#AgainstModernFootball - stadium moves

As if West Ham fans hadn’t already had their hearts wrenched out their bodies by bidding farewell to Upton Park at the end of last season, they were forced to watch grainy social media footage of their home of 112 years being blown to pieces. Symbolically, it provided a perfect analogy for how many Hammers fans are feeling right now.

Of course, this wasn’t Karen Brady, David Gold and David Sullivan seeking to achieve the most dramatic demolition of a football stadium since Jaap Stam blasted a Euro 2000 penalty kick against the roof of the Amsterdam ArenA. It was all part of filming for a Pierce Brosnan blockbuster called Fatal Score and the Hammers have suffered a few of them so far this season, enduring a difficult start to the 2016/17 campaign.

No matter the explanation behind Upton Park’s explosive demise, it was painful for West Ham fans to watch their spiritual home literally go up in smoke. Many of them claim the spirit of the club has been compromised by their departure from their former stadium. In another symbolic portrayal, the in-fighting witnessed between some supporters sections at West Ham’s new London Stadium illustrates the sense of disgruntlement among the fanbase regarding the club’s move over the summer.

It’s not just West Ham who have been sold on a move away from their spiritual home in search of greener grass on the other side. With seemingly every Premier League club harbouring ambitions of one day becoming a member of the European football elite, new stadiums are built and expanded on a seasonal basis. It’s not just in the transfer market that an arm’s race is being contested, but in the perpetual endeavour to sell more tickets and more hospitality suites than anyone else.

Tottenham Hotspur are the next Premier League to make the move to a new stadium, although their 61,000 seater ground is being built on a plot of land adjacent to their current White Hart Lane location. In fact, there is overlap between the two sites, with one of Spurs’ stands demolished this season in order to squeeze the new stadium in.

Location is partly why West Ham fans are so unhappy with their club’s new stadium, with London’s East End no longer the home of the Hammers. At least Spurs supporters will make the same journey to High Road when their new ground is finished for the start of the 2018/19 season. The same goes for Liverpool who opted to expand Anfield by tacking on a new Main Stand rather than move to a new stadium.

But even Spurs will surely experience something of an existential crisis when White Hart Lane 2.0 opens. The spirit of their spiritual home will be lost and it’s possible the club could take some time to settle in their new stadium, much like Arsenal did at the Emirates Stadium after leaving Highbury.

But what does all this upheaval really achieve? West Ham’s boardroom hierarchy will argue that their move to the renovated Olympic Stadium with a capacity of 60,000 will help them compete with the biggest clubs for the best players in the transfer market. That the Hammers now stand a better chance of one day becoming the Champions League club they ultimately aspire to be. Yet by chasing so much West Ham, one of English football’s most characterful clubs, have lost their identity. Is it really worth it?

Football is essentially about community, after all. Without it clubs are soulless and West Ham are now without a soul (certainly the one they used to possess at Upton Park) since they cut the ribbon on the London Stadium. Arsenal lost something of their identity the moment they walked through the Emirates Stadium entrance as well.

But this is the accepted way of things now in the modern game. It wouldn’t be the Premier League if every member club wasn’t targeting higher ticket sales, higher revenue, more bums on seats, more pockets emptied, more canopes served to more suits in private boxes. English football often uses its unrivalled history as a selling point. Keep blowing parts of that history up and there won’t be much left to sell, though.