Guest Post by Phil Murphy
I thought I might start off a bit of a discussion about the Hammers United survey results. Everyone knows I have no time for them or WHUISA (or whatever they’re called now) so my views are admittedly slewed but fair enough if you have a different position. I’m just trying to generate debate here.
I paid to join WHUISA at the beginning because I thought it’s great that people want to represent us and make all things West Ham better for the fans. I lost interest when they became a protest group and they focused on primarily #GSBOUT.
Both groups claim to have 18,000-24,000 members. I’ve always said the vast majority are indifferent about ownership and all fans really want is entertainment and success (in that order) on the pitch. Our independent supporter groups are, in my opinion, going about it wrong with their #GSBOUT stuff, that appeases the small noisy minority, not the majority of us.
Most of the members that joined up at the outset no longer consider themselves members. I wrote to WHUISA to tell them to stop claiming they had 24,000 members. I said that most of those that had paid £1 had not renewed and cannot therefore be considered members and the majority that paid £3 for life membership did not consider they were still members because their group had become a laughing stock. I suggested they poll their membership to establish who they still represented. I never received a reply.
Hammers United claim they have 18,000 members and yet only 2,300 took part in the survey. I think it’s fair to assume not all of them were unhappy so in my view it follows that those members that are unhappy with the ownership probably consist of the 1,500 members that we saw matching and protesting before lockdown claiming to represent the rest of us. They don’t represent me.
How about this quote from Hammers United;
.bq West Ham supporters, unsurprisingly, are extremely happy about current performances on the pitch. Hammers United would like to re-iterate that it will always support our manager, coaching staff and players at the club. It is not our place to enter into discussions around such matters.
Let that sink in. Is it any wonder that White & Jordon of talkSport pull these guys apart on the radio? “So you do not consider it is your place to enter into discussions about team management, coaching staff and players at the club but you do think it’s your place to enter into discussion regarding ownership of the club? Really guys? Oh wait a minute you did think it was your place to hold a poll on the manager 4 years ago when Sam Alladyce was the manager didn’t you?”
The hypocrisy of these guys is unreal.
Their poll is no more representative of the fans than the straw poll various blogs conducted 4 years ago regarding Big Sam, all the Hammers United poll does is confirm that the vast majority of the #GSBOUT group want, er, GSBOUT. Well of course they do.
I would happily support all the independent supporter groups if they concentrated on trying to change what they can change and entered into dialogue with the club regarding this but they can’t do that while they march under the #GSBOUT banner can they? That would be like someone knocking on your door to enquire if a family member can park on your drive whilst they visit while holding a sign above their saying saying “I hate you and want to burn your house down” You arent going to agree are you?
Ironically, this site would make a perfect independent supporters group because there is no way the contributors would permit its hashtag to be #GSBOUT, anymore than they would vote for statues of the owners to be erected on the island. Balance, that’s what this site has and that is because Iain doesnt make us all march behind his views, which is unique in the blogosphere in my view.
I actually hope this poll and the resultant discussions see better relations prevail between the groups and the board.
COYI’s and Choo Choo.