Stubbornness — on all sides

[WhereDoesThisEnd]

For as long as many of us can remember, West Ham have bounced between relegation fights and promotion pushes. In plenty of those seasons we got through because we stuck together and the place was loud when it mattered.This feels like one of those seasons where we could end up on the wrong side of the line. And if we’re honest, something around the club feels off.Since the move from Upton Park, I can’t help feeling that a section of the fanbase almost sees relegation as a punishment for Sullivan. But if that happens, the only people who really pay for it are the team and the supporters. A flat, divided crowd doesn’t help anyone. We’ve all seen on European nights that the London Stadium can be a great atmosphere when everyone’s at it.At the same time, it’s hard to know what Sullivan actually wants. He could probably have sold up for a big profit when we were pushing top six and doing well in Europe, but he didn’t. From the outside, it just looks like stubbornness on both sides.My kids don’t have the same attachment to Upton Park — they were too young. They just love West Ham as it is. Maybe that says something. Maybe those of us still hung up on the move need to accept it’s not changing, and maybe Sullivan needs to see that the relationship with a lot of the fanbase is worn out.Let the next generation just support the club without carrying all this baggage. Right now it feels like all of us — Sullivan and some of us older fans — are getting in the way.West Ham should be about what comes next, not just what’s gone.
 

 

[southbankbornnbred]

I think part of the issue is simply how long Sullivan has been here. Over that time, football and society have both changed, and he’s become the face of that change at West Ham.

 There are fair criticisms. He hasn’t always managed modernisation or supporter relations well. The move to the London Stadium was one most owners would likely have made, but more could have been done to improve the fan experience. The away view is poor, and the stadium could feel more like home if that had been prioritised.

 But that doesn’t make him the villain some portray. It makes him a businessman who’s owned the club through a period of huge change and hasn’t always handled the fan relationship as well as he could have.

 

 

This is just misplaced simpering towards a self-interested man (and his acolytes) who actively set out to uproot the club from its community and, as we have seen, its fanbase in pursuit of millions.

Honestly, I fucking love West Ham fans to bits. But there’s always a gullible few. I just hope those dopes don’t become the norm.

[wils]

That’s what irks me more. Change is inevitable. But what kind of change you see is not.

This is my view too.

Where I agree with the OP, though, is that many of the fans have a tendency to be parochial about the problems and the solutions. As the other thread on modern fans make clear, most of the problems aren't just about West Ham owners or stadium moves in general as even established clubs in old stadiums are seeing similar problems. It's caused as much by the broader modern culture as it is by Sullivan, so winning the battle and getting rid of the porno dwarf won't fix everything - if anything.

But even if the fight is lost before we start, which I don't think it necessarily is - at least not completely, expecting the new generation to accept West Ham as it is, is not an answer either. If things are left to progress in the direction they are going there will not be any link between the generations. There will be no heritage to bind the different generations together. It all becomes meaningless. So if they do follow football they'll just support the most convenient club to follow.

[Massive Attack]

Right now it feels like all of us — Sullivan and some of us older fans — are getting in the way.
 
 

How fucking insulting.

The Club ain't just for the younger whipper snappers to crack on. It is all our Club from knee high to the old codgers still knocking about like my old man is. He just as much as myself and the younger lot in our family have an equal footing in the Club. I certainly don't regard the older lot getting in anyone's way, in fact a lot of the time it's the old guard who are getting involved in meaningful Protests because we care and worry about the direction of travel we have been heading in. I would expect someone like Shady Brady to come out with a line like that. 

The only cunts who are getting in the way is Sullivan and Brady. That's it.

[Mike Oxsaw]

I think part of the issue is simply how long Sullivan has been here. Over that time, football and society have both changed, and he’s become the face of that change at West Ham.

 There are fair criticisms. He hasn’t always managed modernisation or supporter relations well. The move to the London Stadium was one most owners would likely have made, but more could have been done to improve the fan experience. The away view is poor, and the stadium could feel more like home if that had been prioritised.

 But that doesn’t make him the villain some portray. It makes him a businessman who’s owned the club through a period of huge change and hasn’t always handled the fan relationship as well as he could have.

That's one of the major bones of contention though.

The game has changed, the world has changed, but the changes Sullivan has made have not been compatible with what everybody else is doing (or what West Ham fans want).

