‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’ That’s a quote from the uncle of the late author Kurt Vonnegut, and it’s one I never thought I’d think of in reference to football, but here we are. West Ham United currently sit third in the Premier League, top of their group in the Europa League, through to the quarter finals of the League Cup, and the London Stadium finally has a decent atmosphere. So I urge my fellow West Ham fans to recognise that these are the good times, and take a moment to think, ‘if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’
In the Premier League era, West Ham rarely have two good top flight seasons in a row. Apart from a three year spell in the late nighties, we rarely even manage to consistently sit in the top ten. Excluding that run under Harry Redknapp, our best league finishes in the Premier League before last season, were seventh under Glenn Roeder, ninth under Alan Pardew and Gianfranco Zola, and seventh under Slaven Bilic. The following seasons we: were relegated, survived on the last day, survived thanks to Scott Parker, and struggled to eleventh, respectively.
Even getting to the League Cup semi-finals wouldn’t be new. If we beat Tottenham on December 22nd it will be the third time since I became a season ticket holder in 2008 that we’ve gotten to the semis. After being 3-1 up on aggregate in 2011 we managed to go out in extra time to eventual winners Birmingham City. And then the last time we played Tottenham in this competition we beat them 3-2 in the quarter finals at Wembley, only to lose 9-0 on aggregate to eventual winners Manchester City. That scoreline was a then record defeat for a league cup semi-final. Shoutout to Burton Albion for taking that from us.
Last season we finished sixth under David Moyes and I must admit that I was more than prepared to see us end up 15th this season, and with only eleven league games gone that could still happen. We’ve had good seasons before, we’ve reached League Cup semi-finals twice in the past decade, even under Sam Allardyce we went into Christmas 2014 third in the league table. That season Allardyce’s West Ham won only three of the last nineteen league games and became the only team in Premier History to be in the top three at Christmas and finish in the bottom half of the table.
Now I have been happily proven wrong about David Moyes and I have much more faith in him than in Sam Allardyce, but the point is this. No one thinks about just how good they have it until it’s already gone. So now, as we look to be on the verge of possibly something quite special, this is the time for West Ham fans to not worry about where we might finish in the league and to not worry about winning cups. If we finish third great, but that’s months from now. Instead it’s time to realise that these are the good times. Enjoy it, live in it, saviour it.
Keep putting the league table in the group chat to annoy your friends. Keep singing that Pablo Fornals song to annoy your girlfriend. Keep watching back that Kurt Zouma goal against Liverpool to annoy your YouTube algorithm. We are about to embark on a run of thirteen games in six weeks and I genuinely believe that we can go into January in the top four, with a League Cup semi-final on the horizon and knockout football in Europe in March. But that’s for January, for now, enjoy every minute, and think to yourself ‘if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is’.
Not that West Ham fans will need that much encouragement, as we keep telling people, West Ham are massive, everywhere we go….
All My Worst Work 