West Ham United moved to the London Stadium from Upton Park way back in the summer of 2016.
The move to the London Stadium from Upton Park was sold to the West Ham fans as a necessary one, in order to compete with the biggest clubs in the world.
And the West Ham owners may well argue that that promise has actually come to fruition, after the Hammers won the Europa Conference League in 2023.
However, it’s obviously not as straightforward as that, and more context is definitely needed.
The atmosphere inside the London Stadium during many of West Ham’s games has been toxic.
The West Ham fans will be able to count on one hand the games that have produced special atmospheres – notably the 2022 Europa League clash with Sevilla and the Premier League win over Liverpool in 2021.
However, on the most part, the London Stadium continues to be a real bone of contention amongst the Hammers fans.
London Stadium revelation proves how far West Ham have fallen
Long gone are the days when opposing teams would dread playing away against West Ham.
The intimidation factor died when the Hammers left Upton Park.
Oliver Holt – a football journalist for The Daily Mail – has compiled a list of the best and worst stadiums of all 92 English league clubs.
It will perhaps be no surprise to the Hammers fans that Holt rated the London Stadium as the fourth worst in the country.
If the West Ham supporters are being honest, they would probably say that their ground should have been rated dead last by Holt, rather than 89th.
“I don’t even like calling it the London Stadium,“ Holt said. It’s the Olympic Stadium, but it suits the David Sullivan-Karren Brady rebrand of the club to give it the capital’s name.
“It was a great athletics arena and home to a whole host of golden memories at London 2012 but it’s a dog’s dinner of a football ground.
“It’s also a monument to much that is wrong with the top flight of the English game: a surrender of identity and tradition as collateral damage in the owners’ pursuit of profit.
“Walking to it, sadly, feels a bit like walking through a wasteland and its odd configuration inside harms the atmosphere even though the fans are right up there with the best in the country.
“The old stadium at Upton Park was intimate and raucous and intimidating. The London Stadium is nothing like that.
“The owners spent a lot of time congratulating themselves on the deal they did to move to the new ground: they’re the archetypes of football owners who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.“
The only consolation for the West Ham fans is that Millwall’s stadium was rated worse than theirs, with The Den coming in dead last at 92nd.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka made interesting London Stadium claim
West Ham right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been one of the club’s best players this season.
He joined the Hammers from Manchester United in the summer.
And Wan-Bissaka recently offered his verdict on the London Stadium:
“Making London Stadium our home. It’s a beautiful stadium. Before I joined, I had played here but was on the other end, so to experience it on this end is very special and has been an incredible feeling.”
Despite what the 27-year-old may say, it’s clear that the West Ham owners need to look at ways of improving the London Stadium.
Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen until the club own the arena outright.
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