Football’s hostile environments can start at home | Andrew Anthony


Moving to a new stadium can play havoc with a team’s form as West Ham and Tottenham have found out to their cost this season

What’s in a football stadium? Essentially the stands and the pitch. You could add the fans, of course, and inedible burgers, but they are transportable. However, there seems to be some mysterious process by which the fans interact with the stadium to create what is widely known as the “atmosphere”.

Hence, although the West Ham fans attending the London Stadium in Stratford are largely the same as the those who attended the Boleyn Ground last season (except there’s more of them now), the atmosphere by general consent has not been conducive to winning. Or not losing.

Related: West Ham feeling far from home after London Stadium teething problems | Paul MacInnes

Related: Tottenham cannot blame Wembley, they were simply out-classed by Monaco

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