Originally Posted by BangleMan

What you talking about ? LH has had Y fronts for longer than that !

Originally Posted by BangleMan

What you talking about ? LH has had Y fronts for longer than that !

Originally Posted by BangleMan

Supporting West Ham has always given me a sense of belonging to something good and worthwhile.

When I was a lad, watching the Irons trudge happily victorious from the Upton Park pitch was always every bit as emotionally rewarding for me as watching Andy Dufresne crawl through those sewer pipes on his path to freedom in The Shawshank Redemption.

West Ham winning felt right and proper, we were the good guys, often the underdogs but we played the game beautifully at times and when we were rewarded with the points, it felt like my local heroes were unconsciously doing their bit to support me in my life

And so my love affair with the Hammers began because that's what it was, a love affair, a relationship, a marriage.

West Ham is 'my girl' 'my Doris'....and now years on since I started supporting them, l can look back over the years with fondness, a tear in my eye for the halcyon days. But I can also see it for what it actually is, warts and all.

And my Doris is bloody driving me loopy at the moment. !!

She's refusing to do what I ask her, she's running up bills left right and centre, she ambles around without a care in the World and refuses to put a shift in. I tell her: "Look, you'd better buck your bloody ideas up girl or we'll both be in the sh*t", but of course she takes no notice and just reels out the platitudes as per usual. What can I do? it's way too late to kick her out - and the truth is, I love the very bones off her.

My love and support for West Ham is unconditional like any true love should be, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, til death us do part etc and I don't ask for much in return. Just that the people who run my club repay my unswerving loyalty by making right and honourable decisions and for the players who pull the claret and blue on to do so with some sense of pride, knowing that they are walking in the footsteps of the great and the revered.

Sadly though, with a few notable exceptions, the current batch of talentless ingrates wouldn't know who Bobby Moore was if they tripped over the poor guy's headstone, such is the level of detachment today's footballer has from his club, his club's history and the fans who's hard earned wages keep his 'effin Aston Martin Vanquish topped up with unleaded.

So the other day I told her straight, I said: "Look you extravagant cow, it's time to sell all this expensive crap you've filled our house with, we can't afford it anymore, we've got to pay of all the credit cards and cut our cloth accordingly. We aint made of money and besides, I love you for who you are inside not because you cover yourself in diamonds and designer dresses.

"I've really lost touch with you over the past few years, let's get back to basics and remember why you're the only woman for me and why I'm your ever faithful, ever lovin' old man".

Successful relationships are all about the desire you have to be with someone. As it is with humans, so it is with football.

And that desire has to be reciprocated, it has to be a two way street. Anyone lucky enough to play for my beloved club should desire to do so and display that desire on the pitch just as they did when I first became a West Ham fan all those years ago.

It should be an honour to play for my club, not just something you do because the wages are handsome; players who have that kind of ethos will always be found out in the end.

We have to get back to basics, get rid of all the detritus and find footballers who are full of desire to play for a club with such a proud history, players for whom this is a step up - not something that they feel is intrinsically beneath them. West Ham United should never be a stop gap, it should be a dream come true.

Desire by it's very nature is incredibly infectious but it has to begin with the players. However devoted a football fan is, sooner or later he'll become anaesthetised to the pain of watching half-hearted dross week in week out, it's just basic human survival kicking in. But when there is desire on the pitch, it spreads to the fans and when there is desire in the fans it spreads to their families and friends and then to the local community, and so on.

I knew we were doomed after the first couple of games this season, I've seen us relegated enough times to recognise the signs and yes it hurt like hell to witness at first but after a while I became resigned to our fate and started to take a more objective view

Relegation isn't the end of the World, it's an absolute bloody necessity if we are ever going to get our precious club back on a firm footing. Get rid of the deadwood, get rid of the huge wage bill, find our level, find the players with desire, excite the fans and the community, move into our new stadium with a brand new hunger and work ethic and then maybe, just maybe, fortune won't always find it quite so easy to hide.

Sometimes it's tough loving the Hammers but now it's most definitely time for some 'tough love'.

But one thing is for certain.....we will be back !

Originally Posted by lionheart

Wait and see. But would you still be getting crowds in excess of 30,000 against the likes of Halifax, York and Shrewsbury? Very doubtful. It shows genuine support when that happens. Manure and Chelski were in the lower divisions not too many years ago, so there is hope for you yet.

Originally Posted by BangleMan

And that desire has to be reciprocated, it has to be a two way street. Anyone lucky enough to play for my beloved club should desire to do so and display that desire on the pitch just as they did when I first became a West Ham fan all those years ago.

It should be an honour to play for my club, not just something you do because the wages are handsome; players who have that kind of ethos will always be found out in the end.

We have to get back to basics, get rid of all the detritus and find footballers who are full of desire to play for a club with such a proud history, players for whom this is a step up - not something that they feel is intrinsically beneath them. West Ham United should never be a stop gap, it should be a dream come true.

Originally Posted by nottmbantam

I fully agree with the sentiment, but to be fair, I think most genuine football fans will feel exactly the same way.

I've followed Bradford City for over 33 years, seen them play in all four divisions, rise all the way to the Premiership and fall all the way back down, three separate spells of administration, and possibly a forth one coming on the way along with having to leave our ground, and had to endure one of the worst footballing tragedies when 56 people lost their lives at Valley Parade in 1985.

If I really bring it down to basics, yes I'd love my team to be a big club and win trophies, but realistically that isn't going to happen. Maybe promotion to higher division? Yes, also nice. Maybe a bit more positive press and publicity? Great.

But if all of those don't happen - the one basic fundamental thing I really really want to see is that on a Saturday afternoon at around 4.45pm, win , draw or lose, I want to see the players waking off that field knowing they have given their all. Passion and commitment on the pitch is the bottom line. Even if we stay in the fourth division for the next ten years, as long as the eleven players on the pitch are ready to die for the cause, then I'll be content. Everything else is a bonus.

Originally Posted by Meow

Poor West Ham. Seems even McClown has turned them down

Originally Posted by The Dean

........ noble thoughts.

By the way - the standard of play in the Blue Square Conference jobby is very high these days..........

Originally Posted by nottmbantam

Don't disagree that Man City were getting crowds in excess of 30,000 when in the old Division Three, but would perhaps challenge the fact that you played Halifax and York in League matches.
Just being pedantic, but like to get my football facts right.

Originally Posted by lionheart

I definitely remember going to a certain shitty ground in West Yorkshire on the last day of the season one year and watching Trevor Morley get the goal which gave us promotion. Were you there?

Originally Posted by The Dean

If Trevor Morley scored, Nottmbantam wouldn't have been old enough, LH........