Thursday 11 March 2010

Football Fans Get The Club They Deserve


Watching Manchester United trounce AC Milan last night, amidst a sea of yellow and green scarves, it struck me that, at the end of the day, football fans get the club they deserve. Manchester United are challenging for three trophies this year because, for all the jibes about Southern glory hunters, their fans expect success and demand quality football from the players selected; and more than this, when something is wrong, they stand up and demand action - irrespective of whether or not they are winning. Whilst Liverpool fans moan about the Board and show misguided loyalty to Benitez and his woefully inadequate team, the Mancs cut through the crap and cheer when cheering is appropriate and protest when something merits their contempt.

Football fans get the club they deserve and that explains why we are now in the mess we are in. Back in the good old days, the days of Lyall and Greenwood, West Ham were a family club with footballing traditions. We didn't win much, but what we won, we won with style. Our football was cultured, distinctive, and our fans were passionate, humorous and honest.

I well remember players getting the bird through the seventies and early eighties and fans telling the players what they thought of their performances in no uncertain terms. This was before the moronic repetitive chant of "Johnny Lyall's Claret and Blue Army" took hold, an oral version of the Mexican wave. We sang Bubbles, we questioned the parentage of the guy in black, we sang "Now you're going to believe us" and other favourites - and we were not shy to cheer nor howl our disgust at individual mistakes. Eustace was nicknamed Useless, Ferguson and Grotier were tolerated but never revered, Best was a figure of fun at times, and not always because of his skin colour...and so it went on.

But we never booed - not an individual and never the team, no matter how disappointing the performance. Booing was uncivilised, like spitting. You could yell "You useless f'in tosser" (the c word was unacceptable) into the face of a player as he collected the ball for a throw in, but you would never boo, just like you would throw a punch in a scrap but you would never spit. We were East End working class but we had standards.

On Saturday, there was a different atmosphere inside the ground. Some of the old humour was there but it had become rancid. The song about Mido is disgusting and so much of the chanting is focused now on hating Lampard, Millwall and Tottenham. For most of the game you would never have guessed that we were playing Bolton. A stranger to football would have been within his rights to ask, which player is Lampard and which side is Millwall and which one Tottenham? The booing at half time was dreadful. Yes I was angry about our first half performance but you do not boo your own team. In fact, you don't boo any team or any player because it is a crassly moronic thing to do.

I am not saying Parker was right here mind. The crowd had every right to be edgy and certainly played their part in offering encouragement when the team gave them the opportunity to do so - the players simply failed to respond. No, the passion was there but it was an infected passion and it is illustrated by the hatred all too often communicated through the comments section of this blog.

Why are we in the mess we are now in? Because too many of our fans are now knee jerk, grunting morons, rallying to the Nuremberg rallying cries of "Gianfranco Zola's Claret and Blue Army" and joining in the chorus of booing, yet unable to think for themselves, reflect dispassionately on the merits of the team and management and are incapable or unwilling to admit to the truth. Supporting West Ham is worn like a badge of loyalty and, like Nazi footsoldiers or bleating sheep, far too many fans are terrified to sing anything other than from the authorised hymn sheet. Mid match they boo to the orders of the oberstanfuhreurs, but at 6.30 they howl abuse at anybody who breaks ranks from the Party and dares to say that the team and management are crap.

Look at the defence of Duxbury. The guy was a tosser who took every West ham fan for a mug. But as long as he was at the club, he was untouchable as far as Three Monkeys Brigade were concerned. Anybody who voiced concerns about the Dark Puppet Master was a "Spud".

Sadly, far too many West Ham fans are mugs. "Thick in the arm and thick in the head" was how my Dad used to describe a certain "type", and sadly that sums up far too many of our modern fan base. Values no longer matter. Hatred has replaced humour. The ability to laugh at ourselves has been forgotten. Booing has replaced the acerbic comment. Blind loyalty has displaced reason.

