had been building up over months and it needed to find a way out.
I would have prefered it if all those protests had materialised away from the stadium, not impacting the game, but that unfortunately was not the case.
There were some fights all over the stadium and concourse apparently, children were getting scared and the board got itself an earful from an angry group of fans congregating right in front of the directors' box.
Oh, we also lost another crucial game 0:3 by the way, shooting our goal difference in the foot even further by conceding eleven (!!!) goals in total in our last three games.
Things are really bad at your club when fans who are supposed to root for the same club are at each other's throats.
But I shall try to find a bit of positivity (yeah, I know) and common sense here.
It's still possible to fend off relegation. It's still in our own hands (and feet), although looking at our recent run of results and performances that thought doesn't exactly instill a lot of confidence. But there are still a number of other teams struggling for points below and around us and unless they suddenly start picking up more wins than us we might just do it.
We do have a group of halfway decent players actually, we have seen games in the past where those players did wonderful things on the pitch, the trouble is that it hasn't happened often enough this season and certainly not for the entire team at the same time. I was feeling sorry for Arnautovic on Saturday who was trying to find a way past four or five Burnley players with no claret and blue shirt in sight to help him out.
Arnautovic was another positive for me in the way he handled himself after the final whistle, coming to the fans in trying circumstances, talking to some kids, signing stuff and giving one of them a pair of football boots, if I saw that correctly. I have really taken to Arnautovic in recent weeks and he certainly is trying his best to make things right for us.
I am not going to go into yet another lengthy rant about the board, you know my stance, it is shared by some and dismissed by others which is totally fine. I feel it's necessary to give ourselves the best chance possible in the remaining home games to get some wins. For that to happen we can't have any repeats of the Burnley fiasco in the stadium for the remainder of the season.
I have read quotes from Sir Trevor Brooking and players like Collins, suggesting that the angry fans should stay away from the remaining home games this season if they cannot keep their rage/grief under control. That's a fair point.
To increase the chance of more goodwill from the crowd at our games even further though I'd also hope the board will decide to watch the games anywhere but not in open view from their accustomed seats in the directors box. We can pretend all we like there is no issue with them, but in real life there is. It's also being acknowledged in the media now.
Plenty of fans are riled up by the board and it might help if they removed themselves from the firing line for the time being to let the players and manager do their job, getting maximum support and focus from the home crowd.
Someone who might also help in our current predicament is Sir Trevor Brooking. Seeing him rooted to his seat in a deserted directors' box, with a wry smile on his face, was both beautiful and sad to see.
A club legend who is undoubtedly suffering and struggling with the current state our club finds itself in. He could be filling a more official role at the club, as ambassador or spokesman or something like that and he would also be the kind of person to unite the new breed of fans and the more traditional set of supporters alike who used to cheer Sir Trev on from the Chicken Run when he was in his prime as a West Ham player.
For me that is one of the major things that hasn't been properly addressed with the stadium move: Keeping the older fans on board while also catering for and welcoming new ones.
West Ham can only be successful if both seats feel reasonably happy and united there. I accept that the move to the new stadium was too good an opportunity to turn down really. Most owners would have gone for the move.
I accept that some steady and gradual change at the club is needed in tune with world football forever changing as well.
I am not a fan of the stadium, but I can bear watching whatever number of games I can travel over for. At the same time I empathise with those who say it is simply not for them and they can't/won't go there ever again. But it is what it is, we are there and we need to make it work somehow. And I am convinced there is still a small chance it can work.
But only if the club starts to take the bull by the horns before then addressing the elephant in the room.
Our board may be around for another few years yet and I am under no illusions that fan blogs or social media accounts will make any modicum of difference in terms of their decision to sell or stay. But they need to stick to the role of being club owners, they don't need to run the club. Most clubs have separate club chairmen, directors of football, PR and marketing staff, chief scouts, managers, assistant coaches etc.
They are experts and have experience from playing or at least working in a professional role at football clubs. I'd hazard a guess we'd be a lot better off if our board took a step back and hired professionals to run the club for them. They can still earn their interest payments and they also still get their money back plus some healthy profit whenever they sell. They need to realise they are standing in their own way by trying to take on too much day to day stuff at the club.
Before writing this column I distracted myself on Sunday with watching some football where the football actually took center stage: Concordia's U23s winning a men against boys kind of contest with a staggering 13:0 scoreline against SC Europa (not a reflection by the way about the state of the European Union…:-))
That was a pleasant two hours, watching my local team getting top spot in their division, heading for promotion to the next level while also having some banter with fellow fans without any chance of fists flying or being on the receiving end of a Glasgow kiss…
I then drove 40 miles to have a cuppa with my brother at his rehab place and I'm glad to report he is on the mend, despite still looking incredibly thin and weak which comes as no surprise after nearly four weeks in a hospital bed. Things are looking on the up for him and I intend to keep my promise of taking him to London, and hopefully it will be for a Premier League match rather than one in the Championship, but either way my bro wouldn't bother, mind you, he even once watched Orient play Shrewsbury at Brisbane Road with me, so he's no glory hunter either…
It's a bit of a break now until our next fixture comes around and I hope the warm weather trip to Miami will work in our favour, unlike them notorious ventures to Dubai.
Surely it gives everyone time for a breather and to get ready for the crucial back end of the season. I somehow hope our fans can put their disagreements and anger aside for the rest of the season now until we have secured our Premier League status for next season. No doubt there will be more protests and marches somewhere along the way and rightly so, fans have a right to protest.
But there is a time and place for everything. I reckon the board finally got the message that there is a lot of anger and they do need to act in the summer to get things fixed.
In the meantime let's remember that this club is so much bigger than individual players, managers, owners and fans. It's been there for generations and browsing through some old West Ham books yesterday I got a renewed sense of pride and of the role this club has played (and continues to play) for hundreds of thousands of fans in and around London and all over the rest of the world.
West Ham are more than a football club, it's a family and a way of life. West Ham is changing, but it can still retain some of that East London rooted community spirit, wicked sense of humour and siege mentality. Never say die! COYI!!!
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BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD West Ham fans can't sack the board so let's focus on helping us stay up
Hammers supporter was embarrassed by chaos at Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Burnley which saw fans storm the pitch
FAN'S VIEW
By ExWHUemployee
11th March 2018, 1:38 pm
Updated: 11th March 2018, 3:04 pm
THIS is a very hard article to write and one that I wasn't sure I should do. Such is the divide within the club that, whatever my stance, there is likely to be a negative response. Yesterday's match showed up our club and was a very embarrassing episode to say the least. Sadly I felt that this was always likely to happen if we conceded first because after the march was "negotiated to be called off" some fans still wanted to voice their anger. We played quite well in the first half but the minute that first goal went in we were never getting back in the game. Even the Burnley players knew that and have since said! The pitch invasions and the lack of stewarding have achieved nothing but make the current situation even worse. The stewarding at the stadium is an absolute joke, how these people kept entering the pitch without challenge and being able to confront the players is pathetic and thankfully nothing more serious happened as a result. The situation at the club is toxic and has been caused by many "failed ambitions", terrible PR, awful performances from players, poor managerial decisions and a divided fan base.
Each one of us has a different opinion on what the main problem is but we can all agree that this isn't the West Ham that we all love. We have never been world beaters, we have never lived up to our own expectations, we don't often like our current board, managers have always made the wrong decisions and players have often let us down. But one thing that has always remained is our loyal and passionate support and the feel of being part of a West Ham family. This is sadly on the decline like all else.
As fans we cannot control anything that the club does as much as some of us may have tried. The only thing we can do is give our passionate and loyal support to the team for those 90 minutes. If we do this the players, manager and board cannot hide behind the excuse of what happened yesterday. We have to stay in the Premier League. If we get relegated it would be disastrous. Players would leave, our attendances would drop dramatically and we could end up being like a Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday or Nottingham Forest and take years to get back up again. This is unthinkable and awful in comparison to the dream we were sold when we moved to this stadium.
If fans wish to protest after the 90 minutes, stay behind and do that. If we are mathematically safe by the Everton home game on the last day of the season then of course there are ways to use that match as a way of sending a message to the board within reason. Pitch invasions isn't one but until we are safe - if we ever are - we need to focus all our support to getting out of this mess. It seems to me that some fans are more interested in supporting "Board out" then the 11 players in the shirt. If we go down we will be even further away from change than we are now. The board ought to acknowledge fan unrest and not attend the Southampton match. This will help the players focus and also go some way to showing that the board acknowledge current frustrations. We also need a statement about how they then intend to address the problems in the summer. Let's face it, at the moment we can't "Sack the board" even if some would want to. There are no obvious buyers otherwise they would make themselves known and capitalise on the current anti-board feeling. As fans we must remember the thing that makes being a West Ham supporter great and stay united (it IS in our name). We must do our best to create a passionate and positive atmosphere and then when safe tackle the current problems further! A heavy investment in players in the summer is the only way the board can now save their reputation and this MUST happen.
Twitter @ExWHUemployee
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HITTING THE MARK West Ham skipper Mark Noble claims club is being torn apart by rift between angry fans and the board
Numerous supporters invaded the pitch and Hammers chiefs were forced to flee directors box because of the ugly mob
By Tony Little
12th March 2018, 7:19 am
Updated: 12th March 2018, 7:20 am
MARK NOBLE fears the rift between the supporters and the board is tearing West Ham apart. The day the club marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Bobby Moore was ruined by pitch invasions and fan protests directed at the club's owners.
Hammers skipper Noble says the disgraceful scenes at the London Stadium have been two years in the making with tensions rising among the club's supporters following the switch from Upton Park. And Noble — who has been at the club since he was ten — is worried by what might happen when the Hammers host Southampton in a relegation cruncher on March 31. He said: "It is hard for me because I'm a West Ham fan and the results affect me more than anyone else.
"But in this league for the past two seasons really, it has sort of been bubbling under with the fans not being happy. Saturday was boiling point and it just exploded. "To be honest, especially if we go a goal down at home, it has been tough. It has been really tough. "Straight away, because the supporters aren't happy in the first place coming here, it's a chance to show their emotions towards the board. "This is our stadium now. There is nothing we can do about it. It seems to me there's so much anger out there that it's not going to go away. "I don't know how we prepare for the next game being brutally honest. "If we go 1-0 down at home again, what'll happen? I cannot imagine. "I just hope we've had the eruption and they've got their emotions out. "They've shown everyone how they feel and hopefully they will now rally together and get behind us. "The main aim is to get some points, stay in the league and make some decisions in the summer."
Hammers legend Sir Trevor Brooking was sat alone in the directors' box at the final whistle of Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Burnley as co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold were advised to leave early after Sullivan was struck by a coin. West Ham fans invade pitch, Mark Noble wrestles fan to ground as David Gold and David Sullivan are told to leave London Stadium for their own safety Noble, 30, said of Brooking: "He probably felt the same as me walking off the pitch. It's not that I support the club — I love the club. "It has been my home since I was ten. I was brought up here. "If I never play for the club again I'm still going to feel the way I do."
The FA, police and Premier League have launched investigations into the pitch invasions and fan protests that made Saturday a day of chaos. Noble grappled with one supporter after Ashley Barnes had put Burnley ahead in the 66th minute. Four more made it onto the pitch including one brandishing a corner flag. Noble added: "I'm not going to even blame the fella who came on. "His emotions were high, the same as mine on the pitch. He ran on the pitch and I wouldn't say I felt threatened — but if someone approaches me I'm going to look after myself."
Team-mate James Collins said: "I don't ever expect to be 1-0 down at home and look across and see my good friend and captain of this club confronted by a fan.
"He's devastated. You never want to take matters into your own hands the way he did. It was mad. "I've sympathy with the supporters. I'm a West Ham fan myself, I'm as unhappy as they are. "It has not been anywhere near good enough."
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YOU'RE BLOWING IT West Ham legend Sir Trevor Brooking warns thugs: Stay away or we will get relegated
FA and Premier League want to know why police did not arrive until 20 minutes AFTER trouble started
By Andrew Dillon and Paul Jiggins
12th March 2018, 12:19 am
Updated: 12th March 2018, 7:39 am
WEST HAM legend Sir Trevor Brooking warned West Ham thugs: Stay away or we will get relegated. Saturday's 3-0 loss to Burnley saw supporters run amok at the London Stadium in a day of shame. Club chief David Sullivan was hit by a coin, players fought pitch invaders and young families were forced to leave the toxic atmosphere. But Brooking believes the Hammers WILL drop to the Championship if the poisonous mood remains. He said: "Before Saturday, they had six home games out of nine which to a certain extent looked like an advantage. "When you've just lost 3-0 and had people coming onto the pitch and a lot of people venting their frustrations to the directors, that means the next five at home look pretty bleak."
