West Ham have long been lauded as the Academy of Football. Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Declan Rice – the list is exhaustive. Look at the calibre of these names.
Most of them have gone on to play at the highest level and I have no doubt Declan Rice will follow suite.
That isn’t to say every youth team player makes it. George Moncur, Elliot Lee and Olly Lee will all be names West Ham fans were familiar with, but never saw given the chance.
All the same, isn’t that what gets Hammers fans excited? The history and the heritage of that youth academy is what is the lifeblood of the West Ham squad.
It’s seeing a young lad with an obscure first team number turn up on the team sheet, like Ben Johnson did last season.
Then there’s excitement because you know that they have to have something about them to make it that far.
Wouldn’t it be great if the club endorsed it more? Of course, not all will make it but it’s hard to form an opinion when Hammers fan only get to see them in a pre-season friendly in Austria.
Let’s get the club raising the bar on their media coverage and streaming their under-23 games. It will give fans a chance to see what is lying beneath the surface of the first team and will bring them closer to the Club.
I think in an era where social media is becoming a huge source of communication and YouTube is the primary content source for most people, West Ham could capitalise on an opportunity to build their fan base by streaming Under 23 games for free.
The Club report on the results regardless so why not bring fan engagement and excitement into it?
There are some real gems in the youth team at the moment. Nathan Trott, who has recently joined AFC Wimbledon on loan, made his debut for the England Under-21s recently.
Dan Kemp and Conor Coventry regularly appear to boss games, as they did against Newport’s Starting XI. Then Nathan Holland, acquired from Everton, continues to show his potential by lighting up the wing positions.
I don’t think it is a case that fans demand young players should be promoted to the first team.
They want to see it but there is a level of realism that comes with judging a player who can play a part in the Premier League.
Nonetheless, they want to see what they can offer and improving coverage of games will no doubt help this.
