Danny, 52, Croydon
The fans are protesting because they’ve had enough. We’ve been lied to systematically since we moved here. This was supposed to be the land of milk and honey but it’s hardly turned out that way. The ground is a joke. We’ve had a net spend of about £23m. We moved away from Upton Park but what we’ve seen in the last two or three years ... it’s just lies, lies, lies.
The press painted what happened at the Burnley match like they were disgusting scenes. But I’ve been supporting West Ham for 45 years and I’ve seen far worse. There were a handful of people who ran on the pitch and I know it’s not allowed, but life bans? That’s a bit extreme. I suppose that’s the way it is nowadays, though.
Programme seller, 19
Each game the fans come up to me and they’re not happy. They’re not expecting to win. They think the same thing is going to happen over and over and that everything will stay the same. If they do win, fans tend to think it’s a fluke.
I’ve only worked at the London Stadium, not at Upton Park, but it’s a nice place to work. I’ve never had people be rude to me. They’re quite nice when they come to me. But I wouldn’t say it’s as positive inside the stadium as you’d expect. They’re a big club and you’d expect that people would enjoy coming. But maybe it’s a chore for them now. It’s like they have to come because they’ve got a season ticket or something. They’re not really enjoying games much, I think. The club should listen to the fans. Maybe they should spend more money on players like they ask them to.
Lesley, late 60s, Chalfont St Peter
We are realists; we had to move. The way that the finances are within football today we couldn’t survive in a smaller ground. We’re still in the East End. I don’t understand it. You’ve got to move on in life, therefore if it has changed you’ve got to accept that change and deal with it.
I wouldn’t go to the old ground because I didn’t like the proximity of all the other people, I couldn’t see properly. But I love it here. I’m comfortable, I’m in among people that are all pleasant. We’ve joined a nice club where we can sit down and have a couple of drinks and something to eat before the match. You couldn’t do that at Upton Park because those places didn’t exist. If the team won more matches, the atmosphere would be entirely different. The crowd would be much happier. So let’s move on.
Kevin, 50, Wanstead
There’s a little bit of frustration with the profits made and the distribution of those profits. I think it’s exacerbated now by David Sullivan’s tax situation [Sullivan was found to have used the club to avoid paying £700,000 tax at a recent tribunal]. That doesn’t help the situation. Karren Brady is a bit of an issue because I don’t think she was liked before she came and her aloofness doesn’t help.
I’ve got a lot of time for David Gold. He was born on Green Street, he played for the unders, he loves West Ham. But Gold is tainted by his association with Sullivan. As far as the fans are concerned, it’s a very different atmosphere purely because there aren’t many loyal West Ham supporters. If this was at Upton Park, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Season ticket renewals are coming up and the club know the records of who used to be at Upton Park and who didn’t. They should talk to those people about where they’re sitting and the atmosphere. If you get a few of the old boys around the newbies, it would be different.
Charlie, 27, Leytonstone
The atmosphere is absolutely toxic. I’m on the side of the fans but not in the way they go about showing it. There are fights breaking out in the crowd; there’s so much animosity towards the board. It’s a very very bad situation to be in. Throwing coins at people [as happened to Sullivan during the Burnley match] is just not on.
There’s not much identity at the stadium. It was sold on a bit of a promise: that you’d be close to the pitch and there would be a good atmosphere. But it’s not been great. On the other hand, it has become more accessible and they’ve priced it very well. You can get kids’ season tickets for £100, which is great. The fans are as much to blame as the owners really for the way they’ve behaved.
One thing I would say is that the social media activity of the board is horrific. They linked themselves with [Real Madrid’s] Benzema the other day. Get real. We’re not going to buy a player like that. So they probably need to think about the way they present the club on social media and ultimately, especially if we go down, they probably need to sell up and go.
