Marko Arnautovic once named EFL Championship ground as the loudest stadium he'd ever experienced | OneFootball

Former West Ham United and Stoke City forward named the London Stadium as the loudest ground he has ever experienced for one clear reason

Since moving into the London Stadium from their former home, Upton Park, West Ham United fans have long debated their new ground.

The stadium was not purpose-built to host football matches, though it was always capable of doing so from the moment it was built; its primary purpose was to host athletic events, hence the running track around the pitch.

The running track, in turn, has pushed supporters backwards and away from the pitch and the action, as in comparison to their former home, fans feel like they are a million miles away from the players.

Despite this, the stadium has hosted some memorable fixtures involving West Ham, as one former player once had extremely high praise for the ground.

Marko Arnautović took a swipe at Stoke City by naming West Ham United's London Stadium as the 'loudest' stadium he has ever played in

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Former West Ham forward Marko Arnautović spent just two years with the Hammers following his £24 million move from then-Premier League rivals Stoke City, but he enjoyed a very successful couple of seasons in East London nonetheless.

The nomadic Austrian, likened to Zlatan Ibrahimović for his swagger and personality, on and off the pitch, tempted West Ham into parting ways with that fee after 26 goals and 28 assists in 145 games across all competitions for Stoke, forming a streets-won't-forget partnership with both Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan Krkić.

His choice to submit a transfer request and force through a move to the capital, calling West Ham 'a bigger club and more ambitious', unsurprisingly, upset the majority of Stoke supporters, and he would add fuel to the fire when naming the London Stadium as the 'loudest' he had ever played in.

Arnautovic said: "I have never heard a louder stadium than this. It was like, wow. I couldn’t even hear my own voice when I tried to speak to Pablo Zabaleta. The fans saw that we were playing good and that we wanted to win and give everything and they got behind us. Every player would like to play in front of that crowd."

Stoke, once known for its raucous atmosphere in their early Premier League days, were proud of the noise they created, with the noise in their stadium once being recorded at 101.8 decibels, the equivalent of a jumbo jet at take-off.

Arnautovic praised West Ham and took a dig at his former club in one fell swoop, as the Austrian hitman rubbed salt into the wounds of Stoke and embraced the Hammers.

Marko Arnautović enjoyed an excellent spell at West Ham United

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Arnautović would spend just two years with West Ham between 2017 and 2019, eventually forcing through a move (again), this time to Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG.

The Austrian would score 11 and grab six assists in 31 Premier League games during his first season at the club, directly contributing to a goal over every other game.

He would follow that up with ten goals and four assists in 28 league games the following campaign, directly contributing to a goal in every other game, being used in a more central role than he had done at Stoke.

His time in London proved to be brief, though he is one of the Hammers' rare success stories when it comes to centre-forwards.

Marko Arnautović has had an excellent career since leaving West Ham United

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Since leaving West Ham for China, Arnautović has spent time with Bologna in Italy before returning to Inter Milan, playing a key role in the club's title triumph in 2024 and reaching the Champions League final in 2025.

Now with Crvena Zvezda in Serbia to honour late Bologna coach Siniša Mihajlović, Arnautović has made 137 appearances for his nation and is his country's all-time top goalscorer, having appeared in numerous major competitions for Austria.

With a stacked trophy list, including a Champions League and two Italian Serie A titles, and having played in seven different nations across his career, it would be fair to suggest Arnautović has had a fairly decent career, with West Ham being among his most prolific stints.

The London Stadium remains a contentious topic among West Ham United supporters, despite Marko Arnautović's past comments

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To this day, the London Stadium remains a highly contentious topic among Hammers supporters, with many not having totally taken to their club's new home, with Upton Park continuing to feel like their real home.

Major renovations to improve the atmosphere, despite Arnautovic's past comments, would be needed to engage supporters properly and make them feel as though it is their home, and not just a structure they are renting out.

Whether it will eventually feel like West Ham's home remains to be seen, though if Arnautovic's comments are anything to go by, it certainly can one day.