It could actually be argued that he's not changed a bit since he became involved in football; he's a "King Canute" resisting the tide of global change and still trying to impose on everybody else processes & procedures that stopped working at least a decade - probably two decades -  ago,

[WhereDoesThisEnd]

I think part of the issue is simply how long Sullivan has been here. Over that time, football and society have both changed, and he’s become the face of that change at West Ham.

 There are fair criticisms. He hasn’t always managed modernisation or supporter relations well. The move to the London Stadium was one most owners would likely have made, but more could have been done to improve the fan experience. The away view is poor, and the stadium could feel more like home if that had been prioritised.

 But that doesn’t make him the villain some portray. It makes him a businessman who’s owned the club through a period of huge change and hasn’t always handled the fan relationship as well as he could have.

[Takashi Miike]

"but it’s not just a West Ham problem"

But it is. No other top level ownership group have uprooted their fan base from a much loved home to a rented & completely unsuitable athletics track. A stadium that gives us zero home advantage, and such is now the brunt of jokes (quite rightly) from every away support that visits there. Apart from the cup win, it's been a miserable sixteen years under them. Manager after manager delivering negative, shit football. No other top level ownership group, as far as I know, has it's own in house propaganda team made up of ITKs that pretend to love the club, but are quite willing to do the bidding of the main shareholder. Openly winding up fans since they bought the club, spinning lies and generally leading the gullible down the garden path as things get worse. Modernity doesn't give these cunts, and that's what they are, the right to treat the fan base like shit

[Mike Oxsaw]

Another take on this is brands and where they have strategic influence.

As fans we are 100% part of Brand West Ham (London (- spit!)), but the owners are 20% part of Brand PL.

Becoming also a part of Brand CL is clearly beyond the dreams and abilities of our current board, so their business model is simply maintain PL status at minimum cost - that is an income stream that Sullivan is content with and knows what to expect each year.

40 games a season to keep his (HIS!!!) cash flow to an absolute minimum is his ideal, with the mandatory 2 cup entry (& exit) games away at a London based opponent.

We want a few dreams that don't fade & die - he wants a 100% predictable cash flow. Mr Chalk? Can I introduce you to Miss Cheese? Miss Cheese? This is Mr. Chalk. Try to get on nicely now.

[kylay]

Someone mentioned the recent modern football thread and I’m sure there’s probably been a “benefits of non-league” thread at some point too. 

My point really is that what’s happening at West Ham isn’t unique to West Ham. It’s happening across football and, honestly, across life in general. Things change, priorities shift and each generation experiences things differently. Sullivan has almost become a symbol of that shift. A kind of living reminder that the game many of us grew up with isn’t the same anymore. That’s uncomfortable, but it’s bigger than one person. 

My own reaction has just been to accept it for what it is. I hold my nose at times, still take my kids so they can experience West Ham as it exists now, and let them build their own connection to it. That’s their version of the club. 

For me personally, I get more of my football enjoyment from non-league these days because it feels closer to the game I grew up with. That works for me without meaning I’ve stopped caring about West Ham. 

I just don’t think “beating Sullivan”, however people define that, fixes what they’re really frustrated with. The game has evolved and will keep evolving. Fighting that head-on usually just leaves people more frustrated. That’s not surrender, it’s just recognising the world moves on and finding the parts of football that still give you joy.

Sullivan is and has been a shit owner for us. Since Ashley sold on, he's probably the worst in the prem. The fans understandably want him out, and that is what this is all about. He made promises he could not deliver, and fans are understandably upset given what was given up while he's been minted as a billionaire. And your initial assertion that relegation hurts players and supporters more than the owner is patently false. West Ham's valuation will crater in the championship which isn't to suggest I want relegation. Finally, your assertion here that you enjoy non-league more seems to contradict your initial point as well. If you want to grin and bear it that's fine but don't tell others what to think and how to act about the state of affairs. 

[southbankbornnbred]

  by southbankbornnbred » 04 Feb 2026, 13:18

Everything changes. This isn’t some master plan unique to Sullivan or West Ham. It’s happening across society.

 When we were kids, we’d get on our bikes at 8am, knock for our mates, and come back at dark. Those days were brilliant. Now kids, and adults, are glued to screens. Families sit in the same house barely speaking. That didn’t happen because one villain decided it; it’s the result of technology, economics and cultural shifts shaping how we live.

 Football has followed the same path. The way we experienced Upton Park and football culture generally has been replaced by a more sanitised, commercial, regulated version. Some of that is corporate, some is safety requirements, some is modern economics. But it’s part of a wider evolution, not a single-owner conspiracy.

