My first game at Upton Park was in 1977 against Chelsea. As I walked with my father from the tube down Green Street I felt as if I was walking through a war zone. I was a very frightened 14 year old. So my thoughts drift to those kids who were attending last night’s match. How many of them will ever want to go again?
I wasn’t there as I am on holiday this week. Over the last few hours I have thought a lot about my own reaction to events if I had been sitting in my normal seat in Row X of the West Stand. I think I would have been seething with anger at how so many mindless idiots could have brought such shame on the club we love. I suspect I would have left the ground at half time.
I think we have to differentiate what happened outside the ground from what happened inside. From the evidence we have so far it seems pretty obvious that much of the trouble outside had been pre-arranged between the mindless thugs who call themselves West Ham and Millwall fans, but are in fact vicious hooligans with no interest in football at all. A lot of the fighting outside the ground continued after the game had started. Few of those involved had tickets, so they had mostly come to the ground with one intention – to have a fight.
You and I might not understand the mentality that is involved here and a lot of us had hoped it had died away with the generation that used to get off on this sort of thing in the 1970s and 1980s. But it’s like a virus. It can lie dormant for years before rearing its ugly head again.
I don’t know how many Police were on duty last night. One commenter suggested that there were only 300 officers in and around the ground, compared to 900 the last time we played Millwall. If so, the Police have some questions to answer, but from the evidence displayed so far, they did all they reasonably could.
Inside the ground, from the pictures I have seen, the pitch invasions were all conducted by West Ham supporters. The stewards did their best, but most were understandably deployed at the Millwall end. Questions will no doubt be raised about whether West Ham had deployed enough stewards.
Exuberance is one thing. Mindless pitch invasions are another. When you see fifty year old men in suits parading about the pitch, when you see a mother with a small child running from one side to the other you really have to question their value sets. What kind of example is this woman setting to her seven year old, who when he is 14, will no doubt do the same thing again (on his own) and see nothing wrong with it.
The media is understandably working itself up into a frenzy. The events of last night play into the hands of those who have always viewed our club in a particular way. Those of us who think of ourselves as true fans are horrified, embarrassed and ashamed by what happened.
And I hope those of us who are true fans and who witnessed some of the despicable events of last night will have no reservation in giving their accounts to the club and the authorities.
The club cannot be held responsible for what happens outside the ground, but it can ban for life anyone who was responsible for the violence that ensued. But anyone who invaded the pitch or was involved in violence against the stewards also deserves all that is coming to them.
One suggestion I would make is that in future, all season ticket cards should have photos on them. That would make it far easier to identify the guilty parties involved in violence.
I hate the fact that instead of talking about a victory, or transfer targets, we are having to discuss the acts of what I would normally call a mindless few. But it wasn’t just a few, was it? Looking at the pictures on Sky, it wasn’t just a few dozen who took part in this. Indeed, it wasn’t just a few hundred. And that’s the thing we should all be very worried about.
And another thing we should also worry about is the reaction of Zola and his transfer targets to the events of yesterday evening. If you were Allessandro Diamanti, or Pandev, or Chamakh, would you want to come to a club with supporters who acted like that?
Well, would you?
Also, spare a thought for the local businesses and homeowners who now face bills or hundreds if not thousands of pounds, as well as rocketing insurance premiums.
Finally, it pains me to say it, but the odds are that on a blog with 35,000 individual readers, one or two of you were involved in what happened last night. Were you involved in the fighting outside the ground? Did you invade the pitch?
If so, perhaps you’d do us a favour and try to explain yourself. And when you’ve done that you can apologise to all those you have brought collective shame on through your mindless yobbery.
I thought the way that Jack Collison handled himself last night was really quite humbling
Well said, Iain.
The events of last night have tarnished the name of our club, which for the most part is a great love of respectful, honest and dignified fans. I’m deeply ashamed of the supporters who did cause trouble last night and hope as many as possible can be punished. I’m passionate, I enjoy singing at the Boleyn, I even enjoy giving away fans stick during the game – but would I EVER cross that line? No. None of us decent fans would.
