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“I’m forever blowing bubbles!”

There is no doubt that Upton Park or the Boleyn Ground, depending on your preference, has suffered more than most stadiums since the Taylor report all those years ago.

The old Upton Park was a pretty terrifying place for not only away fans but a fair few opposition players too. The ground was cramped and hostile and I firmly believe there was no better place to watch a game under floodlights than at West Ham.

But then football got a wakeup call in the form of the Hillsborough disaster and Lord Justice Taylor decreed that top flight football stadia should be turned into all seated arenas. The North & South Banks were replaced with new stands and the Chicken run, the scourge of so many opposition wingers, had seats rudely placed within it.

Suddenly the ethos of the ground had changed and supporters who once grouped together to sing were spread out in row upon row of plastic seats. The slow build-up of atmosphere with singing before the game had been drowned out (and still is) with the likes of P Diddy and some posh birds from the XFactor.

It’s no secret that when the ground is buzzing the players respond and a the majority of our best results over the years have come when fans have really backed West Ham with their voices. In our relegation season a couple of years back, the few highlights that you can pick out at home occurred when the vocal support was there in spades, T*ttenham, Man United and Liverpool were all well beaten and probably walked off the pitch with a pretty bad headache to boot.

What I’d like to see is the club take the initiative on this, dedicate a singing area in the ground and encourage the fans to generate the atmosphere rather than blasting out music that has nothing to do with the club. It really annoys me every week when professional host Jeremy Nicholas reads a pre-prepared rallying call speech to supporters about us being the 12th man. It really doesn’t work.

Oh and just one other thing that really gets on my wick is opposition supporters goading us with ‘You’ve only got one song’ and it rankles with me because I partly think they’re right. Don’t get me wrong Bubbles is the best football song ever, but it’s really the only song that can be heard on a regular basis. Away from home we sing other songs, our homage to Winston Reid and the pikeys net, Sammy Baldock and his large…. well you get the point. So please let’s get behind the boys with singing and watch them respond.