West Ham fans have not had a lot to shout about in the last year and it’s been some comedown after the four years prior.
Hammers supporters get a bad rap at times and are accused of being hard to please or fickle.
Their belief in the West Ham way is often mocked and ridiculed by sneering pundits, journalists, rival fans and even ex managers.
It is usually criticised by those who don’t actually understand what it really means.
By their own admission, West Ham fans would concede they are demanding.
But there is a big difference between that and being hard to please.
To the misinformed or those uneducated on the club’s history, the West Ham way is incorrectly seen as a a demand that the team plays a Barcelona-esque tika taka football and wins.
But that’s not the true West Ham way at all.
One of the reasons Hammers supporters were lapping up what they saw in the first half of Graham Potter’s first game in charge was because it was much more like the West Ham way.
Potter reacts to West Ham fans’ treatment of star
A starting point for any West Ham team must always be hard work.
At the heart of the real West Ham way is fronting up when things aren’t going for you. Being brave, showing for the ball and not hiding in times of adversity.
Always giving your all regardless of how you might be playing.
And, as important as any other factor, the club’s connection with the Academy.
That is central to the true essence of everything about West Ham.
If you’ve got serious talent as well then you’ll be worshipped. But you have to earn it. It doesn’t come for free like at some clubs who put players and managers on pedestals when they’ve been in the building for five minutes.
Any successful West Ham manager has been able to combine all of those things to give West Ham’s fans that key word – hope.
When the Hammers faithful have hope they can be a juggernaut.
West Ham had 6,000 fans roaring them on during the 2-1 FA Cup defeat at Villa Park.
After the game Hammers News reported that what Hammers supporters chanted on Potter’s debut shattered a major myth.
And it seems it wasn’t lost on their new boss either.
Because Potter has reacted to West Ham fans’ treatment of one star in particular after what he heard.
Hammers boss loved how fans helped Scarles
Speaking to the press ahead of the game against Fulham, Potter doubled down on his plans to always look to West Ham’s Academy first before going into the transfer market.
He believes it is vital to re-establish the connection between the supporters and the team through the promotion of Academy talent in line with West Ham’s history.
And he so blown away by the way the fans were with Ollie Scarles – who put in a man of the match display for the Hammers.
West Ham fans chanted ‘Ollie Scarles, he’s one of our own’ and the young left-back’s name repeatedly to the tune of Baby Give it Up.
“I thought the fans at Villa Park were brilliant,” Potter said in his press conference.
“The support there was incredible.
“The way they got behind the team, the way they supported Ollie Scarles was something really nice.
“I have no doubt about our supporters that’s for sure and it’s going to be a really exciting and proud evening for me (in front of them).
“They’ve always been incredibly loyal and behind the team. As an away manager it’s a tough place to come so we need that connection with the supporters and the team and that’s something for us to help with.
“We have to put a team on the pitch that the supporters can identify with, believe in and trust. That connection is so important. Obviously we’re at the early stages of it and obviously we hope that the performance is good, the result is good and it brings everybody along with us.
“But there’s nothing better than winning football matches to create trust. So that’s what we’ll try to do…
“I think it’s a central part to this club (bringing through Academy players), as I see it. The Academy here has done some fantastic work…
“And I think our supporters like to see players from the Academy in their first team, pushing for that. It can help us in how we identify players in terms of recruitment. As a starting point it should always be what have we got here.”
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