My mate is a hammer and lives in Manc. and when they were relegated with about 42 points a few years back, they played Preston away first game of season. (Think it was the last time Carrick was with them before the twat signed for the rags). It was a 12pm kick off and he dragged me along. They sold out the full away end at Preston and most were Londoners. It reminded me of when we went to Div 2 and our first away was Fulham on a Friday night and our end was packed. Similar fan base.
Fulham away, now that was a wake up call.
After going to the opening day win with
30, 000 there against Blackpool I thought ,like many 'We'll coast this division', half time 3:0 down at Craven Cottage we all felt a little different.
Going back to West Ham, I've always seen them as more genuine than a lot of the other London club's fans (and are they not the only' proper' Cockney team in the Premier League actually being from the East End?)
Fair play to them for getting decent support in a big populated City when there's certainly been ' easier options' (we could relate to that couldn't we for many years)
There certainly was some 'mither' in games prior to that one in 87, like everyone they had their idiots (and like many in the 80s did have a bit of a racist element at one point).
However, that game at Upton Park when we got relegated was quite unique and there did seem a lot of respect, and I do also remember quite a few staying at the Etihad in 2014 for the presentation.
Personally ,I hope they win tonight as they have had to go even longer than we did without a trophy and their fans deserve it...and they don't seem to always go on about how wonderful their support has always been (not referring to any teams that play in black and white stripes ofcourse!)