I was thinking about photo cards last night – this should be introduced on Season ticket cards, Academy member cards and wherever possible. It would certainly make these idiots think twice, knowing they could easily be identififed, then banned.
What a terrible shame.
On another note – young Jack Collison is a hero.
Come on you Irons.
Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever be able to rid society of this element… and unfortunately there is only so much a football club, the stewards and the police can do when trouble like this occurs.
The club and police can take all sorts of precautions to TRY and prevent the trouble, but it’s impossible to completely eradicate it – if ‘fans’ of any football club want to cause mindless violence, and are determined to do it no matter what the costs, then they will. And there are simply not the resources within the club or the police force to deal with thousands of fans intent on causing trouble…
There was a huge police presence inside and outside the ground and plenty of stewards in attendance, but you cannot employ one steward/copper per thug – it’s just not possible.
I really hope that the club don’t get reprimanded to badly for what has occured, but I think we will see a big fine and possibly the prospect of the next cup game being behind closed doors… worse still, we could be booted out of the competition.
Sadly whatever the punishment, the only people who will suffer are the genuine fans, aswell the players and staff of WHUFC.
Lets hope all the mindless thugs involved last night get caught dealt with in the proper way… and lets hope we never, ever, see anything like this again in or around Upton Park.
These people only turned up for the fight. The crowd attendance was only 23k so it’s not as if they couldn’t get a ticket. When I got to UP station at 7 there were thousands of fans lining the pavements all looking in one direction, waiting for Millwall lot. This was pre arranged make no mistake.
The match on the other hand was quite a good one, with some neat play by millwall who came with a strict counter attacking game plan and almost pulled it off, west hams youngsters played well and in the end the class prevailled and the best team won. On the other side of the coin, the violence has been blown out of all proportion, some mindless kids who went to a one off game ran on the pitch, no big deal, mostly poor stewarding/policing. Millwall fans breaking seats and throwing on the pitch(as expected) bottles thrown by millwall fans at players, and Carlton cole racially abused. The outside the ground stuff has nothing to do with real footy fans, just a poor excuse for a tear up.
Hi Iain,
Firstly I was’nt one of the idiots who ran on the pitch, but I was one of the thousands of west ham fans that shouted for them to get off the pitch. I think the worst case was the father who took his small child on the pitch he could only have been about 5 or 6 !!! There is cctv so west ham official should look where they were sitting and ban them for the rest of the season ( a lifetime ban is too harsh) but for the couple of idiots who went up to the Millwall to provoke them to come on to the pitch, they should throw the book at them.
The headline should have read this morning:
Brave Collison battles for a win after the sudden death of his father !
Well done to a brave young man !
Did anyone ever think that this disease had ever gone away but just as the draw was made this had danger warning written all over it and all in all even amongst the fans here in Australia we all said Big Trouble so if we can see it 12,000 miles away why not in London amazing,just when you thought it was safe hey!
Could not agree more, Iain.
Ban them all for life and they can join the rest of their friends/ilk outside.
I would also like to add my admiration for Jack Collison – a brave young man who should not have had to endure that kind of behaviour after putting himself forward for selection so shortly after losing his father. Our thoughts are with him.
I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to some very nice Millwall fans on the way to the game. Friendly, courteous, proper fans who were there, like many West Ham fans, for the football. Let’s hope that this incident is taken in perspective as a one off, marred by thugs who saw it as an excuse to come together and cause trouble.
I know this sounds trite, but don’t underestimate the influence of the film Green Street. These daft sods were trying to replicate it and big themselves up.
Does that mean censorship – big debate – but the film glorified this kind of mostly peurile behaviour / violence.
Does this excuse the wallies that got involved – course not.
Could the club and police been more prepared – oh yes; just watch how many would be deployed should we have the misfortune to draw Millwall in the FA cup.
I am writing to Gianfranco and Steve to say ‘sorry’ on behalf of the vast majority of decent fans – it’s the least we can do to 2 men who have come to the club to try and take us to the ‘next level’ only to be dragged down by these mindless idiots.
