Clueless Mirror journalist Darren Lewis has joined a long list of so-called experts who simply don’t get West Ham United fans.
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West Ham are enjoying their best season for 35 years under David Moyes.
So it is a crying shame West Ham’s fiercely loyal supporters cannot be there to witness it in person.
Instead of sitting back and enjoying West Ham’s amazing campaign while locked down in our homes, Hammers fans have had to endure clueless pundits and hacks tripping over one another to taunt them with the ridiculous claim that the team is only excelling BECAUSE they are not there.
I’m searching for the man in The Mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways
Now Mirror journalist Lewis has joined the growing list. But he went one further by twisting the knife and claiming West Ham fans are among ‘the hardest to please in the country’.
Lewis’s entire article is a pop at West Ham fans about something. Whether it is not wanting Moyes back – despite being told he was not progressive enough – by our owners no less – or being too demanding.
In fairness to Lewis he has since deleted the incendiary line about West Ham fans being ‘among the hardest to please in the country’ from his article. Perhaps after I gave him what for on Twitter. If he has then credit where it is due.
But you may want to pause for a moment as your laughter subsides and is replaced by blinding rage at the thought a football expert could hold such an opinion in the first place.
West Ham fans. Among the hardest to please in the country!? I’ve heard some stupid things in my time. But this is right up there.
West Ham fans among the hardest to please? I’m waiting for Jeremy Beadle to pop out and tell me it’s a wind up
Lewis’s pathetic attack does not deserve a response. But let’s break things down for Darren to help him understand that he has just slighted one of the most loyal and long suffering fanbases in the country – not the most demanding.
West Ham sell out home and away, week in, week out. Whether that is 60k at the London Stadium in the Premier League or 35k at Upton Park – even in the Championship years. Banging out away ends is a given.
West Ham have had the second highest number of season ticket holders in the country (52-54k) for four years straight since the stadium move.
They are behind only the mighty Manchester United in that respect.
West Ham’s average attendances pre-pandemic were the sixth highest in Europe.
Let me remind you that this is a fanbase that has not seen a major trophy – or had much else to shout about – for over 40 years.
Imagine for a moment what Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City or Man United’s fans would be like if their teams went so long without a semblance of success. Imagine even the likes of Everton in a similar situation.
There would be full scale revolts. There would be boycotts. Some of their stadiums would be half empty. The atmosphere would be toxic. We’ve seen evidence of that at some of those clubs when they go a year without success let alone FOUR DECADES.
If anything fiercely loyal West Ham fans are easy to please
Yet West Ham’s blindly loyal bunch turn up, week in, week out like gluttons for punishment most seasons.
We hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That is part of any West Ham fan’s DNA from an early age.
We have to be that way, it’s the only way to survive the years of heartache.
Even our famous club anthem warns of the inevitability of supporting West Ham.
So Mr Lewis don’t preach to us about being ‘hard to please’.
We had our home ripped from us, uprooted from all the traditions and history that made our club special and unique. Forced to live in rented accomodation which will never feel like home.
Yet we still turn up every week, fuelled as much by protecting our reputation as loyal fans as our desire to watch some of the teams put together on the pitch.
West Ham fans have regularly watched their best players sold from under them down the years. Then suffered the ignominy of watching them excel at rival clubs while having it rubbed in our noses.
We listen to braindead pundits scoff at the ‘West Ham way’ and perpetuate the myth that it is all about fancy dan, tika taka football.
Perception vs reality
The reality is the West Ham way is and always has been about being brave and showing for the ball no matter what. Fighting for the badge.
That is the West Ham way. And that is all West Ham fans demand – a bit of passion and fight and a bit of the promised ambition from the owners.
Moyes’s team has delivered that by the truckload this season. So fans would have been lapping it up. Suggesting anything otherwise is churlish.
West Ham fans don’t expect to compete for the title. Or for trophies. They don’t expect to challenge the elite clubs every season. In fact all we expect each season is that we will end up disappointed once again.
If wanting to see your players fight, show passion and be brave and show for the ball is too much to ask then we’re clearly in the wrong game.
Most demanding fans in the country? If anything we’re the easiest to please.
Darren is is an experienced and knowledgeable football man and an excellent story teller. That in many ways is what makes his comment so difficult to take. Of course it is just his opinion. And he is very much entitled to that opinion.
But as Plato once said ‘Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance’.
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