In Zola we trust? That says it all really! What has he done to merit our trust exactly? But dare to question him and the very guys who boo the team on Saturday, leap to his defence. It makes no sense.

These same fans who now salute the idealist Zola and everything he stands for, once saluted his antithisis, the ultimate pragmatist Curbishley. It is brainless support, the Zeich Heil salute of the Party Member. I am repeatedly told that I don't support West Ham because I dare to question what is going on. That, I am told, is negative. That destroys morale. That makes me a troll and a Spud. No it doesn't, it means I have a brain of my own!

I care about West Ham but the West Ham I care about has become divorced from a large section of the fans. West Ham fans used to understand the game. West Ham fans used to have high expectations. West Ham fans used to be able to laugh at themselves. West Ham fans used to argue amongst themselves but take the fight to the opposition. West Ham fans used to be amongst the best in the land.

Pardew nailed it brilliantly when he wore that "Moore than just a football club" top. Bobby Moore would not recognise many of our modern fans. I support the West Ham Trinity of Moore, Greenwood and Lyall - perhaps we old school fans should wear yellow and green scarves like the Mancs, expressing our support for the soul of our club!

18 comments:

Deane said...

Now that's an article! Well said that man football and society really and that's exactly why I'm not all that bothered about going anymore I'll always love West Ham will always be a supporter but the magic has gone The passion that I immigrated to experience has gone (just glad I did catch a little of it)

Deane said...

something lacking in the grammar ther somewhere but hey I'm only an immigrant

John Stitch said...

You make me die laughing. Have a look at this, you're a prime example... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

Hammersfan said...

LOL very good. No valid comparison at all given the "Running round Tottenham" song and the hissing to simulate the sound of the gas chambers when we play Spurs. But I take your point.

Anonymous said...

Good point.
Well made.
Someone who remembers when going to see West Ham play was a fun day out. Home or away

John Stitch said...

Wait a minute, I'm getting something...Bobby's telling me that in two years we still won't be in the Olympic Stadium..."Moore's law — An empirical observation stating that the complexity of integrated circuits doubles every 24 months." Outlined in 1965

T.I.S said...

To be honest I have to disagree about booing. In the eyes of the fans these are men on ridiculous wages compared to theirs, wanting not even to see a fantastic performance but a spirited one. Call me typical of the younger generation but times have moved on and nostalgia seems to be driving people into depression. When I went to see the Hull game everybody around me was in jubilant spirits because the players were playing well. Playing like how we did against Bolton in the position we're in is inexcusable. Particularly when Suvillan is saying how relegation is not an option. Tell me what makes booing so moronic anyway? Fans will boo together just as they sing and cheer together. I don't understand how you've managed to sum up West Ham's fan base. And lastly you are bound to get a more aggressive response from the majority of people on the internet because people have never met you, painted you in a dark light after a few articles they dislike and will disgree with whatever you say from there onwards. Bring up these subjects in the stadium and people will react differently.

el martillo said...

Good article and similar, though more extensive, to the comments I made after going to the Sunderland game last year after a long absence. The banter used to be as big a part of the occasion as the match, but now it's uninspired and abusive. I wonder whether seating has anything to do with it, you were free in those days to find your own pitch, week by week, somewhere you felt comfortable. I think perhaps it's a generational thing, but I very much doubt whether your blog would have received the sort of moronic comments that it is prone to now. Talking of which; where are the abusive anona mice today, or have you been doing a bit of illiterate cleansing?

ps. There's a good joke in your inbox, or perhaps two depending on your opinion.

Anonymous said...

Couldnt agree more. I think the problem is that there are just too many idiots supporting our club these days. These are the ones who watched Green Street, heard about the ICF and think its 'hard' to support the Irons. If you need proof of this you just need to watch the Milwall game again! With such a large proportion of our fan base being these chav kids, the family atmosphere and tradition of the club will be slowly killed off.

