Boycott West Ham Away

[Hedley Lamarr]

The problem with Upton Park is that there is no scope for development, the transport is appalling, its in the middle of a 60% asian area where there is no interest in football. Basically if we stayed at Upton park it would be exactly the same story as Elm Park (unable to develop because of the surrounding residential area), except EP was in a nicer part of Reading near prospect park.

It's a sad fact about the modern game that you pretty much have to redevelop or struggle financially. I miss singing on the terraces at Elm Park and also in the north and south banks at Upton Park. Reading wouldn't have been anywhere near the premier League unless they had moved to the Madejski and if West Ham stayed at the Boleyn Ground they would forever be a yo-yo side that struggles financially and in a ground that is no longer fit for purpose.

The atmosphere at Upton park is nothing like as good as it used to be and to put it bluntly, the olympic stadium has fallen into our lap, so its an opportunity we'd have been stupid to not go for.

[Royal With Cheese]

Reading wouldn't have been anywhere near the premier League unless they had moved to the Madejski.

We were literally 4 minutes away from the prem.

For a man who purports to know a lot about out club I'm surprised you didn't know that.

[Maguire]

Don't even know what they're trying to brag about either. Yes we're relegated but they haven't had a hand in sending us down because we beat them earlier in the season and when we go to their place we'll have been down so again they'll have no effect on us. Pretty sad state of affairs for a club whose fans consider the club they support to be a big club coming on here celebrating our relegation.

I'm not on here to brag personally - god knows we've been in your position many times - but in defence of others who choose to do so, it is probably in response to the years of grief we have been receiving from Reading fans who decided to hate us unconditionally since the "Pardew affair". I know a fair few Royals and still get hassled about the "6-0" or the "sock incident", or "hoof ball" etc. Personally I don't mind the banter. My question to you is, if the roles were 100% reversed, do you think that there would be some Reading fans gloating at us? I expect there would be.

In any case, I think you lot have a decent shot at getting straight back up. Your manager knows how to get out of that division and so do a large chunk of your players.

Hi hammerfan123 - good username by the way - just thought i'd hop in this thread to let you know (and i've picked your post at random) that I for one don't give two shiny shits about West Ham United one way or another. More than anything I associate them with a tedious tube journey.

Of course I enjoyed the 6-0 and last season's 2-4 and the early Pardew returns but in the greater scheme of things I'm afraid it's a massive *shrug" from me. Like you say, the two clubs aren't treading entirely dissimilar paths these days.

[Colin Cheeselog]

Last season both Reading and Southampton were playing some really decent football.

No we didn't, the style of football was pretty awful. We had a relatively solid keeper and defence and we relied heavily on set pieces, with the occasional counter attack goal. We rode our luck through our opponents’ total inability to kick the ball accurately towards our goal.

As soon as we got to the prem and the opposition showed even rudimentary ability to string together some passes around our box and shoot accurately we were screwed.

Do you think there will be many players sold?

Who would want any of them? We have a decent goalkeeper, a defender who is out of contract and a relatively high profile forward in Pog' that hopefully somebody will be stupid enough to give us some money for. Other than that everybody else has proved themselves to be championship quality.

[Cypry]

[quote="Hedley Lamarr"Last season both Reading and Southampton were playing some really decent football.[/quote]

I beg to disagree - we had more than our share of luck and were outplayed on a number of occasions (Brighton and Southampton away being great examples) where, had it not been for some outstanding performances from Feds, we'd have been trounced.....

McDermotts football was best described as "functional" not "really decent"...

[Stuka]

Whether or not West Ham are truly 'rivals', I always love the way their fans get so wound up when we defeat them. It only encouraged further goading and chants of "Stick your bubbles up your arse" which only seem to infuriate the Essex faithful even more. It becomes just irresistible because they can’t take it. Some guys I know here in London lose all composure and go bright red with anger if you so much utter a pithy comment or light hearted observation. They are the biggest sore losers since Wolves. Also all the exaggerated fake Cockney stuff ALWAYS comes out when engaging in such ‘banter’ which only makes it more hilarious YOU MUGS

[Hedley Lamarr]

Reading wouldn't have been anywhere near the premier League unless they had moved to the Madejski.

We were literally 4 minutes away from the prem.

For a man who purports to know a lot about out club I'm surprised you didn't know that.