Please lets all write to the club – they will get the sense of how much we all hate these morons, and hopefully they can see that there are many, many decent proper fans of this great club.
I finaly know what name to put on my next shirt!
Collison, a model young man.
Iain, slightly surprised at your line on this. Yes, there were ‘mindless idiots’ that invaded the pitch, some in celebration, but many who were looking for 15 minutes of infamy in their drab exsistencies. Most, I’m sure, were caught up in the frenzied atmosphere and will be feeling rather sheepish today. However, the real thugs did not even enter the ground, they were outside for one thing and one thing alone, the thrill of the violence that we all knew would happen. This has nothing whatsoever to do with football, yes there is a violent history between West Ham and Millwall, but anyone intent on trouble in our society would have known where to be last night. I can pretty much guarnatee that 90% of these people do not even attend football matches anymore. So yes, other ‘fans’ can call for us to be thrown out of the cup, fined or completely disbanded, but would most of the thugs involved last night give a damn? Of course not. Sorry, but I am so sick of reading comments in the last 12 hours, about the return of football violence, this is not football violence it is violence we see every Friday and Saturday night the length and breadth of this country, that happened outside of a football ground.
IoDHammer – my thoughts entirely. I’m getting Collison on my shirt, out of great respect for the bloke, and because he’s one hell of a player!
Exactly EnglandsNumber6, you summed it up better than me!
Collison and Parker, real men.
Annoyingly the bloomin spuds are raising an interesting point on thier forums. What does this do the the 2018 world cup bid?
If we dont get it it will ruin our club by assosiation.
Fecking spuds have a point.
There are many reports which seem to blame a) not enough police b) not enough stewards c) the referee. Yes seriously and d) the clubs.
Lets get this in perspective. The police and the stewards were superb in front of extreme provocation. Arguably we could have had a stronger ref but it wasn’t his fault.
It was not the fault of West Ham or Millwll Football Clubs. This was organised violence of the worse kind, orchestrated by the dregs of society from both South and East London that have no interest in football whatsoever.
I suspect that when they identify the pitch invaders they will find they are not regular.
Ban them for life. However as tickets for most games are available to general sale they will just ask someone to buy them for them and wear a hat or something so they are not recognised. Easier said than done.
I was at the game and I was ashamed to be a West Ham fan. I left at the end of full time because groups of mindless morons ruined a perfectly good game that Millwall deserved to win. Over 90 minutes they were the better team.
It is almost certainly a one-off because of the history of the two clubs but it doesn’t make it any better.
Iain,
As I twittered to you earlier, the police clearly knew something was up – there were van loads of them on the roads around Plaistow and Forest Gate from as early as 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and uniformed officers on the tube platforms and in the ticket halls.
Local pubs I passed were doing a heavy trade all afternoon as well, with large crowds outside drinking pints. God knows how much most of them would have had inside of them by kick-off!
A Millwall supporter at work (not at the game last night) said that next time West Ham and Millwall get drawn out of the hat together they should throw the balls back and draw again – it just isn’t worth the hassle of playing the game.
Iain,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I have supported the club for 38 years and my 8 year old was pleading with me to take him to this, what would have been his first Hammers game, but I knew what was going to happen around The Boleyn and didn’t want him to witness that; but little did I expect elements purporting to be West Ham fans to act as they did inside the game. Not only was it disgusting, bringing shame on our club, it will see us sanctioned in a way we can ill afford. There is one potential saving aspect and that is if all those who were at the game last night and saw who has brought shame on the club lets the club know, they can then make sure they never set foot inside UP again and the outside world and the FA can see that we have taken decisive and quick action.
I didnt get to see any of the game or antics last night as I wasn’t near a TV, Also I had very little phone signal so could’nt get any text messages but what little I did hear last night makes me ashamed to be a West Ham fan.
As someone posted yesterday on another thread about things coming in 3′s
last night was the 3rd thing in a week for us.
well done to Collison and Zola for what he did when Collinson came off the pitch.
