West Ham fans are doing something completely unprecedented in the history of English football according to leading pundit Jamie Carragher.
Hammers supporters often get a raw deal from rival supporters and the football media.
If they are not being belittled over the ‘West Ham way’ they are being accused of being too demanding or fickle.
In the wake of the club’s relegation from the Premier League, West Ham fans were even rather laughably blamed by some who felt they forced David Moyes out and failed to create an atmosphere to help make the London Stadium a difficult place for the opposition to play.
Carragher: West Ham fans doing something unprecedented
Whatever your opinion on the latter, it doesn’t help that supporters are, on the whole, going to games at a ground they despise.
West Ham are the anchor tenants at the reviled London Stadium.
DISCUSS: The London Stadium could host the 2029 World Athletics Championships 🏅
West Ham would have to play away games for THREE WEEKS! ⚽
And it is somewhat ironic that the bowl-shaped athletics arena has become an anchor around the club since the move to Stratford 10 years ago this summer.
The list of grievances the Hammers faithful have with the stadium is long and unwieldy.
The move, and the broken promises made by the board about it, sit at the very heart of the discontent from supporters towards the ownership.
There have been some memorable atmospheres generated at some matches at the London Stadium – but they are too few and far between.
Hammers fans have been protesting against the owners all season with the stadium still the biggest bone of contention a decade on from leaving the club’s beloved Upton Park home of 112 years.
As a result, Jamie Carragher says West Ham fans are doing something never seen before.
Hammers fans most unhappy with stadium move in history says Carragher
The Sky Sports pundit believes there has never, in the history of English football, been a worse stadium migration for a club.
In a damning indictment on the club’s owners, Carragher told The Overlap he doesn’t know a single West Ham fan who is happy with the move to the London Stadium.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard a fan base so unhappy with a stadium move as West Ham supporters,” Carragher said.
“It it doesn’t feel like anybody anybody’s happy with that or can see any uplift in any way.
“I mean, you get 60,000. What was West Ham 40? 35/40?
“Is there no way you could see what they were thinking in terms of you know more fans, more money into the club to supposedly buy better players, we have more revenue (etc)?”
Carragher’s claim will strike chord with disgruntled Hammers fans.
And it flies directly in the face of Karren Brady’s claim that it was the “most successful stadium migration in history” when West Ham made the controversial move back in 2016.
Let’s remind ourselves exactly what Brady promised when luring West Ham fans away from the Boleyn Ground, including the infamous promises of a state-of-the-art retractable seating solution and a ‘world class team for a world class stadium’.
Brady departed West Ham suddenly last month leaving the club in a worse financial position than when she arrived in 2010 and in a stadium most supporters, as Carragher points out, detest.
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