Guest Post by Anonymous
With West Ham right now, one thing is apparent – while the sword of Damocles looms ominously above our manager – there can be no peace, no brotherhood and sisterhood among us, the fans. Everywhere you turn, people are unhappy. Some object to the manager continuing to lead our team in to the final year at the Boleyn. Others are simply tired of hearing the matter being brought up once more and are more than happy to berate those who have had enough of Big Sam.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of a managerial change, to me this discontent points to a deeper truth that we have yet to face – we are not really West Ham United right now. Shame on us. Maybe it’s the rose tinted specs that have come back out again, but I remember times when being West Ham felt like family. Of course it still is in lots of ways, but now it’s feels like a family with fairly major schism. The elephant in the room, if you like, which now both sides are increasingly reluctant to bring up, is of course the managerial situation. It is a situation that needs resolving, urgently.
It is important that the club appreciate the true nature of the schism at the heart of our club – not, as you might suspect, the issue of does Allardyce stay or go, but, more importantly, why has the fan base become so divided?
In my view, the chairmen first need to acknowledge the need to heal the split that has occurred among us fans. Maybe we need to ask ourselves once more what it means to support our great club?
What exactly are we signed up to when we are, for the most part, born into this great tradition? A lifetime of nearlys, what-ifs and maybes? Promotions, relegations, and dead season ends? A team that tries hard but produces little of real, lasting substance? Are we really content with the short-termism that has prevailed at first team level for so long? Are we really so scared of losing premiership status that we can’t try to implement a policy of expansive football in the tradition of our great club?
Whether we accept these as the trials and tribulations of a West Ham fan or not, what I cannot accept is the deep division among us fans. We simply have to find a way to heal these wounds and reunite.
Our fabled tradition – the West Ham Way – whether historical reality or not, could and, in the view of many, perhaps should become a firm philosophical identity enshrined within our club. I personally can clearly see the value of such a unifying philosophy – something that connects us fans to the passion for good football. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel that a clear commitment to such a style of football would be very well received by the majority of fans. It may not get a 100% approval rating, but it would definitely be an improvement on the internal wrangling and divisive discussions that our present footballing philosophy has brought.
Another value that many would like to see enshrined within our great club is a firm commitment to youth development and progression. A coherent commitment to a certain attractive way of playing, from the earliest levels within our club to the first team would certainly help prepare youth squad players for life a the pinnacle of our great club.
Certainly having youth players used to playing the same style of football as the first team would help the manager – whoever it is – not to undermine our whole youth system.
Ultimately, whether our chairmen decide to stick or twist is not the issue here, it seems to me that, if we choose to take it, there is an opportunity here to unite the fans behind a way of playing that goes beyond the ongoing discussion over the manager’s future. If the manager can be told in what seem like extremely loose terms to ‘play more attractive football’, why can this not be expressed more clearly as a detailed commitment to a style of football that many feel is appropriate for our great club? The time has come for us to start being West Ham United once more, and I for one would welcome any actions that can help us achieve this.