It was all summed up by the muted response to Kriss Akabusi's reading of the teamsheet. Poor Akabusi gave it his all, reading the selected players' names as if they were returning World Cup winners, but the fans responded with all the enthusiasm of a beauty pulling out Ian Dowie's keys at a wife swapping party. Kriss announced "Capatain Fantastic, Number Four, Kevin Nolaaaaannnnnnn!" and the crowd responded with a barely audible, "Yay". By the time Akabusi reached, "Number Twenty-One Papa Bouba Diop" nobody could be arsed to even groan!
The best reception of all, in fact, was for Marlon Harewood, "Who so nearly scored the winning goal in the Cup Final against Liverpool." The applause before kick off and in response to his substitution was heart warming, but it is a bit desperate when an opponent is given a bigger cheer than any of your own team. Even the response to the announcement that Tomkins had extended his contract was slightly muted. In fact, first half, the Forest away supporters, like the Forest team, outperformed us.
We finished the game top of the table, but with the ground only two thirds full by the final whistle. For great chunks of the game, you could hear a penny drop in the stadium - even the anger seems to have been suffocated out of the supporters by Allardyce's boring, boring football.
Fortress Upton Park? The Boleyn Morgue more like!
13 comments:
HF - although I agree with you about the way we play (so so direct and boring) - I said at the start of the season that I dont care how it happens, lets get promoted. Can we not just enjoy for once (however fleetingly if Southampton win) that we are top of the table? somebody will no doubt correct me, but it's not happenend in all the years I have been a hammer - 90' onwards. Lets look at the table and love it!........and yes, for the sake of promotion (and possibly keeping our club in business), I will settle for shite football!!
The thing is Clez, nobody seemed to be enjoying it yesterday. I heard the line, "If we are top playing shit, we will pull away when we start playing well" but there was no sense of joy or triumph yesterday. I suspect it is because that everybody knows it could yet go very wrong. We were VERY lucky yesterday, and we have seen what happens when the luck runs out!
Hurrah we won! and double Hurrah, HF went to a game!!!!
I think the dead body may lie on a table top in the morgue for quite some time. Let's face it, anybody drawing back the white sheet to make an identification is going to say; "sorry that's not the West Ham I knew"!
Could not agree with you more HF about the atmosphere yesterday, unbelievably poor. Strange actually, even in the Mosh Pit of the Boleyn beforehand it was very subdued.
And to cap it all, the Greengate has closed, which is truly gutting. It was a shit hole, but it was our shit hole.
The area is changing, the fans are changing, the game is changing, all for the worse in my opinion, we have got to get to the OS to shake the club up. It's the future.
That said, we are top of the League, but want an anti-climax.
JC
JC
We're top of the league, cheer up.
Amongst the doom, gloom and negativity how about writing something positive about the Tomkins signing. If he was being sold you'd sure enough slag off Gold and Sullivan for just lining their pockets! By the way it's odd that Stani hasn't been pointing out England's poor showing in Dubai, or have you censored him! Maybe I missed it........
When Southampton got a point at Pompey last month you ran a post entitled something like 'Saints go top!'. It even had an exclamation mark at the end of it like you were excited for them. Never mind, that they were top before that game, you still got very excited for them. Why not a similar headline for us?
The Saints, are at least for another day 3 points behind us so why more endless random curmudgeonly moaning? Us winning makes you very, very unhappy and it shows.
And yes before you state the bleeding obvious, I know it's not the beautiful game right now, but this season results and promotion is the be all and end all. If we go up, half the current team won't make it to the prem so it's almost irrelevant how we are playing.
Anyway, is the pretty football really our main concern this season? No. Because if we don't go up the club is in such a terrible financial state that we could well do a Leeds. Then you'd really have something to f***ing moan about.
For all of you that believe winning is everything and that promotion is worth it more than good football, i would like you to answer a simple question to yourself.
Allow me to remind you of an event that warmed almost every fan associated with our great club.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWdf5ZLbtYo
^^ Di Canio's fair play moment (only 19 seconds long)
Now the question i would ask is, under BFS, what do you think his reaction would have been to this?
I personally don't believe winning is everything, but this is just my opinion.
I would sooner watch us play in league 1, then watch the uncreative pile of crap we are currently being feed, with our players falling over every time we get a breeze of wind.
just me 2 pence
TH, remember the joy when Parker extended his contract? What did it mean at the end of the day? What release clauses has Tomkins' agent insisted upon? It could actually be BAD news if there is a trigger that allows JT to talk to clubs if they meet a certain figure. His agent may have been on the phone to Pardew and 'Arry, filling them in on the details, even as the contract extension was announced in the stadium!
Contracts at West Ham mean nothing. Surely we have learnt that by now?
Beelzebub, why not put together a thread outlining your feelings?
11.58, I wrote in that thread about Southampton, "They failed to win again, of course, which is great news, but they are so much more entertaining to watch and are a credit to the game - unlike our bunch of crude mechanicals!"
So, would I prefer we were top playing the Southampton way, or top playing the Allardyce way? I'd take the Southampton way thanks very much, and thus far they have proved that you can play FOOTBALL and succeed in this division. Remember, they were in the Third Division last season. They PLAYED their way out of that division too. You guys seem to think that the ALLARDYCE WAY IS THE ONLY WAY. It aint!
I know this will sound cheeky, but were you at the game yesterday? I was, and as I say in this thread, supported by others there, the atmosphere was terrible. I have never be in such a subdued Boleyn. And it is true about the pubs too. I was in the Duke of Edinburgh before kick off and there was a forlorn attempt to get a chant of "Irons" going. It lasted for three "Irons" and those who joined in gave up and drowned their humiliation in lager!
Duke of Edinburgh?!! they're a bunch of bores in there anyway - why on earth would anyone go in there FFS?
11.58 here.
You didn't bother to address the points I made so forgive me if I don't address yours.
I like the way Saints play, but they have the luxury of being able to play how they like. There is no pressure on them. As they came up from League 1 there was no sense of expectation either. They don't need promotion- they are a wealthy club who will prosper even if they don't go up.
We don't have that luxury. I say it again in the hope it registers with you, but we have to go up, or the consequences are not good. The money we've spent this year is not sustainable in the long term, wheareas for the Saints for it is. For us it is an all out effort to gain the promotion we desperately need.
So I'm that it's important that we dig in, keep winning three games for every one we lose, swallow our pride and get out of this bloody league. Sorry but that's just the way it has to be this year.
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