Found this post on a Spurs website
In other news, West Ham fans have likely ruined our chances of hosting a World Cup in the near future. Some of their comments on my post from Monday speak for themselves but their actions last night were a disgrace. Hopefully they get the punishment they deserve but I can’t think of a punishment severe enough for taking away the 2018 World Cup.
The one thing that has amazed me is how everyone is so shocked and suprised this happened, History has a tendenacy to repeat itself as is the case here.
We haven’t played that lot for about 5 years so its been bubbling since.
The element of the hooli at West Ham has never gone away people it just has lay dormant till a big fixture come out..que Millwall. There was trouble on Sunday vs Spurs with pitched battles at Mile End but nothing got mentioned due to the fact there was no pitch invasion, the mindless idiots who ran on the pitch last night could cost us dear and who are they? Believe me i know everyone around me in the CR and there were a lot of once a yearers in there last night, 1 bloke even turned up in the ground on he’s bike at halftime!!
People cant be think its gone away it just doesn’t happen at the ground anymore..til last night.
We hate Spurs for footballing reasons and the attitude of there fans..we hate Millwall for the south v east thing and we all have to remember that, naff all to do with football just geography. The Club and Police have to look at themselves here for there controls for what is one of the most feared and naughty fixtures in football.
I strongly believe that most of the trouble outside of the ground and those running on the pitch wasn’t the fans that turn up every week. Most no doubt, only come to cause trouble. These idiots have all been caught on film so hopefully we should not see them again in our ground.
It’s a shame, I never went last night knowing this could happen and I suspect that I wasn’t alone in this.
I still think the Police could have been better prepared, seems like everyone knew there would be trouble, except them.
I also overheard people talking coming out after the spurs match that there was trouble earlier before the game.
Iain perhaps you can relay back to SD and Zola that the majority of people on your website are massively passionate about West Ham and only care about the club and players and do not in anyway associate ourselves with these morons.
On a positive note the 2 huge banners in either end of the stadium of Bobby Moore and Trevor Brooking look great. I remember being at a fans forum and people mentioning the stadium could do with a bit of West Ham Heritage! …but at the time Paul Aldridge didn’t see the point!
Iain, you won’t get any of the people (if you can call thm that) that invaded th epitch or rioted outside posting on here!
They are cowardly scum! Even the West Ham ones! They will hide behind their fat guts and hope they get away with it! They won’t though!
They will be caught, banned for life and punished to the FULL extent of the law! And good job too!
These mindless idiots just feed the perception that everyone already has of us. Did anyone else dread walking into work this morning with everyone knowing you are a west ham fan? I know i did and with good reason. So all we can do is vent our disgust at them while we sit back and nervously wait to see what the FA have in store for us.
Who knows what damage this will cause and what the knock on effects will be? If we get a huge fine that we cant pay, our current owners would easily be able to justify selling Upson or Parker. And less than a week after Zola’s quitting rumours,ok none of us really believe that, but if there was any truth at all about it then what further reason does he need?
Its all just another drama we could all do without.
Just a look at NewsNow will tell you the effect these morons have had on our club. You have to actviely search for a story about a fantastic fight back, the contribution of two of our academy players with great goals and most notably the emergence of Jack Collison as the embodiment of every thing that is good about our club. Instead his story is tarnished by headlines of violence, scumbag hooligans and proposed sanctions against the club. Granted some of these headlines are over the top but we are in no position to dispute them, we have no case for the defence, anything we say will just have those videos and photos shoved in our face as evidence for the prosecution or should I say persecution! Personally I think the club should withdraw from the competion, it is the best way to make sure that these morons are ostracised by the rest of the fans. There is a worry that last nights horror and disgust will fade and these idiots will ingratiate their way back into the large West Ham fold, with claims that it was the Milwall fans fault, the police, the stewards or even as one poster elsewhere stated it was sky’s fault for not showing the game live as that would have stopped what went on! If the club withdraws from the competition then we regain the high ground. We put an early end to smear campaign that is already gearing up by so called journalists who were worried they would have to appologise for their treatment of the club after the Tevez affair. I know it seems a drastic step but it is the right one in my opinion. It ensures that these morons are never looked at again as being WestHam fans. It means that they will be shunned by real fans. Our place should go one of the teams that lost last night, simply put the names in a hat and draw one out. Milwall obviously do not deserve to progress after the actions of their fans either.
