WHam love to sing

Cast your minds back to October 22 2006. I was making my way from the better half's flat in the Docklands to Liverpool St, via West Ham. Now this wasn't a route I had taken often although now it is one I take every match day, at that stage I had never been that way when a London derby was on. When I got on the train nothing seemed different, I was on the over ground from Liverpool St and it got very full, I made the mistake of getting on the first carriage I got to. Once the train departed some of the more boisterous supporters broke in to song. Such beautiful ditties as "We Hate Tottenham", "Hitler was my hero" and "I've got a foreskin haven't you, F*cking Jew" rang out while shaven headed morons banged the windows and the ceilings of the carriage.

By the first stop a dozen police entered our carriage and a bit of a face off entailed, although the anti-Semitic tones largely dissipated (despite the occasional hissing to remind of the Holocaust). Once at Bruce Grove we were kicked off the train early and frog marched by at least 50 policemen straight to the ground, just in time for kick off. Once there I realised something I hadn't realised before. THIS is why we hate West Ham. Not the club. Not the players. Not the location. The fans.



Sunday's match at Boleyn is huge for many reasons. West Ham need a result now to stand any chance of escaping, seeing as the previous day Wigan will have faced off with Man City and Watford have Charlton so either Wigan will go 12 clear of the Hammers or Charlton will equal their points total with a draw being the best result for WHam. Personally I would like to see them relegated, they have proved a good feeder club in the past, the likes of Dean Ashton appeal to me and we good get a good player or two out of it, but considering their antics on the last day of last season it would be just desserts if we gave them a hiding and sent them tumbling. You would have thought they had won the cup final. They didn't manage that one either ;-)

So the boys stand 9th, however just 4 points are between us and 6th position, the cherished UEFA cup place. Portsmouth have Chelsea this weekend, Reading travel to Arsenal, it seems a perfect opportunity to narrow the gap. At the start of the season I said a UEFA place would be progress while others said 4th however my reasoning for saying so still stands. We achieved European football for the first time in ages last season, consolidation of that and consistent qualification for Europe is the next goal.