West Ham’s Three Year Road To The Olympic Stadium

So it would appear to be official, we are going to Stratford, unless Mr Hearn continues to pipe up or some other complicated legal hurdle presents its self!

I have mixed feelings about the move and I will save these thoughts for another day as it has been discussed to death for the last couple of years and to be honest I am bored to death with it all.

So we will kick off the 2016/17 season in our lovely new claret and blue stadium, which will have a nice 54,000 capacity and according to Mr Gold great value tickets, however, I remain to be convinced on this point though!  Therefore it is vital that we kick the season of in the Premier League, which is where I ask the question, how will the next 3 seasons be approached by the club?

Being relegated is simply not an option and with Sam Allardyce at the helm there is no doubt in my mind  that we have a manager who will ensure that this does not happen.  However, I think we need to prepare ourselves for 3 seasons of stability and ticking along, it is what the club has required for years, we attempted it under Alan Curbishley and the fans got bored, granted the football was dull, Curbishley left, sued the club and the slow painful path to relegation under Grant via Zola began!

Allardyce continues to split opinion amongst the fans, this is a fairly obvious statement for me to make!  At times last season he frustrated the hell out of me, especially his negative and what I considered defeatist attitude/approach away from home, Arsenal in particular bothered me, a complete waste of my evening and money on a cold January evening!  But on the flip side Allardyce on a whole ensures that we pick up points in the games that on paper we should get results from.  Our home form last season was impressive and we played some good stuff at times mixing up our style of play.  When Gerrard plays a long pass the press will comment that it shows great vision, world class etc, West Ham player does it the lazy press will call it a long ball or an aimless punt.  This bugs the hell out of me, but it is what it is, so best get used to it.

Next season will be more of the same, I can see us remaining strong at home, but we need to be braver away from the Boleyn Ground and actually show some goal threat.  There is a lot of average teams in the Premier League and we have enough about us to rise above these teams, despite what the press and Sky want you to think it is not the best league in the world and I find this rather arrogant portrayal a bit embarrassing.

It is important as fans that we see the long term picture, the club need to remain in the Premier League and at times the football will get ugly and our patience will be tested, however, after the last 10 years perhaps a bit of dullness is required!?  I would love to see a few cup runs, but is this in Allardyce’s blue-print?  Probably not, his job is keeping us in the Premier League for the next 3 seasons, which he will do.  Come 2016/17 as a club we should be ready to go to the next level, but will Gold and Sullivan consider Allardyce to be part of their plans for the next chapter?

Oh on a side note loving the new kits, in particular the away one, maybe they can inspire us to reach the heights of 85/86 again, now that would be nice for the next 3 seasons!