I went to the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final this week and after my brave attendance of the most absurd game of the season, I’ve been asked quite frequently about what that game was like. I can see why people ask me; there were all of like seven people there and of those seven, only three will cop to actually attending the game (including yours truly. I really do have no shame.)
I panic-bought the tickets late at night over the Christmas period. Yes, I had been drinking. Yes, I have regrets. I am still apologising to my mate for buying his ticket. I would have gladly given Sky whatever money we were paid for the rights to the game— and even thrown in Ra’vel Morrison as a goodwill gesture— just to have forfeited that game, but still, I made the trek to Upton Park.
It was a weird and surprisingly emotional evening.
There was embarrassment. We went into the game 6-0 and it didn’t take long for Manchester City to add to their tally—at which point people started leaving for the pub. It’s harder to remember all the other teams whom City put six or more goals past in one game when none of those other teams (Spurs, Norwich City, Arsenal) have had to play them again in such rapid succession.
It was humiliating to have a game broadcast on television with a more or less empty ground. It was heartbreaking to think that outsiders might see that as people completely giving up on their team, whereas the fact that fans were charged in the region of £45 for a ticket to see a game we were unlikely to win was a disgusting and disrespectful decision to both the fans and the players on the part of West Ham United.
For that reason, it was important that the board saw the results of their absurd decision—a mainly empty ground. But it hurt that the rest of the UK had to see it too.
The strange thing about the evening was that amidst the embarrassment there was also a sense of pride. The fans that did foolishly buy tickets didn’t stop singing. Bubbles rang out as loud as ever. There looked to be a great repertoire between Man City’s fans (who traveled exceptionally well, and why not?) and ours—even if we did comically kick off the singing with a rather ironic rendition of “Your Support is Fu…” well, you know the rest.
I felt proud that we didn’t throw out the kids to further the humiliation and instead treated it like a real game— and although I did spend the night feeling like I was watching a reserve game and wished it had been behind closed doors, it was good to see Andy Carroll improving. He’s hungry, and getting closer and closer to full fitness.
However, as nice as it was to having working 3G and not having to queue for the bar (how luxurious is it to have a full 15 minutes to drink a beer?) it was a bitter game to attend, and not just because there was no one around me to block the wind. It was the first time fans really voted with their feet, and it was a visual expression of the frustration that people around the ground are feeling with the current state of affairs at Upton Park. It was a worrying look into what could be the future, unless we begin to improve both on the field and off the field with regards to the club’s relationships with the fans.
We deserve better than we’ve been given lately, and that game was a very painful public plea for much-needed improvement. This was nicely drilled home for me when Kevin Nolan’s attempt was ruled out for offside (naturally) and I heard a kid near me yell “Oh can’t we please just have one!”
Sorry kid; two legs, 180minutes, and we didn’t earn even one.
Did you go to the game? (You can use a fake name if you want so that people don’t know.) How did you feel about the empty seats? Let us know below or tweet me @makingthemarrow
I watched the game on sky in a pub in Scotland, I was up there on a business trip. No one else in the pub was interested but I still watched the whole 90mins. Why? Because I was hoping for something, anything an Andy Carroll goal to get him off the mark. What I saw with the exception of some great runs by ravel and Diame was awful. Starting to think the worse now.
A half empty stadium is a glimpse into the future alright – particularly an Olympic sized one hosting a Championship game where the cheapest ticket is £45. The board made a proper show of themselves with this one, undoing all the good work from before with the kids for a quid games etc – I couldn’t face watching this game but still ended up listening on the radio and all the commentators kept going on about was the how outrageous it was that even though they changed it to kids for a quid, adult tickets were still £45. I paid half that for superb seats in the FA Cup against united last season (although we lost, just – it was a great game to take my two boys to. Can’t say the same about this one.
I am not embarrassed to say I went, far from it. I am proud to say that I backed the team from start to finish. I sit in the first seat next to the away fans behind the goal and the people who sit (stand) in that area turned out in force because we want the opposition to see we have got loyal fans and no matter how much we are getting humiliated on the pitch, we will never let the away fans get the better of us either in wit or noise! There was not an empty seat in my area, in fact others were in our seats when we arrived just before kick-off.
The only good thing about WestHam is the fans most of the time!
I went, feeling a certain masochistic need to be there that I still can’t quite fathom out. Also, when I arrived, in a nearly empty stadium, someone was sitting in my seat! (BMU). Plenty of banter and good humour throughout the game (along with a lot of abuse for Fat Sam).
G&S really cleaned up on Tuesday night, they royally tucked the fans up good and proper….selling the second leg tickets before the first leg, they’re not silly, did they care if there weren’t many fans there? I doubt it, they’d already raked the ticket money in.
