Alvin Martin: West Ham tours show me I was wrong about stadium move
West Ham were right to move to the London Stadium because where the team now are shows it was a “fantastic opportunity” admits Alvin Martin.
A great atmosphere for the Europa League victory over Sevilla this week (17 March) has changed some opinions, after the controversial decision to leave Upton Park in 2016 caused uproar among fans.
The former Hammers defender, who played for the club for nearly 20 years between the 1970s and 1990s and now conducts stadium tours in Stratford, feels the club have proven him wrong to be sceptical over the move.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Friday morning (18 March, 10.20am) after the European win he said: “Great credit to the stadium as well, and the atmosphere that was created.
“I do stadium tours, I’ve done them for a while. I look at West Ham fans coming on those tours, sometimes there’s three generations, a grandad, a dad, and his son.
“I look at the little’un with a West Ham shirt on and sometimes in the past I’ve thought, ‘oh God you’ve got a hard life ahead of you’.
“Now for the first time when I’m doing those tours, nobody mentions the lack of atmosphere at the stadium.
Asked by pundit Martin Keown if it is now a real home for the club, he replied: “Absolutely, everyone’s moved on now. I was sceptical but I will admit when I’m wrong.
“Now I do understand, where we are as a club, it was a fantastic opportunity for us.”
Tide turning?
The club went through a tumultuous time in the years between leaving the Boleyn Ground and David Moyes returning for a second spell.
Even when the team had bounced between the the first and second tier of English football more than once since the turn of the Millennium things hadn’t been toxic in the way it was following the move.
Regular protests coupled with indifferent showings on the pitch made for an extremely unhappy club.
All that has changed since Moyes returned, having kept the club from being relegated in his first period.
He has elevated the playing squad to new heights and the atmosphere among the fans is buoyant.
Whether that was inevitable eventually in the larger surroundings of the London Stadium we will never know.
The COVID-19 shutdown changed everything and gave the manager space to improve the team, while unhappy fans were kept away.
By the time they were back they were just grateful to be able to see their club again.
The atmosphere at Upton Park had the Sevilla game happened there would surely have been electric as well, but it will be a relief to fans that it is in fact possible in their new home.
In other West Ham news, the manager wants the stadium and the crowd to be like Crystal Palace.
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