West Ham’s night of nostalgia brings back ’70s disease

Metres from the statue of the great Bobby Moore, another England defender filmed the disturbance through the window of Manchester United’s “smashed up” bus. Chris Smalling, who recorded the bottle throwing by West Ham fans on his mobile phone, probably expected more from his visit to Moore’s old manor.

Such is the perversity of tribalism that many of the West Ham supporters who pelted United’s coach will cheer on Smalling and Wayne Rooney at Euro 2016 in France. Smalling plays in Bobby Moore’s old position and Rooney is the England captain, a post held by West Ham’s most illustrious figure.

But on this night they were the enemy. The outer layers of their bus’ windows were smashed and one spectator reported a “frightening” press of bodies as fans, police horses and vans became gridlocked around United’s stranded coach. Later, mobile-phone footage showed players lying on the floor of the coach for shelter. This was meant to be a report on West Ham’s farewell to Upton Park, or the Boleyn Ground, as it has become again in the last week.

In retrospect, we should have guessed the streets around the stadium would be mobbed by people wanting to turn it into a mass outdoor knees-up. They sang, they drank and then a violent minority did what violent minorities do: Ruined it for everyone else, and certainly Manchester United’s players and coaching staff, who were bombarded and delayed on the way to what should have been a nostalgic evening.

This was a great 3-2 victory by West Ham that made it feel like the last days of Louis van Gaal rather than Upton Park. Slaven Bilic’s players fought hard to leave this fortress on a high. An elaborate closing ceremony also delighted the crowd. But there is no escaping the reality that the pre-match mayhem diminished West Ham’s final night in this classic ground.

Upton Park is an extension of the working-class community in which it sits. Turned the other way, the social history of the borough has been shaped by the unique character of the club and its unfulfilled dreams: The popping bubbles of an institution that used to avoid taking itself too seriously.

The blockheads on the street succeeded only in besmirching West Ham’s name. “I’m sure West Ham as a club will be disappointed with what the fans have done,” said Rooney. Frankly, the hooligans fed the preconceptions of those who associate West Ham with an older story of organised violence and racist infiltration.

David de Gea was pelted with bottles in the United net for celebrating an equaliser. And these scenes were hardly likely to assuage public anger about the huge cost to the taxpayer of granting West Ham a “sweetheart deal” to take over the Olympic white elephant.

The laying to rest of Upton Park was part touching civic ritual, part last blast of passion in a ground that has staged 2,389 games and seen 4,535 goals over 112 years.

The public address system here still regularly crackles with requests for people to move cars. And traditional stalls still line Green Street on the walk from Upton Park station. They sell sweets, programmes, badges, fanzines and the ubiquitous hot dogs and burgers. These businesses feel indivisible from the club, the community, the history of a non-gentrified area whose claim to global fame remains its contribution to England’s 1966 World Cup win.

Outside, Gary Firmager, the man behind the fanzine Over Land And Sea, wrote autographs on his final cover, which carried the tribute: “Thank you for the memories, beautiful people. One world, one nation, one love.” This was issue No 629 and there will be no more. “Every home game for 27 years,” said Firmager’s assistant.

So although most West Ham fans have come round to the idea of moving to a bigger, more glamorous home, the old independent, anti-corporate spirit survives.

The same can be said, unfortunately, for the bottle-throwing mentality of the 1970s and 1980s: A curse that chose the worst possible night to return. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

About the author: Paul Hayward is the Daily Telegraph’s chief sportswriter