The Season So Far

We are four games into the season so far and already lots of West Ham fans have hit the panic button. Pellegrini should be sacked! Fans turning on fans! Radio show phone-ins having a field day! £100million spent & 0pts! The end of the world is nigh!!

But now let’s just get things into perspective.

Pellegrini should be sacked.

Pellegrini shouldn’t be sacked. If we are seriously starting to go down the route of sacking our managers after 4 games then surely that is the death knell for our glorious club.

When I first started supporting West Ham we had had 5 managers in our history. That was five different managers in 90 odd years.

We have now had five different managers in the last 10 years. I understand the Premier League is a results driven business but chopping and changing management before they have the time to find their feet is just crazy!

In John Lyall’s first season in charge West Ham won 1 game in their first 8 games. Should we have sacked him in that time? He went on to win the FA Cup that season and is probably our most successful manager.

Fans turning on fans.

Yet again fans have been turning on fans! This must stop. We are turning into a laughing stock akin to Arsenal Fan TV!

I personally couldn’t give a damn what people are eating during a game. Why get so worked up about someone eating popcorn? That says more about you than the fan eating it. At least they are concentrating on the game not sitting with their camera in their hand taking sneaky photos of other fans. What’s that all about?

Nor do I care if there are ‘tourist’ fans at the game. The ‘tourist’ fans have managed to get a ticket. If a ‘genuine’ fan really wants to get a ticket they will. There are many opportunities to get tickets, become a member and you should get a ticket prior to the general sale. That’s what I do to guarantee I get one and I’ve not lost out yet!

I don’t go to games to see who’s around me, I go to support the team. Our fans need to support the team not get caught up on who or what’s in the stands.

Radio show phone-ins having a field day.

The media hate us. The FA hate us. London clubs hate us. They all want us to turn on each other. They see us as an unfashionable club with a ‘colourful’ history of a fan base. We are renting a stadium for peanuts. They don’t want to see us doing well and will take every opportunity to panic us. They will jump on a minor incident or online rumour and blow it out of all proportion just to unsettle the fanbase. Don’t fall for it, see it for what it really is.

£100million spent & 0pts.

How many of us would say we had spent well prior to the start of the season? How many of us would have said we needed to spend well during the transfer window? I would say the majority of us.

It was always going to take time for things to gel. A new manager, several new players, a tough opening fixture list. And it is a tough opening fixture list, I looked at our history in the Premiership era against our opening four games:

Liverpool Away:

Bournemouth Home:

Arsenal Away:

Wolves Home:

So by this time of the season, based on how we perform in the equivalent of our first four fixtures historically, we should have had 2.99 pts or 3pts if you want. And fair enough we probably should be beating the likes of Bournemouth or Wolves to get those 3pts.  But that is one win out of four games we should have had, we have missed out by not winning 1 game! That can happen, we can lose games we should win but we can also win games we should lose. Therefore, let’s wait and see how it balances out over the season.

The end of the world is nigh!

There are still 34 games left this season the end of the world is not nigh. Yes, we have an awful run of games coming up, but we also have a ‘nice’ run of games in December.

Pellegrini’s start with Man City wasn’t perfect. But he went on to win the League with them, once he got his system in place and his players knowing what they are required to do. I still believe this will happen with us. We will slowly but surely start to climb the table.

Let’s keep the faith, keep things in perspective and back the manager and the team! Remember it’s a marathon not a sprint!

COYI

Tony Close

@TonyClose3