West Ham fans say improved results will not stop protests
Two years ago West Ham United sat in the Premier League relegation zone and thousands of supporters were demonstrating against owners David Sullivan and David Gold, and vice-chairman Karren Brady.
Now, thanks largely to the return of manager David Moyes, those same fans have a team playing European
football for the first time in 15 years. But just three days on from a night that attracted more than 50,000 fans, about 400 protesters gathered at the London Stadium before the defeat by Brentford to renew demonstrations that were cut short by the pandemic.
The number of protesters may have gone down and despite organisers Hammers United having joined West Ham’s Independent Supporters’ Committee, they have not altered their stance.
“Quite frankly, West Ham could be top of the league with Messi and Ronaldo playing for us and it would not change our membership’s wish to protest against the current board, chairman Paul Colborne said. “Our issues have always run deeper than results or the form of the team, and the latest protest proved that.
“There was never any question that being part of the ISC would stop our protests.”
While West Ham have moved to improve supporter consultation, and last week unveiled a statue honouring Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, there remain unsolved problems after the controversial move to the London Stadium. “We have members who will simply never forgive the owners for the stadium move,” Colborne said. “But we also have members who will not forgive the move but would be prepared to put that to one side if certain issues were properly addressed.
“There are still problems around the configuration of the stadium, stewarding, the number of away supporters in home seats, catering and the stadium approaches.”
The West Ham United Independat
ent Supporters’ Association is also part of the club’s ISC and is in the process of becoming the West Ham Supporters Trust. Sue Watson, its chairman, was part of the Hammers United protests before the coronavirus crisis and remains supportive of the group’s right to put pressure on the owners and board.
“There have been some positive moves since the last protests,” Watson said. “The formation of the ISC is what we were saying needed to happen for a long time and there has been progress regarding away travel and the safe drop-off of supporters.
“The statue is also a step in the right direction, as the loss of West Ham’s heritage has been a big issue for many fans regarding the stadium move. We recognise that however unpopular it may be, we are now in the London Stadium and we aren’t moving anywhere. So it’s about the club working with us to try to make it work better.
“The stewarding and catering are two areas that we are really keen to address. We want the club to employ their own stewards and take back the catering contract to make the food better and more affordable.
“We want a situation where opposition fans come to a game and tell us about their positive experiences, rather than the negative ones that are still all too frequent.”
Colborne and Watson recognise why supporters with only a broad knowledge of West Ham and their ownership may feel it is time for the protests to be brought to an end. “We do hear people saying it’s time to pack it in, but our membership continues to go up, which, given the pandemic and the team’s results, is amazing, really,” Colborne said.
“We always tell the people who attend our protests to support the team and the manager once they are inside the stadium.”
Watson said: “I know some of the perceptions of West Ham fans, but I also know that many fans support our right to call our owners to account and to try to help bring about positive change.”