West Ham are currently going through an implosion, both on and off the pitch, and it’s such a dramatic situation that the club are getting headlines all over Europe.
It’s not the best reason for the Hammers to be in the news and it doesn’t make great reading for fans, but it could help build pressure for those in charge to try and sort things out.
The club is being presented as something of a mess and that won’t help in the summer when West Ham want to attract players.
Spanish newspaper Marca say Saturday was a ‘sad’ day for both West Ham and Lille as fans of the clubs ‘decided to tarnish’ matches by invading the pitch.
Marca report there’s ‘civil war’ at West Ham, and they point out the incidents came on a day the club were meant to be marking Bobby Moore’s passing.
Mundo Deportivo go with a headline saying ‘West Ham fans create chaos’ and add some supporters ‘once again showed their displeasure by criticising those in charge and players’.
AS say the situation at West Ham was ‘surreal’, and add that during the ‘madness’ fans went after their own players.
Belgian newspaper Het Belang van Limburg say the protest against the ‘porn brothers’ has revived hooliganism among some West Ham fans: ‘A poisonous cocktail of old hooligans, clashing supporter groups, relegation panic and money-hungry presidents caused unseen scenes in the Premier League on Saturday. Children and stewards were fleeing, fans were fighting: West Ham revived old times.’
German newspaper Bild find the fan trying to plant the corner flag in the centre circle ‘curious’, but sound like they have some sympathy for the club’s supporters, adding: ‘They were understandably unenthusiastic about the performance of their team. And summarily stormed the place.’
Austria’s Vorarlberger Nachrichten go with a headline saying ‘Away team protected children’, and add: ‘Luckily nobody was seriously injured in the chaos. Probably because Burnley’s reserve players reacted remarkably when some kids got caught in the stands. The children were allowed to sit on the spare bench and see the game safely to the end.’
Gazzetta dello Sport call it ‘an afternoon of hooligans’ and say West Ham are a club in ‘crisis’. With a sub-headline reading ‘Re del porno’ (king of porno), the Italian newspaper explain where the money behind West Ham’s owners comes from, and makes clear it’s the owners who the fans are angriest with.
The events have been covered widely in Spain, Germany, France and Italy, and it’s even getting coverage in South America.
