Bedlam in the East End as yobs go on rampage
As farewells go, it could have done without the disorder in the streets. It could have done without the smoke bombs and the attack on the Manchester United team bus.
It could have done without the 45-minute delay which ensured the last night at Upton Park was a long one, consigned to history with a soundtrack of ‘we’re forever throwing bottles’.
More were launched at United keeper David de Gea by fans behind him in the Bobby Moore stand when anthony Martial scored his first goal.
and one moron felt the urge to invade the pitch and give De Gea the finger when winston reid headed in west Ham’s winner, the fifth goal of a chaotic game perfectly in tune with the occasion.
for this was an east end send-off with a thread of lawlessness running through it and the fa may yet decide to add to the bill with a list of fines.
after the extended drum roll for this farewell fixture, those who worship in this corner of the football world never expected it to unfold without a hitch. That is not the west Ham way.
Not everything unravelled. Inside the Boleyn Ground, they generated a raucous din in keeping with some of the most famous nights under the lights.
They sang good and loud, there were touching moments from the past and they resisted the urge to invade the pitch at the final whistle.
The images from outside, however, will go around the world when the club is flexing up for its new horizons. Ninety minutes before the scheduled kick-off there was bedlam in the streets. Traffic had ground to a halt on the Barking road with fans jammed outside the Boleyn Tavern at the junction with Green street.
some were scaling the Boys of ’66 statue to tie claret-and-blue scarves and flags to Bobby Moore. Others were hanging from the traffic lights, raising cans of lager while their mates snapped the moment for posterity with camera phones.
Those were the streets into which crawled the United bus, an easy target, attacked by glass bottles and other missiles which smashed the darkened windows. ‘Disappointing,’ was how wayne rooney, the United captain, summed it up. ‘Not so nice,’ said louis van Gaal.
But don’t expect heads to roll, as they did on another Boleyn farewell. There was little sympathy in evidence from the hosts. David sullivan, west Ham’s cochairman, thought United ought to have given themselves more time. after all, there was a party planned.
‘They should have been here at 4pm,’ said sullivan, who was concerned about fans who might miss the post-match show in order to dash for the last train home. Nearly four hours before kick-off was pushing it but, quite clearly, plenty of those in claret and blue had started their farewell early. ‘Village idiots,’ Graeme souness called them on sky sports.
One corner near a row of garages, where someone had taken the trouble to spray ‘lONG lIVe THe BOleYN’ in blue paint, had been turned into an impromptu toilet for those drinking on the impromptu terrace. It felt as if the clock had been turned back to the days when the fans galloped around in flared trousers and wore their hair like andy Carroll.
Queues for programmes were almost as long as the chains of hungry fans snaking from the doorway of Nathan’s, the eel ’n’ pie emporium which, like so many other traders, is braced for the staggering loss of trade. Match- days will be eerily humdrum next season.
They will long for days when unruly masses drank outside and no-one could find a parking space.
at four minutes to eight, United’s players were gently jeered on to the pitch for the warm-up. Nothing too fierce. No bottles.
The homes fans were in position having pulled on the free T-shirts given out in the hope they might deter them from dismantling the stadium on their way home. fans launched into a chorus of Bubbles and actress Keira Knightley — the 21st century’s answer to alf Garnett — appeared on the big screens to apologise for her absence.
The brass band marched on to Colonel Bogey. at last focus was trained on the glistening green stage and phones were briefly returned to pockets as they played Abide With Me as a tribute to some favourite sons who had died, with applause for ron Greenwood, a cheer for John lyall and a roar for Bobby Moore.
On went the bubble machine and out came the teams. west Ham started like a side determined to erase the embarrassment of saturday’s swansea loss from the memories, then went behind. at half-time, a public address warned the kiosks were out of food and drink. You would have thought they’d have ordered more. after all, there was a party planned.
reid’s winner lifted the mood and launched an extravagant aftermatch show. Consider it all part of the cleansing process.
Things will feel very different when west Ham reconvene a few miles down the road at stratford in three months.
a different stadium, a different badge, a different atmosphere and perhaps a different heart and soul. Perhaps a different club.