I'm talking financially and staying there, not games wise (yes i was gutted too) - something historically you'd have to say both Reading and West Ham have struggled to do.

[Hedley Lamarr]

Whether or not West Ham are truly 'rivals', I always love the way their fans get so wound up when we defeat them. It only encouraged further goading and chants of "Stick your bubbles up your arse" which only seem to infuriate the Essex faithful even more. It becomes just irresistible because they can’t take it. Some guys I know here in London lose all composure and go bright red with anger if you so much utter a pithy comment or light hearted observation. They are the biggest sore losers since Wolves. Also all the exaggerated fake Cockney stuff ALWAYS comes out when engaging in such ‘banter’ which only makes it more hilarious YOU MUGS

Just about every club sings "stick your bubbles up your arse" to us, it would be nice to hear something original. It sounds like you've been watching too much Eastenders and Danny Dyer films. I've lived in Reading just as long as i ever lived in East London, i'm West Ham basically because it's a family trait as my dad and brother do too and neither of them ever lived in East London. I've never tried to be a cockney either, oh well, as said i wanted to talk about Reading.

[Colin Cheeselog]

Just about every club sings "stick your bubbles up your arse" to us, it would be nice to hear something original

Girl I want to make you sweat
Sweat till you can't sweat no more
And if you cry out
I'm gonna push it some, mo-o-ore
Girl I want to make you sweat
Sweat till you can't sweat no more
And if you cry out
I'm gonna push it
Push it, push it some more

[Royal With Cheese]

Reading wouldn't have been anywhere near the premier League unless they had moved to the Madejski.

We were literally 4 minutes away from the prem.

For a man who purports to know a lot about out club I'm surprised you didn't know that.

I'm talking financially and staying there, not games wise (yes i was gutted too) - something historically you'd have to say both Reading and West Ham have struggled to do.

If that was the inference you failed to make it.

I would completely agree that it would have been a struggle to maintain premiership status at Elm Park though.

[Royal With Cheese]

Ha! - like it's easy at the Mad Stad.

[Winchester Royal]

I enjoy playing West Ham because it's usually a decent game with a good atmosphere (and we often win). We've been there or thereabouts for a number of seasons, notably challenging for playoff spots or promotion in the championship together, but there's little else other than the fact they're a London club and Pardew left us for them that would provide any basis for considering them a rival over any other, similar sized club.. Its less of creating a 'local' rivalry for the sake of it, and more the fact we've been competing together for maybe 10 years or so now and have trod reasonably similar paths, so a rivalry has arisen, at this end at least, because West Ham are seen as competition and an obstacle to Reading achieving it's goals.

I've a couple of West Ham supporting friends and they're good blokes - I guess it's the fact that the club are bigged up in the media that people perceive the fans as being the way the media present them, Danny Dyer, cockney geezers and all.

There does seems to be a general air of arrogance towards Reading, particularly the common judgement of "your support is shit because only X number of fans showed up, you weren't very loud, you're a 'plastic' club, your fans left early' etc that seems to get churned out over the various web portals as some bizarre willy-waving exercise each time we get a win and face needs to be saved at the claret and blue end.

I'd still rather be playing this lot than somebody like West Brom, Sunderland or Forest, as other clubs that are about the same size. It just makes things a little more interesting when there's recent history.

Back on topic, £49 is too much for an ordinary game of football, particularly one as meaningless as this now we're down. It's just the 4th of a string of preseason games for the next campaign and I won't be attending because these days I'm a part time fan with other things to be doing.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

There does seems to be a general air of arrogance towards Reading, particularly the common judgement of "your support is shit because only X number of fans showed up, you weren't very loud, you're a 'plastic' club, your fans left early' etc that seems to get churned out over the various web portals as some bizarre willy-waving exercise each time we get a win and face needs to be saved at the claret and blue end.

every club has its internet bell-ends, either trying to wind people up, or just too thick to realise that their perception of certain club's fans is laughable. I mean, it's not as if we don't have fans who say "I hate West Ham because their fans are..." before trotting out some fat-necked cockney geezer cliche.