A couple of weeks ago i was outside the pub having a smoke when i got chatting to a group of lads about football (as you do). Anyway, turns out the tattoo sporting, hoodie wearing chav of their group predictably turned out to be a fellow hammer. With his head bobbing like a junkie Uncle Albert, his first question was "have you seen Green Street?" before he starting 'Blowing bubbles' and gobbing off to a stranger in an Arsenal shirt. It almost made me embarissed to be a hammer. Is it too much to hope for that someday the true, football fans will retake our club?

Anonymous said...

Good article but I disagree. This is a nostalgic rose tinted look over your shoulder at the past and a rather unnecessary dig at your fellow WH fans.

Sure we have some moronic fans but so do all clubs. To use your example of Man U, it wasn't long ago that their fans where involved in riots at Barnsley.

I would agree that the change you've outlined is apparent but also within most groups of other PL club supporters as well as ours.

Britain was a far more reserved and respectful society a few decades back but now the welfare generation has little respect for themselves or for others. I would say that it's unfair to label WH fans specifically with that tag but more society a whole.

The world, society and top flight football in particular have moved on incredibly from the culture you're talking about. I'm not saying it's a change for the better but in modern life people are far more confident about sharing their opinion than ever before and that's not just West Ham fans.

For football fans it's probably mainly because of the huge increase in costs to follow the game but also the massive increase in information now available about the players and their lives through the various media. The average fan isn't stupid and many feel short changed by the players in many respects, one being their performances.

This is mainly because of the huge gap between the finances of the supporter and the players. If I'm honest, as a fan I feel far more resentful towards players nowadays irrespective of what club they play for. With this resentment comes a perceived right to expect certain minimum levels of performance/effort from the players, more so than ever before. The more players earn, the more the perceived value expected from the players peformance increases.

The common man like me struggles to comprehend and empathise with players if they're underperforming when they have such an amazing lifestyle and income. For me last week I was more annoyed about the lack of effort from certain players than the actual performance. So much so that I think I have the right to make that point, which I did verbally.

Fair? Probably not but it's certainly the way a lot of the fans that I speak to feel and will probably continue as long as the finances of football continue to spiral upwards.

T.I.S said...

You could yell "You useless f'in tosser"

"The banter used to be as big a part of the occasion as the match, but now it's uninspired and abusive"

Would you two like to confer?

el martillo said...

Careful what you say TIS, whilst we may sometimes sing from the same hymnsheet HF is I'm sure a rather mellifluous barritone, whilst I come from a large family of .......Sopranos!

Right, I've set you up, have you got the wit to side foot it into the net?

Hammersfan said...

Bloody hell TIS, if I bring up these subjects in the stadium, I'm dead!

1408, fair appraisal in many ways.

TurdOut said...

these blogs are too long - I got bored before then end - is SJ Chandos writing for you these days, some of the replies are a tad too long too

Anonymous said...

Turds - I have to agree

Hammersfan said...

2045, short concentration span is one of the blights on our society.

Rabelais said...

Enjoyed that post and the interesting discussion. I think 14.08 makes an important point about changes in society. But I don't think we can blame it on the disrespect of the 'welfare generation' when we live in increasingly post-welfare times.. The nostalgia (not always a bad thing) in HF's post is connected with an era when people commonly depended on, and invested in, public institutions of health, welfare and education. These are more aggressive, privatising and fluid times. And I think you can see that in football. The era of Lyall and Greenwood was one of stability. Players stayed longer at clubs; didn't jump ship at the first offer from a glamour club, or after relegation. Brooking and Bonds didn't leave when we got relegated. John Lyall didn't get sacked. Football clubs and fans believe that success can be bought, it's no longer something that has to be worked for. I watch Upson and Green and the rest and I can't help but question their commitment to the team. Does West Ham matter to them, like it matters to me and the other fans, or is Upton Park just a shop window to them to display their wares as the seek to attract the highest bidder. Other fans probably feel this and that's why they are quicker to boo. The emotional bond of club loyalty just isn't in football anymore.

Hammersfan said...

Good point Rab