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chav_corner 2:52 Mon Mar 1
The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

A year on from a peaceful mass demonstration against our current owners, that saw over 8,500 fans take to the Greenway before Southampton at home, and some things have changed. Our next mass demonstration remains on hold due to COVID-19 and West Ham sit fourth in the league.



Some things, haven’t changed.



So why do the calls for new ownership still ring out loud and clear across large sections of the fanbase and what might we be able to learn when preparing to work alongside new owners?

As captured by our recent supporter survey, the sentiment felt at the club over different aspects of its running is polarised. West Ham fans are a reasonable bunch when it comes to expectations on the pitch. We are well aware that we have never finished higher than 3rd in the top domestic league and that our last cup triumph was over 40 years ago. We thoroughly enjoy the good times, such as the outstanding form the team is producing right now, and we bemoan our lack of success in the bad times. Supporter sentiment over football related matters is overwhelmingly positive.



Herein lies the answer, at the most basic level, as to why the calls for new ownership continue. Sentiment around the running of all other aspects of the club is overwhelmingly negative. The calls for new ownership are not related to the form of our team or the signings of our manager. In short, fans want everything besides the football given an overhaul, with a fresh approach from a fresh set of custodians.



Undoubtedly, the botched stadium move has caused the most pain. And of course, we cannot go back. However, the situation remains that we are playing in a rented athletics stadium which does nothing to enhance any atmosphere created and we would ask new owners to give serious consideration to structural changes or even the prospect of a purpose-built ground.



Moving away from the construction of the stadium itself, the matchday experience has been sanitised to such a point that it is unrecognisable from the one we came to know and love in a previous era. In the absence of an immediate fix regarding the stadium, we would ask new owners to find a solution that makes it possible for local businesses, sellers and stewards employed by the club, to take the place of the company’s managing our experience at present.



Far from being a club with no culture, as we were once described, we have a rich culture just waiting to be embraced. A celebration of this culture at our home as well as an embodiment of this culture running through everything at the club would help fix some of what has gone wrong. New owners might want to start with a consultation over the much-maligned crest which sports the word ‘London’ and appears to stray from our history and traditions.



Besides some of the more obvious issues, such as the interest charged on loans, that supporters might have with our current owners, it would seem we are a point of no return due to the lack of trust that exists. Ultimately, supporters would want new owners who will work closely with fans groups and take their point of view into consideration, when making decisions that affect them. The catalogue of decisions that have led people to question the intentions of our current owners, such as the season ticket waiting list or the decisions made about the upkeep of the memorial gardens to name but two, cannot be added to.



As long as the call for new ownership remains, Hammers United will answer that call with organised, peaceful demonstrations away from the 90 mins of football where people have come to get behind their team.



Hammers United will also continue to carefully prepare a set of principles that will allow us to work with purpose alongside new owners from day one.

We look to seeing you all again at our next mass demonstration and, of course, at the football.

www.hammersunited.com

Mr Kenzo 2:57 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

If a representative from HU ever does an interview again with the media , you need to ensure that the correct subjects are addressed, the Talksport one made us look really stupid and rightly, Whyte and Jordan had a field day rubbishing the campaign.

Lee Trundle 3:00 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

chav

Are any efforts being put into the potential requirements for the new owners should they ever decide to sell up?

What worries me is the kind of people sniffing around football clubs at moment. Burnley have been bought using the clubs own money, similar to what happened with Man Utd.

And we know the owners don't really give a toss who they sell to, if we look at the Birmingham City sale.

Lily Hammer 3:00 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Hear hear!

Support the team, not the regime!

Come On You Irons 3:07 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

This campaign seems a little ridiculous whilst we are fourth in the league, does it not?

chav_corner 3:11 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Lee.It is indeed a worry but obviously we cant sit back and put up with bad owners .on the basis they might get replaced by more bad owners.We might get very good new owners.When prospective new owners come to light we will look into them very carefully.

chav_corner 3:13 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Come on You Irons.Are you sertiously suggesting we should only protest when we are losing! How would that look .The call for new owners has nothing whatsoever to do with results on the pitch.

