West Ham have lost a whopping 29,000 season ticket holders since moving to the London Stadium.
The Hammers ditched Upton Park, which had been their home for over a century, to move into the 62,500-capacity ground in 2016, four years after it hosted the 2012 Olympics. But fans have since complained about a lack of atmosphere inside the stadium, which was designed to be multi-purpose rather than strictly for football.
And those sentiments are reflected in recent season ticket numbers published by Claret & Hugh. Since 50,000 people signed up for season tickets ahead of West Ham’s first season at the London Stadium, 29,000 have opted not to renew.
While that does not necessarily mean that only 21,000 of the original crowd remain, as some may have opted out before returning for a later season, it is still an alarming drop-off in a short space of time.
In the two worst years – 2017 and 2021 – only 89% and 88% of fans renewed their season ticket. In numerical terms, more than 5,000 supporters dropped out on each occasion.
By 2024, West Ham had 48,500 regular season ticket holders, which was down from a high of 55,000 in 2022 and 2023. Earlier this month, Hammers fans protested against ticket prices and the withdrawal of concessions for certain groups of supporters.
Those turning up to the London Stadium in the early stages of this campaign had little to get excited about, as manager Julen Lopetegui struggled to get a tune out of his expensively assembled side.
The former Spain and Real Madrid head coach has since been replaced by Graham Potter. And although his reign started with an encouraging home win over Fulham, West Ham have since gone four games without a victory, suffering three defeats on that run.
The pressure is on for Potter to turn things around ahead of a tough trip to Arsenal this weekend. And he won’t be able to call upon the help of silky Brazilian Lucas Paqueta at the Emirates after he picked up an injury in training.
“It was an innocuous one,” Potter explained in his latest press conference. “He went over on his ankle and there was a little bit of a collision with Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
“He’s rolled his ankle and he’ll be missing for the game, probably Leicester as well, so we’ll see how it is but it’s swollen up a bit. It’s just swollen up so we’ll take it day by day but I imagine it will be a week or two that he’s away.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk