West Ham United fans tuning into Napoli’s Champions League win over Liverpool on Tuesday night may have noticed a large dose of hypocrisy.
West Ham supporters who have had the misfortune of witnessing BT Sport pundit Steve McManaman run the rule over the odd Hammers match will understand why.
The former Liverpool man has been a frequent critic of West Ham’s London Stadium.
McManaman’s lazy London Stadium digs
Earlier this year McManaman took another dig at West Ham’s ground, lazily accusing it of lacking atmosphere, as reported by the likes of talkSPORT.
“It would be nice if you built your own football stadium and made it nice and compact… like the Emirates, like Tottenham’s.
“If anyone goes to the Olympic Stadium, the difference from the pitch to the furthest part.
“When we commentate, it is the furthest distance from the pitch ever, it might as well be miles away.”
The pundit often makes little quips during co-commentary on West Ham home matches.
Hypocrite pundit changes his tune
Yet when he was on co-comms for Liverpool’s trip to Napoli in the Champions League McManaman changed his tune.
Napoli play in the 55,000 Stadio San Paolo, an athletics stadium that doubles as the Serie A club’s home ground.
The gaps between the pitch and the stands are even greater than those at West Ham’s own multi-purpose arena.
But McManaman’s description of the Stadio San Paolo was very different.
He described the ground as a ‘wonderful throwback’ and even made light of the distance from the stands to the pitch praising the historic nature of the stadium.
McManaman praised the San Paolo for its atmosphere and made excuses for the fact supporters do not occupy the majority of the seats in the lower tier.
Which is it then Macca?
He added: “You can smell the atmosphere in the stadium, outside the stadium, it’s aggressive. It’s a proper European away ground. A lovely football club.”
But the same man took great delight pointing out the emptying seats at the London Stadium when West Ham were losing 4-1 to Liverpool a couple of seasons ago.
McManaman played for West Ham once. He donned the claret and blue for Alvin Martin’s testimonial back in 1995.
So perhaps he has an attachment to Upton Park?
Regardless it seems a lack of balance is nothing new in McManaman’s punditry.
Fellow Hammers site Claret & Hugh pointed out a frankly laughable bias towards his former club Manchester City after the opening game of the season.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
