West Ham told to make London Stadium changes to create 'electric' atmosphere | OneFootball

The mood around The London Stadium has been improved with a decent start to the 2025-26 season, but there could still be more that could be done.

There have been criticisms made of The London Stadium since the club moved there in 2016, but the owners of the club could have a role to play in improving it in the future.

It's now been a decade since West Ham United left The Boleyn Ground for The London Stadium, and the club's new home continues to divide opinion. It's been a mixed time for West Ham on the pitch. On one hand, 2023 brought a win in the Europa Conference League, their first major trophy since 1980, but 2026 brought relegation from the Premier League, and they're now in the middle of a fight to get back into the top-flight.

But the London Stadium itself has come in for criticism over that time. The fact that it's played host to 60,000 crowds already this season in the Championship has demonstrated that it's not too big for the club, but it started its life as an athletics stadium for the 2012 Olympic Games and its design has been criticised as being ill-suited for football.

"I think we're getting there" - suggestions made about how West Ham could improve the London Stadium atmosphere

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Football League World have spoken to our West Ham fan pundit Ryan Horn about what could be done to improve the atmosphere at The London Stadium on match-days, and Ryan feels that it's already better than it's often portrayed: "I think the atmosphere could always be improved. If you look at that Millwall game, I know that we haven't had that game at The London Stadium yet, and I cannot wait for it, but I think the atmosphere's been great, with a lot of uncertainty around the club at the moment, over the summer, and after being relegated for the first time in God knows how long."

And our West Ham correspondent feels that progress has been made over the years in terms of improving it: "There's always going to be a bit of discourse in the fan base, especially with the stadium itself being a hot topic, but I think we're getting there. It is starting to feel like home because it is home now. We can't have the Boleyn back, unfortunately. It's held some amazing games."

Ryan does feel that there are things that could be done which would increase the atmosphere for home matches further: "It could be improved. Seating still needs to be fixed. The owners need to sort out the stadium so we can have more fans in and closer to the pitch, and there's no gaps. Make it a proper football stadium and I think the atmosphere can be electric, every game. We're one of the best fan bases in the country, there's no doubt it, and I think saying that it could be improved means that we're not being stagnant"

But crucially, Ryan feels that there is more that could be done to improve the mood around the club, and that this isn't necessarily just about the stadium itself, with the club's change of ownership in particular likely to make a difference: "I think having a club with a new owner and a new direction, that's going to help. There's a lot of things that can be done to improve the atmosphere at the club and it's not just on us as fans. The club need to work with us as well."

Improving the atmosphere inside any football stadium is as much about the team as th stadium design

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The London Stadium has come in for considerable criticism over the ten years that West Ham have been there, but as our West Ham correspondent notes, the Boleyn Ground isn't coming back, all of which raises the question of what can be done to improve the atmosphere on match-days.

One of the bigger complaints about the stadium since it was converted for football use has been how far removed - particularly behind the goals - fans are from the pitch, and this could be resolved by putting seating in that space. This, however, would require some degree of architectural alteration and would be unlikely to be inexpensive.

But the way in which the club has been run in recent years has also impacted the atmosphere around the club. The very last match played there before the Covid pandemic closed football down altogether for several months was marked by thousands of fans marching in protest against the owners.

This ownership has now, of course, changed. David Gold died in January 2023, while both David Sullivan and Karren Brady departed earlier this year, and while the atmosphere around the ground was sullen in the latter stages of 2025-26 as the club slid out of the Premier League for the first time in a decade and a half, home crowds haven't been impacted by relegation and, if anything, a team that has so far been reasonably successful on the pitch - they went into the international break in second place, behind surprise early pace-setters Swansea City - has already improved the mood around the club.

There are still improvements that could be made to The London Stadium to make it feel more like home, but if anything, the lesson to be taken from the last few years of the history of West Ham United is that one of the best solutions to a poor atmosphere inside any ground is to have a winning team and owners who aren't held in contempt by a significant proportion of the fans.