West Ham Online

10th May 1980
Dad took me to roman road market for a burger and to buy a record. Our regular saturday routine. I saw a stall selling claret and blue hats and scarves.
"Whats this dad?" 
 "Its west ham they're in the cup final"
 "I want that hat"
 "You sure? Its a decision that cant be reversed, and they're in division 2" ( dad not a hammer)
 "Yeah want it"
 "Ok .  Good luck with that" . . .gets quid out

And you know the rest

1991/1992 My only complete attendance season, home and away. Division 2

Division 2 and West Ham. Where i'm from, i'm home.

(They'll probably fuck it up for me and we'll stay up )

 

They don't have VAR, do they?

Monsieur merde de cheval" wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 23:14

Forest Gate Ugly" wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 20:55 No tourists. No away support in our end. Sullivan and Brady look like the total incompetents they truly are. Millwall wreck the Olympic Stadium and it’s rebuilt as a football ground. We relate to whatever members of the academy they’ve not been able to flog. Away days in places like Cardiff (edgy but fun). I’m old enough to know what relegations feel like and they hurt. But life goes on. Trying very hard not to let the hope kill me and accept the reality. Deep down still hope we stay up because Division 2 (or whatever it’s called) is shite and hard to get out of. 

Ninian park was certainly edgy...midweek cup game too.
The vermin board (Brady mainly) have been determined to get rid /price out  the old school since the move.
Well they have mainly successed.
Unfortunately for them they didn't factor in that dreaded word..RELEGATION.
we'll be back...they'll be gone .
It's a start back into the light.

£30-40 tickets the norm you would guess? Although Sullivan will probably try it on at first. 

Im ok with it all tbh. We might plunge further but even that wont be the end. Ive been to Forest Green a few times in recent years with the grandkids and tbh the experience, aside from level of the football and for me no emotional attachment, is better than whatever it is Brady has created at Stratford.  Good singing, proper football fans even if only 2-3000. Easy to get in and out, plenty of room, good day out as I see fans all gather lunch times for a few pints etc. The banter with opposition is great too. Food is the only issue there aside from the chips .   Robbie Savage has added to the entertainment too as a proper pantomime villian with the opposition which he loves.

We hopefully get to see a nucleus of home grown players along with hopefully Magassa and Fernandes not just here for the money and no more theatrical cheatimg to get fouls, players sent off etc

PL under Sullivan was just a means to ,( with his con job of the stadium, selling UP, training ground etc), up his initial 50 million share value to 250 or whatever he last quoted the club to be worth.  We were never gonna win anything under Sullivan. The Conference win was always a happy accident. He did spend money incl all the additional euro revenues but wasted the lot as he and Brady have no idea on how to run a modern day, top level, professional football club. 

Fear not, next season will actually be ok. Its just having to endure the torture of another 19 games this season thats gonna be hard

 

Sweep wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 20:54 Most of the games will be played on a Saturday afternoon, many at 3pm.

Ticket pricing will need to connect with reality. 

Clearing out the tourists and the habitual re-sellers should enable more like-minded supporters to get seats much more in line with what and where they really want.

Won't be many seats selling at £60 a pop, let alone £80/£90/£100.

And . . . If the bowl is going to be half empty from now on, everyone can go and stand or sit where they like. With their mates. No need to lay out on season tickets, just turn up saturday lunchtime if you fancy it.

 

boleyn8420 wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 15:42 What's a proper fan then. 'They' won't come back in their droves as 'they' don't want to come to a fucking soulless athletics stadium no matter what division we are in. Down and maybe out.

 

chevy chase" wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 22:14 Re-build the bowl and play at Charlton while there doing it.  We let them play at ours while they did up the Valley so only fair.