Brooking, 69, was left alone in the directors' box on Saturday after owners Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady were all moved for their own safety when about 500 fans gathered to protest. Sullivan was struck by a £2 coin but was back at work yesterday reporting no long-term ill effects. Brooking added: "There's no way the team is going to be able to play and get the points to stay up under that sort of atmosphere. It's impossible. "That atmosphere must never come back in the last five games otherwise the club is in serious trouble and the players won't be able to deliver. "So the fans have to understand — just don't come to the games at the moment until you try to allow the players to get the points to stay up. "Between now and the end of the season, anyone who has that aggressive frustration, just don't come. We need everyone, all the fans and the team working together to try to get sufficient results, particularly in the five home games which we all thought was going to be the strength but on Saturday became a massive weakness. "Some of the aggression was so strong, it did go back to the bad old days. They are not your genuine West Ham fans. "I saw a few young families leaving because some of the youngsters were frightened."
The FA "strongly condemned" the violence, have asked West Ham for their observations and are awaiting the referee's report. Sanctions range from a fine to the club being made to play behind closed doors. In an effort to stop a repeat, West Ham bosses will today tackle the stadium operators in crunch talks. Club insiders say the Premier League feels "let down" by the way management company LS185 is running the 57,000-seater ground. The club wants to replace the vast green underlay surrounding the pitch with a claret one to make it feel more like home and make the playing surface more distinct. There are also ongoing battles about increasing capacity to 60,000 seats. Fans want unofficial traders allowed to sell programmes and merchandise directly outside the stadium too and want the whole arena to feel more like it belongs to West Ham. Sources at the club are also frustrated at the fans' constant chanting about 'missing money' with one saying: "They can bring in a team of forensic accountants any time they want."
Bizarrely, before the match, the Hammers had insisted their stewarding is IMPROVING. But two-time FA Cup winner Brooking said: "The number of stewards wasn't sufficient and they couldn't really cope. "The stewards were quite young and couldn't deal with the aggression." The FA and Premier League will want to know why police did not arrive inside the stadium until 20 MINUTES after trouble had started. That was despite dozens of officers being on duty outside the ground.
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NEIL ASHTON West Ham's pie and mash brigade will never take to soulless London Stadium… and Saturday's ugly debacle against Burnley proved that
The board might think they've made the right decision for the club but die-hard fans will never forgive decision to leave Upton Park
By Neil Ashton
11th March 2018, 10:34 pm
Updated: 12th March 2018, 1:59 am
THAT walk. Out of the Stratford escalators, divert around the shopping centre, past the pop-up bar selling trendy pale ales for the modern football fan. No wonder the real West Ham supporters, as they have taken to calling themselves, cannot stand the place. The London Stadium, so new, so IKEA, is not to their taste. It never will be. They are not West Ham any more, which is why so many of the hardcore protested so fiercely against David Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady on Saturday. The pitch invasions, where one nugget confronted captain Mark Noble, and another attempted to plant a corner flag into the centre spot, were inescapable. With fans like that, who needs enemies?
Grounds for concern
SEPTEMBER 10, 2016
Children were left in tears after violence broke out during a 4-2 home defeat by Watford in one of the first games at the new stadium.
OCTOBER 1, 2016
A league match with Middlesbrough finished 1-1 but saw rival fans fighting inside and outside the ground. A club statement said: "This behaviour has no place in football — we will operate a zero tolerance policy on such incidents."
OCTOBER 26, 2016
Security was boosted for this 2-1 League Cup victory over London rivals Chelsea, but seats were torn out and hurled along with bottles and coins as riot police stepped in.
MARCH 6, 2017
A fan invaded the pitch to confront Chelsea stars, after Eden Hazard's goal in a 2-1 Blues win, but was tackled by stewards.
