As a West Ham fan with too much time on my hands, I find myself routinely searching for anything West Ham related on the Internet to keep me ticking over. In recent weeks and months I have become disillusioned with certain sources and now stick mainly to fan channels on Youtube. In truth, it’s more interesting to watch fan channels when they’re telling you things you haven’t already read elsewhere.
In truth, the mainstream media are gradually losing their grip on reality and with the proliferation of fan media, it wont be too long before everybody reaches for the remote control at full time to spare themselves from a very one sided conversation. Fans are becoming increasingly bored of hearing nothing but talk of Manchester United or Liverpool with perhaps just a sprig of Man City for presentation. Even Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham seem to be nothing more than an appetiser these days. The main course is most definitely red and everybody knows it.
Perhaps it’s not surprising when all the pundits are ex players and managers of Liverpool and Manchester United, that it’s those two clubs that dominate conversation. The question is… why isn’t there more representation of the other clubs and why is there sometimes absolutely no representation for a club featuring in a live televised game?
On Sunday we saw an under par West Ham side quite easily turn over a former giant and there was not one pundit on Sky’s team with any affiliation to the side in claret and blue. Predictably, they went on to talk endlessly on why Manchester United lost, how far they’ve fallen since Sir Alex left and how long it will take them to get back to where they “rightfully belong”. There was barely even a mention for West Ham and how well we’ve started the 2019/20 season. So little do they think of sides outside the traditional elite that I’m surprised they haven’t banished us to the red button. In fact, I can just see it now; “It’s finished West Ham two, The real UNITED nil. We’re gonna spend the next hour or so talking about the rightful custodians of the Premier League, but if you’re sad enough to want to hear something about West Ham, hit the red button now, where some bint who finished 5th on the X Factor is talking to Olly Murs and a bloke from that Essex show”.
The really sad thing is… That would still be a step up from what they currently offer!!
So it seems fan channels are the way forward. Who knows, maybe the next step for them is to invite West Ham pundits on to post match reactions and really step it up a level. The traditional media companies show absolutely no interest in catering to fans outside the elite and that’s fine, because it’s becoming increasing clear that fans outside the elite are starting to show absolutely no interest in traditional media companies.
Written By Dom