Forest Gate Ugly" wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 20:55 No tourists. No away support in our end. Sullivan and Brady look like the total incompetents they truly are. Millwall wreck the Olympic Stadium and it’s rebuilt as a football ground. We relate to whatever members of the academy they’ve not been able to flog. Away days in places like Cardiff (edgy but fun). I’m old enough to know what relegations feel like and they hurt. But life goes on. Trying very hard not to let the hope kill me and accept the reality. Deep down still hope we stay up because Division 2 (or whatever it’s called) is shite and hard to get out of. 

Most of the games will be played on a Saturday afternoon, many at 3pm.

Ticket pricing will need to connect with reality. 

Clearing out the tourists and the habitual re-sellers should enable more like-minded supporters to get seats much more in line with what and where they really want.

Won't be many seats selling at £60 a pop, let alone £80/£90/£100.

honky cat" wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 17:47 Which part of positivity can't ye understand . . . 
Back to the usual gripes and moans

I wonder if scoreline still make kits?
And we can get a proper shirt sponsor like Newham Recorder or Centreforce883.  And the fans can sponsor bits of the kit and stuff.

honky cat" wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 17:47 Which part of positivity can't ye understand . . . 
Back to the usual gripes and moans


 

Which part of positivity can't ye understand . . . 
Back to the usual gripes and moans

I wonder if scoreline still make kits?
And we can get a proper shirt sponsor like Newham Recorder or Centreforce883.  And the fans can sponsor bits of the kit and stuff.

I cannot see many positives apart from we’ll win more games than we lose. I don’t know what sort of squad we’d even have available to whoever is managing the team. 

The queues to get over the bridges and into the turnstiles will be much shorter which I guess is a bonus. I actually think there will be more away fans in the home end than now because it’ll be a good day out and in demand and there will be plenty of tickets available and our horrible owners have made it clear they don’t really give a fuck who they get sold to as long as they get sold. Very few if any lapsed supporters will come back under this ownership to this stadium. Ticket prices won’t come down. 

if it ended up ousting Sullivan and Brady then great but I just don’t see how anyone could force him to sell unless the Golds just want out and sell to Kretinsky who then sidelines the dwarf. Probably more likely the greedy short one buys them out and consolidates power. 

Mike Oxsaw" wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 16:43

stubbo-admin wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 16:06 Given our financial clout or lack thereof, our real future is.in bringing through the highly talented group of youth players and the academy setup having a greater influence on the first team.

A short spell in the next league down may well enable us to do this, as the success of the Academy side and the perfoamce of the first team is much less of a large gap than most Clubs with successful youth academies.

We have to be realistic...dropping out of the PL sets any PL established club back years and it's easier to maintain than regain....but we've fucked that up, so leveraging the success of the academy for our gain for me would be the biggest benefit of dropping out of the PL.

It would also likely galvanise even further the sentiment across the wider fan base against Sullivan and his mismanagement of the Club. 

It would also make us a more attractive proposition to a buyer as we'd be cheaper but with potential...subject to being able to oust the Welsh Dwarf.

So positives...for sure. But it's a route fraught with danger too with no guarantee of a swift return to former standing. Look at Villa as a good example....before the current mob, they had the emperor's new clothes in Dr Tony Xia which was a disaster. 

Coming back strong relies on excellent strategic leadership as well as financial clout...neither of which we have in place right now.

 

I hear all that, but it's odds on Sullivan will sell the cream of the academy (to aid his self-generated cash-flow issues) at the earliest opportunity.

He certainly won't wait for the next "Rice" to step up.

stubbo-admin wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 16:06 Given our financial clout or lack thereof, our real future is.in bringing through the highly talented group of youth players and the academy setup having a greater influence on the first team.

A short spell in the next league down may well enable us to do this, as the success of the Academy side and the perfoamce of the first team is much less of a large gap than most Clubs with successful youth academies.

We have to be realistic...dropping out of the PL sets any PL established club back years and it's easier to maintain than regain....but we've fucked that up, so leveraging the success of the academy for our gain for me would be the biggest benefit of dropping out of the PL.

