Stop moaning! West Ham supporters are like a 12th man... for the opposition
WHAT is it with West Ham fans? I didn’t enjoy playing at the old ground and they liked letting me know. But I wouldn’t want to play for them now. That crowd is like a 12th man… for the opposition. No wonder the players have no confidence. Yes, the team are a disjointed mess. In fact, they don’t look like a team. But when I was listening to the radio commentary of their game with Liverpool at the London Stadium on Saturday, all I could hear was the home fans booing every time Mark Noble got on the ball and passed it backwards to keep possession. On social media they are trying to create protests against the board! Have they not seen the league table? If West Ham fans want their club to stay in the Premier League, they have to get behind the team. They got rid of Sam Allardyce. They eventually turned on Slaven Bilic. They want to get rid of the board. They don’t like the ground. They don’t want David Moyes. Here’s an idea: how about just supporting the team? Without creating some harmony — call it a truce, if you like — West Ham are in serious danger of relegation. At Upton Park, when the fans got behind the team they created a positive energy. Now it is a negative energy. Yes the team have to give them something to smile about. And I hope Moyes and Stuart Pearce can deliver that. I played against Stuart a few times. In an away game for Arsenal in 2000 I think I might have left something on him to see if I could get a reaction — and as the picture above shows I certainly did get a reaction! West Ham will hope he can bring some fire to their ranks. I know there is negativity about Moyes, but I think he could be a good appointment — if he is given a chance. He will work the players and these players really do have to go to work. He is intense and can be suffocating with his demands on his staff and players, but maybe West Ham need some of that. They look too easy-going, laid back, calm. There is no drive. Moyes will have to do that in a healthy way with the modern player, rather than hammering them into the ground. But they don’t look fit to me. One alarm is that he took too long at Manchester United and Sunderland to find the problems and then solve them. He has 27 games and needs eight or nine wins. So he needs to move quickly to find solutions, get results and win over the fans. They are the most challenging support to win over. I wish him and Stuart all the luck.