There is an awful lot of things to like about West Ham United and so many of them are what they’re not.
Sharing Premier League real estate and geographical closeness with Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs, the Irons lack the aristocratic sense of entitlement that imbues and informs these clubs. In that sense, they are a giant that wears everyday clothes.
Because not for them is an imperialistic, arrogant mien, or indeed a flexing of their financial might that serves to remind everyone of their superpower status, and this despite residing in a plush 66,000-capacity stadium and being - according to Deloitte - the 15th wealthiest club in Europe.
Indeed, rather than indulge in financial bullying it is often them who find themselves preyed upon, as evidenced again this summer with their reluctant relinquishing of Declan Rice to Arsenal. See also Dimitri Payet in 2017, Javier Mascherano in 2009, and Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick back in the day.
No, with a predominantly working class fan-base keeping them real, this is a club that remains admirably grounded, or at least as grounded as its possible to be when you’re an established member of the ludicrously lucrative English top-flight
Moreover, from the usual suspects who are routinely included in the football betting to be successful each year, they are the Premier League behemoth that retains the closest links to the community around them and that in itself is to be wholly commended.
Add in a historic pride in playing the game the ‘right way’ and a proper valuing of tradition in a sport that worships at the altar of modernization, and to repeat, there is an awful lot of things to like about West Ham United.
Yet one of the main reasons why the East London club is a largely likeable institution among rivals and peers outside of the capital must undoubtedly be an enormous source of frustration for long-suffering Hammers fans.
That’s because as nice as it is to be well-regarded, surely it is far preferable to be hated for winning everything in sight, an unpopularity West Ham are never likely to be burdened with.
Instead, they are patronized. Viewed by many as an unserious threat. Considered to be the all-time masters at failing to fulfil their potential, a defect that has hampered them for generation after generation.
Worse yet, on so many occasions, they’ve had glory in their crosshairs, golden opportunities to take the gold, only to fall short each and every time.
Take their proud boast that in 1966 it was West Ham that won the World Cup, a humorous assertion based on the Hammers gifting England with their iconic captain that late-July day, along with both goal-scorers.
Yet despite having the legendary Bobby Moore marshalling their defence, the brilliant Martin Peters covering every blade of grass at Upton Park, and Geoff Hurst up front, West Ham’s best league finish in their Sixties heyday was a decidedly ordinary eighth.
For their country these great players took on, and beat, the whole world. For their club, mid-table was the norm.
Fast-forward to the turn of the century and another vintage collection of players emerged, this time featuring Rio Ferdinand at the back, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick and the devilish Joe Cole in midfield, all topped off by Paolo Di Canio in attack doing Di Canio things.
As stated, the Hammers are a selling club, a tier below Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool in terms of stature, so perhaps it was inevitable each of these stars would move on.
To Finish In Top 6 - West Ham United
But surely, in the brief time this golden generation were together, great things could be achieved at the club. Because what a team that was. What a team.
Alas, their best finish during this period was seventh, contriving to somehow get relegated a year later with what is commonly regarded as the best side to ever endure the drop.
We can fast-forward again, to the present day or thereabouts, to three years ago when David Moyes’ men unexpectedly came seventh, following that up by breaking into the top six twelve months later.
Showing a wanton ignorance to the club’s historic habit of disappointing, people began to back the Hammers go one better, a suspicion only strengthened by a decent summer transfer window that saw Nayef Aguerd come in, the enigmatic Lucas Paqueta join from Lyon, and the explosive talents of Maxwel Cornet added to a strong squad.
Come August, West Ham were among the favourites in the Premier League top four odds but of course they plummeted, flirting with relegation for the most part. Of course they did.
This is a club that in 2017 was furnished with an Olympic stadium for essentially no money, an enormous revenue-boosting asset that had all the capabilities to rocket them into the elite.
But cavernous and soulless, it wasn’t home. If anything, the move set them back.
This is a club that has spent 65 years in the highest level of English football yet have never won a league title, only coming close once, in the mid-Eighties.
From the outside looking in, you have to laugh or you’ll cry at such a sustained unfulfillment of promise. And like them for it, naturally.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
