With West Ham finally being named tenants of the Olympic Stadium on Friday, I look back to my favourite memory whilst watching the Irons at Upton Park.
Yes we still have three more years at Upton Park and I’m sure there’ll be brilliant memories to come but with the decision made and the reality that in a few years Upton Park will be no more, I sat there thinking over what I’ve witnessed over the 10 years I’ve been going.
It was Tuesday, May the 18th, 2004. West Ham United vs. Ipswich Town in the second leg of the Championship Play-off Semi-Final.
Although it was only a Semi-Final, the energy around the ground before kick-off and the atmosphere made it feel like I was walking up Wembley Way, just like last year.
This I feel is what Alan Pardew was good at; he knew how to pump his fans up. Before kick-off we had our very own opera singer bellowing our Bobby Zamora version of Dean Martin’s Amore. It was something which pumped everyone up and was shortly followed by the teams being led out on to the pitch by what I can only describe without knowing his status, a man and his trumpet. By the time the ref blew his whistle to get the game under way and before the traditional pre-match Bubbles, Upton Park was already engulfed in a sea of noise.
It was something special and something unique. You can’t deny that being at Upton Park, under the lights on a Tuesday night is what makes the ground so special but there was something different about the Ipswich game. We were 1-0 down from the first leg at Portman Road and the fans knew what we had to do to get behind the team and be the twelfth man.
The Hammers ended up winning the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Matthew Etherington and Super Christian Dailly but strangely enough, the memory isn’t the football. It’s how we all came together, cheering the team on as well as we do any other game, no moans, no booing just completely behind the team, hoping the boys can take us to Cardiff.
That’s what I will always remember and miss about Upton Park, the fantastic atmosphere and the deafening noise in the cramped space from crowd to pitch, which has given us the reputation as one of the best if not the best supporters in the country.
Let’s just hope that in three years when we do move over the road, the atmosphere that us fans bring to matches, will still intimidate opposition, encourage our players and inspire us just like at the Boleyn.
yes what a night i was at the back of the east stand that night not far from the ipswich fans you could see on there faces they new west ham were going to win the place was buzzing it was crazy jumping up and down the seats were coming away from the floor of the stand.