Mike Oxsaw 3:33 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Make no mistake. The owners got lucky - VERY lucky - when in their desperation and unable to find anybody else to accept their poisoned chalice, David Moyes took up the reins again.

But be clear - be very clear - David Moyes is doing this for David Moyes.

He's using the chance to restore his battered credibility, which took an additional "take this with you when you leave, bye" battering when the club ditched him in favour of Pellers (which was what the board decided the fans wanted - didn't hear many fans calling his name).

If they continue with their cheapskate approach, somebody will poach Moyes and there won't be anybody to blame apart from the board themselves.

Side of Ham 3:36 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Only a person who thinks the owners are going to sustain this level need to think like COYI.Most of us know deep down this will not be the case, they will flatter to deceive and if Moyes doesn't carry on as is they will soon turn on him and get him to take the blame for them not investing properly AGAIN.

History has told us they cannot push a club on, whether it be by choice or just them having trust in investing properly into a football club.As for the case being put across for the possibility of having worse owner come in, surely it's better to have fans protesting so the cunts know they will get the shit thrown at them too?

Warchild 3:53 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Thanks. Good update and glad that the long-term objectives of the group continue to meet the wishes that I most hope for.

As for people saying we shouldn't be protesting when we are fourth in the league, if you really think that I'm afraid you really don't understand why so many people are protesting in the first place. It is nothing to do with the results and everything to do with various other issues.

I would be protesting if we were 20 points clear at the top, just as I would if we were 20 points behind 19th place.

Moncurs Putting Iron 4:12 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

COYI,

Didn't read it all, did you.

Come On You Irons 4:31 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

I'll level with you Moncurs Putting Iron, I didn't read any of it. I'm not interested. I'm more interested in how the club is doing on the pitch and supporting the team and manager.

Most supporters probably fall into the same category as me during our best league season for decades.

Side of Ham 4:34 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Yes you're support of Benrahma COYI has been amazing........

Warchild 4:39 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

COYI - Most members of Hammers United are supporting the team and manager and always have done. Doesn't mean they can't continue their campaign in respect of other areas of the club.

P.S You are a fucking prick.

Hermit Road 4:41 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

What the fuck is a 'Greenway'?

Mike Oxsaw 4:44 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

COYI - the team's performance this year has been, for the board, one massive paper-over-the-cracks episode.

They will hope we don't end up with a European berth as that will both mean investing in the team and not being able to cash in on Rice - and probably one or two of Moyes's purchase choices, too.

End of the season is, as usual, going to be dictated by cash flow (not profit & loss), overlaid with the covid impact.

Expect a "We need to sell to survive" announcement very soon after the last game of the season.

Northern Sold 4:48 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Hermit Road 4:41 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.
What the fuck is a 'Greenway'?



Mick?? Decent fella by all acoounts... even if he was CFC

Come On You Irons 4:49 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Don't get me wrong, the owners are shit and total cheapstakes but I don't see the point in continuing with the negative board out shit while we are fourth in the league and in contention for Champions League qualification (for the first time in our history) with 12 huge games to go in that regard.

Think of how it appears to the wider footballing community. We are fourth in the league, having our best league season for literally decades yet people still want to moan and protest. No wonder the narrative has arisen that the team has benefitted from having no supporters in the ground this season.

If the board fail to invest the Haller money and money we are likely to get from other sales (Anderson, Lanzini and Yarmolenko) this summer, then it would be right to resume the protests.

Lee Trundle 4:50 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Didn't COYI appear pretty much the same time Faux Bear got kicked off?

rumford 4:51 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

Hermit you probably know it as the sewer bank.

chav_corner 4:56 Mon Mar 1
Re: The Greenway Stroll.-One Year on.

COYI.I disagree mate.The fact that there is huge disatisfaction to a background of our team playing so well, shows that there is something fundamental wrong with our club.-As well as showing the world that West Ham fans still have a bit of togetherness pride and backbone.

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