Hope Is The Worst Part Of It All

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Effra can take a lot of things, but the false dawns and empty hope thrown at West Ham supporters this season is getting to be a bit much.

The worst thing about relegation struggles is not the day it happens, but the moments of hope along the way. Having been through four relegations in my time as a West Ham fan, I have been reminding myself that we West Ham fans of a certain generation are connoisseurs of just how many different ways hope that seems barely rational can turn into genuine belief only to come crashing down to earth.

Last time there was the hope that came from our manager unfortunately getting a brain tumour (offensive, I know, to some), and Sir Trevor conjuring from the previously exiled Di Canio an improbable winner against Chelsea only for chasing-title Arsenal to collapse for the second time in a week against one of our rivals. On Saturday against Fulham it seemed that the footballing gods had decided that they were going to give us a dress-rehearsal for the rest of the season, thrown together into a seamless 95 minutes journey through despair and hope and back to despair.

For each moment of Yossi-inspired hope, there had to be another injury or more incompetence from Graham Poll to remind us that if we do get out of this, we’re going to have to be on an emotional roller-coaster for the rest of the season.

My friends tell me that I love this, and that it’s why I support West Ham. Now, there is some truth in this, and I definitely didn’t sign up to football to be bored. But I don’t think that anyone can say that West Ham have sold anyone short on drama this season. I’d like us to make our mind up. Either we’re going down and we don’t bother fight back from being 1-0 down at home and having made two forced substitutions by the 16 minute, or we’re staying up and when we’re up 3-2 with 10 men in the fourth minute of injury time we f…ing win. Please, please, no more useless hope.