It would also likely galvanise even further the sentiment across the wider fan base against Sullivan and his mismanagement of the Club. 

It would also make us a more attractive proposition to a buyer as we'd be cheaper but with potential...subject to being able to oust the Welsh Dwarf.

So positives...for sure. But it's a route fraught with danger too with no guarantee of a swift return to former standing. Look at Villa as a good example....before the current mob, they had the emperor's new clothes in Dr Tony Xia which was a disaster. 

Coming back strong relies on excellent strategic leadership as well as financial clout...neither of which we have in place right now.
 

I'd love to give Sullivan a clout around the ear never mind some financial clout.

Given our financial clout or lack thereof, our real future is.in bringing through the highly talented group of youth players and the academy setup having a greater influence on the first team.

A short spell in the next league down may well enable us to do this, as the success of the Academy side and the perfoamce of the first team is much less of a large gap than most Clubs with successful youth academies.

We have to be realistic...dropping out of the PL sets any PL established club back years and it's easier to maintain than regain....but we've fucked that up, so leveraging the success of the academy for our gain for me would be the biggest benefit of dropping out of the PL.

It would also likely galvanise even further the sentiment across the wider fan base against Sullivan and his mismanagement of the Club. 

It would also make us a more attractive proposition to a buyer as we'd be cheaper but with potential...subject to being able to oust the Welsh Dwarf.

So positives...for sure. But it's a route fraught with danger too with no guarantee of a swift return to former standing. Look at Villa as a good example....before the current mob, they had the emperor's new clothes in Dr Tony Xia which was a disaster. 

Coming back strong relies on excellent strategic leadership as well as financial clout...neither of which we have in place right now.

What's a proper fan then. 'They' won't come back in their droves as 'they' don't want to come to a fucking soulless athletics stadium no matter what division we are in. Down and maybe out.

Jaan Kenbrovin" wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 19:36

honky cat" wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 18:20 10th May 1980
Dad took me to roman road market for a burger and to buy a record. Our regular saturday routine. I saw a stall selling claret and blue hats and scarves.
"Whats this dad?" 
 "Its west ham they're in the cup final"
 "I want that hat"
 "You sure? Its a decision that cant be reversed, and they're in division 2" ( dad not a hammer)
 "Yeah want it"
 "Ok .  Good luck with that" . . .gets quid out

And you know the rest

1991/1992 My only complete attendance season, home and away. Division 2

Division 2 and West Ham. Where i'm from, i'm home.

(They'll probably fuck it up for me and we'll stay up )



 

Don’t want to piss on your chips but Division 2 is League One. 

chevy chase" wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 22:14 Re-build the bowl and play at Charlton while there doing it.  We let them play at ours while they did up the Valley so only fair.

Re-build the bowl and play at Charlton while there doing it.  We let them play at ours while they did up the Valley so only fair.

twoleftfeet wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 21:45 Bullshit. The proper fans will come back, trust me it’s the West Ham way. I loved going to games in division 2 back in the day, it’s proper football. Sullivan will go, a new owner will come in, new heroes will be created and the bowl will become a better place to watch football. 

twoleftfeet wrote: ↑28 Dec 2025, 21:45 Bullshit. The proper fans will come back, trust me it’s the West Ham way. I loved going to games in division 2 back in the day, it’s proper football. Sullivan will go, a new owner will come in, new heroes will be created and the bowl will become a better place to watch football. 

Bullshit. The proper fans will come back, trust me it’s the West Ham way. I loved going to games in division 2 back in the day, it’s proper football. Sullivan will go, a new owner will come in, new heroes will be created and the bowl will become a better place to watch football. 

As much as I miss those heady Europe days. I have long been a fan of going down and have good memories supporting the club in division 2. It’s true there is more of a difference between to the two divisions now, but some of that difference includes tourists and away fans in the home end. I go to a few championship games over the season and always enjoy them.