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Infidel 8:06 Sat Oct 21
A bit of perspective
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I was there last night and endured one of the most painful nights in my 50 years of being West Ham.
But let's get a bit of perspective because our club has a great future ahead of it.
First, the stadium: it's magnificent. That was my first visit last night and I was fearing the worst, but jesus wept it's a fantastic new home for our club. It's enormous, it's spectacular, it's imposing and it makes a statement about our ambition as a club. I absolutely love it.
The atmosphere was terrible but I remember the threads on here a few months ago when we beat Tottenham and everyone to a man, talked about how brilliant the atmosphere was that night.
The atmosphere is driven by what happens on the pitch. That is a fact. There were many games - more than I care to remember - when the atmosphere at UP was even flatter than last night. When the team starts playing well and winning games that place will be electric.
Yes it's a big change from the cosy intimacy of UP, but I remember when UP went all-seater and thinking they had destroyed everything that was good about going to a match. There was a sense of end-of-an-era, things will never be the same again etc. The kids on here will never know what it was like to stand on the terraces but let me tell you that is the way to watch football, not from a seat. But we all got used to the seats in time and we'll get used to our new home in time as well.
Second, we have a great squad. One of the best we have had in a long time. This squad should be top 6. Yes we could do with a few more options in key positions but most of the clubs above us have half the quality we have. We are where we are because of management, no because the players are no good.
Third Bilic has run out of rope and will be gone very soon. The club is bigger than any one manager and I'm absolutely convinced a decent manager could get these players to add up to more than the sum of their parts rather than less. There are some interesting names in the frame so let's see what the next few weeks brings.
And finally, the owners are also temporary. Passing through you could say. Gold is in his 80s and Sullivan almost 70 so we don't have long to wait. We will be bought soon - a massive London club with a big fan base, a unique history and playing in a huge stadium - it will already be on the radar screens of billionaires and consortiums in every corner of the world. It's just a question of time, a few years at most.
Some will say they don't want us to go the same way as Man City, that you lose the soul of the club. But that's living in the past. The world of football is changing. Leicester City's aberration apart, there is a gap opening up. You are now either a big club in a big stadium with big name players on vast salaries competing for silverware or you are cannon fodder doing damage limitation every week.
I know which one I prefer.
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Replies - In Chronological Order ( Show Newest Messages First)
Surfinglizard
8:11 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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Well said. Nice to read someone who isn't knicker-wetting and pouring shit constantly about this player or that player.
Do any of those who dig out players actually think these people don't want to perform for the club? you are all idiots.
Most sensible post on here for ages.
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BulphanIron
8:17 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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"the stadium: it's magnificent"
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Leave it there shall we...
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Takashi Miike
8:20 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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the stadium is not magnificent
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lab
8:22 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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Paragraph 8 for me .
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chedylan 2
8:24 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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We just need the owners to sell up before they relegate us again
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Side of Ham
8:27 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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Here’s another bit of perspective where Sully lives well into his 90’s hands over to his divvy sons and they follow their fathers mindset of getting in a manager to manage the restraints rather than the pressure and proper investment of taking us forwards.
Too big an ego to sell up and his kids have been brought up to crave the same attention football brings.
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nychammer
8:34 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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New stadium, big London club, massive fan base, new buyers and great prospects for the future. It’s all academic if we are not a top flight club, and we are well on a course not to be that if the current stewards of a our club don’t make the right changes in the here and now.
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twoleftfeet
8:36 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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I haven’t heard the phrase “ knicker wetting “ for ages 😂😂
Good post though, the calm after the storm.
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Lily Hammer
8:41 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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I'm trying to consol myself that despite the shit start to the season, we are only 4 points off the top half, and only 7 points off the european spot, with 3/4 of the season to go.
Somrthing has to change pretty damn quick, though. Last night we looked like genuine relegation candidates.
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swindon hammer
9:02 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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I don't hate the stadium as much as some but it definitely could be a lot better.
I will say that people's memories of Upton Park can be a bit too romantic at times.
Sure we have had some good atmosphere at times but I also remember one of my first games at UP against Luton in the old division 1 on new years day 1988 in front of 15k and the atmosphere was shit.
Not forgetting the last game I ever attended at UP against Swansea when we lost 4-1 and again the atmosphere was shit and loads of people were leaving with 10 minutes to go despite it being the last ever Saturday game at UP and us having a decent season.
There is most definitely faults with the owners and the stadium but for me the biggest fault is the manager who has probably suffered more heavy defeats than any other manager in our history and over the past 15 months has played the same type of football that we crucified the likes of Big Sam & Avram for.
Every manager outside the Big 7 clubs would love to have the likes of Hernandez, Carroll, Antonio, Lanzini, Arnautovic, Reid, Zabaleta available to them and yet even with those players we look like a relegation team.
We have many problems but a decent manager would solve a lot of them.
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Tomshardware
9:11 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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From my perspective we look shit.
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11MDE
9:14 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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Fuck perspective.
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nychammer
9:18 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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We’re 4 points from the top half but not likely to Be heading there any time soon. We have a top half squad playing Sunday league knockabout football, so yes fuck the long term perspective for now please and deal with the problem at hand.
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hornchurchsteve
9:18 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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From my perspective that's a load of bollocks.
The stadium isn't a football stadium, the players are shit and bilic is going nowhere.
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stewie griffin
9:19 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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I'll ignore the bit about the stadium... But you call for perspective and say this squad is top 6? That's beyond ridiculous.
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simon.s
9:20 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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What if Sullivan hands the reigns down to the kids? We have a lifetime of this shit.
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Rio or Anton or Les
9:59 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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Last night had "Avram Grant" written all over it.
I like Billic as a person but these players under him clearly could not give a fuck about him or the club.
Reid and Zab excepted.
Billic should have gone in the summer and Benitez appointed.
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Hermit Road
10:14 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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I like the sentiment in the original post. We have the potential to be much better. In reality though, with such a lack of ambition and vision from the boardroom, it's hard to see that potential ever being realised. Lastly, I think our squad is more than good enough for the top half at the moment, I wpuldnt go further than that though.
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Lertie Button
10:38 Sat Oct 21
Re: A bit of perspective
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It was clear from the first challenge that we weren't up for it last night.
From Sullivan guaranteeing Bilic's job to Bilic's talk about moving up the table, we were rotten with complacency.
The performance reflected that
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