Guest Post by Russ
After what seemed like years of being stuck in the doldrums footballing wise in the Summer of 2015 it seemed like the dark gloomy clouds had finally lifted. Allardyce didn’t have his contract renewed and after seemingly every available manager turning us down Slaven Bilic was appointed to the delight of most fans. The transfer business as always appeared to be a complete mish mash but we finally ended up a few new faces to look forward too. Did anyone know much about Lanzini, I doubt it and whilst most had heard about Dimi Payet it was a gamble that could go either way and at the very last minute we signed a winger from Forest that could be explosive but would he make the step up to the Premier League.
So that was the backdrop to the beginning of our last season at the Boleyn, everybody desperate and hopeful that it would be a fitting closure to our home and most people worried that it could end in tears and disaster with relegation.
What a season it turned out to be. Many more highs than lows, a return to a style of football that was both easy on the eye and reflected our traditions and history, scintillating moments and touches of genius that at times made you shake your head in disbelief. What a time to be a hammer.
Payet was a class of player not seen since the days of Di Canio, and worthy of his song that echoed around the stands again and again, Lanzini lit the place up with his wonderful touch and vision, Antonio was as raw as they come but his mazy dribbles, enthusiasm and fantastic finishing made him an instant hero. Other stalwarts of the Allardyce era rose to greater heights with Noble having the season of his life, Ginger Pele defending like a man possessed, Carroll finally showing what an exceptional player he can be when fit and pretty much everyone else coming to the party.
Off the pitch things were just as good with Slaven finally bringing back our respectability and pride. We were in heaven, battling for a top 4 spot in the league with victory after victory against the top teams that for so many years had made our lives a misery, fabulous results against our bitter London rivals (and the odd blip when we didn’t expect it), ah well we are West Ham. The final game at the Boleyn will forever stay in the memory of all that were there, truly the stuff of legends. So finally the curtain came down, the season ended and we all went away for the summer, in many ways having witnessed the `Perfect Storm`. From that moment onwards we had a new set of expectations, dreams recalibrated and a hunger for this season to begin. More adrenalin rushes, heart stopping moments, thrills and spills in our new home.
And now we are in the aftermath, was it ever realistic to expect to go to the next level or even repeat what we achieved last year? The whole emotion of the last season for the fans was there to see, the players were aware of the importance and in my opinion most of them played beyond what I thought they were capable of, every one of us fans, players, manager, coaching team and owners were swept along in a wave of excitement and emotion that grew through the season. Now home doesn’t feel like home, the atmosphere at the ground is flat as a pancake, lots of the players have been injured so we have had a poor start to the season. So I say lets just try and show a little patience, most of the same players that gave everything last season are still with us and they haven’t become bad players overnight, lets give everyone a little bit of time to settle into their new surroundings get back to full fitness integrate the new players and see where we can go. We have excellent players throughout the team, going forward they will create and score goals and excite us so lets just get off everyone’s back and give them a chance. Last year most people would have been happy with a mid table finish, some entertaining football and some memorable moments, we got that in bucket loads. This season may not reach the same heights but lets just give it a chance before writing it off, its still early days.