Archive for December 17, 2023
A special connection
In a long interview on West Ham’s official website and in the programme for Sunday’s home game against Wolves, Czech holding midfielder Tomáš Souček speaks about the best thing about being a footballer.
“A lovely question,” Tomáš said. “For me, it’s playing in front of thousands of people who are with you, supporting you and cheering you on. When you score a goal and you get to celebrate with those fans, and build that connection with them, it’s so special.”
He showed that he has a special connection and loves the fans also in the moment of West Ham’s worst defeat for years, a 0-5 trashing at Craven Cottage one week ago. The last time the Hammers lost by this margin was in summer 2019 when they were defeated in their first game of the season 0-5 by Manchester City. It was the beginning of the end of Manuel Pellegrini’s tenure at London Stadium who eventually was sacked and replaced by David Moyes on 29 December 2019 who soon after signed the Czech international player from Slavia Prague in January 2020.
After the final whistle at Craven Cottage which finally sealed the heavy defeat last Sunday, Tomáš Soucek did not immediately walk straight back to the dressing room with his head down, but stopped in front of the away end: for almost a minute he applauded the “claret and blue army” which never had stopped supporting the team despite their bad performance this afternoon in west London.
I had attended this game, meeting up before kick-off with Paul and some of his friends, using Barrie’s away ticket who had stayed at home entertaining his grand children this afternoon. Due to the game kicking off on a Sunday at 2 p.m., I tried to find a church not too far from Fulham’s Craven Cottage and attend a Sunday service before the game. I found out that St Luke’s Church, HTB’s most recent church plant near Earl’s Court, had its family service at 11 a.m. which was a perfect fit for me.
I had the pleasure to watch a special advent celebration there, called “Christingle”. This Christmas tradition, unknown to me so far, originates from Moravia and Germany and has spread across many churches and denominations since the 18th century. Christingle relates to the German word “Christkindl” and is used to celebrate Jesus Christ as the Light of the World and as our saviour. It consists of
- an orange representing the world,
- with a candle pushed into the centre of the orange, then lit, representing Jesus Christ as Light of the World,
- a red ribbon wrapped around the orange, representing the blood of Christ, and
- dried fruits or sweets skewered on cocktail sticks pushed into the orange, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons (picture).
I had a nice chat after the service with pastor Dave Matthews and found out that most of the people of this neighbourhood supported Chelsea and not Fulham. Dave asked me if I was a pastor myself when I mentioned that I had attended “Alpha Experience” two months ago at HTB Brompton Road. “No, I’m a lawyer,” I answered, “like Nicky Gumbel was before becoming pastor at HTB.”
Well, that wasn’t the only misconception this afternoon: Erion, one of Paul’s friend standing beside of me on the terrace, thought I lived in Notting Hill and worked in a London law firm. That would have been nice, but I had to explain to him that when I mentioned that we “lived near Notting Hill Gate” this was true for just four days – we stayed at a hotel there this time…
And it also turned out not to be true when at half time with 0-3 down an other guy standing next to me said that it was “difficult, but not impossible” to come back into this game. But no, this WAS impossible for the Hammers players seemingly exhausted, tired and partly even sick. On that “bad day at the office“ they had only played well the first 15 or 20 minutes, but then it showed that this team had played all autumn every three or four days and on this day lacked drive and urgency. David Moyes said after the game that playing two games week in, week out and especially the Hammers‘ 2-1 away win in an other London derby at Tottenham on the previous Thursday seemed to have taken its toll.
When I texted Barrie that it seemed that he had made a wise decision not to attend the Fulham game and entertain the grandchildren at home instead (this was the reason I got his ticket) he wrote back; “Best part of West Ham is the fans. As Paul knows only too well I enjoy myself by meeting up before and after the game with a group of friends. The game itself is usually the worst part of the day. “🤦♂️😂 That’s typical West Ham sense of humour, isn’t it?
But half a week later West Ham bounced back and convincingly defeated Freiburg 2-0 in what was their final game of the Europa League group stages. They secured their progress to the round of the last sixteen in Europe for the third season running with this win. So everything’s okay then?
Well, it seems it’s only the travelling fans who do not become bothered when the team is behind, and tirelessly sing and clap also when West Ham are losing. The West Ham followers on social media and some parts of the 60,000 supporters which fill the London Stadium when the Irons play at home (something Fulham obviously is not capable of since they have got their expanded Riverside Stand) are a more fickle lot. The “Moyes out brigade” makes themselves heard quickly every time the results don’t go West Ham’s way.
Following a visit of Wolves at London Stadium on Sunday the Hammers have to travel to Liverpool midweek trying to reach the semifinals of the League Cup for the first time since 2011/12.
“We’re champions of Europe, that’s what we are,” the travelling fans will sing again then, but depending on the Hammers’ performance the opposition supporters will possibly reply with a loud “but you’re still shit!”
Well, let’s be optimistic and expect the claret and blue army has something to cheer about in the coming games. Come on you Irons!
PS: One week after the defeat at Fulham a dominant West Ham looked a different side to the one that suffered a 5-0 thrashing and won 3-0 at London Stadium against Wolves (goals: Kudus 2, Bowen).
EXTRA TIME 
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