In highlighting the predicaments of both West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the season finale, todays report in the Guardian doesn’t pull any punches in pointing the blame for the peril suffered by these two historic London sides.
One of the two, new stadium and all, will be condemned to the second tier of English football inside the next eight days. And for one set of supporters it will be agony, the others deep joy and an enormous sense of relief.
Guardian journalists Tom Jenkins and Jonny Weeks make it clear where they see the blame lying for placing the futures of these two sides in deadly peril.
‘…Fans fume amid relegation dread’
“With their spiritual homes demolished at the altar of progress and profit, first Upton Park in 2016 and then White Hart Lane in 2017, both clubs had visions of glory days ahead. Instead they have been consumed by greed, mismanagement and false promises.
Key perpetrators such as Karren Brady at West Ham and Daniel Levy at Spurs have exited the scene, but David Sullivan is still the Hammers chairman and the damage remains.”
Brady may have made a swift exit amidst the gathering storm clouds but her part in the downfall of West Ham will be neither forgotten nor forgiven as Hammers fans now face the reality of a drop into the second tier despite the hype of world class football just ten years ago as the owners sold the clubs soul for a bucketload of cash:
“The London Stadium – which West Ham now rent for a knock-down price – is universally panned as stale and unsuited to football, while the sparkling Tottenham Hotspur Stadium looks like a monument to hubris. One of these 60,000 seater stadiums will be hosting Championship football in August.”
And in a chilling summary, a supporter of one of the two teams still battling to retain their top tier status made the comment that could equally apply to both embattled sides:
“If we go down, we deserve to go down.”