For West Ham fans it is the sixty four thousand dollar question: How to improve the atmosphere at the former Olympic stadium which has been home to the Hammers since the move in 2016. A pretty divisive topic, with many fans still harking back to the rose-tinted days at Upton Park.
Now the subject of a BBC.com article with ‘Chief football news reporter’ Simon Stone addressing the issue which has caused more grief to supporters than just about any other in recent years.
Stone suggests – brave man – that the problem is not the stadium so much as the fickle nature of the modern football fan:
“I want to put to bed any connection on the atmosphere with the stadium. Those three seasons in Europe proved you can get an excellent atmosphere at the London Stadium. However, when the team is not doing so well, it is flat”.
Having been there myself for Europa League and Conference League quarter and semi-finals, I would agree completely. Those nights were ultra-special not just because of what was at stake – the place was bouncing in a way it had never before managed, which only made the evenings even more memorable.
So it is the occasion, then, and fan apathy for the less glamorous ‘mundane’ fixtures when there’s less to lay for that determine the atmosphere? Possibly.
Partly due to the sheer cost of tickets , too, the modern football fan is more likely to sit back and demand to be entertained. With travel, food, merch and a match ticket it’s easily £250 for two to attend a game.
A far cry from the old days of ‘kids for a quid’ that enabled me to take my young 11-year old son to his first Hammers home game in 2003. As Stone suggests:
“The Premier League is changing – and so are the people watching the games. More, it seems to me, home fans start from the premise of wanting to be entertained rather than getting behind their team.”
And that demands more in the way of pre-match crowd warming and half time entertainment to generate a buzz (as well as better, more expansive performances on the pitch).. Love it or hate it, the NFL knows how to put on a show for their American Football fans. The way forward? Quite possibly. However much that makes you squirm.
