Martin Keown claimed that West Ham fans couldn’t intimidate the club’s opposition at the London Stadium.
The former Arsenal player when talking about modern stadiums implied that when the Hammers played at Upton Park, Hammers fans could make a difference due to being so close to the pitch.
“Whenever you play at West Ham, the fans were on top of you and they can’t get that at the London Stadium,” said Keown on talkSPORT (10:57am, Friday, August 30th).
“How can they intimidate, the fans?”
The Hammers left Upton Park, also known as the Boleyn Ground, behind and moved to the London Stadium in 2016.
OPINION
It’s the 2019/20 season and a pundit has ended up speaking negatively about the London Stadium. While Keown didn’t reveal his views directly on the Hammers’ current home ground, the fact he claims fans can’t intimidate opponents anymore in order to help their side, you feel you can work out his view. While there was a lot of frustration when moving to the London Stadium in 2016, the Hammers do seem to be more settled at the London Stadium nowadays. Some Hammers fans may still vocalise the issues they have with the ground, with not being as close to the pitch definitely a problem, but slowly but surely the London Stadium is starting to feel like home. After all small changes such as installing a claret carpet, something the Hammers did in April 2019 (Source: Football.London), makes it feel like the stadium is associated with the club rather than it feel like West Ham are a guest in someone else’s home.
