As someone who was there outside the Boleyn Ground on Tuesday afternoon/evening, I’ve found the reports in the media about the behaviour of our fans absolutely disgusting.
Of course there can never be an excuse for throwing objects at Man United’s team coach – it was wrong. However, the suggestion that West Ham fans deliberately went out of their way to cause trouble that day are so far wide of the mark.
I was situated on that very corner of Green Street and Barking Round, in front of the statue, and the mood and atmosphere was peaceful and euphoric. Everyone was there to have a good time, and even the police were getting involved with the laughing and joking – I saw a couple of police officers even having selfies with happy fans.
Some were even playing football in the streets, as the image below proves…
But then the atmosphere changed very quickly, it was as if the police had decided we’d had enough fun for one afternoon and it was time to muscle their way in. The big question is why?
Martin Smith explains what happened perfectly in his Facebook post below. In the end, had it not been the eventual actions of the police, there wouldn’t have been a single bit of trouble outside the Boleyn Ground.
Of course, the police cannot be held responsible for people throwing missiles at a coach, but they should be held responsible for not adequately preparing for the day and, more importantly, for making the decisions they did, which could’ve led to something even more tragic than just a few coach windows being smashed.
Have a read of the REAL TRUTH of what happened below…