It doesn’t seem that long ago that I wrote on these pages how it had been a long summer and how keen we were to get on with the season and see how the new manager and signings panned out.
And here we are now, 8 games in, a fifth of the season gone, and as I write this we lie in fifth place in the table. 4 points off the leaders with a tally of 14 points.
We are undefeated in 5 league games. We have achieved a treble of away wins at grounds we just don’t normally get anything from.
So far so good? We all would have said thank you very much on the 9th of August before we kicked off at Arsenal and shook the hand of the football devil. We would have sold the family silverware for this position at this stage.
The important thing at the start of this season was clear. Under no circumstances must we get relegated. With the move in to the Olympic Stadium imminent we absolutely could not afford as a club and a business to kick the first ball as a Championship club against the likes of Rotherham or MK Dons.
That scenario would be a disaster for the club and us. The humiliation of being a Championship club in this grand stadium would hurt us all. Imagine the family gatherings, the parties, the trips to the pub, anything where we would come in to contact with supporters of any other team. We would know exactly what was coming. It would be thrown in our faces for years to come.
So objective number one, and let’s face it there is no number two, stay up. All we need is a half decent season where we don’t flirt with relegation and we don’t have to spend time worrying that our social lives will be ruined for the next few years.
But this is West Ham. This behemoth that brings us all together. And what do they do on day one? They go and give Arsenal a lesson on how to take 3 points. It was certainly not pretty from our view but we got the job done.
And what does that do? In less than 2 hours we’ve now got this belief. We’ve done Arsenal so surely we can do anyone? Perhaps this could be more than just a season of keeping the wolf from the door.
Then 2 home games on the bounce. Bournemouth and Leicester, should, on the evidence of the Arsenal game yield at least 4 points. That would see us steady with tough away games coming up.
But this is West Ham. We contrive to fall flat on our faces and get nothing. Back to the wolf at the door scenario.
Liverpool away. Well we won’t get anything there. Having not won there since the Boer war or something and having got rolled over by Bournemouth and Leicester this will be grim.
But this is West Ham. 3-0 winners with 10 men. Mon Dieu! as Del Boy would say.
Now came the only thing we could truly predict. A comfortable win over Newcastle who took being poor to a whole new level.
Man City away next. Now alright we’ve had 2 unexpected away wins but this will be a bridge too far. They have a squad assembled with the budget of smaller continents. Brace yourselves lads this could be ugly.
But this is West Ham. We don striped shirts, masks and throw bags of swag over our shoulders and go and rob city of the points. WTF? (as the teenagers would say).
Next up games against Norwich and Sunderland. The latter in disarray so 3 points is easily achievable (especially with the away records of gods), and the former should be a test at Upton Park but again achievable.
But this is West Ham. We make life difficult for ourselves by going behind in both matches and although scoring 4 goals, which is very positive, we only manage to grab 2 draws.
So where are we now? In our heads we’re looking at all the dropped points and thinking we could be top of the league.
We’re bewildered. We are in a position we’re happy with but we’ve got there all topsy turvey. Winning games we shouldn’t, losing games we shouldn’t, we’re losing track of our backside and our elbow.
But you know what? We’re happy. Why? Because that is the true ‘West Ham Way’. Confusion.
The reason we love this club and bleed claret and blue is because we are different. Nothing is ever certain. We are permanently confused. And long may that reign.
COYI