West Ham United comfortably beat Leicester City in the Premier League at the London Stadium on Thursday night.
Leicester put up absolutely no fight whatsoever, and it was an extremely comfortable night for Graham Potter and his West Ham players in the end.
The atmosphere at the London Stadium has been a bone of contention for the Hammers fans for quite some time now.
Perhaps the problem isn’t actually the design or the acoustics of the stadium though.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka recently raved about our Stratford home, and he described it as a ‘special’ stadium.
So why is it that the atmosphere is so poor during nigh on every single home game?
Journalist Tim Spiers recently labelled the arena as a soulless bowl, and he’s right.
Darren Fletcher thinks he knows why that was the case on Thursday night at least.
Why London Stadium was so quiet for West Ham vs Leicester
The atmosphere inside our London Stadium home on Thursday night was utterly dire.
It has been a common theme since our move to Stratford way back in 2016 unfortunately.
And the clash with Leicester was no different.
Darren Fletcher offered an explanation as to why that might have been, during commentary on TNT Sports (Thursday February 27th, 8:38pm):
“The fact it’s been so straightforward and easy for West Ham, it’s taken the crowd completely out of the game. People are kind of sat watching, there’s not been a great deal to get anybody going because it’s just been so straightforward for West Ham.“
I actually think he’s spot on there.
That said, the poor atmosphere inside our stadium has always been a big problem.
Three ways that would guarantee an improved London Stadium
Numerous changes could be made in order to make the experience inside our home ground immeasurably better.
Firstly, safe standing singing only areas are an absolute must. I have been inside the London Stadium when I’ve been singing and had other fans look at me like I was a leper.
Secondly, we need more use of Tifos and/or large flags, just like they do out in Germany. I’m not sure why, but the visual of large banners and flags instantly makes the stadium look so much better.
Finally, and most importantly, the owners need to buy the London Stadium outright, if we are to ever see some real change.
Whilst West Ham are renting the London Stadium, the owners will never be able to affect real change.
Hopefully that changes at some point in the future, but I can’t see it under the current ownership.
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