A mystery but “leading” West Ham player has caused a stir after allegedly making a sarcastic and disrespectful comment about the club’s supporters to a journalist.
The remark, which has been published in an article by the journalist involved, will leave Hammers supporters justifiably angry and somewhat baffled.
In many ways it also sums up the disconnect between the West Ham team and the fanbase over the last 18 months.
It was telling that Hammers supporters hailed Niclas Fullkrug a hero for speaking out about the unacceptably poor levels being produced by his teammates towards the end of last season.
Some fans even called for Fullkrug to be made captain for finally giving them a voice and telling it like it is after 18 months of regression and mostly dross.
West Ham go into next season having won just 15 of their last 57 Premier League matches since January 2024.
If that woeful win ratio does not improve drastically in what’s expected to be the most competitive Premier League season for years, the Hammers will be relegated.
West Ham fans have endured 18 months of dross
West Ham have not given their passionate and loyal fanbase much to shout about in the last 18 months.
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It has been some comedown after four years of relative progression and success.
West Ham fans get a bad rap at times and are accused of being hard to please or fickle.
Their belief in the West Ham way is often mocked and ridiculed by sneering pundits, journalists, rival fans and even ex managers.
It is usually criticised by those who don’t actually understand what it really means.
By their own admission, Hammers supporters would concede they can be demanding.
But there is a big difference between being demanding and being hard to please.
West Ham fans pack out the away end for the 2024/25 Premier League season finale at Ipswich
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
To the misinformed, or those uneducated on the club’s history, the West Ham way is incorrectly seen as a demand that the team plays like prime Barcelona and wins every week too.
But that’s not the true West Ham way at all.
The starting point for any West Ham team must always be hard work.
At the heart of the real West Ham way is fronting up when things aren’t going for you. Being brave, showing for the ball and not hiding in times of adversity.
And always giving your all regardless of how you might be playing.
Some of what has been served up under David Moyes, Julen Lopetegui and Graham Potter over the last 18 months has been the antithesis of the West Ham way.
Yet Hammers fans still turned up week in, week out, selling out the London Stadium and banging out away sections all across the country.
That was despite last season being all but over as early as December/January.
Top West Ham star made sarcastic and disrespectful dig about fans
West Ham have lost a great deal in their dressing room in recent seasons.
Big characters who connected with supporters such as Mark Noble, Declan Rice, Angelo Ogbonna and others have departed, leaving sizeable holes and boots which have not been filled.
There has been a disconnect between supporters and the team – evidenced by the groundswell of support Fullkrug received when calling his West Ham teammates ‘s—‘.
And there is clearly a lack of respect for the supporters from some players.
Because a top West Ham star made a sarcastic and disrespectful dig about the fans to a journalist.
In an article about the rebuild Potter has on his hands at the London Stadium, Telegraph journalist Matt Law – a Villa fan – spilled the beans on the inflammatory remark while keeping the player’s identity a secret.
Law writes that “West Ham supporters are demanding a full renovation this summer”, which he explains won’t be easy for Potter in one transfer window.
Tomas Soucek and his teammates during West Ham's game against Fulham at the London Stadium
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
While Law reveals Potter has told him he is up for challenge of giving supporters what they want, he revealed one “leading” Hammers star had a dig at the club’s fans.
“As a leading West Ham player sarcastically remarked to Telegraph Sport, the club’s fans are “an easy bunch to please”,” Law claims.
“You just have to give them a winning team, which is beautiful to watch and full of academy graduates.”
It is worrying that one of West Ham’s top players is making such remarks to a journalist about his own fans.
The Hammers don’t have many “leading” players right now. It would be wrong to speculate who made the remark but there aren’t many top players to pick from.
Not only does it show a lack of respect for supporters but it probably neatly proves the point of supporters about how far standards have fallen.
Worse still it’s not even accurate to paint West Ham fans in such a light.
It sounds like a description of Arsenal fans if anything.
Hammers supporters do not expect to win every week or compete for trophies.
Yes they want to see entertaining, attacking football – but is that really such an outrageous demand for a club which sits among the top 17 biggest in terms of income in world football and in the top 10 for average attendances?
Some would argue the opposite and that West Ham fans perhaps aren’t demanding enough.
Especially given they were reluctantly lured from their beloved Upton Park home for a soulless athletics stadium on the promise of competing with the Premier League’s elite – only to end up selling their best players to London rivals.
There are not many clubs where fans would have continued to turn up home and away regardless of the turgid tripe served up for far too long.
It’s tough to know what’s more pathetic, this comment or the performances of the players over the last 18 months.
It seems Spurs, Villa, Newcastle, Everton and even the likes of Brighton, Bournemouth and Palace can expect and want attacking football and ambition – but West Ham, the eighth most established Premier League club ever – can’t.
The players should be on their knees apologising to and thanking West Ham’s fans, not taking potshots at them to journalists in the mistaken belief it won’t get out.
Potter has talked about changing the culture and mentality around the club.
A good journalist never reveals their sources. But Potter could do a lot worse than smoking that player out and setting him straight over his disrespectful view of the lifeblood of West Ham.