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| A moment that may well define Sam Allardyce's relationship with the West Ham fans |
As the final whistle sounded on Wednesday evening, it signalled three precious points for West Ham and near certain assurance of another season in the Premier League. The crowd roared in delight. The sound of “Sam Allardyce’s claret and blue army” could be heard for miles around. It felt good to be a West Ham fan.
As you know, that didn’t actually happen. The team left the field, having defeated Hull City 2-1, to the sound of boos from their own supporters.
Do fans have the right to boo their own team? Is winning all that matters? Does the attitude of fans influence a team’s performance? Discussing the state of West Ham this week has felt like one big horrible radio phone-in.
What fans of other clubs forget when they pass judgement on the actions of others is that it’s not they who dedicate large amounts of their time to watch that team. The ethos that winning is all that matters is a lot easier to argue if you do not actually watch the team in question and are therefore indifferent to how entertaining they are.
During the 2013/14 season the quality of football under Allardyce has deteriorated significantly. Aside from the two Tottenham away matches, I struggle to think of a game that was at all memorable. I am as pragmatic as the next person but, yes, I am here to be entertained. If you told me that watching West Ham would from now on always be like this, I would find something else to do with my time.
And yet, I cannot begin to empathise with those people who booed a West Ham team that had just won a game of football. I get the frustration. I really do. But if at the final whistle – a moment that signifies victory for the team you support – your gut reaction is one of antipathy towards the players, then you have ceased to be a partisan supporter. You are now simply a paying customer, a consumer, devoid of a sense of tribalism, no different to someone in the audience of a play or a film.
Do you have the right to boo? Absolutely. No one is questioning your right. You have the right to turn on the team, to not bother backing them, to chant negative songs. It’s just that, in the true sense of the word, you are no longer a fan. You are closer to a neutral spectator than you are a West Ham United supporter.
This won’t last forever. That’s why I am not looking for something else to do with my time. But I now have little faith that this team will evolve in the way it needs to under Allardyce. I hope that I’m wrong. I hope the board gives him the financial backing he requires this summer, and then we’ll see.
What I do know is I cannot wait for this season to be over. Everything about it has been rubbish.
Tenuous tune of the week: Phoenix, Entertainment