[Winchester Royal]

There does seems to be a general air of arrogance towards Reading, particularly the common judgement of "your support is shit because only X number of fans showed up, you weren't very loud, you're a 'plastic' club, your fans left early' etc that seems to get churned out over the various web portals as some bizarre willy-waving exercise each time we get a win and face needs to be saved at the claret and blue end.

every club has its internet bell-ends, either trying to wind people up, or just too thick to realise that their perception of certain club's fans is laughable. I mean, it's not as if we don't have fans who say "I hate West Ham because their fans are..." before trotting out some fat-necked cockney geezer cliche.

Fair point. We do only seem to see this sort of comment from West Ham and Brighton though.

[Mintona]

I was going to go to this, and would have done if it was £30 but I can't justify spending £50 even if it just up the road. Much rather go to Fulham as it's a new ground.

[anR]

the olympic stadium has fallen into our lap

But you were always gonna get it. Tottenham getting it would have been ridiculous, but why did they have to give us all that 'legacy of the games' bullshit and not just build the stadium with a set contingency plan to convert it for football after the games (a la Man City) instead of wasting taxpayers money with a more complex conversion? Football was the only thing to make full use of such a huge stadium. I thought I'd boycott football there, but of course I'll be returning.

[Terminal Boardom]

I have enjoyed the recent games with West Ham. What I admired about the club was that for 30-40 years after World War 2, they had employed 4 managers in all that time. They always tried to play football the right way but that always reminded me of the quote by Bill Shankley. He said that he loved the way West Ham played because Liverpool always beat them. Upton Park, or The Boleyn Ground to be more accurate, was a brilliant ground in the 70s and 80s. Terraces which were so close to the action that you could breathe down players' necks literally. The atmosphere was usually good and, for night games, fantastic.

Do I dislike West Ham? Not particularly. What I didn't like was the distinct lack of class from that w@nker Brooking when it came to poaching Pardew from us. West Ham made an official approach, we rejected it, end of. Or at least it should have been. However, Brooking puts his oar in and opens his flatulent gob and unsettles a previously happy manager who had recently signed a new contract that summer. I honestly believe that we would have won promotion had Pardew stayed. He didn't, we got Coppell and the rest is history.

Now? West Ham are just another medium sized club similar in stature to Stoke, Fulham and West Brom. I hope that they make the move to the Olympic Stadium a success. If they don't, I see another Wolves and Portsmouth in the making.

[soggy biscuit]

More than anything I associate them with a tedious tube journey.

This here is the crux of the matter for me. As someone who does a good job of rarely venturing into london the odd tube journey is not so unpleasant, almost novelty like, yet the journey to West Ham is just a total abomination. It drains you of every smidgen of happiness you had before you got on the tube

I notice West Ham as much as I notice any other club who I don't support, we just had a couple of good games against you, that's all. you are to the late 2000's/early 2010's what Bristol City were to the early to mid 2000's and Wolves were to the mid to late 90's

[Winchester Royal]

More than anything I associate them with a tedious tube journey.

This here is the crux of the matter for me. As someone who does a good job of rarely venturing into london the odd tube journey is not so unpleasant, almost novelty like, yet the journey to West Ham is just a total abomination. It drains you of every smidgen of happiness you had before you got on the tube

I notice West Ham as much as I notice any other club who I don't support, we just had a couple of good games against you, that's all. you are to the late 2000's/early 2010's what Bristol City were to the early to mid 2000's and Wolves were to the mid to late 90's

And the fact you can't have a few tins on the tube anymore takes what fun there was in the journey away...

[under the tin]

There does seems to be a general air of arrogance towards Reading, particularly the common judgement of "your support is shit because only X number of fans showed up, you weren't very loud, you're a 'plastic' club, your fans left early' etc that seems to get churned out over the various web portals as some bizarre willy-waving exercise each time we get a win and face needs to be saved at the claret and blue end

I don't think that's particularly the exclusive province of West Ham fans, to be fair.
I think it's more of a relection of how our club has grown and now moves in different football circles to what it once did. Back in the old EP days, the only time I'd get to see the West Ham, Derby, Forest, Leeds, Coventrys, etc. was on the telly, or the odd cup game. We are the relatively new kids on the block, and it's all to easy for opposition fans to use their past glories as a stick to bait "little club Reading" with. We are not immune to this daftness ourselves, and I fully expect to hear some of our own jolly japesters singing "our garden shed" at Dean Court next season. I promise you, I'll almost laugh.