CH i agree, hand over the place.
Im losing alot of faith as a suporter, this is a make or break season for me. Might pack it all in. Too fed up. Is there ANY good news? Its been a week from hell.
A friend of mine, that knows little about our beautiful game, now knows who West Ham is, but for all the wrong reasons. It was very sad to see a brilliant fight back lost in the vile actions of the stupid. West Ham is no longer just a team from the proud East End, we are now a global team and when we really wanted our football flashed around the world all we saw were morons fighting and behaving like louts – it’s just not football!
ShropshireHammer – you have hit the nail on the head. I don’t need to repeat what you have already said.
I’ve been watching the reaction to last night’s events with interest and trying to remain dispassionate and a bit analytical. Here are my thoughts:
The sports minister says it’s a disgrace to footfall., Iain starts this column with the header that the these fools have brought shame to our club. I think that West Ham is the victim here. Some people have turned up at the club and ruined an evening of sport for everyone. I don’t think that the club should feel shame for that. West Ham should feel violated and abused.
It’s easy and lazy for the media to use the term ‘West Ham fans’ in every headline and thus reinforce a completely nonexistent link between the club or the game and the people who committed these stupid acts, but where else would you find the victim being held responsible by association like this?
Modern football is an often all consuming passion for fans and every week millions enjoy the game without any trouble at all. That a few hundred people were uncivilized last night does not reflect on West Ham nor football and to say it does is to side step tackling harder issues of why people behave in such a way.
Find them and exclude them from future matches, take them to court when offences are identified, but don’t say that football or the club is disgraced.
Our club is magnificent, with a team of committed sportsmen and women who are working towards bringing entertainment and sporting success to East London. The club was abused last night and I think that all other clubs should rally round and offer public sympathy, and the media should engage brains instead of looking for dramatic headlines.
As a loyal season ticket holder for over 12 years never in my time have i seen anything like what i had to witness last night.
It was an EMBARRASMENT to all true followers of our great club.
As soon as i got to the ground their were so many unfamiliar faces all over the place and inside the ground the feeling was pure hatred.
The pitch invasion was totally out of order but the general feeling at the bar at half time was ” I aint got a season ticket, it only cost me £20 so i dont care everyone on the pitch”
I would also like to point out that the opposition so called supporters were not the angels that their manager is trying to make them out to be they are the most vile set of people to ever of graced Upton Park.
They were always goading our supporters to come on the pitch
They were in fact the first ones on the pitch
To my knowledge some 4 to 600 of their lot came to the game without tickets for obvious reasons to start trouble.
And the sick idiots that they are they sang vile songs about Calum Davenport and Jack Collison.
So i feel that the book will be thrown at West Ham and we the genuine supporters will be make to pay for the mindless idiots that have once again given our great club a bad name.
Spot on Colin. I am sick to death of knee jerk reactions that always follow these events. It’s time some people who hold important office engage their brain and think things through, rather than feed the likes of the Mail, Sun & Mirror, but perhaps I ask too much.
Great article.
I was at the ground and was one of the supporters chanting off when at the pitch invasions. When the equaliser went in, I was absolutely ecstatic and could forgive that pitch invasion if it was done out of adrenaline and passion and quickly dispersed after celebrations as it was clearly a big goal. But the second and one at full time just showed the character of the culprits, followers and yobs.
It frustrates me, because the reputation of West Ham has been tarnished massively. What kind of punishment can the club expect for this. In the financial state we are in we can’t afford fines.
Jack Collison is incredible. I don’t have a clue how he did it and was probably man of the match. The only player who gave his all last night. Ledge.
