Aston Villa’s big announcement has sparked a huge reaction online and West Ham fans are all echoing the same message.
They may both play in claret and blue but West Ham and Aston Villa are in very different places as football clubs right now.
There has been a role reversal in many ways between the Hammers and Villa.
A couple of years ago Unai Emery’s predecessor Steven Gerrard made West Ham the blueprint for Aston Villa to follow.
Finishing sixth, seventh and crowning three consecutive seasons in Europe by winning the Europa Conference League, it’s no wonder.
Role reversal for West Ham and Aston Villa
After all it wasn’t so long ago Aston Villa wildly celebrated avoiding relegation on the final day of the season with a draw against the Hammers at the London Stadium.
It is fair to say Aston Villa – albeit without lifting that all-important trophy – have not only emulated West Ham but surpassed them in terms of the Premier League and competing in the Champions League.
West Ham fans have watched Aston Villa’s rise with great envy, many feeling that could and should be them had the club built on their recent successful period.
Instead the Hammers sit 17th in the Premier League and are facing an uncertain summer window with the club claiming they will be restricted by PSR.
Meanwhile Aston Villa’s owners continue to show ferocious ambition in the transfer market.
Now there has been another statement of ambition from the Midlands club that has not gone unnoticed in east London.
Aston Villa have made a major announcement and West Ham fans are all saying the same thing about it.
Relations between fans and owners could not be more polar opposite than it is at Aston Villa and West Ham right now.
One of the big reasons behind resentment from Hammers fans to their owners is the move from Upton Park to the London Stadium.
The first few years after the big stadium move following the emotional departure from West Ham’s beloved Boleyn Ground was beset by issues.
Villa make major announcement and West Ham fans are all saying the same thing
That’s despite vice-chair Karren Brady hailing it the ‘most successful stadium migration ever’.
The reality was somewhat different. In-fighting among fans, problems with stewarding and fury over the distance from the stands to the pitch were just a few of a litany of reasons resentment towards the board spilled over.
Many Hammers fans feel the club ‘sold its soul’ to play in a bowl-shaped arena not fit for football. Visiting fans remind them of that every other week too, not in such polite terms.
But West Ham’s struggles in the last season-and-a-half have seen the London Stadium atmosphere become a hot topic among fans again.
A prominent West Ham fan group demanded answers from the owners over major changes they feel are needed to the Stratford ground.
Now Hammers supporters have another reason to jealous of Aston Villa.
The club has today announced plans to refurbish and expand the capacity of its North Stand at Villa Park.
Villa have pledged to ‘level up the fan experience whilst becoming a world-class sports and entertainment venue’.
Villa have released images of how the expanded stand will look and say it will be combined with ongoing upgrades to Villa Park’s other three stands, taking the total capacity to over 50,000.
The plans have echoes of what West Ham once proposed to do at their 35,000 seater Upton Park home.
There were once plans to fill in the corners of the Boleyn to take capacity between 45-50,000.
West Ham fans have flooded Villa’s big announcement echoing the same sentiments; that it is exactly what their club should have done and pointing out Villa haven’t needed a 60,000 seater stadium to be able to compete for the Champions League.
‘Villa plan is what West Ham should have done with Upton Park’
One Hammers fan summed up the mood in east London, saying: “Will never hide my jealousy for this club. Everything our owners promised us you’ve got it. Enjoy it.”
To which a Villa fan responded: “You had everything with Upton Park…. (Apart from size but the atmosphere was brilliant).”
Another West Ham fan said the club should have done something similar at Upton Park instead of moving to the former Olympic Stadium.
“We could have done this to Upton Park instead of playing at the Pit of Misery,” he said.
A pained West Ham supporter wistfully added: “Building on what they have.”
Another Hammer praised Villa for not moving to a new stadium.
“Class. Good on them for not moving. Villa Park is a proper ground,” he said.
One supporter even said seeing the news made him hate his club.
“Old school ground getting an easy upgrade… Oh I hate West Ham,” he said.
‘Villa didn’t need a 60k ground to compete’
“They didn’t need a 60,000 seater to compete either,” a fellow Hammer said of Villa.
The West Ham owners should have emulated what Villa are about to do according to another fan.
“We could’ve done this to Upton Park,” he said alongside a crying emoji.
Big Hammers account COYIrons agreed, saying: “This is what they should’ve done to Upton Park.”
West Ham fan Jack Hobbs doesn’t think the club would have enjoyed their recent success if it wasn’t for the London Stadium move, but believes Villa prove it may not have been necessary after all.
He said: “The move to the London Stadium has been controversial but I think we wouldn’t have had those amazing seasons in Europe without it. However seeing this, it just makes you wonder why we couldn’t have attempted this at Upton Park.”
One man who does think the stadium move was the right thing for West Ham to do is Paolo Di Canio.
Speaking recently, Di Canio said David Sullivan has been proved right about the switch.
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