**Amid the stress, misery and chaos of the 2025/26 campaign, it’s easy to forget a rather significant West Ham milestone is fast approaching.**
The current season is far from over. There are still plenty of points to be won, and from a West Ham perspective Premier League survival is still very much on the line. With all that at stake, and the fact, on the whole, it has been a long and draining season for Hammers fans far and wide, it is completely understandable there has been no real discussion around what this August represents.
For those who may have forgotten, the beginning of August, a little over five months away, will mark the 10 year anniversary of the first competitive game held at the London Stadium. A couple of weeks after this, the club reaches the 10th anniversary of the first Premier League game played at the stadium.
West Ham’s move from the beloved Upton Park, which saw the club leave behind over 100 years of history, still weighs heavily on the hearts of almost every Hammers fan. Although the club is fast approaching a decade since the stadium move, life in Stratford at the London Stadium is something that still consistently sparks debate among supporters.
As a West Ham supporter, you very quickly learn you are in for a turbulent ride. Almost 10 years in, it’s fair to say life in Stratford has certainly been a roller coaster.
Since the stadium move, the club has battled away in mid table, flirted with relegation, and enjoyed perhaps its most successful period of the modern era. West Ham achieved two top seven finishes and enjoyed three seasons of European football, reaching a Europa League semi final and lifting the Conference League trophy on that famous night in Prague, bringing an end to a wait of more than 40 years for a major trophy.
The London Stadium has been ranked among the worst away ends in the country. For the vast majority of match going fans, since the stadium move, their biggest gripe has always been the ability to generate an atmosphere. There have been some wonderful nights in Stratford, particularly in Europe, against the likes of Sevilla, Lyon and Bayer Leverkusen.
Whilst there have also been memorable nights in the Premier League, they have sadly felt few and far between. In supporters’ minds, it has not felt a fair trade off for leaving behind Upton Park, a traditional stadium with an intimidating atmosphere, admired by supporters up and down the country.
In the current 2025/26 campaign, West Ham have done well in recent weeks to pick up points and give themselves a fighter’s chance of beating the drop. However, relegation is still a very real and daunting possibility, something that represents a key element in the conversation.
Objectively, success has been achieved at the London Stadium. Winning a European trophy, the club’s first major trophy since 1980 and spending three fruitful years playing European football are things supporters could not have envisioned becoming a reality in the not too distant past.
That being said, that does not take away from the majority of seasons since the stadium move. Mid table finishes and relegation battles, something Hammers fans young and old are all too familiar with, is not the “progression” they were promised when leaving Upton Park.
As the 10th anniversary of West Ham beginning a new chapter in their history approaches, to many, the London Stadium has never and probably will never truly feel like home. Despite this, Hammers fans continue to do what they always have: bear the circumstances and their frustrations, to stand by their beloved club through the good times and the bad.