By Louis Nixon
**West Ham’s fixture against Brentford didn’t just mark an ordinary Premier League game that the Hammers needed to try and achieve something out of; it also marked Nuno’s first game in charge, as well as the planned Boycott, which had been set to take place months before the fixture.**
Whilst the boycott had been planned, Graham Potter was the manager at the time, and the hiring of Nuno was originally set to take place BEFORE the Brentford game, and that would’ve been his first match.
However, he was hired two fixtures before, but his hiring in general harmed the plan seeing as people would’ve wanted to attend his first home fixture. As well as this, the club also conveniently made the fixture ‘kids for a quid’ so more families with younger children could turn up for the game, subsequently gaining a higher attendance.
It has since been estimated that over 20,000 Season ticket holders didn’t attend the game, but that doesn’t mean their seats hadn’t been occupied by someone else. The official figures for the attendance are currently unknown, seeing as West Ham haven’t uploaded them on their website, yet it was estimated to be around 45,000 in attendance. Hammers United, the organisers of the boycott claimed there were fewer than 40,000, which is true, over 22,500 people with a ticket didn’t turn up, which seems slightly exaggerated. But still, the empty seats were noticeable and got the attention of the broadcasters and in social media.
This figure would’ve been lower if it weren’t Nuno’s first home game, and perhaps, say later on in the season, we could’ve well seen a figure around the 25,000-30,000 mark. The TV Camera throughout the game focused on the many empty seats, which was further emphasised by the Football being played on the pitch, as by the 70th minute, the stadium was looking very empty.
Whilst a message had been put across, it was nowhere near what it could’ve been and overall can’t be considered as a success. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another protest occur as a ‘sit-in’ is already being planned in the works, and many more could follow with time if the club continues being run how it is currently.