 You can dislike it, and plenty do, but it’s not just a West Ham problem  or even just a football problem. It’s how the modern world moves. The game we fell in love with exists in a different environment now.

 That doesn’t mean tradition has no value. It just means the forces changing it are bigger than one chairman or one club.

Of course everything changes - it’s hardly incisive to point that out. It changed, at West Ham, in every era after our formation. But “change” should not be used as a cover to rip the heart and soul out of a club in pursuit of a very obvious self-serving agenda. But too many fans (thankfully, not many on here) seem content to sip down the warm diarrhoea currently being served in the name of modernisation.

That’s what irks me more. Change is inevitable. But what kind of change you see is not.

[WhereDoesThisEnd]

  by southbankbornnbred » 04 Feb 2026, 13:18

Everything changes. This isn’t some master plan unique to Sullivan or West Ham. It’s happening across society.

 When we were kids, we’d get on our bikes at 8am, knock for our mates, and come back at dark. Those days were brilliant. Now kids, and adults, are glued to screens. Families sit in the same house barely speaking. That didn’t happen because one villain decided it; it’s the result of technology, economics and cultural shifts shaping how we live.

 Football has followed the same path. The way we experienced Upton Park and football culture generally has been replaced by a more sanitised, commercial, regulated version. Some of that is corporate, some is safety requirements, some is modern economics. But it’s part of a wider evolution, not a single-owner conspiracy.

 You can dislike it, and plenty do, but it’s not just a West Ham problem  or even just a football problem. It’s how the modern world moves. The game we fell in love with exists in a different environment now.

 That doesn’t mean tradition has no value. It just means the forces changing it are bigger than one chairman or one club.

[southbankbornnbred]

For as long as many of us can remember, West Ham have bounced between relegation fights and promotion pushes. In plenty of those seasons we got through because we stuck together and the place was loud when it mattered.This feels like one of those seasons where we could end up on the wrong side of the line. And if we’re honest, something around the club feels off.Since the move from Upton Park, I can’t help feeling that a section of the fanbase almost sees relegation as a punishment for Sullivan. But if that happens, the only people who really pay for it are the team and the supporters. A flat, divided crowd doesn’t help anyone. We’ve all seen on European nights that the London Stadium can be a great atmosphere when everyone’s at it.At the same time, it’s hard to know what Sullivan actually wants. He could probably have sold up for a big profit when we were pushing top six and doing well in Europe, but he didn’t. From the outside, it just looks like stubbornness on both sides.My kids don’t have the same attachment to Upton Park — they were too young. They just love West Ham as it is. Maybe that says something. Maybe those of us still hung up on the move need to accept it’s not changing, and maybe Sullivan needs to see that the relationship with a lot of the fanbase is worn out.Let the next generation just support the club without carrying all this baggage. Right now it feels like all of us — Sullivan and some of us older fans — are getting in the way.West Ham should be about what comes next, not just what’s gone.
 


 

Can’t disagree with this more.

This is just a fight-less surrender to a terrible owner and his cabal, who have long planned to sanitise the club - and its fans - while they readied for a sale that will make them hundreds of millions.

I’m sorry, but the past - and present - matters. Sure, all clubs need to have one eye on the future. But if you don’t learn the lessons of the past, you’ll be condemned to repeat them. Burying heads in the sand in the forlorn hope of a brighter future is just spineless “what will be, will be” shite I’d expect from Fulham fans. Or rugby supporters.

West Ham matters for so many reasons. And many of them are the traditions, histories and past (and present) fans of the club.

”Oh well, maybe our kids will like it one day” is not something I’d support. Not least because we already know that the stadium is generally a soul-less athletics track that future fans do not deserve. A pathetic experience in contrast to the club’s visceral, working-class roots.

But a divided fanbase we are. Personally, I think it’s sad. And I think we can’t let Sullivan, Mrs Ozempic and others get away with this shit. Relegation or not.

[Gank]

I had no choice but to support West Ham. I am moving  from Canterbury to Whitstable in six weeks, near the "Oysters" ground, so I will start going over there

The Neptune pub on the beach at Whitstable is run / owned by a West Ham guy iirc. Used to be, anyway.

Yes, it still is.

[Fat, Bald n 50]

Interesting and broad responses from everyone.

