Len's West Ham number 3. A Blog about not going to the football.
Sky Sports must have been very upset with West Ham Utd at the weekend, after pretty much ending the story of the 2024/25 Premier League season. The story of the title race and relegation looks complete before the daffodils have sprung.
All that remains are the same old questions that the pundits already know the answers to; are Man Utd in relegation danger? Nope. Can anyone catch Liverpool? Nope. But more relevant, Why do West Ham fans 'boo' Declan Rice?
It's a struggle for pundits to make pertinent conversation for any team that isn't Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool, so this is what they consider discussion for a mid-table Premier League team. The answer is simple, and they know it. For 90 minutes and no more, the fans want to get in Declan's head, we know what a player he is, and as fans we want to be part of the action.
It's this simple thing that was needed at our home ground. We need to be part of it, like we used to be at Upton Park, if we are to be more than a mid-table Premier League team. From the moment we announced a move from our E13 home, the ex-players regaled the effect of The Chicken Run. It was worth points each season, but when we moved it was ignored. Today is not the time to go through this again though.
The point I'm trying to make is our fans are an asset to the club, Saturday was a glaring example. All home games across the Premier League are suffering with an atmosphere problem, it's a symptom of larger stadiums enabling spectators rather than fans that want to be part of it.
Times like these are for enjoying, not looking back. Declan will have many good times (hopefully back with us), but it's always a good time to appreciate what a player we have in Bowen. Every time something happens to commemorate with a painting lately, Bowen is in it. Everything else you need to know about him you can find in your favourite West Ham Utd channels. Or if you prefer, you may enjoy indulging in other club's channels more...
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Anyway, it's Monday and 'The blog about not going to the football' took an ironic twist at the weekend, when I was invited to go to the Arsenal game. I felt a bit 'chesty' when I got out of bed, but very excited to join the like-minded at the Emirates. Not breathing greatly, I thought I was gonna have a panic attack on the train, and with my mum wandering the neighbourhood with dementia, I turned back a few miles up the track. Gutted to miss out, but I'm happy, and things are going well for me. I'm not a sufferer of panic attacks, and the panic may have ensued from the thought of dying at Arsenal!
A few fellow fans who were expecting to see me there did get in touch, and I'm very grateful to them, I won't embarrass them on here, they know who they are. Suffice to say these are the ones who get called miserable and uncaring gits on social media. They aren't and I will always file them under 'great fans'.
It did give me extra time to create the glory painting though, and I just beat Match of the Day completing it. All minor ailments and distractions disappear in front of he easel, and I'm just about to sketch up another painting for this week. Hopefully the chest complaint permits it's completion. That's the thing with being a post-pandemic professional artist, when you stay home all day and paint you really can't be told to take it easy!
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It's approaching Monday Lunchtime, but it would be remiss of me not to feature Bobby Moore and John Lyall in this blog. Bobby Moore has been gone 32 years today, his death falling on the birthday of another West Ham legend John Lyall.
I'm certain that stories of both will eventually feature in here from ex-players who knew them. If you aren't aware, there are two Amazon documentaries I produced that can be seen for free on here, reminsicing about Moore and Lyall.
It's curious that these two events occured on the same day, and it isn't the only such occasion. Birthdays of footballers are also shared. Dicksy shares a birthday with Parksey. Dave Cross shares his birthday with Geoff Hurst.
What I was particularly unaware of though was Paul Brush sharing his birthday with Pablo Fornals last Saturday, who must have both enjoyed the result at The Emirates. Actually, I know Paul did because he features on one of my Whatsapp groups. Pablo and I aren't so close...
Paul once told me that he never thought he was truly 'fancied' by John Lyall, and Pablo could say the same thing about his time under David Moyes. But this isn't the clumsy analogy I'm getting to.
Born in Plaistow, and brought up in Canning Town, Brushy was a mad West Ham fan, and the son of another mad West Ham fan. If Brushy wasn't a West Ham player, it's likely he would have been a West Ham historian. He has boxes and boxes of paper cuttings, photo's and too much memoribillia to mention.
Born in Castellon, Spain, Pablo is now a massive West Ham fan, and us fans just love the photo of his son in his West Ham shirt that he posted on instagram recently.
Where you are from, isn't really important to West Ham fans, so when you hear the 'Brushy' era fans like myself talk about 'tourists' in the stadium, we really don't mean your place of origin...
Overseas fan groups have always been seen at West Ham. Ever since I can remember, we have had far flung fans, I know one or two personally that have been coming to watch us since the seventies, from Germany, Sweden and Norway. It's flattering, and we're proud of them.
So when we bemoan 'tourists' we are really talking literally. Premier League fans who just want to add us to their instagram story, and would have ordinarily be watching a matinee of Miss Saigon instead. I've got nothing against them personally, but if you add a few of these fans for every score of old school fans, it's a recipe to dilute the type of fanbase that can make a difference. Italian Irons were part of the fanbase theat created that fantastic kind of atmosphere on Saturday. So if you are West Ham maniac from overseas, don't let vocabluary put you off. You would definitely be made very welcome if you get behind the team.
Well, that's a fair chunk of bloggage for a Monday, so I may as well go ahead and publish it today. We're at home against Leicester on Thursday, and between now and then, the club are likely to give me something else to blog about too. Still quite proud that three blogs down, I've still not really felt the need to mention the team or the manager.
Back-to-Back wins will no doubt encourage The Baroness to announce Season Ticket renewals...
Until then, enjoy your week, Len
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