I find it hard to understand the West Ham mentality. Here you are condeming the actions of your support
yet I have not met a West Ham fan who doesnt revel in the notoriety of your fan base. The sheer pride Hammers show in the fact the Green Street is about West Ham fans.
Are you really upset by your actions? really? Or just worried about the repercussions I wonder.
the real offenders are neither west ham nor millwall fans, yet both clubs will face the consequences.
something has to be done in the future to stop these people from not only getting into the ground, but also from travelling to the area (most of the action before the game was thought to be from people who didnt have tickets)
im sick of the club i love being associated with these types of people
CH – last night you said you would like to spend 10 minutes in a closed room with the “Millwall” fan that accosted Jack Collison.
1) I don’t know where you got the information regarding this incident, I haven’t seen anything.
2)Aren’t you behaving exactly the same as the people you are castigating this morning?
I’m sure you got carried away in the emotion of the occasion. I suggest that most on the pitch did so too.
As for the violence outside the ground, this was pre-meditated and would have attracted hooligans from around London, not just West Ham and Millwall. Hooliganism hasn’t gone away, it’s seen on the streets of every town every week. It’s just harder for these people to cause trouble at football these days.
I’ve also been told this morning that many old school hooligans came out of retirement last night.
Great post, Colin Barnes.
Some people have written that they feel ashamed to be a West Ham supporter after last night’s events. I don’t! I am proud to be a West Ham supporter. What brings shame is the mindless morons who were involved last night. I feel no link with them whatsoever.
Some other comments that amazed me were those which put some of the blame on the police and stewards. Eh? None of them came for a fight. None of them tried to invade the pitch. This is totally down to the brain-dead halfwits who actually perpetrated the action.
OK, one or two may end up in court and get fined or given community service. For idiots like them this will be a badge of honour. That’s how removed from normality they are.
The biggest punishment will come to the club and the decent fans. Doesn’t seem very fair to me.
Me too Roymondo! Why should we be ashamed to we associated with West Ham? Ashamed maybe with being associated with the dark side of the human race might be closer to the mark. Because, let’s face it, we are all responsible for each others behaviour at the end of the day. As soon as we walk by when someone is being abused, we condone the violence we see in our society. Not easy, is it? But we all need to look at ourselves this morning.
I’m certainly not ashamed to be a WHU supporter,
and all this ban them for life, ban them from what! They probably never go to a game anyway.
Roymondo, I don’t think anyone is trying to blame the stewards and the police. Read back and you’ll see that people are probably suggesting that the LEVEL of stewarding and policing might have been stepped up in recognition of a high level of risk.
It’s not the stewards’ fault that they were outnumbered and out of their depth. The fact is they were doing a job in trying to keep the two factions apart at one end of the ground, so that left the morons free to come on at the other end.
As for the police, they are now hamstrung by the criticism in the wake of the G20 protests. i.e. it’s ok for them and Joe Public to come under a hail of bricks and bottles, but woe betide any copper who tries to do anything about it in response.
Hi,
Just like to ask you guys how much of the riots where influenced by the Greenstreet films?
Hereing accounts from a pub landlord saying before the game, most of the guys saying stuff like they won’t to kill the other fans where young. No doubt the Norty Forty and other fugs of old where at the hart but do you think Greenstreet film influenced people who never got involved before to get involved?
Ok, this is getting a bit silly now! Are people forgetting that this was a WEST HAM v MILLWALL game! What do people expect? It was held at Upton Park where there were nearly 10x the amount of West Ham fans than there were Millwall fans!
I agree that a couple of our fans acted like complete scumbag anumals! But I am willing to place money on the fact that a majority weren’t infact ‘fans’ but were there for the fight!