I completely understand how Gank feels. I’d love to be back at Upton Park too. But I do worry that phrases like “we don’t stand back and let what matters get decimated” end up translating into flat atmospheres at must-win relegation games and those gritty six-pointers are what many of us grew up on. When we were in those battles before, the crowd dragged the team through.

Same with the idea that hostility toward Sullivan is the club’s soul. I’m not sure I see it that way. For me, the soul was always the supporters backing the team regardless of who was upstairs. If that goes, that’s when something real is lost.

At the same time, I do relate to what’s been said about generational change. Every generation experiences football differently. Younger fans don’t carry the same baggage about Upton Park because they didn’t live it. They just know West Ham as it is now, and that’s fair enough. The game moves on whether we like it or not.

I think I’ve reached the point where I’m making peace with that. Let the younger lot enjoy the modern version of the game. If they love it, that’s good for the club long term.

Personally, I find myself enjoying non-league more these days. It reminds me of what football used to feel like.  Clubs like Billericay, Brentwood, Hornchurch, Chatham, Dartford, Folkestone, Ramsgate because they’re drawing proper crowds (1000 plus) and chasing promotions for their towns. 

That doesn’t mean I stop caring about West Ham. I always will. I’ll still look out for the Irons. But maybe it doesn’t have to be the only place I get my football fix anymore. I'll leave it to the kids to enjoy their own version of modern football.

Just my honest take.

It's a good post and an understandable take. Welcome to WHO by the way....always good to have a new viewpoint.

Eventually football will become franchised, when an owner gets pissed off they will uproot the team and move them to a different location, imagine we could become the Telford Hammers United

[BRANDED]

The game in general has now become heavily commercialised and heavily sanitised.

A grass line advertised on the back of seats in case you hear some hurty words that make you feel uncomfortable.
.
Say the wrong thing, sing the wrong song or fly the wrong flag and your out and won't be coming back anytime soon

I'm not of course condoning any kind of racist or homophobic language but the lines have become blurred and people are now being pulled up for venting there spleen or using a few swear words.

Its ost its humour earthiness and is becoming increasingly woke and middle class especially at home.
.
A lot of your traditional fans now feel as if they don't belong or are unwanted in favour of the new breed of consumer football fans with their popcorn and half and half scarves taking selfies and checking there football bets / fantasy teams rather than becoming invested in what's actually happening on the pitch.

Away from home however the atmosphere amongst the travelling faithful seems to be a lot better and a lot more raucous which is how it should be 

 

Dont be such a poof

[David LE]

I had no choice but to support West Ham. I am moving  from Canterbury to Whitstable in six weeks, near the "Oysters" ground, so I will start going over there

The Neptune pub on the beach at Whitstable is run / owned by a West Ham guy iirc. Used to be, anyway.

[Gary Strodders shank]

The game in general has now become heavily commercialised and heavily sanitised.

A grass line advertised on the back of seats in case you hear some hurty words that make you feel uncomfortable.
.
Say the wrong thing, sing the wrong song or fly the wrong flag and your out and won't be coming back anytime soon

I'm not of course condoning any kind of racist or homophobic language but the lines have become blurred and people are now being pulled up for venting there spleen or using a few swear words.

Its ost its humour earthiness and is becoming increasingly woke and middle class especially at home.
.
A lot of your traditional fans now feel as if they don't belong or are unwanted in favour of the new breed of consumer football fans with their popcorn and half and half scarves taking selfies and checking there football bets / fantasy teams rather than becoming invested in what's actually happening on the pitch.

Away from home however the atmosphere amongst the travelling faithful seems to be a lot better and a lot more raucous which is how it should be 
 

[wils]

Someone mentioned the recent modern football thread and I’m sure there’s probably been a “benefits of non-league” thread at some point too. 

My point really is that what’s happening at West Ham isn’t unique to West Ham. It’s happening across football and, honestly, across life in general. Things change, priorities shift and each generation experiences things differently. Sullivan has almost become a symbol of that shift. A kind of living reminder that the game many of us grew up with isn’t the same anymore. That’s uncomfortable, but it’s bigger than one person. 

My own reaction has just been to accept it for what it is. I hold my nose at times, still take my kids so they can experience West Ham as it exists now, and let them build their own connection to it. That’s their version of the club. 

For me personally, I get more of my football enjoyment from non-league these days because it feels closer to the game I grew up with. That works for me without meaning I’ve stopped caring about West Ham. 

