West Ham's London Stadium is 'not a football ground' and lacks atmosphere, says Billy Bonds

No going back: Billy Bonds has urged fans to embrace the new stadium
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Standard Sport21 September 2016

West Ham legend Billy Bonds says the London Stadium pitch is 'like an island out in the middle' and thinks the club's new ground isn't fit for football.

The Hammers moved from the Boleyn Ground to their new home in Stratford over the summer and have since seen a few teething problems arise during home matches.

The line of stewards separating home and away support was breached during the recent Premier League match against Watford as opposing fans clashed, while some home supporters have been fighting among themselves amid an ongoing problem with standing at games.

A handful of West Ham fans were even left without seats for the narrow win over Bournemouth last month and those with seats at the back of the ground are missing the atmosphere, according to Bonds, who spent over two decades with the club making nearly 700 appearances.

"I don’t think it’s a football ground," he told Hammers fanzine Knees Up Mother Brown. "That’s not to say I didn’t moan about it when we were moving, but I didn’t share a lot of opinions about it because we were going to move anyway, so it didn’t matter.

"And it doesn’t matter that it’s not a football ground because we’re going to be there for a long time. It’s still our home.

"We don’t own the place and there are a lot of problems with that going on, but it’s still where our team are going to play and if you’re a West Ham supporter then you’re going to embrace it.

"It seems strange. The pitch is like an island out in the middle. Slaven Bilic has to walk 20-odd yards to get to the edge of pitch and when you’re sitting up high you can see a big trench where they’ve moved the seats. Arsenal built a new stadium but they’re two yards away from the playing surface."

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Bonds added: "I went to the Bournemouth game and I was sat behind the media. It just seemed miles away from the pitch and you couldn’t get the atmosphere up there.

"I’m not saying the fans weren’t making noise — there was loads of noise there. It just lacks that bit of atmosphere of a football ground."

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