West Ham Till I Die
Comments
Nigel Kahn’s Column

Just When You Thought It Was Safe... I'm Back!

It’s been a while, people.

I’d like to apologise first as when you take on writing a column for a website to then suddenly stop without reason is not fair on other writers or the website owner, so hopefully, he can forgive me for my absence as you all can. Sometimes I struggle in getting an article put together that is different from the rest you can find. After all, you don’t want to read for a 3rd or 4th time about how bad we have been in any particular game.

After my last article I never really thanked the readers on this site for the comments I received. They meant a lot to me, and the wife actually, so thank you all.

It seems the protest movement against the owners is growing. Two marches have been held, protests at away games with the black balloons being released and more to come it seems the numbers are growing. The end game is to get the owners to leave, but how long will it take and how extreme should the fan base go to get them to do that?

Last week I self-published an article aimed at getting the GSB out fans, of which I am one, to look at how fans could apply pressure in other ways. Marching and balloons are all well and good, as is standing by the gate, but that can only be done by the fanbase at the game.

We all know the club collect social media followers like years ago kids collected stamps. What is needed is a mass unfollowing of West Ham by its fans on social media. Don’t follow them on Twitter or engage with them. Don’t share their videos and put out the reasoning behind it to encourage those around the world or not at the games to do the same.
Remove yourself from all their social media accounts.

A boycott of club partners as well, which looking at the list is easy, and publicly state they will be boycotted by the fans. Businesses only partner with fans to get to their database, and we are part of its database. Corporate companies should be lobbied to not renew any association with the club.

Brady is kept on as she is good for DS in bringing in the corporate money. We as anti board fans now need to target that income as best we can. Companies won’t enjoy the negative press, especially if it can be done with wide world fanbase against the owners.

I can see those of the fanbase who are ambivalent to the protests saying that by doing the above it financially impacts the club’s ability to buy players. To answer that I would say that TV money is a great driver in a club’s income, not its sponsorship deals.

It is been said that if I don’t like the club why keep going, but a big mantra of the protests is to support the team, not the regime. We need fans in the ground to support the team, so I would encourage fans to buy tickets to attend games and back whoever pulls on the shirt to pull us out of the danger zone, because if we did find ourselves dropping out of the Premier League, while it may quicken the corporate partners departure and that possibly of GSB, but the club left behind may take years of pain for it to recover just its top-flight status again. I’m sure that is not a scenario that even the hardened protestor would want to see.

What fans don’t need to do while at the game is buy their scarves from the club shop, nor T-shirts. If you do want to buy a shirt for yourself, buy the shirt with no sponsor on, or even then get it printed with GSB OUT where the sponsors’ name should be.

Fan representation groups have always interested me since before the move. Some may know I tried to set up WHUISA originally back in 2014, and only for a friend’s illness we would have achieved that. In 2016 it was delivered on a plate to new people and I agreed to join them on the committee. A fine gentleman of this parish though did question me, “how can I being an affirmed board hater be part of a fans group that will need to sit down with the club and work with them?”.

Easy I replied. When I walk into any meeting as a member of WHUISA I will not be representing myself but I will be representing my members as a whole, and I will do my best by them and put my dislike to one side.

For organising a fan representation group was about bringing all fans together, there was no pro board or anti board, it was never supposed to be a protest group.
Sadly WHUISA’s current committee now, having gained its position by holding a coup against the last elected chairman – very democratic that – are getting publicity by hanging on the coattails of Hammers United, a group that was born out of protest for me and was always going to go down that road. But with WHUISA now a protest group as well, who will be able to bring fans together from all sides of the fence if the day comes and the owners move on, not WHUISA that’s for sure.

While on my last stint as a committee member on WHUISA I argued against a members campaign against setting up a WHUISA food bank. My reasoning being was WHUISA had at that time, been unfairly tagged as a lefty organisation and the foodbank could be construed as being a political tool used by the left to shame the right-wing government we had. WHUISA should just concentrate on trying to represent its members in dealing with the clubs machinery.

John Ratomski has finally achieved in setting up Irons supporting Foodbanks he and his team of volunteers collect food from fans on the walk to the stadium from Westfield. If you see him say hello, drop him a tin of beans or anything you feel like donating or stick a sheckel or two in his collection team. All food collected is then taken to the local Newham foodbank for distribution to those in need of help.

I still believe I was right to oppose John against WHUISA organising the food bank for the reasons I gave, but I am so pleased to see him get this off the ground and get the credit he deserves for this. I have promised him after my daughter’s wedding I will come down and shake a collection pot for him before a game.

On the field, we as fans can be pleased with the performances put in since the close Liverpool away defeat, and while currently, it is goal difference that keeps us out of the relegation zone, I remain optimistic that we won’t be going down.

Moyes is not a charismatic manager and I don’t see his teams playing in a charismatic way, but when he was at Everton I never had him down in the Allardyce or Pulis brand of football. If I was to describe his style of football in one word it would be functional.

As since the move we seemed to have on the pitch gone from one crisis to another as much as off the pitch, it may be that Moyes and his functional brand of football could be the respite we need. Instead of looking as us as a club that should be challenging the top six we should settle for being a mid-table and mediocre for a few years.

Lastly, with the world, it seems embroiled in a medical catastrophe I would be supportive of the banning of football fans from attending games, but then, since my daughter’s impending wedding means I won’t be attending any games until after we have played Burnley, it seems I’m self-isolating myself anyway, well, from West Ham at least.

Hope to see you all on the other side.

About us

West Ham Till I Die is a website and blog designed for supporters of West Ham United to discuss the club, its fortunes and prospects. It is operated and hosted by West Ham season ticket holder, LBC radio presenter and political commentator Iain Dale.

More info

Follow us

Contact us

Iain Dale, WHTID, PO Box 663, Tunbridge Wells, TN9 9RZ

Visit iaindale.com, Iain Dale’s personal website & blog.

Get in touch

Copyright © 2024 Iain Dale Limited.