I just don’t think “beating Sullivan”, however people define that, fixes what they’re really frustrated with. The game has evolved and will keep evolving. Fighting that head-on usually just leaves people more frustrated. That’s not surrender, it’s just recognising the world moves on and finding the parts of football that still give you joy.

You always hear 'the games gone' and I argue this with my old man, there is more interest in football now than there has been for many years. It was dying in the 80s and look at it now. The thing is, in my view, this isn't just an evolution that the older generation resent or just don't get. We pass down our support for our club as we want our kids to experience what we did. As football changes that experience will change and that's life. But whatever that experience is for your generation it can't happen at all if you aren't emotionally invested in the club. The ups and downs can only happen if you care and you can only care if you can belong.

That's what's under threat here, and that's why the stadiums are going quiet. Tourists won't scream and shout at the team they expect you to do it for them. You who care are as much a spectacle for them as the team on the pitch is. When they outnumber you there is no-one left to do the screaming.

I agree it's not unique to West Ham. I made a similar point posting the modern football thread. But this feels different because it's existential. I am sure football will be around in some form long after we are all gone. But I don't think the thread that binds the different experience we pass down to each generation will be. That sense of heritage is dying and it may be futile to think we can resist it. But we as its custodians shouldn't let it go gentle into that good night, we should rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[BRANDED]

BTW, I dont necessarily love West Ham, I just hate all the other cunts.

[WhereDoesThisEnd]

Someone mentioned the recent modern football thread and I’m sure there’s probably been a “benefits of non-league” thread at some point too. 

My point really is that what’s happening at West Ham isn’t unique to West Ham. It’s happening across football and, honestly, across life in general. Things change, priorities shift and each generation experiences things differently. Sullivan has almost become a symbol of that shift. A kind of living reminder that the game many of us grew up with isn’t the same anymore. That’s uncomfortable, but it’s bigger than one person. 

My own reaction has just been to accept it for what it is. I hold my nose at times, still take my kids so they can experience West Ham as it exists now, and let them build their own connection to it. That’s their version of the club. 

For me personally, I get more of my football enjoyment from non-league these days because it feels closer to the game I grew up with. That works for me without meaning I’ve stopped caring about West Ham. 

I just don’t think “beating Sullivan”, however people define that, fixes what they’re really frustrated with. The game has evolved and will keep evolving. Fighting that head-on usually just leaves people more frustrated. That’s not surrender, it’s just recognising the world moves on and finding the parts of football that still give you joy.

[eusebiovic]

I've accepted we'll never go back to what was. All clubs who make the move we did away from a ground we loved to a new home go through this. Most big clubs make a success of it eventually, my worry is that we have got the last 10 years wrong, so very badly wrong that we could eventually go to the wall. I think we have a stubborn owner who belongs in the last century in the way he conducts business, compounds bad decision upon bad decision and I think he has us with one foot in administration already. He thinks we are worth hundreds of millions but will end up selling for a nominal pound to someone who's willing to take on our debt.  We wont bounce straight back, not a fucking hope in hell of that. Anything decent about this squad is up for sale in the summer and we'll be left with Sullivan, his next cheapo managerial option, league one quality dross and the youngsters. 

 

 

They have run the football side of the club so fucking badly that I don't know where they get this ridiculous £800 million plus valuation from. 

If I was a billionaire looking to buy the club then I would not want to subsidise the debt they have built up from their shocking transfer activity and refusal to embrace a good scouting and analytics database which is an ongoing expense which at the very least gives you a net return every year compared what it costs to maintain every season which is up to £3million if Brighton are anything to go by.

That would be £250 million off the price right there.

I'd look at the shocking state of the training ground and all the different sites where various bits are located and think it's going to cost me at least £50 million to amalgamate and build a state of the art training complex.

Then I would notice that the club doesn't own the FREEHOLD to the stadium and think that's another expense that will cost at least another £50-100 Million to sort out. Then there's the question of a completely new refurb or even demolition and rebuild on the same site. How much would that cost?

So that's £350 million and counting...

Nearly everyone would walk away...unless it's a crazy oligarch or similar but even they would think twice about the economic viability.

It's an absolute shitshow.

[WHU(Exeter)]

What Gank said.

also, “maybe Sullivan needs to see that the relationship with a lot of the fanbase is worn out” 

Sullivan and Brady knew that would be the case from day one, as they tried to change the fabric of the fanbase, just like they did at Birmingham City.