Hi. I brought a ticket and decided not to go . Having made the trip to manchester for the 1st leg I really could not be bothered . Glad it’s all over ….looking forward to Chelsea next week …
We have lost our soul. I watched the game from the comfort of a bar , no one else interested! Could not believe that these guys earn a week what the average punter earns every year or so and they don’t put in a shift. Part of me says the players should really look at themselves and the other part says this is a man management issue and the board really need to decide what they want for this iconic club, stop p…ing about with shite loan deals and get a coach who can begin to get a team to play the west ham way, we may concede 6 but we will have scored 5. In 45 years I have never thought we would ever win the league or a champions league qualifier, but playing good football and developing the next England hero,s is enough to make you proud of a team that is West Ham United. Come on G&S you must know how we feel!. Sort it!
Yes, it’s taken a lot of years for West Ham to build up their great support base. I wish that the owners & staff appreciated that more, as in the old days it was considered a really good turn out if West Ham got a 30,000 attendance, which used rarely ever happen. No the owners & staff need to wake up & appreciate more, the incredible support they have been getting with almost full houses of 35,000. 35,000 could have only been dreamed about in the old days, but the cracks are beginning to show now with only 33,343 in attendance last week v Newcastle. In regards our current situation;
For survival for all games, I think West Ham have to have Reid back, with a line up as close to this as possible; Jääskeläinen, Reid, McCartney, Noble, Nolan, Morrison, Jarvis, Diamé, Carroll, C.Cole, Downing (Forget about the blasted window. These & subs are who we have to work with)
V Chelsea; Go for 0-0 &/or at least 1 pt
V Swansea; of course 3 pts
V Villa; same tactics as Chelsea & go for 1 pt
V Norwich; of course 3 pts
V Southampton; we beat these 4-1 at home last year, go for 3 pts
V Everton; (try for 1 pt)
V Hull; of course 3 pts
V Stoke; at least 1 pt
V Man Utd; same as last year, 1 pt
V Sunderland; at least 1 pt
V Liverpool; (try for 1 pt)
V Arsenal; sorry can’t see any pts there
V Palace; of course 3 pts
V West Brom; at least 1 pt
V Spurs; at least 1 pt
V Man City; sorry can’t see any pts there
6 wins & 4 draws are needed &/or a total equaling 22 pts
Summary – Optimistic = add 24pts – totals 42pts. Negative = add 15pts – totals 33 pts (same as Grant got) & relegation. If you go between these 2 totals & average a total of 38 pts, then that may be enough, (as the top 9 clubs seem to be bagging most of the points & like under Zola even 35 pts could be enough) nobody knows & hey, isn’t that why everyone loves this game? Because nobody knows, but I can’t see safety gained before the Spurs game. If that is the case then we’ll have to beat Spurs for the 3rd time this season. It could go down to the wire, but then again, it could be all over for us after 36 games. Even Grant took us to the 37th game before getting us relegated. I can see no more than 5 wins & 4 draws = only a 37 pts total. The acid test for me was the game against Newcastle last week. We needed to have won that game. If we had, I would have felt more confident about us getting 40 pts, now, I don’t know, and ironically, Newcastle probably won’t even need those 3 points as they may not even qualify for Europe, but that’s life eh? Who knows the lads may surprise us & really lift their game, let’s hope so!
Me and me son…both S.T. holders were there having bought our tickets when they first went on sale…Gold & Sullivan took the mick regarding the ticket price,& ‘The Un-Chosen one ‘Allardyce is taking the mick out of all of us…ive been going West Ham since my Dad (r.i.p) first took me in 1968 and can honestly say this is the lowest claret n blues feeling i can remember & to top it all off after the mullering by Citeh the team gets to go to Dubai for a bit of training in the sun and the club try and justify the trip (because they know it is a serious piss-take) by putting out a statement saying how well the team did after a similar jaunt in 2012..try telling that to the mong in charge Allardyce who has already said “we cant beat Chelsea” next week ..imagine the likes of Billy Bonds saying that..you’d never hear it he wouldnt even consider we’d get beat until the final whistle he’d be geeing the side up spouting “go and rip the bastards heads off”..25/01/2014.Allardyce in charge played 22-18pts.. 25/01/2011 Grant in charge played 24-21pts…that season when we went down G& S and the fans all moaning we should have got rid of Grant in that January..(if a kid puts his finger into an electric socket he learns not to do it again because it bloody hurts) history repeating itself ..Allardyce is a dodge-pot…i heard his son is agent to half the team(?)…C.O.Y.F.I
To many seasons hoping for points to survive. The tide will turn for the club but only when we get a new owner. If you don’t spend you know what will happen, yes we might survive ( personally I don’t think so) but for what another season of oh this is a six pointer, every match this is the one we must win and we don’t. True fans deserve better than this IT’S NOT YOUR CLUB SULLIVAN & GOLD it belongs to the fans go far away!!!
I´ve posted before the only way is to vote with your feet ,how can the board justify the ticket prices to watch a team in which the vast majority of players, not even quality players, have past their sell bye date even before we get them, These two are no better than the last couple of owners we´ve had, in fact probably worse their going to sell the ground.!!!!