If this had been at the New Den, then it would have still happened, only this time there would have been a lot more Millwall fans! And things would have probably been a LOT worse than they were! The only reason there were no Millwall on the pitch is because they couldn’t penetrate the police and stewards and a lot of them knoew that if they did
I’m talking about the incidents inside the ground! It was NOT the clubs fault! We have played the scum a few times in the past with hardly any incident! What happened inside the ground was no doubt fueld by what happened outside the ground which was pre-planned in secret! How can we blame the club for that? Given recent meetings between teh 2 sides, they had no reason to suspect that there would have been this much violence!
The club is doing everything right! they are investigating the idiots and promising them lifetime bans and will be handing all details of them over the police!
Why on earth should they step out of the cup? Why should they punish the players that fairly beat Millwall in a great comeback? Why should Jack Collisons tears have been in vein?
So what shold we do, quit the cup and give Millwall our place???? I don’t think so!
I was at the game last night and just wanted to add that despite the idiots fighting, stabbing, invading the pitch etc. the way we came back and then the subsiquent atmosphere after we scored was a true West Ham night to remember.
It’s a shame that all that will be talked about is the violence……
I have supported WH for nearly 50 years and honestly thought that the mindless behaviour that we all witmessed last night was well and truly in the past. I hope and pray that this is a one off incident not only for the club and the fans but for english football as a whole.
It has been a distressful week for the club with the Calum Davenport attack, the terrible tragedy of Jack Collison’s father and now this. I am very concerned that Zola may think differently about the club following the events of last night. We as true fans need to let him know how much we despise these idiots and show our appreciation of how much we trust and value Zola’s passion in bringing good fotball back to the club.
i missed the first half due to my mate stuffing a kfc,we got stuck at the station and the police came in behind us and refused us exit,so to say we were waiting for them is just so wrong,the police could easily have let us through as we got stuck for half n hour b4 about 80 of them turned up.i just hope that sky get of our case and start reporting the facts.there trying to dig up pictures and vids from anyone who was there just to bury us even further.
Never mind West Ham’s future target player signings possibly being put off by last night’s absolute disgrace. What the hell does that matter when the entire world is now hearing news and watching tv footage of the whole incident? What will be going through their minds?
Never mind deflecting the blame by raising questions about adequate policing etc. because I doubt that last night’s incident could have been entirely prevented under any circumstances.
The blame squarely lies with a section of the West Ham supporters who have completely disgraced this country in the eyes of the world.
WE ARE SAILING… WE AREEE SAILIIIIIIIIING…….
What upsets me is the tarred with same brush scenario. We are looking forward to going to Blackburn on Saturday but I am half expecting the police to put a blanket ban on West Ham supporters from all pubs because of what has happened.
I was also seething that Sky sports spent half their screen time last night referring to events outside of the stadium which is not their concern. What with that and Phil Thompson going totally overboard it dd my head in,he really is a waste of space.
As has been previously said we should all be humbled by the character displayed by jack Collinson, what must he have been thinking.
What’s that supposed to mean?
I have these theories what happend.
1. when the draw was made, West Ham, Millwall, The Fa the Football League must have known that it was going to kick off. game could have easily have been played behind closed doors.
2.Police must have Sh*t themselves when the draw was made. From what i hear they done a good job but why were many fans i no that went telling me it was under policed?
3. The Referee. Nothing about his performance or anything like that, done his job and refereed the game no problems. But why was a ref by all accounts not experienced enough to contain a big game like that. Howard Webb would have been perfect for that as he is a police officer! I blame the FA there!.
4. West Ham done all they could and give the tickets to people with ticket purchasing history. Apart from get extra security around the pitch i dnt no what else they could have done.
5. Millwall….when you get these muppets ripping up our stadium then our fans are gunna react. If i saw them throwing seats then i would be pretty angry! in fairness there club did take tickets of people other wise who knows what could have happend if they had there full allocation.
..Finally Ian I would just like to appologise to Gianfranco Zola, Steve Clarke, Jack Collison and the rest of the players and backroom staff. As i fan of this club i feel these people let you down and it took away the purpose of getting a result in a cup competition, playing a game for the spirt of sum1s lose…jack collison i applaud you for ur courage i for one am glad you play for our team you are apart of the west ham family you will be looked after.