They know best, which would be great if they actually did.

[Gary Strodders shank]

I watch non league football regularly but would never forsake a West ham game for it as they are still the club I love despite our current plight 

Once you give it up and stop going then you are unlikely to return it's almost a case of use it or lose it 

That first half at the bridge yesterday was a prime example of why i still go to games and the second half collapse typifies our fortunes and what you go through as a West ham fan.

It's the hope that kills you I guess but yesterday was nothing new.as we have all seen us snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on numerous occasions over the years.

As a young fan growing up it was all about the buzz of matchday and being with your pals and like-minded people .
The banter and the laughs the sense of danger sometimes too but it was in many ways a rite of passage .

I didn't sign up for a lifetime of glory and trophies I joined up because I loved the club the people and what they stood for.

I was in amongst the Chelsea yesterday as I can't get an away ticket for love nor money and it struck me watching some of their antics when we were two nil up that a lot of what we moan about is not unique.

Tourist fans aplenty, booing the team off at half time despite all they have achieved (bought) fans pissing off to the bar with 15 minutes to go to half time.

A muted atmosphere apart from our magnificent vociferous fans until they scored, and generally thinking they had the divine right to win (which is something we never display)

They are just a bunch of spoilt dim witted muggy boneheads basically and today despite the capitulation and the state of the club generally I'm still proud to be a West Ham fan and not one of that lot or of any other club.

As we all get older the number of fans coming through the gate at the bowl who have never been to Upton park will of course increase but its still important to keep the traditions alive and the values and ethos intact.

Support the team and if the football is shit still enjoy the day out.





 

[WhereDoesThisEnd]

only1billybonds » 01 Feb 2026, 12:


I’m with you on this. For me, continuing to take our kids and grandkids and just letting them enjoy it for what it is isn’t giving up on the club. It’s making sure the connection carries on.

 We had our version of West Ham and they’ll have theirs. If they grow up loving the badge and the club in their own way, that’s not losing something, that’s keeping it alive. 

That feels less like letting go and more like making sure it lasts beyond us.

[only1billybonds]

This is about acceptance as much as anything else.
From the early 70's, I was in the 'never missed a home game' club after being taken to UP in the middle 60's by my old man. I first noticed a big change when it went all seater, the whole layout was obviously different and while being far from hideous,I wshed it had never changed from the shithole I fell in love with as a kid.  

The recent  Modern football fan thread covered many of the reasons why things are  so different now so no point repeating them but on a personal level, iv'e accepted that regardless of whatever changes have occurred in the game/matchday experience, I've also changed. I went to UP for the first time still a kid ,I'm a grandparent now and my priorities have changed massively. The days when nothing got in the way of me going to a game have long gone and I'm more than comfortable with that. I have come to accept that UP has goneas hasvthat stage of my life and I don't feel the same about the game any more. Owners,players and managers will come and go but the badge and the club is forever, I'll always love West Ham but these days,they just aren't the biggest thing in my life anymore.I'm  In total agreement with the OP, let the younger ones have it now and enjoy/suffer it for what it is. If they have half of the fun I had years ago their time wont have been wasted.


 

[WhereDoesThisEnd]

wils » 01 Feb 2026, 12:22

I get what you’re saying about fans feeling treated more like customers and why things like the “London” branding annoy people. It can feel like identity gets diluted in the push for broader appeal. Anyone who’s followed the club a long time can understand why that jars.

Where I see it slightly differently is what we do with that feeling. The one thing owners can’t brand or manufacture is real support and atmosphere. That only comes from fans. If that disappears from the stands, it doesn’t hurt the owner much in the short term, but it does change what the club feels like.

I also think Sullivan has become a bit of a symbol at West Ham for the wider generational shift in football. The game is more commercial and global, and younger fans are growing up with that as normal. That change is happening across the sport, not just here, and it doesn’t vanish with a different owner.

Personally I’ve found myself enjoying non-league more these days because it gives me that older feeling of connection. But that doesn’t mean the next generation shouldn’t enjoy West Ham as it is now. Allowing and encouraging younger fans to support the team in their own way is probably how the club’s identity carries on, even if it looks different to what we grew up with.

I still take my boys when I can, I smile in the bowl, grab some food in a chain in Westfield and support the side - really for them. That’s their version of West Ham and they love it. Maybe that’s just football moving on.