JANUARY 2, 2018
West Brom's Jake Livermore waded into the crowd after remarks were made by Hammers fans about his baby son, who died in 2014.
MARCH 10, 2018
Defeat by Burnley turned into chaos as yobs ran on the pitch and targeted the directors' box. Angry fans had also confronted co-owner David Gold after the 4-1 loss at Swansea the week before.
The sport, safer than at any other time in its history, left all that kind of nonsense behind many morons ago. And there is every chance boss David Moyes' side will be forced to play a game behind closed doors when the FA completes its investigation into these shocking scenes. To blame the lack of stewards is ridiculous.
It is not their job to stop pitch invasions — fans are supposed to remain in their place, to shout and scream and support from allocated seats. It is not too much to ask, no matter how angry they are. An FA Independent Regulatory Commission, with its draconian powers, will punish West Ham severely for these chaotic, unnerving scenes. There are too many first-hand accounts of people taking their wife to their first game, or their kids to watch their beloved Hammers, for there to be any another outcome. There is certainly nothing on the pitch to make them think differently after being walloped 3-0 by Burnley. The clock is now ticking on the Hammers' latest spell in the top flight. When they moved 3.8 miles up the road, the fans were also promised a team to challenge English football's elite. They rebranded, slapping 'London' on the club badge in a ludicrous attempt to make them seem more cosmopolitan. Sorry, but this is West Ham. It is a spit and sawdust kind of team, with that edgy walk past the pie and mash shops on Green Street and the pilgrimage to the Bobby Moore statue at the end of the road all part of Boleyn culture. It is ingrained in generations of Hammers fans — shuttling in and out of Upton Park from their homes in Essex cul-de-sacs — and passing it down to their kids. All that has been lost at the London Stadium. Their showy new home is on tree-lined boulevards, gentrifying the Hammers long before any of the old East End diehards were going to be ready for it. The soul of the club, stitched into the fabric of the streets that hemmed in the old stadium, has been ripped away. In its place they now have a soulless bowl — a glorified athletics track. West Ham are struggling to convince the hardcore that this is where they will spend the next 100 years. It remains to be seen if there can be any joy in convincing everyone to pull in the right direction
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TO BE FRANK Frank Lampard sympathises with West Ham fans as he admits club have 'gone backwards'
The ex-Hammers player described the atmosphere as the stadium as 'toxic' but could understand why fans wanted to protest about the club's current situation
By Rebecca Chaplin
11th March 2018, 2:37 pm
Updated: 11th March 2018, 2:43 pm
WEST HAM'S latest home fixture may have created a toxic atmosphere and descended into chaos, but Frank Lampard sympathised with some of the frustrated fans. The ex-Hammer did not shy away from calling the fans aggressive, but did offer his thoughts as to what was the catalyst to the ugly scenes that unfolded.
Lampard, who left the side in 2001, claimed the club had gone backwards since the move across east London, he said: "I understand the fans feelings in general.
"They feel like they've lost an identity in moving stadium. "Part of that deal in moving was to fight for Europe and invest- the club has a £29 million net spend, it's not enough- they have gone backwards."
The disgruntled fans took matters into their own hands as the Hammers went down 1-0 to Burnley with some invading the pitch and surrounded the directors' box with a pact mentality. The scenes turned uglier as West Ham fell further behind Sean Dyche's side- with fans storming the pitch and others surrounding the directors' box and hurling abuse at the two owners David Sullivan and David Gold. As fans ran riot at the London stadium, the co-owners were asked to leave the box for their safety, as coins were thrown in their direction and cries of 'sack the board' rang around the stadium. Lampard noted that the atmosphere within the ground was 'toxic' and said: "It was a horrible feeling in the second half, in particular."
As the scenes turned uglier one fan had to be stopped by Hammers' captain Mark Noble. Lampard expressed sympathy with the 30-year-old leader. Speaking on Match of the Day after the game, he said: "Fans coming onto the pitch, I understand Mark Noble's position. He is Mr West Ham. "He cares and that is why he reacted in that way."
The game got so bad, that referee Lee Mason even consulted David Moyes and Sean Dyche over abandoning the game.
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